Sonoma County Infill 2018

On October 8, 2017, wildfires swept through Sonoma County and destroyed about 6,000 homes. The City of Santa Rosa alone lost over 3,000 homes, many of which housed multiple families, core workforce members, and long-term residents on fixed incomes. In addition to the physical, human, and ecological damage, the fires amplified an already dire regional housing shortage.

To assist Sonoma County and the City of Santa Rosa with an infill-focused rebuild, the Council of Infill Builders offers this page as a resource for land use experts involved in the effort.

“Downtown Santa Rosa Opportunity Sites Map”
City of Santa Rosa
May 31, 2018

“Infill Opportunity Sites Map in Sonoma County & Santa Rosa”
8th Wave
May 30, 2018

“Sonoma County & Santa Rosa Housing Numbers”
Council of Infill Builders
May 30, 2018

“Financing a Climate-Smart Recovery and Renewing Sonoma County’s Economic Vitality”
Presentation by Margaret S. Van Vliet
Executive Director, Sonoma County Community Development Commission
January 26, 2018

“Renewal Enterprise District (RED) Overview”
Joint County-Santa Rosa Build & Rebuild Ad Hoc
December 13, 2017

April 8, 2024: AB 1893 (Wicks) would bring important legal certainty to use of the builder’s remedy under the Housing Accountability Act for jurisdictions that do not have a compliant housing element. However, our support-if-amended letter urges a feasibility study before imposing overly restrictive density limits on infill projects in key markets.

March 29, 2024: We support AB 3177 (W. Carrillo) to prohibit local governments from imposing road widening mandates for new housing simply to widen the adjacent roadway as a condition of project approval. Read our support letter.

March 21, 2024: We are proud to support AB 2550 (Gabriel) to update outdated regulations that prevent small businesses from opening and succeeding in infill areas. Read our support letter.

January 25, 2024: Our co-sponsored AB 930 (Friedman) was just approved by the Assembly appropriations committee! It will give local governments a powerful new tool to finance infill infrastructure and equitable housing. Read the updated fact sheet and view our coalition support letter. Please contact us if you would like to support.

January 11, 2024: We joined a coalition of Bay Area advocacy organizations to ask the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) not to fund new highway lane expansions with any new transportation revenue measure currently under development. Read the letter here.

January 9, 2024: Join board chair Mott Smith and board member Jonathan Fearn for an expert UC Berkeley Terner Center panel on making the math behind infill development pencil. Register today for this free event, to be held on Tuesday, January 16th at 11am PT.

October 31, 2023: Downtown Santa Rosa is rebuilding from the wildfires with higher-density housing. The Council of Infill Builders helped city and county leaders plan for this type of development following the devastation, as described in our 2018 report.

October 18, 2023: We’re hiring! If you would like to help advance the cause of infill development and assist with our membership development and organizational growth, please consider applying for this part-time strategic growth director position, with the potential for full-time work. More details here.

October 10, 2023: Downtown Hayward is seeing signs of a resurgence, as the San Francisco Chronicle recently reported. This progress comes after the city hired us in 2019 to assess barriers to infill in the downtown, convene a roundtable of real estate experts, and present key findings to the City Council. Read our resulting report.

September 27, 2023: To reduce driving miles and encourage more infill development, California will need to de-prioritize highway spending in favor of infill. This new report from Next Gen Policy presents actionable recommendations for state transportation agencies to consider.

September 14, 2023: Board president Curt Johansen will be speaking on the Build It Green panel “Tackling Trade-Offs: Middle Income Housing & Decarbonization” to be held on Wednesday, September 27 from 9:30-11:00 am PT. Register here.

September 6, 2023: Read board chair Mott Smith’s letter co-signed by the Independent Hospitality Coalition to Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, urging her to improve the permitting times and processes for small businesses that are essential for infill neighborhoods.

June 22, 2023: We support AB 7 (Friedman), which would require state transportation agencies to incorporate certain environmental and financial principles put forth in recent federal infrastructure legislation.

May 18, 2023: The Oyster Cove mixed income infill community proposed in Petaluma by board member Keith McCoy of UrbanMix Development goes before the planning commission this month. Check out this video on the project.

April 11, 2023: We joined a coalition in support of SB 4 (Wiener), which provides a streamlined process for religious organizations and nonprofit colleges to develop affordable housing on their property, regardless of local zoning restrictions.

April 11, 2023: Along with coalition partners, we support SB 423 (Wiener), which removes the January 1, 2026 sunset provisions of SB 35 (Wiener, 2017) and would continue to authorize streamlined, ministerial approval process for infill developments in local jurisdictions that have failed to meet their Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) goals or adopt a compliant housing element.

March 16, 2023: We are pleased to support AB 894 (Friedman), which will enable better use of underutilized parking in order to reduce the cost burdens on new housing and businesses associated with excessive parking requirements. Read our support letter.

March 15, 2023: We are pleased to support SB 482 (Blakespear), which will require the state to offer operating subsidy reserves to multifamily homeless providers. Read our support letter.

February 14, 2023: We are thrilled to co-sponsor AB 930 (Friedman), which will give local governments a powerful new tool to finance infill infrastructure and equitable housing. Read our support letter and the bill’s fact sheet. Please consider submitting your own letter of support!

January 17, 2023: We are pleased to announce that Andrew Malick has joined the Council of Infill Builders’ board of directors! Learn more about Andrew’s impressive work advancing infill in San Diego here.

January 4, 2023: We applaud the City of Los Angeles Planning Department’s interpretation of AB 2097 on local parking requirements, which will continue requirements for parking for electric vehicle charging and Americans With Disabilities Act access but only as a percentage of any parking provided on site under the new law.

December 15, 2022: We honored Assemblymember Laura Friedman with our annual “infill champion” award at our holiday luncheon yesterday in San Francisco. Thank you to Assemblymember Friedman for her tireless efforts to advance infill, most notably through parking reform this year.

See past news items on our press page.