Rohnert Park to move ahead with selling properties

The Rohnert Park City Council on Tuesday directed staff to move forward with selling four city-owned properties now earmarked for affordable housing.

The sale proceeds would be used to pay off the redevelopment bonds used to finance the purchase of the buildings, which include the former city hall.

That means the buildings, which because they were brought with redevelopment money could only be developed as low- and moderate-income housing, can now be turned into market-rate housing.

In 2011, the state eliminated redevelopment agencies and the city lost the financial means to start or operate housing projects.

The sale, City Manager Darrin Jenkins said, will allow the city to reap property taxes and increase the city's housing stock. "It really sharpens the the focus of what we need to be doing ... to survive as an organization and better serve our citizens," he said.

Council member Jake Mackenzie recalled a plan to move forward on developing the buildings into affordable housing that he had supported but that the council in 2009 stopped.

"That remains a disappointment to this day, but events have overtaken us and I would agree this is wise," he said.