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After public outcry, Santa Rosa council merges heritage and design boards and restores lower homeowner landmark fees
Summary
The Santa Rosa City Council on Feb. 4 voted unanimously to consolidate the Cultural Heritage Board and the Design Review Board into a single Design Review and Preservation Board and to restore reduced homeowner landmark-alteration fees after extensive public comment from preservation-district residents.
The Santa Rosa City Council on Feb. 4 voted unanimously to consolidate the Cultural Heritage Board and the Design Review Board into a single Design Review and Preservation Board and to restore reduced fees for homeowner-submitted landmark alteration permits, reversing fee increases adopted in 2024.
Deputy Director Jessica Jones told the council the proposal includes four required professional seats (two architects, one landscape professional, and one archaeologist/architectural historian or historian) and three at-large members; the consolidated board structure is designed to maintain technical expertise while reducing duplicative meetings and staff resources. Jones said staff also planned to update municipal-code references, revise the city's processing procedures document for clarity, and preserve compliance with the Secretary of the Interior's standards and the state Certified Local Government (CLG) eligibility criteria.
Why it matters: Homeowner…
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