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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

September 12, 2004

BOOMTOWN NORTH: LURE OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING MAKES SONOMA COUNTY CITY ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING

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Cloverdale is gaining notice for being more than Sonoma County's fastest growing city.

Albright looks forward to town plaza art shows and shopping the revitalized downtown once she moves into the home she purchased in one of the latest subdivisions to sell out in Cloverdale.

"It looks to me like it's going to be another charming town like Sebastopol," said Albright, who works as a nurse in the west county town. "At first it seemed I'm moving so far away. And then I got there and said this is not bad. It's a very nice town."

While she purchased for $460,000 one of the last homes in the Vintage Meadows development, more housing is on the horizon as Cloverdale continues drawing residents from across the North Bay and beyond.

Cloverdale's population increased by one-fourth in just the past several years and is projected to add another 500 and top 8,500 next year.

So far this year, Cloverdale is running third only to Santa Rosa and Sonoma in the county for building permits. Looking several years ahead, nearly 600 residential units, three-fourths of them single-family houses, have been approved or are in pending developments.

Subdivisions that have made Cloverdale a construction boomtown of sorts mostly have been filling in the town's west side.

Within that area, types of homes under construction vary from the Bungalows, in the high $600,000 to mid $700,000 range, to Brookside Terrace, in the high $300,000 to low $400,000 range. But even at those prices, Cloverdale's median home resale price in July was $445,000, compared to $510,000 for the entire county.

That Cloverdale could become a destination is notable given its perception as an isolated place, the last stop before Mendocino County.

A major makeover of downtown aimed at drawing residents to shop locally and attracting tourism has been followed by several retail and industrial projects that promise to bring more jobs to town. Also looming is a hotel and golf course development and a casino.

Even with the growth, residents boast they still greet one another and stop to talk while walking, driving through downtown, or shopping in local stores.

"Cloverdale was always casting about for an identity. We're getting there," said Jim DeMartini, a local attorney and longtime resident who chairs a citizen's general plan review panel. "People weren't yearning to live here. We weren't building like we have been the last five years. It's just been explosive."

Recognizing the pace of growth, the city council appointed the citizens committee in June to review and revise the general plan, last updated 11 years ago, to guide how and where the city will continue growing. The panel's work includes consideration of an urban growth boundary -- Cloverdale is the only Sonoma County city without one -- and an ordinance for building on hillsides.

"The available land, that you can put together a reasonable development, has been the major reason for Cloverdale's growth," said Bruce Kibby, the city's community development director. "With the rapid residential growth, a lot of the easy-to-develop residential land will be absorbed. There are only a couple of larger pieces left."

Developers have built about 130 homes on average annually over the past four years compared with about 50 each year during the 1990s. While the busiest year was 1999, construction so far in 2004 puts the city on pace with 2003 and would mark the busiest back-to-back years ever.

Demand for housing is driving new construction across the county, but Cloverdale is one of the few cities where builders said they are able to keep pace. Even so, homes are selling as soon as they are available.

The last phase of homes in Vintage Meadows sold much like the others in the 163-home project built by Sonoma Family Homes over the past three years.

"As soon as I release 10 or 15, they're gone," said Mike Warner, the sales manager, who said buyers come from the Bay Area and beyond. "The biggest comment I get is it's so quiet up here."

Christopherson Homes sold nine of the first 11 homes released in its 46-home Bungalows project before the first models opened Friday.

"This is becoming a destination. It's a little slice of heaven up here," said sales associate Patty Van Deren, who moved to Cloverdale three years ago after 27 years in Santa Rosa.

Ample developable land has been the city's primary draw for developers. Builders also said Cloverdale planners are easy to work with and development approvals often take half or less the time of other cities. Cloverdale also has the lowest development fees of any city in the county.

"It's been great. They're more builder-friendly as far as time frames go," said Ross Albertson, project manager for Shook & Waller, the Brookside Terrace builder.

Even with its burgeoning development, Cloverdale remains a small town friendly to families seeking a slower pace.

"People are nice. My daughter's going to a nice school. That's why I think people are coming here," said Brett Duncan, who moved into a new home in the Cherry Creek subdivision with wife Astra and daughter Carla two years ago.

The couple wanted a larger home than their Rohnert Park town home. Both work in Marin County so the move farther north made for longer commutes.

"You don't like it. You use up a lot of gas," said Duncan, who switched to night shifts to ease his workday trips. "But it's worth it. My wife talked me into it and I'm glad she did; we're here to stay."

More families moving to town means more business for local merchants, a change that is welcome, said Dave Reynolds, owner of Cloverdale Cyclery. Many merchants are doing their best to attract new patrons by improving store fronts and emphasizing service, he said.

"They have increased expectations. They're affluent and intelligent and have disposable income. They're also savvy shoppers," Reynolds said. "Cloverdale's going to retain it's small town charm. But it's changing."

City leaders said Cloverdale has grown largely as called for in its general plan. Yet they acknowledged the city faces similar growth issues that have led to city-centered development policies across the county and urban growth boundaries approved by voters going back a decade.

"You sure can see the wall," DeMartini said.

Developers and planners are beginning to explore so-called "in-fill" projects that fill in empty spaces within the town.

Brookside Terrace is just that kind of development. The 14-home project by Shook & Waller reflects a push by builders to even put housing on smaller lots surrounded by other development.

"It's what we could do with the narrow piece of land that we had," said Albertson, who said prices put homes within reach of first-time buyers.

What developers could see in the future is a growth boundary around Cloverdale.

A coalition of environmentalists and farmers made a Cloverdale growth boundary one of its four main recommendations in a report released this year on preventing sprawl. Voter-approved growth boundaries and development policies that make efficient use of lands inside cities have helped the county preserve farmland and open space many residents consider important to their quality of life, said Kelly Brown, Sonoma-Marin field representative for the Greenbelt Alliance.

"We've done an exceptional job at preventing sprawl. And one of the critical policy tools we feel we have achieved that with has been urban growth boundaries," she said.

Cloverdale is vulnerable to sprawl even with land use policies guarding against such development, Brown said.

"Cloverdale is the cheapest place and simply put that's growth inducing," she said. "It's not about drawing an incredibly tight line. It's about engaging the citizens in how and where they want their city to grow, so that it doesn't happen in a piecemeal way."

The general plan review will include a discussion on the merits of a growth boundary, DeMartini and Kibby said.

"I think that's something we at least need to address. Now is probably the time to do it. You might as well do it before it's a problem," DeMartini said.

You can reach Staff Writer Michael Coit at 521-5470 or mcoit@pressdemocrat.com.

AN ACCOUNTING OF CLOVERDALE'S GROWTH

Population: Cloverdale has grown from 6,831 residents, according to Census 2000, to a projected 8,500 in 2005.

Building permits: With 84 building permits issued through July, Cloverdale was behind only Santa Rosa and Sonoma so far this year. If Cloverdale maintains the pace, it will near last year's permit total of 177, which would be the two busiest successive years for construction ever in the city.

Approved or pending: Cloverdale has approved or is reviewing residential construction projects proposing a total of 447 houses, 96 condominiums and 35 apartments.

Taxable property: Cloverdale had the greatest gain in assessed property value in Sonoma County in 2003, increasing 17.6 percent to $656,000.

Development fees: Cloverdale has the lowest overall fees at $14,000.

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