Petaluma senior housing project approved

With affordable housing in short supply, the Petaluma Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a low-density development that will offer riverfront apartments to low-income seniors and veterans.

PEP Housing is set to transform its 1.3 acres of city-owned property at 951 Petaluma Blvd. South into a 53-unit apartment complex, with two residential buildings three stories high and a two-story community center that overlooks the river.

The local nonprofit, which provides affordable housing for over 500 seniors in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, was lauded by the city’s commissioners for providing high-quality residences for a segment of the population often overlooked by developers. They also celebrated its intelligent design, occupying 31 percent of a site constrained with river access, neighboring residences and limited acreage.

“It’s a really strong project, even if it were an old multi-family development,” Commissioner Gina Benedetti-Petnic told the PEP team. “And that you’re doing that with significant lower-income accommodation is terrific.”

However, there was some resistance to the project from residents in the adjacent neighborhood. At a public outreach meeting last week, several homeowners from McNear Landing voiced concerns about noise pollution, the proposed dog run, the loss of street parking on Warren Drive, which will become a rear access point for the complex, and obstructed views of the river for residents closest to the project site.

PEP representatives appeared amendable to each issue that was raised, and even went so far as to offer last-minute revisions at Tuesday’s meeting to accommodate McNear residents.

“We want to be good neighbors and we want the neighborhood to be happy,” said PEP executive director Mary Stompe.

Marin-based architect Robert Hayes offered to move the two second-story units from the community center and add them to the middle residential building, effectively reducing the edifice on the river to a one-story structure, so residents on Warren Drive could retain some of their views.

But several commission members were worried that making such a drastic design change from the dais wasn’t warranted given the community center, as a whole, was objected to, and not necessarily its height.

Since public outreach and staff analysis had been conducted for the plans that were presented Tuesday, erasing a floor from one building and adding it to another would call for a costly and time-consuming restart.

“We’re making a major change that may or may not matter anyway,” said Commissioner Diana Gomez.

The project features three buildings, totaling 46,170 square feet, and construction of 42 on-site parking spaces for low and very-low income seniors. About half of the 53 one-bedroom units are set aside for senior veterans, and one two-bedroom unit will be provided for the property manager.

Residents will have access to a private walkway along the complex as well as a public pathway that will connect the south end of the site to the north end by the river. City officials expressed interest in enhancing the public dock sited at that intersection by the McNear Channel.

PEP will be providing frontage improvements to the bus stop area and street exit onto Petaluma Boulevard South, including a bulb out to enhance vehicle safety.

Both residential buildings will mirror different architectural themes from the downtown area, and provide residents with laundry facilities, storage, exercise rooms and a common lobby. Each apartment includes a private deck or patio.

One of the key offerings at PEP complexes are its community centers, which are designed to bring residents out of their homes, Hayes said. The riverfront building will have a gated patio area outside as well as an event space, kitchen and wellness center for residents that need to get on-site care or treatment.

“That’s a pretty big feature for us,” Hayes said.

(Contact News Editor Yousef Baig at yousef.baig@arguscourier.com or 776-8461, and on Twitter @YousefBaig.)