Santa Rosa Council reviews draft South Santa Rosa plan as residents demand anti-displacement protections

Planners told the Santa Rosa City Council on Aug. 18 that the draft preferred alternative for the South Santa Rosa Specific Plan centers higher-density housing and mixed-use development along Santa Rosa Avenue while keeping industrial uses to the west.

"This presentation is focused on the draft preferred land use and circulation alternative for the South Santa Rosa specific plan," said Amy Nicholson, a supervising planner on the project, who framed the council’s decision as whether to move the preferred alternative into policy development. Senior Planner Connor McKay walked the council through the outreach to date and the three earlier alternatives that informed the draft preferred option.

Staff said the plan anticipates roughly 6,300 new residential units and about 3 million square feet of nonresidential construction at full buildout — a multi-decade projection — and includes transportation improvements such as improved Highway 101 crossings and a creek-side multimodal greenway. McKay described the preferred alternative as combining a mixed-use center on Santa Rosa Avenue with higher-density housing near the Costco/shopping center area and preserving 17 mobile-home parks from rezoning.

Council members pressed staff on civic engagement, infrastructure funding and how the plan will protect existing residents. Council Member Alvarez asked about outreach, and McKay and Nicholson pointed to workshops, tabling and recent study sessions. Council members and staff repeatedly said formal anti-displacement policies, tenant protections and mobile-home preservation measures will be developed in the next policy phase.

Public comment at the meeting was dominated by mobile-home residents and tenant advocates calling for legal protections. "Residents of Western and Plaza mobile home parks are primarily immigrant and Spanish-speaking families, veterans, survivors of domestic abuse, single mothers, people living with disabilities, and elders living on fixed incomes," said tenant organizer Lena Blanco during public comment, urging baseline anti-displacement protections.

Staff told the council that the traffic and infrastructure analyses associated with the plan will be prepared as part of the environmental review and that policy proposals — including tenant protections, anti-displacement measures and possible zoning refinements for mobile-home parks — will be brought back for study sessions and formal public hearings later this fall and next year. The council gave staff direction to continue coordination with Sonoma County, which controls much of the plan area, and to return with draft policies and funding strategies for infrastructure and displacement protections.