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Roseland residents press Santa Rosa zoning administrator for more notice on large housing projects
Summary
Residents raised concerns during public comment that large projects such as the Burbank Avenue Apartments were processed administratively without sufficient community input; speakers also warned that a hotel-related tax could complicate rehousing efforts and urged better access to project files.
Multiple Roseland-area residents used the non-agenda public comment period to urge the zoning administrator and staff to increase public notice and transparency for large housing projects processed through administrative channels.
Dwayne DeWitt, a Roseland resident, said the Burbank Avenue Apartments project was handled through the zoning administrator in a way that, he argued, “thrust that into the community without much community involvement.” He told the administrator that the planner for that earlier project ignored stipulations of the city’s tree ordinance related to saving or replacing trees and that Burbank Avenue—once designated a scenic road—had lost its tree-lined character as a result of that and other developments.
DeWitt said residents in several neighborhood groups including the Burbank Avenue Neighborhood Association, Hughes Avenue Neighborhood Association and McMinn Avenue Neighborhood Association were affected and that holding administrative meetings at 10:30 a.m. on a weekday excluded many working residents from participation. He urged staff to follow recommendations from the city’s open government task force, which he said had sought broader access to information and meeting participation.
Janice Carmen spoke about a hotel-related ballot tax she recalled from the November ballot that, she said, could complicate using hotel rooms to rehouse people who were previously placed in hotels during the COVID response. Carmen said that the tax as she understood it would subject additional services the hotel provides—such as flowers, tours or limousines—to collection, and she urged the city to seek an exemption when rehousing homeless people into hotels because owners might be expected to collect those fees or charge more.
Both speakers asked that staff make project files and conditional-use permit requirements more readily available to the public; DeWitt noted he relies on the public library for internet access and said meeting materials should be shared widely so people who cannot attend in-person can review them.
