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TheHealdsburg HealdsburgTribune Tribune The Enterprise & Scimitar Enterprise & Scimitar
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CITY HIT WITH SUIT OVER ‘INCLUSIONARY FEES’ FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
September 12, 2024 Date, Date, 20202020
LIBERTARIANLEANING LEGAL FIRM SUPPORTS HEALDSBURG COUPLE’S DISPUTE The Pacific Legal Foundation, an independent nonprofit law firm generally associated with libertarian causes, has filed suit against the City of Healdsburg on behalf of a client who believes the city’s “inclusionary fees” to support affordable housing are illegal. “Inclusionary zoning forces developers of residential property to subsidize below-market-rate housing, which counterproductively raises the cost of development and thereby makes housing less affordable,” the foundation said in its Sept. 5 press release on the action. “The Supreme Court has consistently ruled that permit conditions for new construction must be proportional and directly related to that construction’s negative public impact. In this case, adding to a city’s housing supply does not negatively impact the cost of housing.” The suit was brought on behalf of Jessica Pilling and her husband, owners of bikehealdsburg.com, who want to build a new family home with an accessory dwelling unit on a portion of their property. Bike Healdsburg has a pedalpowered, open-air trolley that takes tourists around town to bars, tasting rooms and other sites. After subdividing their property, the Pillings applied for construction permits, only to be hit with ➝ Dispute, 7
Image Provided by Ramos & Associates
Staff Report
TUNNEL A designer’s rendering of the planned Splash Express to be built on Healdsburg Avenue, similar to operations elsewhere in Sonoma County.
Car Wash ‘Tunnel’ Coming to Healdsburg HIGH-TECH UPGRADE FOR DILAPIDATED CAR WASH By Christian Kallen
Healdsburg residents who have longed for the return of the car wash at 1191 Healdsburg Ave., between Flyers Energy and Big O Tires, have reason to rejoice. As has often been rumored, Splash Express is coming to town, and representatives appeared before the Planning Commission on Sept. 10 to present their design review application for the new business, projected to open in as little as a year. The applicant, Lawrence Amaturo, submitted his plans in January for a new, upgraded and updated car wash, the latest in what was once a network of Splash Express locations. He purchased the Healdsburg location in 2022, following its closure earlier that year, and since that time local car owners have faced limited
opportunities for keeping their machines clean. The only other car wash in town currently is at the Chevron Station on the corner of Healdsburg and Sunnyvale; the single-car facility was just upgraded with a new single-car “PDQ Laser Wash 360 Plus,” which offers a rainbow-colored cleaning experience. However, many drivers are heading to larger car washes in Windsor or Santa Rosa, or washing their car in a home driveway, since the former seven-stall selfserve operation shut down over two years ago. Home car washing is not recommended by the city’s Utility Conservation Analyst, Terra Sampson. For one thing, water conservation regulations have prohibited home car washing, “except when utilizing a bucket and hose equipped with an automatic shutoff nozzle.” (The conservation regulations have been lifted with the end of the drought.) Additionally, water running down a driveway, into
a gutter and down the street into storm drains “can lead to pollution (e.g., soaps, cleaning agents, motor oil, etc.) entering creeks and rivers,” Sampson said.
Conservation
On the other hand, “Commercial car washes use less water and are required by code to recycle the water used,” Sampson told the Tribune. “California Water Code states that car washes permitted and constructed after 2014 must use a water recycling system that recycles and reuses at least 60% of the wash and rinse water, or use provided recycled water for at least 60% of the wash and rinse water.” Those are in fact less stringent requirements than the technologies that will be installed at the new Healdsburg Splash Express, according to Ramos & Associates, the project management and design firm building the new car wash. “The proposed car wash equipment utilizes the latest industry technology, including
DRIVERS ASKED TO TURN OFF IDLING CARS SCHOOLS POST ANTI-IDLING SIGNS TO REDUCE RISK TO HEALTH, CLIMATE By Christian Kallen Photo by Stephanie Callimanis Turk
IDLE THREAT Cars lining up at Healdsburg Elementary School to pick up young students are now greeted by signs reminding drivers that idle cars are a pollution hazard.
L ate las t spring, the Healdsburg Unified School District approved adding signs to student pick-up areas reminding parents to turn off their car engines while waiting. “Students Breathing!” warned the sign. “Estudiantes Respirando!” Now, with a new school
reduced water usage and reclamation,” Ramos told City Planner Ellen McDonald in his application. Ramos added, “ The project will utilize a 75% reclaim system for wash water recycling and will be solar-ready per the current CBC. The wastewater from the reverse osmosis filtration system will irrigate all site landscaping needs. Using wastewater from the filtration system eliminates the need for city water for landscape irrigation.” Ramos also designs the Chevron Laser Wash operations. “The Splash wash is far superior to a Chevron roll-over Laser Wash,” he said. “We will have a car through the tunnel in about 90 seconds as opposed to four minutes. I design Chevron car washes and gas stations, too, and have for over 30 years. There really is no comparison.” The old, seven-stall self-service car wash will be completely demolished, including concrete, paving and landscaping. In its place on the 1.32acre lot will stand a new,
year underway, Climate Action Healdsburg’s small but growing subcommittee on anti-idling is once again, and more forcefully, reminding students and their parents that idling cars pose a health risk— and, moreover, it’s illegal in Healdsburg. “A vehicle engine which emits exhaust fumes into the air shall be turned off while the vehicle is stopped or standing or parked on a public street or public parking area, unless the vehicle is in the moving traffic lane waiting to move with the normal flow of traffic,” reads the city’s Municipal Code, pertaining to traffic and parking (Section 10.28.10). It goes on, “Vehicle engines shall be turned off when loading and unloading passengers or merchandise, except when the engine is needed to operate equipment used to load
4,366-square-foot car wash, with two queuing lanes leading to a pay station. Vehicles will then merge into a single lane to enter the 140-foot-long “tunnel” that can hold two cars for service at once. A number of self-serve vacuum stations are found after the washing tunnel, for free use by customers whose cars or trucks have just been showered and dried. Though it’s possible the Planning Commission or members of the public may apply additional conditions to the design application, neither Scott Duiven, the city’s planning director, nor senior planner Ellen McDowell anticipate an outright refusal. “At this time, we are not aware of any opposition or controversy related to the project,” McDowell said.
Applicant
Applicant Amaturo built the county’s four other Splash Express locations— three in Santa Rosa and a full-service location in ➝ Car Wash, 4
or unload merchandise.” In other words, idling a vehicle not in traffic or actively loading or unloading passengers or merchandise is a violation of the city code. Yet it seems an often overlooked if not ignored ordinance, especially in the more popular shopping lots in town—at Big John’s, Vineyard Plaza and the Mitchell Center. A recent posting in Nextdoor articulated the problem. “Every time I go to Vineyard Plaza in Healdsburg I notice multiple parked vehicles with engines idling. I see people eating lunch, waiting for a pizza order, talking on the phone, listening to the radio while their car pollutes the air and makes noise,” wrote Steve Davy. It’s also not uncommon to spot an idling vehicle with no one inside, not even a pet, leading to speculation that the driver just ➝ Drivers, 4