LocalLocal newsnews at your at your ingertips everyevery weekweek fingertips $1.00 JustJust $1!.00!
Greyounds sports Greyounds sports section teaser section teaser Sports,Sports, Page XPage X
at the newsstand at the newsstand
$1 at$1the at newsstand the newsstand
TheHealdsburg HealdsburgTribune Tribune The Enterprise & Scimitar Enterprise & Scimitar
Visit for daily updates on local news views www.healdsburgtribune.com for daily updates on local news andand views Our 158th year,Visit Number 31 www.healdsburgtribune.com Healdsburg, California
Our 155th year, Number 00© ur 155th year, Number 00©
PIAZZA’S NEW HOTEL MAY BE ILLEGAL UNDER CITY’S 2018 ORDINANCE
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
August 3, 2023 Date, Date, 20202020
MISSED APPROVAL DATE COULD SCUTTLE LATEST DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT By Christian Kallen
Photo by Tenaya Fleckenstein Photography
As Piazza Hospitality’s H4 project at 400 Healdsburg Ave. nears its next Planning Commission hearing sometime in August, questions have surfaced about the validity of their application to build the residential hotel they envision—16 rooms, 37 beds, minikitchens in most rooms and an on-site restaurant, at the downtown corner of North Street and Healdsburg Avenue. The questions relate to the approval of Piazza’s application for the process, which was signed off on by city staff on Jan. 16, 2019—an approval that deemed complete Piazza’s application. According to current senior planner Ellen McDonald, who is handling Piazza’s current application process, “Completeness review is a simple administrative determination by staff that all the necessary materials have been submitted in order to review and act upon an application.” The application was submitted to the city on Jan. 14, 2019, and two days later Scott Duiven, then acting as a senior planner tasked with shepherding Piazza’s application through city directors, sent Piazza’s principals and architect a letter of confirmation. It read: “Pursuant to the Permit Streamlining Act (Government Code Chapter 4.5 of Title 7), your application has been deemed complete by the Planning Department. This application will be processed in accordance with the zoning provisions of the Healdsburg Municipal Code in effect on January 16, 2019.”
AIR RESPONSE A Sikorsky air attack helicopter drops water on the vegetation fire that erupted north of Healdsburg on Monday, July 31. Approximately 12 acres were burned on both sides of Highway 101; the fire was quickly contained.
July Ends With North Village Fire QUICK RESPONSE BY MULTIPLE AGENCIES PREVENTS WIDER DAMAGE By Christian Kallen
On Monday afternoon, the last day of July, multiple fire agencies responded to a vegetation fire that spread from the North Village development north of town. North Village, which includes housing and shopping areas, is expected to open in the autumn but is still under construction. The fire is believed to have started during vegetation management activity on the property, but it quickly grew into nearby oak grasslands in the
jurisdiction of the Northern Sonoma County Fire district. It was first reported at about 2:30pm. As the fire began, a billowing tower of brown and white smoke rose north of Healdsburg, attracting the attention of residents and leading to heavy traffic on Healdsburg Avenue past the North Village entrance, which was closed to traffic for the duration of the event. Due to the time of day and windy conditions, the footprint of the fire grew and jumped Highway 101, at one time burning on both sides of the freeway, according to Cal Fire Battalion Chief Marshall Turbeville. However, a quick response by fire control
Our biggest risk for a fire is in the afternoon. And that's what yesterday demonstrated. CHIEF MARSHALL TURBEVILLE
agencies corralled the fire and brought it under control by 3:45pm. “In that area, both sides of the freeway have burned quite often, it seems like every couple years,” said Turbeville. “So we know how to get on the west side of the freeway through the Healdsburg Cal Fire station. That's where the ’dozer line was already pre-existing,
which stopped the fast spread of the fire.” He was referring to firebreaks created by bulldozers in the rural, roadless area. On the east side of the freeway, where the fire began, a road leads directly to the presumed point of origin and a hydrant was available. On the west side of 101, CalFire has a station with a small reservoir, Lytton Lake.
“So there was essentially unlimited water, which is helpful,” said Turbeville, who served as the battalion chief or incident coordinator in the fire response. The land crews were assisted by four Cal Fire aircraft, including two helicopters. “We had two tankers from Sonoma air ➝ North Village Fire, 6
➝ Piazza’s New Hotel, 5
PRUNE PACKERS SLIDE INTO PLAYOFFS 19-0 START TO SEASON ENDS WITH ROUGH FINAL TWO WEEKS By Christian Kallen
Photo by Christian Kallen
SAFE AT SECOND Alex Leopard slides into second on a third-inning steal during the Prune
Packers-SF Seals game on July 30, the last of the season. Healdsburg won, 13-4.
The Healdsburg Prune Packers once again ended the 2023 season in first place in the California Collegiate League’s northern division, but they had to rely on another wine country team to get them there. As the season’s final home game played out at Rec Park on a toasty Sunday afternoon against the San Francisco Seals, the team’s fate was being decided across Sonoma County at Arnold Field,
where the Sonoma Stompers were playing the Walnut Creek Crawdads. The Crawdads were only half a game behind the Packers in league standings, and had swept the Healdsburg team in the crucial July 25-27 series. That series followed a July 22 game between the Packers and the Solano Mudcats, which saw the Packers triumph 30-2. That’s the kind of score that raises eyebrows, and the question: Did the Healdsburg team violate one of the key unwritten rules of baseball by running up the score? “Everyone’s cognizant when the games get out of hand, you know?” said ➝ Prune Packers, 2