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February 14, 2020

City Manager's Office

Happy Valentine's Day, Healdsburg!

Whether you will celebrate this holiday at one of our local restaurants or at home with a homemade meal and movie, we hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Bike-Share Program Update

More than 1,000 Healdsburg bike-share users took 2,028 trips in 2019, and their efforts eliminated 527 auto trips and 460 pounds of C02 emissions. Still the only public bike-share program in Sonoma County, Healdsburg’s Zagster bike-share program has experienced steady participation since its launch in January 2018. The program helps people get from Point A to Point B without the hassle of driving and parking a car and is a fun and healthy way to explore Healdsburg. The bike-share program is open to everyone 18 and over and trips under 60 minutes are free. For more information about Healdsburg’s Zagster bike-share program, go to: http://bike.zagster.com/healdsburg/

Community Services

Arts and Culture Master Planning Back on Track

The planning process for the Arts and Culture Master Plan is back on track after the Kincade Fire and holiday season put planning on hold. On February 1, 16 members of the Creative Leadership Team (CLT) traveled to San Francisco and San Jose to tour different models of performing arts spaces and to learn more about long-standing and structured public art programs. On February 4-6, the Cultural Planning Group and City Staff wrapped up their focus stakeholder discussions and took part in a long-range visioning activity with the CLT. The planning team is now scheduling community-wide engagement activities in March -- stay tuned for exact dates details. For more information, please go here.

Youth Pre-Team Swim Program Starts March 2

The Pre-Team swim program returns on March 2 for the 2020 season. Pre-Team is for kids 7-14 years old veteran swim coach Laraine Carter will lead the program. Swimmers will learn competitive strokes, starts, and turns while also learning sportsmanship and camaraderie in a supportive and team-oriented environment. To participate, kids should be able to swim without assistance; however, prior swim team experience is not required. For more information and to register, please go here.

Rec Park Getting Prepped for Baseball Season

Spring is right around the corner and so is the 100^th baseball season at Recreation Park. Parks Staff have been busy converting the park from a football to a baseball field, including grading to eliminate dangerous lips surrounding the turf grass that’s been building up from last year. Here are some of the tasks that have been completed so far:

Pitching mound and home plate areas renovated
Restrooms and grandstands power washed
Football goal posts and bleachers relocated
Infield manicured, graded, and leveled by adding 15 yards of infield mix (clay/sand/silt) with a half-ton of infield conditioner

Planning & Building

Mill District Update, Lot 7

On February 11, the Planning Commission held a public hearing to consider minor revisions to a prior Design Review approval for a 41-unit, multi-family affordable housing project for the Mill District project, Lot 7. The commission voted 7-0 to support the revisions, finding that the requested revisions did not materially change the aesthetics or quality of the project and would help satisfy the requirements for a key financing application to help fund project construction.The proposed revisions reduced the overall project cost and met the “per unit cost” requirements for a tax credit financing application. The revisions were to: replace some internal two-story townhouses with stacking flats; replace aluminum windows with vinyl windows; replace a ductless heating/cooling system with an alternate system screened by perforated mesh panels; replace a water tank feature with the mill’s original saw dust collector as a project feature of interest; make minor changes to photo voltaic panel details; modify windows on the fourth floor to create a more consistent window pattern; and change a siding feature from corrugated metal to undulating fiber cement of a similar color.

North Village Update

The Planning Commission also held a public hearing on February 11 to consider a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Addendum, Master Conditional Use Permit (MCUP), Density Bonus, and a Development Agreement for the North Village mixed-use project. This project is comprised of 75 multi-family apartments and five live-work units (including 54 affordable units and 26 “missing middle” units); a senior-living community with 221 independent living units (including 30 affordable units) and 54 assisted living/memory care beds; 12,000 sq. ft. of retail/commercial space; and, a 108-key hotel with restaurant, bar, and event space. This application followed the approval of the North Entry Area Plan (NEAP) and related NEAP environmental impact report (EIR) which were approved/certified by the City Council on May 20. 2019. The Planning Commission unanimously approved the addendum, MCUP, subject to required findings and conditions of approval and recommended 7-0 that the City Council approve the related North Village Development Agreement, subject to further consideration to certain matters.

Public Safety

Fire Department Annual Awards Dinner

Lance Macdonald, Robert Morris, Berenice Garcia and Chief Jason Boaz

From L to R: Lance Macdonald, Robert Morris, Berenice Garcia and Fire Chief Jason Boaz

On February 7, the Healdsburg Fire Department held its annual awards dinner -- a special event that recognizes the outstanding service of our reserve firefighters and staff. These men and women are from the community and spend countless hours training and responding to emergencies to help other community members. The Losh Family presented the “Allen Losh Scholarship” to reserve firefighters for training and Reserve Firefighter Lance Macdonald passed the mantle of “Firefighter of the Year” to Engineer Robert Morris for his work on the apparatus committee, his help in putting the new brush truck in service, and his overall dedication to the job. Berenice Garcia, who runs the administrative arm of the department, was presented with the “All In” award for her tireless efforts and her “all in” attitude during the Kincade Fire.