We had an excellent meeting today with Hugh Futrell as our guest. Several members of the newly formed Neighborhood Alliance joined us. At our request, Hugh described his community involvement and building history. He described his ideals about building here as building inside the UGB, with mixed income housing and an emphasis on the urban core, and volunteered that generic developments do little to add to the community.

There were several themes to the discussion: How Hugh might help with his own work and with advocacy, advance walkability and bike access in the city. There was extended discussion about Hugh’s North Village project in NW Santa Rosa, where neighborhood leaders are concerned about the lack of planning for biking and walking. Discussion showed that his project is internally successful on these counts, but there is a need to have an integrated plan for the whole area. Other area projects aren’t being considered for their cumulative effects.

On the several high-rise projects proposed for downtown, Hugh has been quoted as saying he didn’t think they would happen. His assessment is that with the huge price jumps in steel and cement, the costs have overrun the realistic market values for housing. His assessment of the Whitehouse site mixed use project was that as currently proposed, its design would stun the community in such a negative way that other proposals would be rejected, and that it’s up to the Design Review Board to improve or reject the design. He said Santa Rosa has jumped from low-rise to high-rise downtown, skipping true mid-rise buildings.

Hugh’s participation in the team selected for the SMART site prompted questions about the viability of the retail there (“the whole project will have to be a great attraction in order for the retail to succeed”) and the role of the Food and Wine Center (the market hall will be a crucial centerpiece of the project, and the F&W advocates will be responsible for several additional programs to make it work). His assessment about when the project will be built was 2008 or 2009.

There were several thank yous offered: Hugh to CCSR for supporting his team for the SMART project, Jenny Bard for Hugh’s vote against the JC garage while he was on the School Board, and Sonia Taylor’s for Hugh’s infill projects in the city.
Anne E. Seeley