'Community impact' considered for Healdsburg projects

<p>Two Healdsburg City Council members, eager to get a better assessment of the economic effects a large-scale development can bring, are embracing the concept of a “community impact report” for proposed projects.</p><p>But other council members are concerned such a requirement would add to the red tape that development projects already face.</p><p>Council members Jim Wood and Mike McGuire support the idea of requiring the reports to better disclose impacts to schools and medical services, as well as the number of jobs, wages and benefits created by a project.</p><p>They said they want to avoid a repeat of the lengthy and sometimes frustrating process that surrounded approval of the controversial Saggio Hills resort hotel and get an early picture of a large project's impacts.</p><p>“At times, there was information you'd like to have had, but getting that information was like pulling teeth,” Wood said of Saggio Hills. He and McGuire both voted for the project, which was approved a year ago, but is now the subject of a pending court challenge.</p><p>A community report, envisioned as being brief and in the early stages of the process, might also examine the impacts to police and fire services and affordable housing.</p><p>But to council member Gary Plass, it would add another layer of bureaucracy and a way for opponents to bring pressure on the City Council to block a development before all the information is known.</p><p>“I'm all for information to help us and for planning — to make a decision that's right for the community,“ Plass said. “I don't see that it's necessary to create another report, when what they're asking for can easily be inserted in our process now and easily considered on a case-by-case basis.”</p><p>The City Council has scheduled a study session for Nov. 30 to study the issue.</p><p>Supporters say the community impact report is intended to be informational, without the clout of an environmental impact report, nor something that would be subject to litigation.</p><p>The cumbersome environmental process mandated by law, does not always produce the desired information soon enough, they say.</p><p>A community impact report might be less than 30 pages long and take less than 60 days to produce, according to advocates. A consultant chosen by the city would prepare the report and it would be paid for by project proponents.</p><p>Councilman Tom Chambers said he'd like more information before embracing the idea and also determining whether the current development process is adequate.</p><p>“I'm not in favor at this point of just jumping in to let's go have another study that's going to cost somebody some money, whether it's the developer or citizens,” Chambers said.</p><p>Critics fear such a report would make it tougher to get a project approved, but that it's really intended to advance the agendas of unions and labor advocates.</p><p>They note that advocates of a “living wage,” which calls for an hourly wage considered a minimum to living in Sonoma County, have been involved with about a dozen people who began meeting early this year in Healdsburg to promote Community Impact Reports.</p><p>Healdsburg attorney Gail Jonas, who heads up Community First, said her group is using the expertise of the Living Wage Coalition and its experience in helping to establishing CIRs in places like Petaluma, not necessarily embracing its goals.</p><p>“We have repeatedly, in our group, made it clear this is not a living wage, or union effort,” she said. “We want sustainable development, smart and equitable development.”</p><p>Supporters of the reports say they are just as likely to make it easier for developers, because they will know what the community wants and expects from a project early on.</p><p>In other cities that have adopted some form of the approach, including San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego, they typically grew out of concern over “big box” developments and their economic impact on the community and existing businesses.</p><p>But Healdsburg does not have any big box proposals on the horizon, and the large future developments are expected to be for the hotel/hospitality industry, or mixed commercial and residential projects.</p><p>Advocates of the community reports say they are not intended as a tool to kill development, nor are they anti-business.</p><p>“The Community Impact Report is not a bogey man to business. In fact, it protects our local and mom-and-pop businesses,” McGuire said Wednesday.</p><p>“It isn't a burden on business. It's doing our homework, so the quality of life we've expected in Healdsburg will continue on for decades to come.”</p><p>“This is about transparency and being fiscally responsible and being committed to smart development standards,” he said.</p>