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Last last month the City of Healdsburg reached a settlement with a local couple who challenged a required $20,000 inclusionary housing fee for a new house and ADU on their residential property. The settlement, for $35,000, puts a temporary end to a legal challenge of the City of Healdsburg’s inclusionary housing fee policy.

The housing market in Sonoma County in 2024 has been impacted by high interest rates that have kept some buyers out of the market, resulting in slower activity, especially at the higher end. However, with the Federal Reserve recently cutting interest rates, the future looks brighter as we move into the final quarter of this year.

At the start, Molti Amici gave every indication of hitting Bingo. The location was much-loved by locals, having housed Ari Rosen’s Campo Fina for 10 years, only a few steps off the Plaza, and featured not only a large stone pizza oven but a bocce court as well (both left over from Campo Fina). Then the ingredients didn't mix any more.

That big clock is finally ticking for the train’s arrival in Healdsburg—it’s no longer only a memory or a pipe dream. Last week brought the news that the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) District had been awarded an $81 million grant from the state to extend the rail service from its current terminus, at the Sonoma County Airport, though Windsor to Healdsburg’s northern city limit by 2028—including construction of a new or remodeled rail bridge over the Russian River.

Remember in June, when 1,000-plus “techno optimists” from around the world convened in Healdsburg for a mysterious month-long series of talks, salons and workshops on how to build a utopian future? They weren't kidding.

The City Council must address this issue with a “formula retail ordinance” that expands the boundaries of the retail area and codifies “formula business.” The 2030 General Plan protects businesses directly facing the Plaza, but not those around the Plaza, which explains why Faherty can slip into Ooh la Luxe’s space.

Two recent arrests in Healdsburg for drug and firearms violations, both publicized by Healdsburg Police on their social media platforms, raised eyebrows among readers and residents as they demonstrate that the crimes of firearms and narcotics are not limited to urban areas, but are present in Healdsburg as well.

INFORMED VOTING Before voting, read the quick page-by-page, or click-by-click look at the issues on the ballot and the candidates for office in the Nov. 5, 2024 general election. Start here...

The 29 pooches that entered in the 2024 Howl-O-Ween pet parade, sponsored by the Humane Society of Sonoma County, showed why they’re beloved by their people as they showed off costumes, wigs, novelty rigs and, in at least one case, their stripes.

"I am an affordable housing advocate, but Measure O and its aftermath are riddled with issues. I see it as a huge, uncertain affordability experiment, not a plan..." So writes a long-time Healdsburg resident about the city's plan to create an exclusion zone from the Growth Management Ordinance...