THE PROCESS GOING FORWARD
April 2024 UPDATE: The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process will be commencing soon for the proposed General Plan Amendment/Rezoning project on the Chanate property. Santa Rosa staff has selected an EIR consultant — Dudek. A contract for their services will be prepared, and then the Santa Rosa City Council will approve hiring this consultant to prepare the EIR. We don’t yet know when that will be, but will keep you updated. A copy of the proposal to prepare the EIR is available for you to download on our documents page.
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Now that the Chanate property has been sold to an out of state developer, the City of Santa Rosa is the lead agency and will be responsible for any approvals regarding the property.
The new Las Vegas owners have submitted their application for a General Plan Amendment and Rezoning of the property. On November 8, 2023, they submitted a revised Project Description. Click on “Documents” in the menu to the left for these materials. Currently the property has a General Plan designation and zoning allowing for Public/Institutional uses; the application will request that Santa Rosa allow the property to change its General Plan designation to three types of residential designations: low density, medium low density and medium density, with corresponding zoning of R-1-6, R-2 and R-3-18.
Santa Rosa requested comments to the Project Description, Application, and proposed Zoning Text Amendment, and received over 90 comments from interested and concerned community members.
Santa Rosa has determined that an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) will be required for the requested General Plan Amendment/Rezoning, and sent out a Request for Proposals for preparation of that EIR on December 20, 2023; responses are due by February 2, 2024. A summary of the steps of the EIR process is below. To download our flyer describing the EIR Process and how to make effective EIR comments, click HERE. On our Documents page we will have all documents available for you to download.
Santa Rosa has a web page about the Chanate property, including a place to sign up to receive notifications from Santa Rosa. We recommend that you go to https://www.srcity.org/2881/The-Woodlands-at-Chanate and sign up to receive all City notices.
We expect the City of Santa Rosa to be fully transparent on all of their actions, and to engage interested community members and stakeholders in the process. Additionally, the new property owner has reiterated his intent to work with the neighbors and other community stakeholders. We hope that will be the case.
Of course, Friends of Chanate will be closing following the process, will engage throughout the upcoming EIR process, and will keep neighbors and other stakeholders informed.
THE EIR PROCESS, 4/24
1. The property owner will submit their official application for a General Plan Amendment and Rezoning of the Chanate property. Santa Rosa will mail a notice to everyone within 1000 feet of the Chanate property notifying them when the application is filed. EVERYONE can receive an email of this notification – and of other City notifications about the Chanate property – by signing up to receive email updates at https://www.srcity.org/2881/The-Woodlands-at-Chanate We recommend that everyone sign up to receive those City notices. The application has been submitted, and was revised on November 8, 2023.
2. Santa Rosa’s Planning Department will send the Chanate application out to other City and possibly County governmental departments for their review and comments. Friends of Chanate will obtain all comments, and make those available to everyone on the Documents page. Over 90 comments were submitted from interested and concerned community members.
3. After receipt of the complete application for a General Plan Amendment and Rezoning, Santa Rosa may prepare an Initial Study (because Santa Rosa, as the lead agency, has already determined that the Chanate General Plan Amendment/Rezoning will require an EIR, they are not mandated to complete an Initial Study). Any Initial Study will be a reasonable investigation of the potential environmental impacts of the General Plan Amendment/Rezoning of the Chanate property, and will include an initial determination of significant environmental impacts, as well as identification of significant impacts that may be able to be mitigated, and impacts that are less than significant or those that have no impact. Friends of Chanate will obtain a copy of any Initial Study and make it available. We do not believe that Santa Rosa will be preparing an Initial Study.
4. Santa Rosa staff has selected a consultant to prepare the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) — Dudek — for the Chanate property General Plan Amendment/Rezoning project. A contract for their services will be prepared, and then the Santa Rosa City Council will approve hiring this consultant to prepare the EIR. We don’t yet know when that will be, but will keep you updated. The EIR consultant’s proposal is posted on our documents page of this website.
5. Santa Rosa will file and circulate a Notice of Preparation of an EIR, which provides notice to the public and to governmental agencies that an EIR will be prepared and begins the EIR scoping process. The Notice of Preparation notifies interested agencies and the public that the project could have significant impacts on the environment, and solicits their comments so that all concerns raised could be considered during the preparation of the EIR. The Notice of Preparation must contain a description of the project, location of the project and the probable environmental impacts of the project, and agencies and the public have 30 days to submit comments. Friends of Chanate will be making written comments in response to the Notice of Preparation.
6. Santa Rosa has committed to have a public Scoping Session meeting prior to the preparation of the EIR. Friends of Chanate will be attending the public meeting, and will be making written scoping comments.
7. Santa Rosa is considering holding a community Workshop on the California Environmental Quality Act and on Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs). Friends of Chanate strongly supports this idea. The EIR process is a very specific process; understanding the opportunities and the limits of that process is important, and educating everyone about how to effectively participate and provide substantive comments will be important. Friends of Chanate will be supporting this Workshop concept, and hopes it will come to fruition.
8. The draft EIR will be prepared. After completion of the draft EIR, all residents within 1000 feet of the Chanate property will be notified by mail with a Notice of Completion of the draft EIR, which will be available digitally. Additionally, this notice will be mailed to all other interested parties, including governmental agencies and everyone who has requested to be notified (again, we recommend that you sign up with Santa Rosa to receive all notifications at https://www.srcity.org/2881/The-Woodlands-at-Chanate). The Notice of Completion requests comments on the Draft EIR, will provide between 30 to 60 days for those comments. There will be a public hearing before Santa Rosa’s Planning Commission to review the Draft EIR and to solicit additional comments. Friends of Chanate will attend this Planning Commission meeting and will be submitting comments.
9. After receipt of all comments on the Draft EIR, A Final EIR will be prepared, which will respond to the substantive comments made to the Draft EIR, and governmental agencies and interested members of the public can make additional comments to the Final EIR. There will be another public meeting at Santa Rosa’s Planning Commission, who will review the Final EIR and make a recommendation to the Santa Rosa City Council about whether they should certify the Final EIR. Friends of Chanate will make comments on the Final EIR, and will attend this Planning Commission meeting.
10. The Santa Rosa City Council will meet and consider certification of the Final EIR. If the Final EIR is certified, the City Council will then consider the application for a General Plan Amendment/Rezoning of the Chanate property and may approve or deny that application. If the application is approved, the City Council will adopt findings that disclose the potential significant impacts of the General Plan Amendment/Rezoning project, as well as a mitigation monitoring program, and will issue a Notice of Determination that the project has been approved. This is a public meeting and Friends of Chanate will make written comments before the meeting, as well as attend the public City Council meeting.