Santa Rosa seeking citizens to advise on Roseland annexation

Santa Rosa is recruiting people with a stake in the annexation of Roseland to be part of the steering committee guiding the multi-year unification process.

A diverse group of residents, business owners and property owners from all walks of life and from each of the five areas in line for annexation is being sought for the committee.

Twenty to 30 people will likely be selected to ensure a cross section of the community is represented.

The city is working with a consultant to put together a list of potential candidates and to interview them about their community ties, ability to get the word out to others and ideas about the future of Roseland.

A number of people have expressed interest in the annexation process, but finding folks willing to make the time commitment needed to serve on the steering committee is proving challenging, said city planner Jessica Jones.

Committee members will be required to attend about a dozen meetings over the course of 20 months.

'It just takes time to do the due-diligence and reach out to people,' Jones said.

City officials have reached out to schools, religious organizations, neighborhood groups, council members and county officials to ensure they've identified the widest possible array of community leaders, Jones said.

After about six weeks of work, 13 people have agreed to serve on the panel. A consultant, Steve Cancian, will continue interviewing candidates in the coming weeks, Jones said. The goal is to have a list of proposed members ready to present to the City Council for confirmation at its April 7 meeting, Jones said.

Committee members will still be able to be added after April 7 as necessary, she said.

City officials declined to name any of the 13 people who have agreed to serve. Assistant City Manager Chuck Regalia said he wanted the council to see the names first.

The steering committee is the heart of the city's strategy for engaging with the Roseland community in an 'open, inclusive process that engages a representative cross section of area residents and stakeholders,' according to city's plan.

The committee is meant to represent those with interests in the process and to serve as their voice.

About 6,400 people live in the 620-acre unincorporated area of Roseland, while another nearly 600 live in smaller county pockets around Brittain Lane, Victoria Drive, West Hearn Avenue and West Third Street.

Efforts to annex Roseland gained steam in 2007, stalled in 2008 amid a dispute between the city and the county over costs, and gained new momentum following the Oct. 2013 death of Andy Lopez, who was killed by a sheriff's deputy on just outside city limits while the boy carried an airsoft gun closely resembling an assault rifle.

The county pressed for Lopez's Moorland Avenue neighborhood south of city limits to be annexed along with Roseland, but the city has decided to focus on annexing its unincorporated islands for now.

In addition to the areas up for annexation, there are thousands of other residents who live in the greater Roseland area being studied as part of a land-use planning process.

This 1,800-acre study area is bounded roughly by Highway 12 to the north, Highway 101 to the east, Stony Point Road to the west and Hearn Avenue to the south.

The planning process aims to create a cohesive community vision for the future of the area, with an eye toward improving transportation options for residents. The 'specific plan' being studied is funded in part by a $647,000 grant from the Sonoma County Transportation Authority.

The money is part of $1.4 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to help fund planning for growth around Bay Area transit hubs. The goal is to focus future housing and job growth around such 'planned development areas' to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Because both the annexation and planning efforts would take significant public outreach, the city decided to merge them into a single effort.

The city is working hard to ensure steering committee members and as many members of the public as possible can participate.

The public meetings will be held in the Roseland area in the evenings, to accommodate people's work schedules. There will also be food and child care provided at the meetings, and materials will be published in English and Spanish, Jones said.

Even so, the city is asking a lot of the steering committee members. Over the course of 20 months, they need to be willing to attend four steering committee meetings, four public workshops, one or two optional pop-up workshops, and four to five planning and City Council meetings.

Finding the right geographic balance could also prove delicate. They city hopes that 75 percent of the steering committee members will be residents of the annexation and planning areas.

While there is 'quite a bit of interest' from residents in the annexation areas, so far there has been less from surrounding areas that are already part of the city, such as south of Hearn Avenue, Jones said.

People from outside the annexation or greater Roseland area may still have a role on the steering committee because some community leaders, property owners or members of interest groups may also have a legitimate interest in the guiding the annexation and planning process, Regalia said.

For information on getting involved in the committee, click here.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.