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Rohnert Park OKs huge mixed-use project
By JEREMY HAY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 11:20 p.m.
A split Rohnert Park City Council on Wednesday approved a $1 billion Codding Enterprises’
housing and commercial project that has been hailed as a model for environmentally
responsible development.
It is to be developed on a 175-acre site that formerly housed the Hewlett-Packard and
Agilent manufacturing campus, on the city’s southern edge.
The project is “exactly what we need in terms of stimulating economic development in this
city,” Councilman Jake Mackenzie said of the project, called Sonoma Mountain Village.
Mackenzie, Mayor Pam Stafford and Vice-Mayor Gina Belforte voted to approve a general
plan amendment changing the designation of the area from limited industrial to mixed use,
which allowed the project to proceed.
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On that key vote councilmembers Amie Breeze and Joe Callinan — who voted to approve the
project’s environmental impact report — voted no.
They argued, respectively, that that the project was wrong for Rohnert Park, would strip the
city of land that could be used for industrial development and proposed too many
residences.
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“It doesn’t make sense,” said Breeze.
The development would add 1,694 residential units, from apartments to single family homes,
to the city and with them a projected 4,400 residents by 2022. It also foresees 825,000
square feet of commercial, retail and office space.
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Callinan said the project “has great potential” but would add too many new residences. “My
gut is just telling me that it’s too many houses,” he said.
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Breeze said that changing the property’s designation would eliminate the possibility of future
industrial development on the land. And she went further than Callinan in her criticism of
the project, saying it represented a short-term view of economic and real estate development
that did not fit with Rohnert Park.
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“I think mixed use sounds like a good idea but I don’t see it working in Rohnert Park,” she
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Codding Enterprises development director Richard Pope said the company had invested
more than $12 million in the project since 2004. when it acquired the site from Agilent. The
money has been spent on sewer upgrades, planning and design work and renovating existing
building, he said.
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He said the company had made a “significant commitment and a gutsy investment” in the
project, which he said would be a source of economic energy for the city.
“It is land that should be working for the benefit of the city and bringing in money now,” he
said.
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Echoing other proponents of the project, he said the blend of environmentally-attuned
development and mix of business uses would raise Rohnert Park’s profile immensely, making
it “a destination city and not just a sign on the freeway.”
Among the five audience members who spoke in favor of the project was Ky Boyd, owner of
Rialto Cinemas, the just-shuttered Santa Rosa art house movie theater. He, too, said the
project had the potential to change the face of the city.
“We look forward to being the movie theater proposed in the project,” Boyd said. “We think
this is a great opportunity along with the Green Music Center (at Sonoma State University)
to redefine the cultural center of Sonoma County as Rohnert Park.”
Later, he said that plans to open a theater in Sonoma Mountain Village had been underway
since 2004 and that his company still hopes to reopen a movie house in Santa Rosa.
No one in the capacity audience spoke against the project.
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Pope also made a not so subtle reference to the city’s strained finances — the council earlier
Wednesday adopted a budget with a $2.4 million deficit.
“There is not much more left to cut,” he said. “Let us be a part of Rohnert Park’s recovery.”
A combination of development fees, sales taxes and other revenues are projected to bring in
$79 million to City Hall from the project over the next 10 to 12 years, Codding’s
development manager Kirstie Moore said.
City staff had recommended approval of the project, saying its analysis — and the
development agreement it designed — would ensure that “this project would pay its own way.
”
The project, described by environmentalists as groundbreaking, is designed to be a model for
sustainable development: it is projected to use less water than was allowed Agilent annually;
will use 100 percent renewable energy and emphasizes pedestrian and cyclist needs.
“It means everything to us as a company; we’ve invested a lot of time and money and
creative talent,” said Connie Codding, the development company’s majority shareholder. “It’s
going to move our company to a whole new level.”
“It’s so exciting for the future not only of our company but of the world,” she said.
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In a related development, the council earlier in the day, on the same split lines, voted to
approve a $880,000 grant from redevelopment funds to the Sonoma Mountain Business
Cluster incubator.
The grant, which is contingent on the nonprofit business incubator matching it dollar for
dollar and not relocating for six years, is about “creating jobs,” said Vice-Mayor Gina
Belforte.
The nonprofit operates on the Sonoma Mountain Village site, offering office space and
support to mostly tech-related start up companies. It also has recieved a $500,000
redevelopment funds grant from the city in 2007.
“I’m having a hard time giving $1.4 million to one of the richest developers in this county,”
Callinan said.
“The return is going to be huge for Rohnert Park,” said Stafford.
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