Roseland Review by Duane DeWitt - June 2017
Action was taken to move the
The nice weather is also the start of the spring building season and two residential construction projects planned for Roseland are now moving forward after long delays. The Crossroads affordable housing project on Burbank Ave. is now under construction with all of the cement foundations in place. Wooden frame “stick built” style construction has begun on a few buildings to the northeast corner of the property right next to the new charter high school building being built at Sheppard Elementary School. There will be 79 units of for rent housing provided by Burbank Housing Development Corporation for lucky winners of a lottery to be held for residences. Anyone can sign up for the housing and Roseland residents do not get preference.
Another project mentioned in Roseland Review years ago is now finally “breaking ground” after long delays in the planning and permitting process. Paseo Vista, being undertaken by Mike Gasparini and Alan Henderson, received two one-year time extensions from the Sonoma County Planning Commission on March 16, 2017. At this time roadways are being graded for the medium density residential 167 housing unit site at 1960, 2000 and 2290 Dutton Ave. near Hearn Ave. in south Roseland. The project will provide “29 low-income apartments, 3 very low-income apartments, 13 market rate apartments, and 122 market rate townhomes.” The townhomes may sell in the mid $300,000.00 range when completed according to onsite sales signs.
A recent discussion with Mr. Gasparini about the possibility of naming a park to be provided at the site after Joe and Ray Lazinni, long time Roseland residents was well received by Mr. Gasparini. Local residents will be circulating a petition in the future to have both the county and the city allow for the naming of Lazinni Park. The area may be annexed into the city by 2018 if the Sonoma County Local Agency Formation Committee (LAFCO) approves the annexation application submitted by the city of Santa Rosa in April 2017. The LAFCO hearing is tentatively scheduled for August 2, 2017, the first Wednesday of the month, according to Executive Officer Mark Bramfitt. Interested residents may research the matter at sonomalafco.org.
The Village Station housing project on Sebastopol Rd. and Boyd St. has new signs out saying construction will start soon there “where luxury meets downtown.” These encouraging developments are beginning as the county embarks on activities for Brownfields revitalization with $392,000 in funding received from the US Environmental Protection Agency last year. On Thursday May 18, 2017 from 6 -8:30 pm staff of the Sonoma County Community Development Commission hosted a session to familiarize local residents and agencies who had supported their grant application with the possible activities allowed by the federal funding guidelines. Stantec Consultants and a member of the EPA Superfund Division was there to help answer questions.
Now there will begin a concerted effort to inform local residents and property owners about the benefits of revitalizing underused brownfields site to increase their values to the community. There are “more than 50 along the one-mile segment of the Sebastopol Road commercial corridor” according to CDC information sheet Sonoma County Roseland Brownfield Project. In the future a Brownfields Advisory Committee will be formed and an enhanced community engagement process will be undertaken to inform property owners about how participation in these efforts will assist property owners. This will be a refreshing start to a long stalled process to revitalize the Sebastopol Road commercial corridor as well as all of Roseland in the future.
