Our guest at this well-attended meeting was Carol Dean, who was recently appointed to the City Council to fill Mike Martini’s seat since he retired. We talked about her goals and ours. Carol spoke on her intention to keep in close contact with her board and commission (B&C) appointees. We discussed CCSR’s letter recently presented to the Council about requiring B&C meetings to be scheduled for 5pm, when the working public can attend, rather than the early afternoon times they set now. Carol is in agreement. Other discussions centered on the Station Area Plan, Courthouse Square Design, and the need to change inclusionary housing requirements to be unit-based rather than acreage-based.

We discussed the upcoming 9/25/07 Council discussion on Green Building standards in which Daisy Pistey-Lyhne of the Greenbelt Alliance encouraged our involvement. Background: A Build It Green (BIG) study group was created by Santa Rosa, Cotati, Rohnert Park, Windsor and Sebastopol. Surrounding cities have since enacted mandatory green building standards, and now SR is considering doing the same. At the 9/25 Council meeting, they will hear a staff presentation and public comments. Four options are proposed: 1) Status quo; 2) Enhanced Hybrid, essentially promotion of voluntary participation, with data on processed by BIG; 3) Significantly Enhanced Hybrid using 2007 BIG standards, which “could” include making any subdivision over 10 units require pre-wiring for photovoltaic energy systems, require pre-plumbing for solar hot water systems, and use the LEED checklist for new or remodeled commercial and/or industrial buildings; and 4) Mandatory Santa Rosa Build It Green, in which residential programs could be based on programs developed in Cotati, RP, Sebastopol and Windsor. The city report says that with the last, SR staff need not be impacted because certification is done by others, as in the current BIG program.

We started a conversation about our recommendations for the Station Area Plan (SAP) soon to come before the Council. As the Planning Commission decided not to include required affordability or mandatory green building language in their recommendation, but instead to just write a memo to the Council saying they might consider those issues city-wide, CCSR will join other community organizations in recommending what the Planning Commission declined to advise. Very importantly, we will advise that if the Council declines to enact these housing and green building standards for the SAP, we’ll ask that the Council agendize those discussions to make city-wide changes.

Anne E. Seeley