Larry Barnett lives in Sonoma where he was elected to three terms on the City Council and served twice as Mayor. A thirty-three-year resident, he currently serves as Chair of Sonoma's Planning Commission. He has been married for 48 years, has two daughters and three grandchildren.
How it works: City of Sonoma’s Planning Commission
Land use law, the rules governing the development and uses of property within the city limits – both public and private – is administered by Sonoma’s Planning Commission. The commission members are all appointees of the City’s five City Council Members. Each Council Member selects one Planning Commissioner, and the council majority selects two “at large” commissioners.
The commission’s task is to consider land use applications and use permits in light of the rules and regulations of the city’s General Plan and Development Code. The General Plan and Development Code together set forth aspirations, a vision of development goals, and specific land use policies and regulations within the city for a period of 20 years. After adoption, the General Plan is reviewed and updated in 10 years; its Housing Element, which deals with zoning and housing goal implementation, is updated every eight years, and is in the update process right now.
In applying the rules, the Planning Commission must stay within the confines of the law, while recognizing that variances and exceptions must occasionally be made. Commission and city staff review the pertinent regulations governing a parcel: the zoning, parking, building limits, density, and so forth. Findings that the application does or does not conflict with any regulations must be made as a formal part of the commission’s approval or denial.
Recent California law now requires that land use regulations and the evaluation of development applications be based upon objective language, words, and usage with meanings not subject to interpretation. The practical effect of this new mandate is that Sonoma’s Planning Commission can no longer use subjective criteria, such as “compatibility” in approving or disapproving an application. Moreover, ambiguous and subjective words in the Development Code such as “should” or “appropriate” must be replaced with “shall” and quantifiable standards.
In significant ways, the regulatory discretion of the Planning Commission and the City of Sonoma as a whole over land use and housing has been lessened by the state. While this simplifies the evaluation process, it also eliminates nuance in decision-making. Matters of aesthetics, for example, are notoriously difficult to objectify. Notably, while presumably intended to mitigate California’s housing crunch, the new state housing laws mandate no affordability standards, no minimum number of affordable housing units that must be built, and no price controls. Those land use policies remain within the purview of the Sonoma City Council.
Typically, matters coming before the Planning Commission are (a) certain changes of use on a parcel requiring a use permit, (b) housing developments of over four units, (c) requests for variances, such as fence height, and (d) study sessions where no decision is made but provides the opportunity to discuss a possible development. The public is always welcome to attend all meetings of the commission, and to comment on all its agenda items. Members of the public may also address the commission on matters not appearing on the agenda. Meetings take place on the third Thursday of each month.
At present, the city is engaged in the process of revising and rewriting its Development Code to conform with state dictates, but until that process is complete Planning Commission deliberations will not be as straight-forward as the public might anticipate. Notably, other new state law limits the total number of public meetings allowed for the consideration of an application to five, including an appeal to the City Council.
In the case of very large project proposals, this “streamlining” compresses the commission and public’s evaluation into an artificially short time period.
Appeals of Planning Commission decisions can be made to the City Council by any member of the community or without prejudice by any member of the City Council. Appeals must be made within 15 calendar days of the decision, and require payment of an appeal fee of $500 for residents of the city, and $1,000 for non-residents. No fee is required of Council member appeals.
Larry Barnett is Vice-Chair of Sonoma’s Planning Commission.
