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January 2025 UPDATE: The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process for the proposed General Plan Amendment/Rezoning project on the Chanate property has started and according the schedule Santa Rosa has presented, the draft EIR will be completed in the Spring of 2025.

On November 19, 2024, the Notice of Preparation of and EIR was released. On January 6, 2025 the EIR scoping meeting was held, and the time period to make scoping comments to the EIR closed on January 10, 2025.

A copy of the Notice of Preparation, the public notice of the scoping meeting, the scoping meeting presentation, the summary of the scoping meeting comments and Friends of Chanate’s attorney’s scoping letter are all available to download on our documents page. Please see our Property Development/EIR Process page for the steps of the EIR process.

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On Monday, January 6, 2025, the EIR scoping meeting was held at Finley Center. The meeting was well attended, with 100 or more concerned individuals present. If you were unable to attend, or would like to watch the meeting again, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeGIuGHHDTg

Almost all members of Friends of Chanate’s Advisory Committee were present, as well as Santa Rosa City Councilmember Victoria Fleming, who represents the area of Santa Rosa where the Chanate property is located.

The overwhelming majority of speakers mentioned concerns about traffic and safe evacuations, two extremely important issues that any future development on the Chanate property will affect.  Among other important concerns raised, water availability, wildlife corridors, and school capacity/closures were also mentioned multiple times.

Everyone can receive City notifications about the Chanate property by signing up to receive email updates at https://www.srcity.org/2881/The-Woodlands-at-Chanate  We recommend that everyone sign up to receive those City notices.

The next few steps in this process are listed below.

1.  The property owner has submitted their official application for a General Plan Amendment and Rezoning of the Chanate property. 

2.  Santa Rosa’s Planning Department sent the Chanate application out to other City and possibly County governmental agencies and departments for their review and comments; a number of comments were received and are on our documents page.  Santa Rosa received over 90 comments to the application from interested and concerned community members.

3.  Santa Rosa has prepared a Request for Proposal (RFP) for an environmental consultant to assist Santa Rosa by preparing the necessary Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”).  That RFP was sent out to multiple environmental consultants, and responses are due by February 2, 2024. That RFP is on our documents page, and we hope to ultimately obtain all responses to that RFP.

Friends of Chanate’s EIR Process page has a more detailed list of the process we expect prior to Santa Rosa City Council consideration of the owner’s application for a General Plan Amendment/Rezoning, and we will update that page as the process moves forward.  There will be multiple opportunities for the concerned community to engage and participate.

After the Tubbs Fire (and even more destructive Camp Fire, as well as the devastating fires in Los Angeles occurring right now), as well as two fortunately small earthquakes very close to the property, Friends of Chanate will be demanding that any proposed project/development on the Chanate property be safe, both for existing residents in the area and for any new residents.

Friends of Chanate wants the Chanate property to be developed into the best project possible.  We fully support the City of Santa Rosa requirement for a full environmental review of the proposed General Plan Amendment and Rezoning, as well as for any demolition of existing buildings and for any proposed development.  We also want the City of Santa Rosa to conduct a full public process, follow the law, and to approve only a safe, responsible and reasonable project on the Chanate property.

For more information about the history of this property, please visit the Archived Pages links on this website.  For more information about the upcoming EIR process, please visit the Property Development page.  Also, Santa Rosa has a web page about the site at https://www.srcity.org/2881/The-Woodlands-at-Chanate

We will keep you updated of any developments both on this website, and by email, of the process as it moves forward.  To be added to our email list, please contact us at FriendsOfChanate@sonic.net. 

 Thank you for your support!