SAGGIO HILLS, CA - Saggio Hills, a proposed luxury resort and housing development on Healdsburg's northern fringes, would bring more millionaires to town, but it's the working-class component that is drawing the most controversy. The 70 multimillion-dollar homes and the $730-per-night rooms proposed for Saggio Hills are not getting the most discussion. Instead, the focus now is on plans to build up to 150 affordable housing units on a 14-acre site on the property.
Neighbors in the adjacent 343-home Parkland Farms subdivision say that many homes will flood their neighborhood with traffic. "They felt they are being forced to absorb a disproportionate amount of affordable housing," said Vice Mayor Jim Wood, who met with Parkland Farms residents recently.
After listening to some of those same concerns, Councilman Mike McGuire said he wants to explore the possibility of splitting up the affordable housing, perhaps on two separate sites on the Saggio Hills property. Or, he said, some of it might even be built in another part of the city. "At a very minimum, we need to have that discussion," McGuire said Thursday. "It's a good idea not to ignore the concerns."
The public will get a chance to comment on the affordable housing issue when Saggio Hills comes back before the City Council on May 21. In addition to the objections of Parkland Farms residents, housing advocates are pressing the council from another side. They want to ensure the affordable units get built at the same time as the luxury resort, so that the more than 250 employees who will work at Saggio Hills will have potential housing nearby.
Until now, the presumption has been that the homes will be built at a yet-to-be determined future date on a 14-acre site the developers would grade and give to the city. In the meantime, the City Council late Wednesday gave preliminary approval on a 3-0 vote to the environmental impact report for Saggio Hills. Only three council members can vote on Saggio Hills, since both Mayor Lisa Schaffner and Councilman Eric Ziedrich have disqualified themselves due to potential conflicts of interest.
Wednesday's council vote was the first step in a series of approvals needed for the five-star resort and high-end homes to be built. Developers Tony Korman and Robert Green are hoping to break ground this year. Some residents see it as an economic benefit and a high-quality project that will burnish Healdsburg's Wine Country credentials. Others have said it will increase development pressures on the north end of town, strain water supplies and create traffic headaches.
But the environmental study dismisses most of those concerns. "Traffic is a non-issue," traffic consultant Dalene Whitlock told the council Wednesday. "This project has a very minor impact on traffic." The environmental analysis concluded the resort buildings and houses will be almost completely screened from view, due to the topography and vegetation on the 259-acre property. And when it comes to water availability, the analysis basically found the city's existing water rights are more than sufficient to meet the demand for Saggio, as well as future growth in Healdsburg.
Because only three council members will decide the fate of Saggio Hills, the council's votes on most aspects of the project need to be unanimous. In a recent interview, Councilman Gary Plass said "I'm not afraid to tell people I think this is a good project for the community." He cited the jobs, and the estimated $120 million in property, sales and bed taxes and other fees the resort will generate over 20 years.
He also likes the 36-acre park site developers plan to donate along with $3 million to develop the athletic fields, hiking trails and other amenities. "I like the overall picture of things," said Vice Mayor Wood. &quo
Source: PressDemo.com