Sonoma County embraces denser urban developments

Sonoma County supervisors unanimously approved Tuesday a slate of policy changes intended to pave the way for new types of housing, encourage the construction of smaller, more affordable units and help simplify development in certain areas after last year’s wildfires destroyed more than 5,300 homes.

The policy revisions, which only apply to urban areas where sewers are available, created a category for so-called cottage housing, or clusters of smaller units intended to provide options for people who earn too much to qualify for low-income housing but can’t afford ?market-rate units. It also created the possibility for building housing in some business and industrial districts, allowing workers to live close to jobs or transit hubs.

The board also altered the county’s policy for how density is assigned to each housing unit in certain zones. That allows for smaller units that can be rented at lower prices, such as micro-apartments under ?500 square feet and one- to two-bedroom apartments, to count as a fraction of a unit. Previously, the code allowed a single unit to be any size, making it more attractive for developers to build larger units that generate higher rents.

Now, in an area where ?10 units are allowed, a developer could choose to build 10 three-?bedrooms units, 15 one-bedroom units or 30 micro-apartments.

“The county has moved out of the single-family residential paradigm that has unintentionally locked us into low-density development for generations,” Permit Sonoma Director Tennis Wick said. “We’ve really aligned our policy with our values here.”

The policy change impacts 82 vacant parcels in Larkfield, Geyserville, Guerneville and the Sonoma Valley. Housing fees have already been adjusted to a graduated scale to provide incentives for smaller units, and the county is studying changing its fees for utility connections and to offset impacts on parks and roads, Wick said. Putting those flat fees on a graduated scale rather than charging on a per-unit basis could boost the development of smaller units, he said.

Tuesday’s policy changes also unlocked the potential for clusters of cottage homes in several unincorporated areas of the county, including nearly ?200 vacant parcels in west Sonoma County and about ?45 in Glen Ellen. Before, building such housing would have required a costly rezoning process, Wick said. The cumulative size of cottages is limited to 2,700 square feet or about the size of a larger single-family home. Each cottage would be around 900 square feet or less.

“(Cottage housing) is something that has a tremendous amount of appeal - people see a dramatic need for workforce housing, and for me, it’s about creating the diversity in housing stock, and that’s something we don’t have out in Forestville, Guerneville or Graton,” Supervisor Lynda Hopkins said, lauding the overall approach. “This will open up more opportunity for folks. We have so many people who are trying to cram into spare bedrooms or living in an RV on someone’s property.”

About 700 parcels would have also been eligible in burned areas of Larkfield-Wikiup, but Supervisor James Gore backed a five-year moratorium on cottages there. About ?60 percent of the lots there are on the market, he said, expressing concern that developers might snap up the land to build clustered housing.

“That community would be rebuilding in a significantly different way before and a lot of those lots could be cottages,” he said.

Supervisor Susan Gorin said the cottage policy didn’t go far enough to meet the needs in her district and asked that other options be studied.

In addition, the creation of a new workforce housing zone allows developers and property owners in select areas around the county to request that industrial or business parcels be rezoned to allow for the inclusion of housing, a process that would require an environmental review and public hearings.

Teri Shore, the Greenbelt Alliance’s North Bay regional director, said her group would have preferred such zoning changes to have been considered as part of a general plan update with more study, including looking at the need for more commercial space and the distance from schools and services

The board also approved amendments that provide additional protection to mobile home park residents and other renters, including mandating that adequate replacement housing is available before a use permit is granted for the closure or conversion of a mobile home park to another use. It also created a uniform set of standards for all multi-family developments. The changes take affect Nov. 22.

Brian Ling, executive director of the Sonoma County Alliance, praised the polices.

“Talk about kicking the can down the road for way too long,” he said. “Let’s take these and get them going.”

Editor’s note: A previous version of the story provided the incorrect title for Teri Shore, the Greenbelt Alliance’s North Bay regional director.