Susan Miller
News Staff
On Monday evening, March 23 from 5-6:30 p.m. at the East Recreation Center, the City of Santa Rosa hosted and facilitated a Neighborhood Meeting on the topic of the Southeast Santa Rosa Senior Housing Community (formerly known as “Elnoka”). This meeting was very well attended and was available on Zoom for those who could not attend in person. No decisions were made at the meeting; it was for information sharing only.
The meeting in fact did not adjourn until 6:30 p.m. due to all of the questions and comments from the audience. Note that questions were not able to be received via Zoom; only those present could participate. The Project Planner is Kristinae Toomians, a Senior Planner with the City of Santa Rosa, who gave the City Staff Presentation. Several other members from the City were also present, including representatives of the Fire Department, and engineers from various departments.
Several other members from the City were also present, including Serena Lienau, the meeting facilitator and an Administrative Service Officer, Madeline Brown, Administrative Analyst, Tara Corrales, Senior Administrative Assistant, Gabe Osburn, Director of Planning & Economic Development, Paul Lowenthal, Division Chief Fire Marshal, Torina Wilson, Transportation Planner, Flannery Banks, Supervising Engineer, and Monet Sheikhali, Supervising Planner.
The Applicant Presentation was given by Vin Smith, the president of VCS Consulting on behalf of Burbank Housing. The project includes 69 acres along Highway 12 and would involve 275 homes for seniors aged 55 and up. According to the proposal, there will be a mix of housing types, including multi-family affordable housing units that Burbank Housing will build. The rest of the planned development is slated for single family houses, for which Burbank is expected to engage other developers. About 34 of the 69 acres will be developed for housing, leaving the open space and trails. An Emergency Vehicle Access Road, which the City will maintain, and which the Fire Department will control, will be constructed at the beginning of the project development. It will have a gate and will not be used for regular traffic. In an emergency, the Fire Department will determine if it is needed for fire trucks or for evacuation purposes.
Issues which need to be addressed in the planning stages include traffic, emergency response, buffers and setbacks, recreation and the environment. The City of Santa Rosa adopted their General Plan a year and a half ago and this new proposal meets the General Plan requirements.
Members of the community present included both Oakmont residents and those from the wider community including the Melita area. Questions and comments began promptly at 5:30 p.m. Concerns centered on the issues of traffic, evacuation, fire safety, the decision to build additional houses in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), increased insurance costs, preserving wildlife and wetlands, a buffer for homes on Stone Bridge Road and the Community Garden, and water use. The Traffic Engineer present stressed that CalTrans controls Highway 12 so they are in charge of additional traffic lights, not the City of Santa Rosa.
The meeting allowed for attendees to express their opinions, most of which focused on evacuation and traffic. Attached are the City Staff Presentation and the Applicant Presentation, along with a website where additional information can be reviewed. On the website there is an option to sign up for updates concerning this project as well.
• City Staff Presentation: Staff Presentation.pptx
• Applicant Presentation: Applicant Presentation.pptx
Additional project information, including plans and documents are available on the City’s project webpage: www.srcity.org/2568/Elnoka-Senior-Community