Seven candidates vie for three seats on Petaluma City Council
Three seats are open on the Petaluma City Council this year, and with two incumbents out of the fray and a separate race for mayor, voters will have a significant role in shaping the political landscape of Sonoma County’s second-largest city.
Seven registered Democrats are vying for those three seats, including six contenders who have never before run for elected office and incumbent City Councilman Dave King, who was elected in 2014. Councilwoman Teresa Barrett’s seat is open because she is running for mayor, and veteran City Councilman Chris Albertson is not seeking reelection.
City finances, road repairs, traffic, public safety and cannabis policy are among the issues at the forefront of discussions, but affordable housing is a rallying cry for all candidates. While all contenders place a high priority on creating housing for workers, seniors and families, their opinions vary significantly on how to make it a reality.
Petaluma saw its already-tight housing market constrict further after the October 2017 firestorm wiped out almost 5,300 homes in surrounding communities. Just over 2 percent of the 3,136 rental units in Petaluma’s major apartment complexes were vacant in April, a number the city’s housing administrator doesn’t expect will greatly change in this month’s survey.
Of the 2,161 housing units in various stages of development, only 75 are below-market rate. The City Council last month approved new rules that require developers of housing projects with five or more units to dedicate 15 percent of the units as affordable. Alternatively, developers can petition the City Council to allow them to pay a fee equivalent to the cost of building 20 percent affordable housing units, an increase in fees expected to spur on-site development.
Meanwhile, the median price for a single-family home on the city’s east side in August was $683,000, up from $651,550 a year earlier. On the west side, the median home price is $850,000, up from $778,500 the previous year.
The city is hundreds of units behind its regional allocations for affordable housing. The 2012 loss of state redevelopment funds, which kept portions of property tax generated in the city to use for development, eliminated key funding and left the city’s budget for such projects lean.
“If you don’t (build affordable housing), people that are going to be working in Petaluma are coming in from somewhere else. That even further congests the freeway,” said King, a 61-year-old employment lawyer. “It’s important to have people live and work in the same community.”
His top priorities include creating affordable housing, resolving traffic snarls and improving road conditions. He voted to approve the city’s new affordable housing policy, and highlighted his vote in favor of loosening restrictions on accessory dwelling units, or granny units built alongside existing homes.
He’s in favor of a “grow slowly” approach, holding public meetings to explore density bonuses to sweeten the pot for developers to build a greater number of smaller units and explore allowing higher buildings in select areas of the city.
Candidate Dennis Pocekay, a retired physician whose top priorities include affordable housing, balancing the budget and providing traffic relief, said he would seek grants from foundations to boost the development of below market-rate housing. He said he would propose a bond that would in part provide dollars for affordable housing and assist in leveraging state and federal money.
He sees further opportunities to fund housing in allowing cannabis dispensaries and exploring an increase in the tax charged to overnight visitors. A streamlined process for developers is key, though he was not able to provide specifics about how to execute such a plan. Incentives for developers who choose to build more than the required amount of affordable units is also an option, he said.
“We have this affordable housing crisis,” said Pocekay, 69. “There’s something wrong with a system in which two people can be working full-time for minimum wage and not be able to find a roof.”
Candidate Robert Conklin, who works in municipal fleet maintenance for the city and county of San Francisco, frames road conditions, affordable housing and the Rainier crosstown connector as his top priorities. He said he would first seek to provide more affordable housing for seniors to free up other housing stock.
He proposed moving the police station and city hall facilities to the fairgrounds and working with nonprofit developers to create walkable housing on that city-owned land. He would like to explore a program that gives Petaluma natives or longtime residents a way to opt in to a deferred down payment plan for homes, which he said could be accomplished by working with developers.
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