VALLEJO RESIDENTS CHALLENGE PLANNING COMMISSION’S DECISION
Genn, Bauer organize a GoFundMe to raise $2,200 to help fund a land-use lawyer
Some Vallejo residents are appealing a decision by the planning commission to approve a market-rate, 132-unit multi-family apartment complex at the corner of Sonoma Boulevard and Magazine Street.
Local residents Jimmy Genn and Paula K. Bauer have organized a GoFundMe to raise $2,200 to help fund a land-use lawyer and other costs. Genn filed his appeal to the decision on March 11. Appeals to planning commission decisions go before the Vallejo City Council and are expected to be added to a future agenda.
Genn asserts that there are “serious issues” with how the commission has interpreted the general plan. As stated, the general plan allows for mixed use at the site, but City Attorney Veronica Nebb told the commission that the general plan also allows for solely residential property to go there.
Commissioner Kathleen Diohep opposed the approval on the grounds that she wanted time to examine how the proposal jibes with the general plan. Due to the appeal, she was not able to comment to the Times-Herald beyond what she has already said during meetings about the issue.
Genn believes that the commission did not accurately assess the fine print in the codes.
“The parcel was zoned business/limited residential, and apparently the text in the interim zoning was around having ground-floor commercial, residential above,” he told the
Times-Herald. “Although residential was part of an accepted use for the parcel, 100% residential on that parcel was not intended.”
At issue is the fact that parcels of south Vallejo are in “food deserts,” where things like fresh produce and other healthy groceries are hard to come by. Bringing a food business there, or any business, would also add jobs.
Christina Ratcliffe, interim planning and development services director, disagrees with the argument that the planning commission’s decision was not based on properly interpreted
city codes.
“The project is in compliance with the general plan, the interim zoning policy, and the future zoning designation,” she told the Times-Herald.
Vallejo is currently under an interim zoning designation because it is about to approve a new zoning code. The new code will designate the area at Sonoma Boulevard and Magazine Street as RHD, or Residential High Density. Under the current code it is PDC, or Planned Development Commercial. However, according to Ratcliffe, the city is entitled to go with “best fit” zoning at this “interim” time until the new code is adopted.
The “wiggle room” here in the interim zoning code should make for an interesting hearing before the council.
Stephen Schwartz, the site’s developer, told the planning commission that it is just not feasible to put commercial property on the lot.
At issue is the fact that parcels of south Vallejo are in “food deserts,” where things like fresh produce and other healthy groceries are hard to come by. Bringing a food business there, or any business, would also add jobs.
“The economics simply don’t work for Vallejo,” he told the commission. “There’s an overabundance of commercial (property here). There are too many vacant storefronts. The last thing we want to do is put up a building and let it go unrented. Unfortunately, the numbers don’t pencil the basic economics of this site and create a fairly narrow path towards its development. There is a reason that the site has been sitting vacant for as long as it has.”
Genn pushed back on this assertion.
“Advocates for the apartments said that the ‘economics’ do not support a store. But we know from district mapping that District 6 has approximately 20,000 residents,” he said. “All ranges of incomes live within it. Lower-income residents need groceries, too — and they tend to have limited options for transportation.”
Diohep and callers during the public comment
portion of the planning commission meeting questioned the aesthetics of an apartment complex surrounded by a big, black metal fence. They said that the stretch of Sonoma Boulevard that people see who have just gotten off the freeway should be more inviting and be a corridor aimed at revivifying Vallejo.
According to Mayor Robert McConnell, once an appeal to a planning commission is filed, “the council can deny it, return the matter to the planning commission, or reach a decision on the merits and issue a final ruling as the majority of the council deems appropriate.”
McConnell was not at liberty to discuss a matter that will come before the council, as they are supposed to remain neutral until they hear public comment, he said.
If the appeal is denied, Genn and others can take it to a state superior court.
The GoFundMe drive can be found here: www. gofundme.com/f/southvallejo-all-of-vallejohealthy-respected