Council approves Perkins St. project

A nine-unit condominium complex on Perkins Street that failed to win Sonoma Planning Commission support on a 3–3 vote in April was approved 3–2 by the City Council at its first July session.
Napa property owners Robert and Sara Pursell had appealed the Planning Commission’s decision due to the split vote as well as disagreements over parking exceptions, sewer and water issues and consistency with the city’s General Plan. A public hearing was held at the council’s June 4 meeting, but the decision was continued to July 2, since Councilmember Steve Barbose’s absence might have produced a second split vote and because his colleagues wanted Barbose’s input as a former planning commissioner.
The project currently calls for a three-story building on two empty parcels totaling nearly a half-acre at the northwest corner of Perkins Street and Second Street West, mostly fronting the latter and connected to Perkins Street via private drive. It first entered the development pipeline in October 2007 with a Planning Commission public hearing, and changes suggested at that meeting were presented in April – including an architectural revision that cut down on the building’s “massing,” or apparent size, through the use of balconies, porches and staggered exterior walls. The nine units range from nearly 1,500 to just over 2,100 square feet.
After much discussion, Barbose and fellow Councilmembers Stanley Cohen and Ken Brown voted to uphold the Pursells’ appeal and approve the project with slight modifications to parking, a buffer wall separating the project’s trash enclosure from an adjacent western property, and increased adherence to the “Build It Green” program – a California nonprofit organization promoting healthy and environment-friendly construction.
Mayor Joanne Sanders and Councilmember August Sebastiani voted against the project, with Sanders citing traffic and safety concerns, which she said could be heightened by the project’s density. Sebastiani echoed an unfavorable comparison by Bob Cannard to the Carneros Lofts project on First Street West, saying that the building was more reminiscent of Chicago than of Sonoma.
But Perkins Street resident Kathy Marcrum, while neither for nor against the project per se, praised the developers for their diligence in working with both neighbors and planning commissioners.
“Something’s going to be built there,” Marcrum said. “It might as well be this.”