Planning Commission votes to certify final EIR and forward General Plan 2050 to City Council

The Santa Rosa Planning Commission voted 7-0 on April 24, 2025 to recommend that the City Council certify the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for General Plan 2050 and to adopt the General Plan 2050 and associated specific plan amendments.

The recommendation covers two separate but related actions: (1) certification of the final program-level EIR, adoption of the CEQA findings, the mitigation, monitoring and reporting program and a statement of overriding considerations; and (2) forwarding General Plan 2050 and the specified specific plan amendments to the City Council for adoption, including staff revisions read into the record to Action 6.6-2 and Figure 6-2.

The General Plan 2050 update, a multi-year effort that city staff said began in March 2020, is a comprehensive update to the city’s land-use policy document last comprehensively updated in February 2009. Jessica Jones, Deputy Director of Planning, told the commission that the commission previously denied the Elm Tree Station project and that an appeal of that action had been filed and is likely to be scheduled before the City Council in July. Nancy Waltering, senior planner and project manager for the general plan, described the plan as the city’s primary land-use tool for the next 25 years and said staff directly engaged over 4,700 community members and about 90 community groups during the plan process.

The Final EIR and the General Plan include a greenhouse gas reduction strategy prepared with PlaceWorks; Terry McCracken of PlaceWorks summarized the EIR and CEQA process. McCracken explained that because the EIR is a program-level document it analyzes policy-level impacts rather than site-specific construction details. The EIR identifies mitigation measures in the General Plan and finds that most topics would be either less than significant or less than significant with mitigation. For program-level reasons the EIR identifies several topics as potentially significant and unavoidable at this stage, including effects on agricultural resources, air quality, noise, transportation (vehicle miles traveled) and wildfire. McCracken said those program-level findings mean some impacts would be addressed at the later project level when specific project details are known, and that the City prepared a statement of overriding considerations consistent with CEQA for the identified significant and unavoidable impacts.

Staff described several revisions and clarifications in the final document. Those included updates to maps for regional faults and fire hazard severity (consistent with state maps and comments from CAL FIRE), refinements to biological resources mitigation language, clarifications about vehicle miles traveled analysis and project-level mitigation, and a change to Action 6.6-2 to allow farmers’ markets in nonresidential zoning districts by right with standards. Staff also added an asterisk and note to the healthy-food-priority-areas map stating the data were obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2023 and do not show every market location.

Members of the public who spoke during the public hearing included Ken McNabb of KAMAC Advising, who said he represents property owners in unincorporated Santa Rosa and expressed support for staff’s recommendation; Fina Borgeson, speaking for the Sonoma County Food System Alliance, thanked staff for including healthful food policies and offered help on an urban agriculture ordinance; and Ray Morgan, a Santa Rosa resident, criticized the Station Area specific plan’s lack of minimum parking requirements and warned of parking pressure downtown if units are developed without parking.

Commissioners asked questions and offered comments during the hearing. Commissioner Sanders pressed staff on where the plan emphasizes “equity priority areas” and why some policies use explicit prioritizing language while others do not; staff and the project consultants explained the intent was to both apply policies citywide and to call out specific actions where prioritization or focused investment is required (including to meet state law such as Senate Bill 1000). Commissioners also suggested cross-referencing the Creek (Colgan Creek) master plan where appropriate to encourage habitat-sensitive and aesthetically mindful development along waterways; staff said several actions reference that plan and that actions identify implementing documents where applicable.

Votes at a glance: - Certification of Final EIR and adoption of CEQA findings, mitigation monitoring and reporting program, and statement of overriding considerations (File PLN25-93). Moved by Commissioner Sisco; seconded by Vice Chair Duggan. Vote: Carter Aye; Sisco Aye; Horton Aye; Pardo Aye; Sanders Aye; Duggan Aye; Weeks Aye (7-0). Outcome: passed (recommendation to City Council that the City certify the Final EIR). - Recommendation to City Council to adopt General Plan 2050 and specific plan amendments (File PLN25-93), including staff revisions read into the record to Action 6.6-2 and Figure 6-2. Moved by Commissioner Sisco; seconded by Vice Chair Duggan. Vote: Carter Aye; Sisco Aye; Horton Aye; Pardo Aye; Sanders Aye; Duggan Aye; Weeks Aye (7-0). Outcome: passed (forwarded to City Council for final action).

The City Council public hearing on the General Plan 2050 and certification of the EIR is scheduled for June 3, 2025; staff told the commission they will return afterwards with implementing zoning-code amendments, zoning-map changes and a package that includes the city’s missing-middle housing initiative and any required implementing ordinances. The General Plan and EIR also include a mitigation, monitoring and reporting program and several policy directives that will guide future ordinance drafting, capital projects and project-level CEQA review.