Sonoma County Weighs Open Spaces vs. "Missing Middle" Housing on Shuttered Hospital Site
- Larry Sokoloff
- Nov 6, 2022
- 5 min read
A contentious three-year planning effort to redevelop a former state mental hospital in Sonoma County is coming to a close, with land use decisions expected by the Board of Supervisors during December—or else the state takes back control of the property.
Current proposals call for allowing a development that has 1,000 housing units and creates 900 jobs in retail and offices uses on the site of the Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC), which closed in 2018. Those numbers could increase if the state takes control. Local residents are asking for only 450 units, while developers are expected to propose a far higher number.
Affordable housing and open space preservation are expected to be hallmarks of whatever is approved.
The board is expected to act at a special December meeting to approve a specific plan and EIR for the 945-acre site. Current plans call for over 700 acres to be preserved as open space, and development to occur within the existing footprint of buildings on the site, which is located in a wine growing region halfway between the cities of Santa Rosa and Napa. The open space will be integrated into adjacent Jack London State Historical Park on the west and Sonoma Valley Regional Park on its east.
Unlike other mental hospitals that the state has closed, the SDC site is in a rural area prone to wildfire, with little transportation access and 130 aging structures. Buildings on the site burned during big fires in 2017. And yet, housing pressures are fierce.
With a population of about a half million people, Sonoma County grew only by 1 percent between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. But like much of California, it needs more affordable housing, as residents continue to be priced out of existing units. Most of the county’s growth has occurred in its cities along Highway 101, north and south of Santa Rosa, its most populous city. The 2023-2031 Regional Housing Needs Assessment allocation for unincorporated Sonoma County is 3,881 units.
California’s Department of General Services is currently trying to determine which developer to choose for the 180-acre project to be built around existing buildings at SDC. One development project, submitted by local environmentalists, calls for 450 homes and the creation of 600 jobs. Two other big-name developers have submitted proposals, according to the Kenwood Press—Napa developer Keith Rogal and Related California, which is building a huge project near Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium.
Details of their SDC proposals have not yet been released. County Supervisor Susan Gorin, whose district encompasses SDC, said she expects a developer to be chosen sometime next year.
