Healdsburg's Saggio Hills project moving forward

More than seven years after it was first approved, work is set to begin this year on a five-star resort and luxury home development in northern Healdsburg that will also include a large park and affordable housing that the city is requiring.

Saggio Hills, a 130-room resort with 70 homes expected to sell at more than $2 million each, also could include up to 150 affordable “workforce housing” units on a 14-acre site that the developer is required to deed to the city.

“The developer will make money,” said Mayor Tom Chambers, but “there are a lot of good things the city is getting out of it.”

He lauded a previous City Council for “driving a hard bargain” to make sure the project’s developer provides land for affordable housing, a fire station and a 36-acre public park with a playground, pavilion, hiking trails and athletic fields.

The developer, Robert S. Green Jr. of Encinitas, gave the city official notice last week that he was going forward with Saggio Hills, indicating that he has secured financing and is ready to apply for the final approval to begin building.

“The clock starts ticking, “ said City Manager David Mickaelian, describing how Green will be required to meet various deadlines to transfer portions of land to the city, along with paying almost $6 million to subsidize the affordable housing, park and substation for the fire department.

Green last month characterized the planned resort as a premier Wine Country destination, set to compete with some of the swankiest properties in Napa County.

Saggio Hills, planned on a portion of the former Passalacqua Ranch, was the subject of debate and scrutiny in more than two dozen hearings over a couple of years before eventually winning approval in 2008, just as the economy stalled.

Backers touted the hotel bed taxes and sales taxes the project would generate, along with the public benefits it would bring.

But opponents worried the development would lead to further erosion of Healdsburg’s small-town character and said the planned “mega-mansions” would suck up water and provide little benefit for locals.

The project had its environmental impact report challenged in court. The council was ordered to address some inadequacies in the EIR and held more public hearings, eventually re-approving the document in 2011.

The development agreement calls for Green to convey land to the city for the construction of up to 150 affordable housing units, along with 36 acres for a public park and another site for a fire station.

The agreement does not require the developer to build those amenities. But Green and his partners will grade the affordable housing site, build the entry road and major infrastructure to serve it.

The developer is also required to pay $1 million for planning the affordable housing.

On Monday, Councilwoman Brigitte Mansell questioned the location of the affordable housing site, saying it would be better if it were located closer to Healdsburg Avenue and public transit.

But Councilman Gary Plass, who was on the council when Saggio Hills was approved, said workforce housing residents would not likely be considered “very low income” and would probably have their own vehicles. Another workforce housing development, on Palomino Court, is in the same area, he pointed out.

In addition to the affordable-housing payment, the developer will pay $3 million toward the park’s design and development, expected to take 24 to 30 months.

Another $1.75 million will go toward the firehouse, which will house three firefighters, a brush truck and another firefighting vehicle.

The station, with access off Healdsburg Avenue, is supposed to be completed before the resort opens, possibly in 2017. Interim Fire Chief Jason Boaz said the substation will serve as a backup when the city’s main station is compromised. That station flooded in December 2014.

Green could not be reached for comment late Monday but previously indicated the resort and an intial phase of 25 homes could be complete by the end of 2017, under the most aggressive timeline.

The city will conduct a community outreach effort before selecting a developer for the project’s affordable housing, which could be completed in three or four years.

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