Santa Rosa deserves a better development,
& Sonoma County deserves a
better deal
The Proposed site plan And elevations for Chanate Village
The elevations
This is the conceptual elevation of the building that will replace the original hospital. It appears to preserve the main entrance façade. Most of the main floor will be recreational rooms. There will be rental units on part of the first floor and all of the second floor.
This is the conceptual elevation of the three story apartment house that will be used throughout the Chante Village. These will be placed in back of the single family dwellings along Chanate Court, Meadow Glen Drive, Hidden Valley Drive and Rolling Hill Drive.
This is the conceptual elevation of a four story apartment building with 40 units for the Senior Housing Facility in this development. Two 40 unit four story buildings and three 60 unit four story buildings are planned for the Senior Facility. A total of 260 Senior units are planned.
This is the conceptual elevation of the commercial building that will face Chanate road. It will house a grocery store along with other small businesses. Eleven housing units are planned for above the commercial entities.
This is the conceptual elevation of the two story Townhouses that will be located in back of the duplexes located on Nielsen Road.
Chanate village site plan
This is the conceptual design that the developer submitted when he met with the City of Santa Rosa at the pre-application meeting.
This is where commercial buildings will be built. The façade of the Community/Sutter Hospital will be saved. Slated for the commercial buildings is an Oliver's Market, and a few small businesses to be determined. Along the back side of the commercial buildings will be apartment buildings. All of these buildings will be built along an earthquake fault. Along Cobblestone Drive, those two buildings are to hospice care related. The Veterans accommodations are to be built by Burbank Housing.
This plan represents the four story 260 Senior Living Complexes that are proposed.
This plan represents the three story apartments that will backup to single family residences (many are one story, there are also a few two story residences) along Meadow Glen Drive, Hidden Valley Drive and Rolling Hill Drive.
The Proposed Project
Although Santa Rosa will have the final say, and will hopefully listen to the community’s desires and concerns – unlike the County – Sonoma County approved this proposed project by Chanate Community Development Partners LLC (William P. Gallaher, principal):
At least 400 units of multi-family housing.
Up to 800 units of housing – Sonoma County is demanding at least 650 units of housing, and the developer wants to build all 800 housing units. An unanswered question is how the local roads -- Chanate Road, Mendocino Avenue, Franklin Avenue, etc. -- will handle up to 8000 new car trips per day this proposed project could generate.
All rental housing.
20% of the housing may be very low income, although the developer’s Pro Forma states that there will be 800 units of housing, at 1000 square feet each, renting for $2300/month, which is not affordable.
Senior housing.
Veterans housing.
The non-profits on the property will be evicted, including the Bird Rescue Center, Sloan House, and others.
A traffic circle on Chanate where the old hospital entrance is now.
A small neighborhood market.
And more. All of this will go on the 82 acre location where Community Hospital/Sutter Hospital used to be, which is in the Urban/Wildland Interface and is in a high fire hazard zone.
The Sale of the Property
On July 11, 2017, Sonoma County finalized their sale of the 82 acre Chanate property to their favored developer.
Even though the County originally asked for a minimum payment of $15 million, and later asked for much more, they ultimately gave Chanate Community Development Partners LLC a deal:
The developer only had to pay $50,100 as a nonrefundable deposit to finalize the deal.
The total sale price to the developer is only $6 million, plus $13,800 additional for each additional housing unit built, to a maximum of $12.5 million. The County is demanding 650 units of housing, and the developer wants to build 800 units of housing.
The developer had to deposit $2.5 million dollars with the County, but if the deal falls through for almost any reason, he’ll get his entire deposit back, with interest paid by the taxpayers. (If the developer has an uncured default, the County will get to keep $500,000, but the taxpayers will still have to pay interest on the $2 million).
The property sale won’t be final for 3 or 4 years, and that time period can be extended by the County if they feel like it, without the public ever knowing.
The developer can sell the property without ever building anything, and maximize his profits at County taxpayers’ expense.
We believe there are many other objectionable parts of this property sale, as you can see in the documents and letters you can download and read, below.
The Documents
The links, below, are for the documents related to the sale of the property and proposed project, with the most recent documents at the top of the list. All are pdf documents, and will require Acrobat Reader to view. There are additional “official” documents available at the Sonoma County Chanate Compex website, or we can provide documents at your request. Email us! Or go to http://sonomacounty.ca.gov/General-Services/Facilities-Development-and-Management/Chanate-Complex/