What is a “Livable Community”?

Far too often, people do not have the ability to live, work and play all in the same neighborhood. They may commute long distances to housing they can afford, drive outside their neighborhood for their daily errands, or lack opportunities for physical activity and everyday social interaction. This is largely due to unsustainable - unlivable - development patterns. It is time to make a change, and the vision of “Livable Communities” is an alternative development paradigm that is environmentally friendly, socially equitable, and nourishes our working families.

Imagine nodes throughout the city that supply people with all of the services they need, in close proximity to housing affordable to a range of income levels. And now imagine that these nodes can be accessed by walking, biking or transit. This is the alternative proposed for our future. Instead of building homes and stores scattered throughout a city that require automobile use, development should be built in a manner that provides access and fulfills all of a neighborhoods needs. A livable community also promotes neighborhood-building and social interaction through the strategic location of parks, gardens and plazas.

The Accountable Development Coalition is currently working to further this vision in the City of Santa Rosa through campaigns to improve the City’s inclusionary housing policy and ensure that the vision of the Downtown Station Area Plan is realized.

Inclusionary Housing

“Inclusionary Housing” is a policy tool used to ensure that as new residential development goes in, it provides housing for people with a range of income levels. These policies are utilized in cities and counties throughout the state, and have been extremely effective in producing housing affordable to low and very low income residents. In turn, this reduces commute times, relieves traffic congestions, cuts greenhouse gas emissions, provides a stable workforce for employers and strengthens the economic base of a community.

All jurisdictions in Sonoma County have an inclusionary housing policy, although some are stronger than others. Unlike many others, Santa Rosa’s current inclusionary housing ordinance rarely requires developers to actually build the affordable units on-site, but allows them to pay “in-lieu” fees instead. In fact, a project is not required to include affordable units unless it is over 15 acres in size - larger than most of the City’s remaining developable parcels, particularly those in transit-friendly areas where affordable housing is most needed. In addition, “mixed use” developments - those that include a small amount of commercial or retail space - are exempted from even paying “in lieu fees.”

Unfortunately, this has the impact of encouraging affordable housing to be produced wherever land can be procured most cheaply - rather than in close proximity to jobs, transit, and market-rate housing. A stronger inclusionary housing policy not only produces affordable housing - it creates mixed-income neighborhoods, increases social mobility, and reduces inequities in access to quality education and infrastructure.

In recent years, development patterns in and around Santa Rosa have been shifting, as vacant land and water supplies for new development become scarcer. The Accountable Development Coalition is looking to the City of Santa Rosa to adapt its inclusionary ordinance to these changing patterns so that affordable housing can be an integral part of the City’s “new look.”

To learn more about our policy recommendations, read our letter about inclusionary housing we submitted to the City of Santa Rosa at the beginning of their Housing Element update process.

To get involved, email Marlene Dehlinger or sign up for our Accountable Development Coalition email alert list to stay updated on how you can help.

Defending Santa Rosa’s Downtown Station Area Plan

Adopted in October 2007, the Downtown Station Area Specific Plan (SAP) is the result of a community based vision for the downtown area of Santa Rosa. Centered around the proposed Sonoma Marin Rail Transit (SMART) site, the Plan defines the framework for future development in the area, which encompasses nearly 650 acres of both commercial and residential land surrounding the proposed station.

The development of Santa Rosa’s Downtown Station Area Specific Plan created a record-setting level of public involvement in the process. Hundreds of residents wrote letters and spoke at hearings in favor of a vision for Downtown that includes vibrant neighborhoods, safe and walkable streets, a range of transportation options, and homes people can afford. It was the first time in the City’s history that a translator needed to be retained to translate letters received in Spanish.

All of this will be for naught unless development decisions in the Downtown area are made with an eye towards achieving the vision of this plan, rather than merely reacting to existing conditions.

How can we ensure that this vision is brought to fruition?

Email Marlene Dehlinger or sign up for our Accountable Development Coalition email alert list to stay updated on how you can weigh in on this important effort.

The plans vision will be implemented through the decisions made by City staff, Planning Commissioners and City Councilmembers on individual projects and applications as they are submitted.

In order to foster a more walkable and vibrant Downtown, for example, the Station Area Plan deems automobile-oriented businesses “nonconforming uses” in certain neighborhoods, and strongly encourages a transition towards more pedestrian-oriented, neighborhood-serving shops and services. Yet it is in many cases up to the City how much to accommodate the continuance of such nonconforming uses, and how aggressively to court the types of businesses that will expedite the Station Area Plan’s vision becoming a reality.

This means that residents must demand that the City ere on the side of the vision rather than the status quo when making these decisions, and reject proposals to undermine the community’s hard work by undoing its important provisions.

For full text of the Station Area Plan and map of the Station Area please visit the Santa Rosa’s Station Area Plan website.

The ADC has been greatly supported by the Great Communities Collaborative on its work on Santa Rosa’s Station Area Plan. The Great Communities Collaborative is a unique cooperative relationship between Bay Area nonprofit organizations – Greenbelt Alliance, the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California, the Transportation and Land Use Coalition, and Urban Habitat – and the national nonprofit Reconnecting America. The East Bay Community Foundation and The San Francisco Foundation are also part of the collaborative. Together they seek to create a region of vibrant neighborhoods with affordable housing, shops, jobs, and services within convenient walking distance near transit.