HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 4.A 03/18/2019 Late Doc 2Home building, rebuilding set to accelerate, Sonoma County officials say Page 1 of 5
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CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO & CHERYL SARFATY
NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL I February 25, 2019
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As work progresses toward replenishing the more than 5,300 homes lost in the
2017 North Bay wildfires, builders and government officials in Sonoma County
also are developing plans for new housing to ease the ongoing shortage.
Even before the fires, there already had been a decades -long slowdown in
housing construction because of the economy and real estate development
challenges. That led to a shortfall of about 30,000 homes just in Sonoma County
after the wildfires, according to a county report.
Sonoma County reported that, so far, 42 rebuilds have taken place in the
unincorporated areas and 633 are under construction.
On the permits front, Sonoma County has made progress in eliminating red tape -
to allow building projects to go forward, Tennis Wick, director of Permit Sonoma, -
said in the Feb. 19 Sonoma State University Economic Outlook Conference and
Housing Summit, hosted by the Business journal.
"It's been a banner year," Wick said, noting his agency had issued more permits
overall in 2018 than in any past year. Permit Sonoma statistics show the agency
issued 9,978 permits in 2018 versus 8,543 in 2017 and 8,241 in 2016.
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Home building, rebuilding set to accelerate, Sonoma County officials say Page 2 of 5
Wick said efforts to more efficiently complete environmental reviews to comply
with the California Environmental Quality Act had been instrumental in avoiding
delays.
"We're trying to take the CEQA equation out," Wick said, noting environmental
reviews, when required, were always done ahead of permitting and building to
ensure projects would not hit environmental protection snags after construction
had already begun.
Permits for constructing accessory dwelling units, or "granny units," built on
existing home properties has become an "over-the-counter" process Wick said,
making it easier for homeowners who want to expand on their existing property.
According to Permit Sonoma, the county has reduced development -impact fees
for the units on a -graduated scale effectivejune 7, waiving traffic and parking
mitigation fees for units smaller than 750 square feet and reducing them by half
for units between 751 square feet to 1,000 square feet. Units over 1,000 square
feet would require the full cost of fees.
Asked what the ideal housing scenario in Sonoma County looks like, Wick said the
optimal benchmark would be "people aren't spending more than 30 percent of
their income on housing."
Wick said another post -fires challenge facing developers continues to be the price
of housing materials, including soft woods, much of which are supplied by British
Columbia.
"I don't think costs are going to come down any time soon and return to the levels
that we saw before the (2017) fires," Wick said, noting competition for labor and
materials from other fire -ravaged regions in California.
New building materials and technologies like hybrid core and panelized walls -
could help offset those costs, Wick added.
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Home building, rebuilding set to accelerate, Sonoma County officials say Page 3 of 5
"The market is responding but I think whatever cost savings we see will come
from innovation and technology," he said.
On the city level, building efforts continue to move forward.
Inside Santa Rosa city limits, 164 rebuilds are complete out of nearly 1,500 lost.
Under construction are 1,023 rebuilds. There have been 191 permits issued, with
construction pending; and 336 are in the permit review process.
Santa Rosa houses one-third of Sonoma County's population and was the
epicenter of the 2017 Tubbs fire, said David Guhin, assistant city manager and
director of planning and economic development for the City of Santa Rosa.
Guhin said city officials are in the process of gathering information in an effort to
re -envision downtown Santa Rosa.
Santa Rosa's City Council has been moving ahead with a series of actions,
including lowering fees charged to builders, to speed the production of
multifamily housing in the downtown area, now with a renovated transit center
and a reunited Old Courthouse Square, according to the Press Democrat.
"We need people like our younger generation at Sonoma State who want to move
downtown," Guhin said. "We need people who want to retire from their single-
family homes to free up those homes for larger families to move downtown."
Employers also are getting involved in the discussions, he said, noting that Peter
Rumble, CEO of the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber, has helped create a housing
council made up of employers to discuss how they can work with developers to
build housing and see it come to fruition.
In addition, the city and County of Sonoma are working together to facilitate the
development of regional housing, he said.
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Guhin also said a fundamental shift needs to happen on how housing is
developed, and that means including people of all socioeconomic status.
He added that the shift must include avoiding Nimbyism — or "not in my
backyard," a characterization of residents' opposition to a proposed development
in their local area.
State Sen. Mike McGuire touched on Nimbyism when speaking with a group of
business leaders about affordable housing after the one-year anniversary of the
October 2017 fires.
"We need a change of culture in'our communities, one that accepts affordable
housing," McGuire said. "We may say we all support it now, but will we be willing
to accept it when it is built a half block from where we live? We have to accept this
change and work together."
Since the fires, nonprofit developer Burbank Housing has been busy building and
rebuilding affordable homes. At the summit, CEO Larry Florin discussed several of
Burbank's current projects in Santa Rosa, including the recently completed 79 -unit
Crossroads, which includes homes for people displaced by the fires, as well as for
formerly homeless people. In mid-February, the developer received final approval
from the planning commission to move forward with its 48 -unit Lantana Homes
project, expected to break ground in June or July.
But Burbank Housing's landmark project is journey's End, the mobile -home park
on 13.1 acres destroyed in the 2017 wildfires. Of the site's 204 mobile homes, 160
were destroyed and the remaining 44 were declared uninhabitable.
"Our plan is to reposition it, which will involve a complex set of local government
approvals, but ultimately, our vision is for 160 units of permanent affordable
housing and 300- to 400 units of market -rate housing on the site," Florin said. "I
think this can really be an iconic symbol for what rebuilding looks like in the real
world."
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