Healdsburg lumber mill plans to move, leaving development possibilities near city's downtown

A mill and lumberyard operation - one of the first sights to greet motorists driving into downtown Healdsburg - may vanish if the owners move forward with plans to relocate, leaving an opportunity to redevelop the 8-acre site.

The move by Nu Forest Products will open up a range of possibilities for reshaping Healdsburg’s key southern entrance and could help set in motion a sweeping vision plan for the area that was approved last year by the City Council.

“It’s the first domino,” City Manager David Mickaelian said Monday of the development activity the move could trigger. “We’ve been anticipating this for some time.”

Nu Forest Products has been eyeing a move out of Healdsburg for years, with the intent of relocating to Cloverdale and consolidating its two operations there.

On Monday, a company official said the plan is moving forward again, although the timing depends in part on obtaining the necessary government approvals.

“We would like to be up there by mid-year 2017,” said Sharmaine Ege, the company’s human resources director, who is leading the move to Cloverdale.

With Nu Forest gone from Healdsburg, it will leave a blank slate of sorts for what might be built in its place. The zoning allows for mixed use, which can include retail, offices, services, visitor accommodations or other uses possibly combined with residential development of up to ?16 units per acre.

“It’s a wonderful site, a great location, especially with improvements to the five-way (intersection), proximity to the train station, bus route, shopping and downtown,” said City Councilman Tom Chambers, who helped craft a broad plan for redeveloping the central Healdsburg area that was approved in January 2014 by the city.

The “Central Healdsburg Avenue Plan” was intended to put land-use policies in place with anticipated turnover in the area, including Nu Forest.

The plan provides design and development guidelines for public and private projects on 80 acres near the heart of Healdsburg. It also is meant to spur economic and residential development in the area, which is generally south of Mill Street, between Highway 101 and the Russian River.

Chambers said the Nu Forest site could be a great location for mixed use that includes moderate-priced housing or possibly an education component, such as a satellite campus for a university.

“I’m not sure another big hotel is the right model. It’d be nice to see something creative go in there,” he said.

But what ultimately is built will depend on what future owners of the property propose. City officials also said any project could hinge on whether the city’s growth management ordinance is modified, since it restricts the number of new housing units to 30 per year and is seen as an impediment to developing multi-unit housing.

Nu Forest has been in Healdsburg since 1982 and is a wholesale operation that does custom milling and manufactures siding, flooring, crown molding and other items.

Cedar, Douglas fir, redwood and pine are the mainstay woods the company uses for its raw material shipped from the northwest.

Most of it gets stored at Nu Forest’s storage yard at 280 Asti Road adjacent to Cloverdale city limits. It will be easier to consolidate all operations in Cloverdale, Ege said.

The company, with annual revenues of $35 million, has an office staff of about 20 and a production staff of approximately ?50 workers, according to a letter it submitted to the city of Cloverdale.

The company is also requesting that 27 acres of unincorporated land it owns off Asti Road be annexed to Cloverdale so that it can obtain water and sewer services for its expanded operation.

The annexation needs to be approved by the county Local Agency Formation Commission, as well as the city, which is open to the request.

Nu Forest is a wholesale operation, so few if any sales tax dollars are expected to be generated from the property, but Cloverdale officials still appear welcoming.

“I’m very happy to have them here. I think for Cloverdale, it’s good,” Mayor Bob Cox said Monday.

“There are several if not many of their current employees who live in Cloverdale. They don’t have to commute.”

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason?@pressdemocrat.com.