Petaluma schedules special meeting on saving water

Petaluma city leaders will discuss ways to cut water use in a special meeting set for April 27, avoiding for now talks of an emergency building moratorium.

Two City Council members had asked to have a discussion Monday on a possible temporary building moratorium in light of the continued drought.

But the item was shot down before it could come to any formal action, with other council members saying they wanted to discuss other conservation measures instead of a freeze in development.

Mayor David Glass agreed, saying that his goal in raising the issue was water savings, not a building moratorium.

“The discussion is more broad-based than perhaps a temporary moratorium,” he said.

He said he welcomed community input, including from the construction industry, to help the council craft policies to reduce water consumption and recycle water wherever possible.

Water agencies throughout the state last year were asked to seek 20 percent voluntary water-use reductions from their customers. Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown signed an executive order mandating 25 percent reductions from 2013 levels, saying the drought had reached critical levels.

Petaluma water customers reduced their average usage from 149 gallons per day in 2013 to ?125 gallons a day in September, a 16 percent decrease.

Petaluma became the first Sonoma County city to broach the thorny issue of ordering a moratorium on development in response to the current drought. The council’s decision to back off that idea and broaden the discussion to include other options highlights the clashing goals of building much-needed affordable housing and rental units while not over-tapping water resources, while at the same time supporting the economic recovery with jobs and worker housing.

In February, faced with 2014 numbers showing the slowest home-building activity in more than four decades countywide, business and civic leaders began calling for action on home-building.

Without more housing, they warned, local companies will have trouble hiring new employees, the economy will suffer and lower-income workers will find it increasingly difficult to remain in Sonoma County.

The North Bay Leadership Council will host a housing summit in May at the Petaluma Sheraton.

Last year, city and county building officials issued 251 permits for new single-family homes - the lowest total in at least ?45 years and well below the average of 1,900 single-family homes built in Sonoma County yearly in the two decades before residential construction tanked in 2008.

Over the weekend, trade unions and others whose work is related to building weighed in with Petaluma leaders, urging them to hold off on talks of a moratorium.

The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners said a moratorium would do little to conserve water while hurting local construction jobs.

Michael Cook, president of a Petaluma planning and landscape architecture firm, called Glass and Councilwoman Teresa Barrett’s action a political calculation to stop development.

“No matter how much drought we have, our communities need construction,” he wrote in an email to the city.

“The reputation that this will give Petaluma is enough for us to consider relocating our business out of Petaluma,” he wrote. “This is a political move that I do not agree with and feel will get our community the wrong reputation.”

Architect Brent Russell called a moratorium “a crude and simplistic response to the issue of water usage. … A blanket moratorium does not constitute a well thought-out approach.”

He suggested using building fees to pay for water conservation programs and longer-term solutions.

The North Coast Builders Exchange offered to work with the city on new water conservation policies, which Glass said was a positive step.

“That is exactly what I hope comes out of this, a proactive discussion about how everyone can look for ways to save more water,” he said.

The council agreed on a 6 p.m. special meeting April 27 to discuss the issue and accept public comment and analyses from city staff on various options.

You can reach Lori A. ?Carter at 521-5470 or lori.carter?@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @loriacarter.