In an evening packed with significant agenda items, Sonoma’s City Council approved a homeless parking plan administered by homeless shelter SOS/The Haven at the police station parking lot. In addition, the council approved a list of 22 measures intended to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions in the City of Sonoma, extended the moratorium on new vacation rental permits, denied the application for street closures for a half-marathon event in July, effectively killing the event as proposed, completed and approved a 25-year lease of the Sebastiani Theater, and finalized the hiring of a new city manager.
The overnight parking plan for homeless living out of their cars was approved by a 4-1 vote (David Cook, dissenting) after a months-long examination of the pilot project, including hearings before the Planning Commission and Council. A lengthy Memorandum of Understanding was hammered out between city staff and SOS leadership covering all the conditions of approval and specifications for the four-month program. Police Chief Brett Sackett addressed a number of concerns on the part of the council, and reassured the panel that the measure as developed has his support.
Homelessness in the City of Sonoma is increasingly using the services of the Police in order to address some of its effects. The chief indicated that working with the homeless is less a matter of “law enforcement” than a nuanced process of social and behavioral responses to a mixed population of people. If anything, the chief indicated, the detailed provisions of the overnight parking plan should mean that the five participants who become part of the pilot program nightly should not add to the department’s workload. The program is now prepared to implement what will be a four month test, to be evaluated in March, 2017.
In other business, the council’s approval of the GHG reduction measures puts the city in the lead in Sonoma County, where its Climate Action 2020 plan has been stalled due to litigation challenging some of its underlying assumptions as inadequate. Sonoma is the first city to move ahead with its GHG reduction plan, and is not constrained by the legal process taking place in the county. The five member council unanimously supported implementing the actions proposed by outgoing City Manager Carol Giovantto, and praised her and staff’s work on crafting the GHG plan. Mayor Laurie Gallian, who worked with the County of Sonoma for eight years on climate action planning, was particularly pleased with the council’s action, and the council expressed its gratitude for Laurie’s efforts over the years to work on this issue and the program now emerging county-wide.
The City Council also extended its moratorium on applications for new vacation rentals in the city, adding another 10 months to the 45-day prohibition it approved a month ago. This extension will give the city time to fully evaluate how it wishes to cope with vacation rentals, and the council discussed a variety of options for consideration going forward. These options included issuing new permits as “zoning permits” which would expire upon the sale of a property rather than the current “use permits” which give perpetual rights associated with the use a parcel. Other considerations include a yearly renewal fee and limiting what type of conversions to vacation rentals would be allowed. A more formal set of regulations will be developed and reviewed over the coming months.
In a decision likely to generate some buzz, the council also denied the application to close city streets for a half-marathon in July of this year. Citing a flood of resident complaints about the street closings, the 3-2 decision effectively killed the event, which draws 8,000 people to the Plaza in mid-July. A decidedly “tourism is getting to be too much” attitude dominated the discussion by the council.
A new 25-year lease on the Sebastiani Theater, with an option to extend it for another 25 years (total 50 years) was approved by the council. Noting the 25-year contribution to the theater operation by Roger Rhoten and his wife Diana, the council expressed their deep appreciation. The operation of the theater will now be undertaken by a non-profit foundation.
Finally, the city has hired a new City Manager upon the approval of her employment agreement. Cathy Capriola, previously Assistant City Manager in Novato, will begin after the first of the year.
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