Santa Rosa City Council cancels Tuesday meeting due to storm

Santa Rosa City Council’s Tuesday meeting was canceled as a result of incessant rainfall that may cause historic flooding in parts of Sonoma County.

Mayor Tom Schwedhelm called off the meeting, saying he wanted to avoid a situation in which people could be stranded at City Hall because of weather conditions.

“I don’t think it’s good practice to have public meetings when it’s going to continue to downpour,” Schwedhelm said.

Three cannabis dispensary appeals had been on tap for the council Tuesday.

A public hearing on the Planning Commission’s approval of the proposed BKind dispensary on Sonoma Avenue was rescheduled to March 12, the date of council’s next regular meeting.

Santa Rosa City Schools had appealed the commission’s approval because of BKind’s proximity to the Santa Rosa French-American Charter School 685 feet east of the ?proposed dispensary.

The dispensary would comply with the city’s prescribed 600-foot boundary between cannabis stores and elementary and high schools, but local school officials want a buffer of 1,000 feet.

Santa Rosa City Schools had requested the council postpone taking up Bkind’s proposal for the pot dispendary if it had gone through with Tuesday’s meeting because school district staff members were busy monitoring the storm, Schwedhelm said.

The two other cannabis business appeals and a discussion about the city transitioning to a entire fleet of electric buses also were set to go before the council Tuesday.

Those items could be heard at the March 12 meeting or postponed to a later date. The council also has meetings scheduled for March 26 and April 2.

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @wsreports.