<![CDATA[Imagine Sonoma County]]> Commentics Bruce Hagen I live in SW Petaluma, next to what used to be the Hash Ranch. This 16 acre parcel was once proposed for a dozen very large tract homes, but didn't fly (the developer tried to claim it didn't violate the the City's prohibition on ridgetop development despite the project being called "Pinnacle Ridge".) It looks like it has been sold (again), aimed at a single family "estate" dwelling. I wonder what might be the viability of a "tiny home co-housing village". It may be too late; it just sold. But it would be nice if it could accommodate more than just one family.

]]> Mon, 26 Jul 2021 12:28:01 -0700 item_228 Roberta Delgado Aggregated communities can also consist of 1000-1200 square-foot homes. Such communities should be designed with a small community center, including a communal kitchen, dining room, and rooms for residents’ visiting family to sleep.

And yes, yes to tent, cabin, travel trailer, and mobile home communities, also including such a community center. Living outdoors is an ancient way of life and continues around the world. Why not make that available here?

]]> Thu, 22 Apr 2021 23:01:15 -0700 item_211 Carl Find a way to remove the stigma associated with tiny houses.

]]> Thu, 22 Apr 2021 16:56:49 -0700 item_209 Kevin Anderson For the rewording you can include form-based codes (https://formbasedcodes.org/definition/) and more diversity of housing due to zoning changes. Converting single-family homes to duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes. Sonoma County has many large single-family lots. ADU's, JDU's, and various conversions of existing buildings as others have mentioned should also be included as should community land trusts.

]]> Wed, 21 Apr 2021 22:34:23 -0700 item_201 Dr. Dan Levitis Tiny homes are a useful band aid. The larger, painfully obvious solution to our housing shortage is to acknowledge that we don't have a housing shortage, we have an equity shortage. Sonoma County has 19K habitable but unoccupied housing units, 10% of our housing stock. We have 3K people experiencing homelessness. Why then does our conversation about housing focus on building more, instead of encouraging owners of unoccupied housing to use some of the housing sitting vacant? Because people who own second and third homes have far more political sway than those who have none. A vacancy tax on unoccupied housing units would encourage occupancy while also funding efforts to improve and add affordable housing. I ask everyone to consider whether the multiple home owners would suffer more from a vacancy tax than our unhoused neighbors do camping outside those increasingly vacant neighborhoods.

]]> Tue, 20 Apr 2021 09:38:46 -0700 item_180 Jenny Blaker I agree that Tiny Homes aren't a good long term solution and that for many people apartment or condo type buildings work much better, plus they are a much better use of land and make for a better use of infrastructure such as plumbing, etc.

]]> Mon, 19 Apr 2021 16:42:46 -0700 item_165 Timothy Craig Tiny homes are not the permanent solution, they are transitional and provide and important first step toward permanent housing. They give the unsheltered privacy, protection from others, storage for possession, ability to have their pets, and shared space for partners. The ability to lock the door and be secure allows for peace of mind and restful sleep which is an essential first step in recovery from being unsheltered. A village of tiny homes including service providers, toilets, showers, and other essentials provide a community of resources and common purpose to move on from homelessness.

]]> Sun, 18 Apr 2021 18:20:25 -0700 item_160 Wendy Krupnick Our 2 Community Land Trusts should be brought into this discussion.

http://www.commonspaceclt.org/resources/

https://www.housinglandtrust.org/

]]> Sat, 17 Apr 2021 20:49:42 -0700 item_149 Wendy Krupnick I agree that we need some higher density, truly affordable housing in urban areas near transit and other services. But this does not necessarily mean high-rise buildings. There are many vacant retail and office buildings now. This was true before pandemic but even more now. Many of these could be retrofitted to be apartments and live/work spaces, (probably needs re-zoning). And there are great examples of dense housing integrating food gardens and green spaces. One of my favorite, although it is a high-rise, is the Santa Clara Agrihood https://steinberghart.com/residential/santa-clara-agrihood/

]]> Sat, 17 Apr 2021 20:43:17 -0700 item_148 Adrienne Lauby We definitely need to add back "high density". I would also like to add this: "A mix of housing which includes 30% of units for those at the poorer end of our society, including no income, fixed incomes and minimum wage income.

]]> Sat, 17 Apr 2021 19:10:58 -0700 item_146 Emmett Hopkins Can you offer up an improved vision statement relating to alternative housing solutions that help to address affordability and efficiency?

We would love to make this better but need to have some alternative language proposed to it can be debated and improved. THanks!

]]> Tue, 30 Mar 2021 23:32:52 -0700 item_111 Emmett Hopkins What specific language would you use to improve the vision above relating to housing?

]]> Tue, 30 Mar 2021 23:29:43 -0700 item_110 Emmett Hopkins Should we add a vision statement about high density housing?

I believe that vision #1 in this Urban Land Use category used to read: "Lively, high-density, mixed-use downtowns, vibrant places where people want to be."

The high-density part fell out in the editing process, but it could go back in. What do you think?

]]> Tue, 30 Mar 2021 23:26:44 -0700 item_109 Sharon Kirk Let's expand our view of communities beyond tiny homes to include co-housing style apartments/townhomes/condos that better utilize the available square footage of the land. Tiny homes are not the best use of land.

(See https://www.oroeditions.com/product/a-solution-to-homelessness-in-your-town/ for additional perspective.)

]]> Thu, 25 Mar 2021 20:07:23 -0700 item_101 Eris I don't get this whole love affair with tiny houses. (Especially since many of the people I hear adoring them would make fun of people who live in trailers!) You can build a condo or apartment building that is far more efficient and costs less than a whole bunch of tiny houses, and houses more people on the same area of land.

]]> Wed, 24 Mar 2021 11:40:26 -0700 item_92 Edward Meisse The reason this hasn't already happened is that it is difficult for builders to make profits this way. In order to get it accomplished we may need to have a county housing office that actually designs and builds housing or coordinate with some other non profit entity. I love the idea though. The reason I haven't bought a house is that they are all way bigger than I could use. Profit is the reason for that.

]]> Tue, 23 Mar 2021 19:17:57 -0700 item_89 Vito This is a great idea! I think that a cool way to help others imagine this vision is to create a virtual map of Sonoma County showing all the potential areas where these homes can be built.

]]> Fri, 19 Mar 2021 23:01:44 -0700 item_63 Sunny Galbraith I hope that people can become more open about alternative/ high density housing being built in their town and neighborhood. I would love to see more high density housing in my town (Sebastopol).

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