With ‘extensive’ wait list, Sweetwater Spectrum plans to add residents with new building

Sweetwater Spectrum, the Sonoma home for adults living with autism on Fifth Street West, won approval from Sonoma’s Design Review and Historic Preservation Committee for a new living space for four more adults, bringing the total number of clients living at the innovative housing campus to 20.

The expansion marks a 20% increase in residents for the 9-year-old community.

Design Review’s approval is the next-to-last step in the process that would allow construction to begin. Final approval is expected at the next meeting of the City’s Planning Commission, scheduled for Sept. 9.

“There’s such a demand for special-needs housing,” said Kory Stradinger, executive director of the residence-based community for adults with autism and other related developmental disorders. He said he went to the board of directors over two years ago to suggest the idea of expanding their residences, and after “significant private donations from families interested in seeing it built” they were able to move forward with the proposal.

He said the addition has as motivation a simple purpose: “We want to provide four more spaces.”

Sweetwater Spectrum was created to help people with autism find a comfortable, supportive place to age independently after leaving their parents, who might not be prepared to care for them through their lives. Stradinger said that across the United States, 500,000 people with autism are “aging into adulthood,“ as he put it.

“A lot of parents who come here know they’re getting older and would like their kids to live outside the home, but there’s not a lot of great options,” he said. “It’s sad.”

Sweetwater was one of the first established campuses designed for people with special needs, and has become a model for several subsequent developments in other parts of the country. “We put on symposiums for people around the country to come learn about Sweetwater,” said Stradinger. “We want to help other communities build housing – it doesn’t have to be just like Sweetwater.”

The first such symposium was held in 2019, on the 10th anniversary of the nonprofit’s founding; it attracted 75 people from 11 states and Quebec. A 2020 symposium was held virtually, and had over 400 registered attendees over a six-week period.

Sweetwater purchased the Sonoma property in 2009 and built the current 16-person residences at a cost of about $10 million. It has become a widely-recognized examplar of the supportive living model, “providing its residents with individual, customized and flexible programs, supporting life skills training, continuing education, gardening, art/music, exercise and healthy lifestyles,” according to sweetwaterspectrum.org.

Sweetwater was designed as a permanent home for its residents, which means openings are infrequent. Stradinger said five people have left since he started working there, a couple of them found independent living situations in Sonoma. When a spot does become available, part of the interview process includes meeting the other residents to find "the best fit for a new resident to join their existing roommates,“ said the director.

Enrichment manager Danielle Beale called Sweetwater the “forever home” for residents, and said there was an “extensive” waiting list of 40 or so applicants. Monthly community fees are $3,000 plus $850 rent, but does not include meals, groceries or other amenities for the residents, aside from a weekly “enrichment potluck.” Applications and other relevant information can be found on the website under “Our Model.”

Though the services and support offered at Sweetwater are expensive, the generosity of the founding families and development grants have prevented it from becoming a place of privilege. “From the start, the board has made it a priority to make Sweetwater diverse, economically as well as socially,” said Stradinger. He said they offer discounts to “a large percentage” of resident families.

Stradinger said that it was possible some of the current residents would be shifted to the new duplex, if it meets their needs for more privacy and independence.

The construction of the duplex required a lot merger to combine two separate legal lots into a single parcel totaling a little under half an acre that will support the new duplex.

Their plan would construct a 3,194-square-foot building on what is currently a “farm parcel” at the facility. The new single-story building would be a duplex, each unit of which would have two bedrooms, a kitchen, laundry and storage, covered patios and landscaping.

“The program concept is to provide long-term housing for adults with autism in an environment that encourages personal growth and participation in the broader community, but within a safe and structured environment,” according to a Sweetwater statement.

The duplex will be consistent with existing buildings at Sweetwater, made of horizontal wood lap siding and stucco, though of a more “Sonoma farmhouse” design, said Stradinger. Currently, four residents plus one staff member live in each of the four existing buildings. The duplex will house four more, but in separate though connected units so each occupant has only one roommate, not three.

The new building is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $2 million, said Stradinger. George Bevan of Sonoma’s Bevan & Associates is the architect, and Jon Curry the general contractor. The Planning Commission has already let the neighbors know it will be on their Sept. 9 agenda, but Stradinger won’t be there for the decision.

He is taking a two-month leave of absence, and he and his wife are headed to Europe on Sept. 1 to visit Switzerland and Italy. It’s his first extended trip in the five busy years he’s been executive director at Sweetwater. In his absence, former police chief and Sonoma Community Center director John Gurney will take over as interim director.

Stradinger hopes to find construction underway when he returns on the first of November.

If all goes well, the new duplex could be ready for occupants at the end of 2022 – just ahead of the 10th anniversary of Sweetwater Spectrum, which opened in January, 2013.