SANTA ROSA, Calif. — The City of Santa Rosa has published its alternatives workbook, as part of the general plan update, and is seeking the public’s input to shape the development and growth of the city, including the location of housing, shopping, and industrial uses, and to understand what traffic circulation improvements are needed to potentially add as many as 36,000 residential units in the coming three decades.
The alternatives workbook presents three potential scenarios in which the City of Santa Rosa could be developed. The workbook analyzes possible land-use and circulation scenarios that are guided by the existing conditions for development, current equity considerations, and the community’s vision statement for Santa Rosa Forward—the city’s general plan update effort. At their core, each alternative represents one of three types of city planning paths taken to its logical end, with each falling into one of these descriptions:
- Alternative 1: Central Corridors, concentrates housing near downtown and along central corridors.
- Alternative 2: Neighborhood Main Streets, envisions a city of neighborhoods with new housing near small neighborhood centers.
- Alternative 3: Distributed Housing, builds on what is already in Santa Rosa, with future growth occurring across the city in proportion to what is on the ground today.
Rather than choose one alternative in its entirety, the public is being asked to examine each of the three alternatives and decide the elements of each they would like to see blended into one final, or preferred, alternative for the general plan update. The public can provide feedback by attending one or more of the five community workshops to be held across the city:
| Date and Time | Location | Language | Register |
Wed., March 16
4:30 to 6:30 pm | Steele Lane Community Center
415 Steele Land | English,
with Spanish translation | Register |
Fri., March 18
5:30 to 7:30 p.m. | Roseland University Prep,
1931 Biwana Drive, #1 | Spanish,
with English translation | Register |
Tues., March 22
5:30 to 7:30 p.m. | Central Santa Rosa Library
211 E Street | English,
with multilingual translation | Register |
Thur., March 24
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. | Finley Community Center
2060 W. College Ave. | Spanish,
with English translation | Register |
Sat., March 26
11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. | South Park Lighthouse Church
920 Bennett Valley Road | English,
with Spanish translation | Register |
The city will also launch a virtual studio/workshop on March 12 to serve community members who wish to remain remote. Join the city and the community partners supporting this effort in this vital step of examining the three alternatives and laying the groundwork for approval of the final alternative. The approved final alternative will alter how the community will grow and address challenges and opportunities in housing, equity, neighborhood connectivity, among countless other citywide impacts in the coming years.
For more information, go to santarosaforward.com/CD-Alternatives.