PD Editorial: Can Sonoma County close a Chanate deal?

The wrecking ball can't arrive soon enough at the abandoned hospital complex on Chanate Road in Santa Rosa.

Demolishing the dilapidated buildings, now tagged with graffiti and stripped of their copper wire by vandals, would mark the first progress since Sonoma County reassumed control of the land five years ago, when Sutter Health left the old county hospital for its new medical center off Mark West Springs Road.

The county's first attempt to sell the property was scuttled last year after neighbors prevailed in litigation. Another potential buyer dropped out last week as reports surfaced that supervisors were considering the site for a new county administration center. One more bidder dropped out Tuesday, with a scathing letter read aloud during a Board of Supervisors meeting.

Afterward, the board decided to tear down at least some of the empty buildings.

Can the county salvage its plan to sell the 72 acres for redevelopment as affordable housing?

There isn't a lot of reason for confidence, but one bidder remains.

EAH Housing, a nonprofit corporation based in San Rafael that builds and manages affordable housing units in California and Hawaii, made two offers for the Chanate Road property. One is for about $4 million, and involves the company tearing down the buildings. The other offers up to $11.6 million and is contingent upon city of Santa Rosa approval of 466 housing units, including 112 permanently affordable apartments.

The offers worry supervisors and county staff, Staff Writer Tyler Silvy reported, because of the reliance on local competitive housing funds to match state funding.

There's another reason to be wary: The county's prior arrangement to sell the property also was contingent on city approval of housing units. Neighbors sued, contending the county had to complete an environmental impact report before agreeing to the sale, and they prevailed in court. Presumably, the same requirement would apply to the EAH proposal, which means more time and more cost.

The supervisors nevertheless agreed to start negotiations with EAH housing anyway. It was that or ask for a third round of bids.

A transition to housing on this site still makes sense, much more than busy county offices, and it would help fill a desperate need for Santa Rosa and Sonoma County. But after five years the obstacles are obvious. Perhaps the prospects for success would increase if the final plan has significantly fewer than the 860 units envisioned by the first bidder, and perhaps fewer than the 500 proposed by the second bidder, with more of the land left as open space.

In the meantime, bring on the demolition team.

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