Santa Rosa planners present missing‑middle housing overlay; board and public raise parking, affordability and preservation questions

Santa Rosa planning staff presented proposed regulations to implement a missing‑middle housing zoning overlay and asked the Design Review and Preservation Board for feedback before the item goes to the Planning Commission and City Council.

Amy Nicholson, supervising planner, said the study session focused on “the regulations that would implement the missing middle housing zoning district” and described an optional combining district that would allow additional units on qualifying lots so long as projects meet specific form‑based development standards.

The proposal would create two overlay zones—“small” and “medium”—that allow building types such as duplexes, fourplexes, courtyard buildings and townhouses. Nicholson said units would generally be smaller than conventional single‑family homes (roughly 800–1,000 square feet on average), require less visible frontage parking with spaces located at the rear of lots, and emphasize shared public or private open space. She also said parcels in five of the city’s eight historic preservation districts are proposed for…