Planning Commission makes final touches on Sonoma’s Housing Element

Where Sonoma’s next 311 housing units could go was mapped out for the Sonoma Planning Commission on Tuesday during a special meeting.

Although members of the commission felt rushed to review the city’s Housing Element to meet the state’s deadlines, they unanimously approved a draft to be considered by the city council Jan. 31.

“The timing is such that we're faced with the situation of either recommending an adoption by the city council by the end of this month or being in violation of state law,” Commission Chair Larry Barnett said.

The state has given municipalities a deadline of Jan. 31 to approve a Housing Element for 2023-31 that was in compliance with state goals to address California’s housing crisis. Housing Elements are used as a blueprint which guides the future development of a community, and is required by law.

The state’s goals for housing are broken down further by the Association of Bay Area Governments, which has allocated 311 housing units for the city of Sonoma. While Housing Elements do not compel municipalities to build anything, they do require cities to plan and zone space to accommodate their allotted number and types of units.

And the city, for its part, has fared better in the Housing Element process than other cities across the state, according to Perry Banner, a principal planner for De Novo Planning Group, a land use and environmental planning firm located in El Dorado Hills. De Novo worked with numerous Bay Area cities to develop housing elements, including Sebastopol, Novato and Cotati.

“It’s not ideal that we’re presenting (the Housing Element) to the planning commission in this manner, but you’re not alone… Southern California, San Diego, they're all experiencing the same sort of thing,” Banner said of the crunched timeline.

Banner provided a presentation to the planning commission addressing both the Housing Element and comments from the public about their concerns.

“This is a long process, and we’re glad we’re approaching the finish line,” Banner said.

Comments sought to address an array of issues. Resident Bryce Jones said the city needs to support “higher density, mixed-use, missing middle and affordable housing.”

David Eichar, another resident, said the city should weight the decision to rezone vacant lots for higher density, which would “allow for apartment buildings and/or condominiums to be built on the major thoroughfare.”

The Sonoma Valley Collaborative, a housing advocacy group, left many comments on the draft, including asking the to city to create objectives for affordable housing funding, add a program to reduce second homes that remain empty and create a rental registry, in addition to new protections for renters.

At its core, the city sought to spread out the new housing units across all neighborhoods. In the suggested map, mostly above moderate-income residences dot the east side of Sonoma, which is defined as “lower diversity.” A mix of of income level projects are suggested on the west side.

“We wanted to show distribution across a number of different zones in the city, and that the distribution of the sites isn't concentrated in any one area,” Banner said. “It's actually spread throughout Sonoma, which is a good thing and which is exactly what (the California Department of Housing and Community Development) is looking for.”

In addition, the city added a new section to its Housing Element called Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, an assessment of fair housing, in addition to streamlining many permitting processes for types of housing development like accessory dwelling units and duplexes.

The initial draft plan was sent to the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development in September following a 37-day public review period.

Sonoma Associate Planner Wendy Atkins said the state’s deadline to deliver comments on the city’s housing plan was Jan. 24, but the city would also meet with its state-appointed reviewer this week to receive feedback. That will give the city less than a week to make any additional revisions – which staff hope are “minor.”

“You're in a very difficult position with regard to timing and dealing with (Housing and Community Development) timelines,” Banner said.

For Barnett, the timing of the state’s deadlines put the planning commission in an awkward position of approving a plan for the city council before it receives feedback from the state.

“The pressure of a deadline, which was unrealistic, has unnecessarily caused us to go through this action tonight,” Barnett said. “But I'm gratified by the fact that we can conform with the technicalities of state law.”

However, Barnett bigger gripe with the plan is the lack of “human” touch and nuance – which he said turns “human beings into interchangeable parts in a housing machine.”

“With all deference in respect to a consultant,” Barnett said, “This is not a particularly human document, this is a document designed to meet state technical requirements so they can check off the boxes.”

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.