Healdsburg Councilwoman Appointed City's Parks & Open Space Superintendent to Her Personal Nonprofit Board for Corazon Healdsburg
Councilwoman Ariel Kelley served as President of the Healdsburg Parks Foundation to direct the City's Master Plan while Parks Superintendent Jaime Licea became Corazon's Recruitment Coordinator
Healdsburg Councilwoman Ariel Kelley’s LinkedIn indicates that she served as Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Corazon Healdsburg from 2016 - November 2020.
Ms. Kelley served as a Parks and Recreation for the City from 2017-2018, Planning Commissioner for the County of Sonoma from 2017-2020 and City Councilmember from 2020 to present.
Upon joining Council, she has served as: Director on the Sonoma County Transportation Authority and Regional Climate Protection Authority, Chairperson of the Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District Board, and a commissioner on the fiscal oversight commission of the Sonoma County Ag and Open Space District.
Additionally, she served as a Consultant to Corazon Healdsburg through June 14, 2021 while simultaneously serving as a Board Director.
The organization’s 2022 Form 990 indicates that she served on the Corazon Healdsburg Board alongside Mr. Jaime Licea, Healdsburg Parks & Open Space Superintendent.
Mr. Licea currently serves as the Recruitment Coordinator for the organization.
On September 28, 2021, Ms. Kelley was appointed to the Sonoma County Fiscal Ag & Oversight Commission by Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore. At the time, Mr. Tom Gore, Supervisor Gore’s brother, served on the Corazon Healdsburg Board alongside Ms. Kelley. Her term was set to expire on September 27, 2025. She lo longer appears on the roster, so it is unclear why.
Mr. Tom Gore actively serves as Corazon Healdsburg’s Board Secretary.
The Fiscal Oversight Commission previously approved a $1M matching grant for the Healdsburg Montage Development Park.
On March 7, 2022, the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) issued an advice letter response regarding the Healdsburg Parks Foundation to the City of Healdsburg’s Attorney, Ms. Samantha W. Zutler:
The City Officials founded the Healdsburg Parks Foundation in July 2021. The Foundation provides financial support to developing and maintaining City Parks. The Foundation is a charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The City Officials comprise three of the four Directors of the Foundation’s Board.
From time to time, decisions regarding parks to which the Foundation has donated funds come before the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Planning Commission, and the City Council. For example:
The Foundation intends to donate funds to the City to be used on the park in the Montage development. The Montage developer and the City have entered into a development agreement that includes provisions regarding the park; substantial amendments to the development agreement are required to be approved by the City Council.
The City Council may be called upon to approve a parks master plan that guides the creation and management of various City parks.
Entitlements for future developments may require Planning Commission approval or recommendation to the Council, and/ or Council approval. These developments could include parks to which the Foundation has donated funds.
The Foundation is currently in delinquent status with the Office of the Attorney General.
When a charitable organization fails to submit complete filings for each fiscal year, its status on the Attorney General's Registry of Charities and Fundraisers will be listed as Delinquent. If the delinquency is not remedied, the Registry status will be further changed to Suspended, and/or Revoked. A charitable organization that is not in good standing with the Registry of Charities and Fundraisers may not operate or solicit donations in California. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 11, § 312.)
Per the organization’s initial registration forms, Healdsburg Councilwoman Ariel Kelley was selected as the President & Director. Planning Commissioner Carrie Hunt was selected as the Treasurer, Compass Real Estate Agent Samantha Marquis was chosen as Secretary, and Parks & Recreation Commissioner Lacey Scott was selected as a Director.
The articles of incorporation state:
The organization was initially formed to provide support for the design, launch, and build of two new public parks as part of the City's Parks, River Access, and Connectivity Master Plan (the "Master Plan").
The goals of the Master Plan include:
Developing a master plan design, cost estimates, and related information for an approximately 36-acre public park associated with the Saggio Hills hotel and residential development under construction;
Developing a master plan design, cost estimates, and related information for redevelopment of the City's approximately 20-acre Badger Park located on the banks of the Russian River;
Analyzing opportunities for creating access to the Russian River as the Russian River passes through the City and developing a plan to enhance river access; and
Analyzing and developing a high-level plan for connectivity to parks, open spaces, recreational facilities, schools, the Russian River, and other points of interest.
Charitable Activities
The Applicant was formed with the mission to create equitable access to and investment in public spaces, public infrastructure and community events throughout the City. The Applicant will pursue its mission by raising funds and providing support to the City and the Community Services Department to finance and implement the Master Plan.
The Applicant will pursue its mission by: (1) bringing together and fostering collaboration among governmental bodies, community leaders, the general public, and numerous stakeholders to gather information related to the Plan; (2) raising funds to finance and implement the Master Plan and construct the Montage and Badger Parks sites; (3) developing and increasing resources and implementing strategies, solutions, and innovations to address those needs for the benefit of the general public in the City as part of the Master Plan; (4) supporting policies and programs pertaining to public parks and recreation; (5) financing the needs related to the City's parks, open space, and recreational facilities; (6) improving maintenance of the City's parks, open space, and recreational facilities; and (7) promoting public access to and community events at the City's parks, open space, and recreational facilities.
More specifically, beyond the initial financing of the Master Plan and construction of the Montage and Badger Parks sites, the Applicant's anticipated activities and objectives include generally granting funds to the City to construct and maintain new parks and recreational facilities within the City. Grant funds will be used to construct, maintain, and renovate parks and recreation facilities to increase public recreation and provide access to nature and open space. A large portion of the City sits within the Wildland Urban Interface, which presents a high fire danger to the residents of the City. Several of the City's recreation areas, such as the Healdsburg Ridge Open Space Preserve and the Fitch Mountain Open Space Preserve, will need ongoing financial support to conduct fuels reduction and vegetation management that both make them less of a threat of wild land fire and improve their ability to be beneficial recreation areas for the public to access.
The IRS website states:
A Form 990 is due on the 15th day of the 5th month following the end of the organization's taxable year. For organizations on a calendar year, the Form 990 is due on May 15th of the following year.
However, it does not appear that the Parks Foundation has submitted any financial disclosures to the IRS.
On January 6, 2022, The Healdsburg Tribune published the following article:
“The foundation was formed to provide support and maintain public parks in Healdsburg and the idea is that the charitable funds that we raise are able to further create equitable access (to parks) and investment in public spaces and public infrastructure in the community,” said Ariel Kelley, who helped get the nonprofit off the ground in July.
The city’s parks and community services are currently solely funded by the city’s transit occupancy tax. Residents’ property taxes do not go to the parks, rather visitors who lodge in Healdsburg are the ones bringing in parks revenue and so up until recently, there wasn’t a way for residents to directly support their parks. Now, with the foundation, residents can support local parks directly.
“We have two big park projects that the city is taking on: the Montage/Saggio Hills Park and the Badger Park redesign. Those two projects are going to really transform and kind of ‘next level’ some of our city’s parks and they are going to be expensive. Our hope is that through a variety of sources of funds, we are able to bring those parks to fruition,” Kelley said.“
In order to do that, we wanted to create a philanthropic avenue where charitable dollars could be donated to the creation of those parks.”
Kelley is the chair of the board. Board members include board secretary Samantha Marquis, board treasurer Carrie Hunt and director Lacey Scott.
In terms of fundraising efforts, Kelley said, “We will be doing some individual giving campaigns where folks can make a donation in honor of someone and then we will also at a later date be launching a membership program where anyone can become a member of the Healdsburg Parks Foundation and part of those funds would go to support the mission.”
She said as the city gets closer to bringing the Healdsburg Park Master Plan to life, which calls for park design elements such as a dog park or a bike pump track at Montage Park, some folks may want their fundraising efforts to go to specific purposes like helping to fund the pump track.
The foundation will also have the ability to write grants and at some point the foundation will be looking at opportunities to apply for grants from a variety of sources across the state and the country.
The organization will also be working closely with the Healdsburg Community Services Department since the intent is that all of the funds that are raised through the foundation will go straight to the city to pay for city infrastructure and park work.
On April 22, 2022, the FPPC issued the following advice letter to Healdbsurg’s City Attorney regarding Planning Commissioner Carrie Hunt:
QUESTION
Does the Act prohibit you from taking part in Planning Commission decisions concerning an affordable housing project given your employer is actively bidding on construction jobs for home sites between 500 and 1000 feet from the project and your position requires you to find new project opportunities and secure new construction contracts?
CONCLUSION
Yes. The Act prohibits you from taking part in decisions concerning the affordable housing project because it is reasonably foreseeable that the project will have a material financial effect on your business and source of income interests in your employer, and because of the impermissible nexus between the decisions and income you receive from your employer.
FACTS AS PRESENTED BY REQUESTER
You serve as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Healdsburg. You are employed by Sonoma Hill Builders (“SNH”), a residential general contractor, as the Director of New Business Development (sales and networking). Your core responsibilities are to find new project opportunities and secure new construction contracts for SNH, which is actively bidding for construction jobs in the Montage residential area and likely will be awarded some of them. The build sites are between 500 and 1000 feet from the Saggio Hills Affordable Housing development project (the “Project”) that is under review by the Planning Commission. There are 35 home sites available in the Montage area and several of the home sites will have a direct view of the Project.
The Project will cover about 12 acres with 110 units, comprised of multiple buildings. It is your understanding that there will be 15 individual structures, some two stories tall, but most 3 stories tall. There will be large areas paved for uncovered parking. Amenities will include a central community building with a community room and property management offices, and outdoor amenities including community gardens/farm, picnic areas, playgrounds, plazas, pedestrian and bike paths, and hiking trails connecting to the broader trail network.
As a salesperson in your company, you earn commissions on top of your base salary for opportunities that you identify and secure. The Montage residential development is one of the contracts you will earn commissions on, and you will likely be involved with for years to come. You are concerned that the look of the project has the potential to impact the value of the lots/houses in the Montage area, which may then financially impact your company and your commissions. Moreover, you are concerned that clients may select not to build at all if they determine they do not like the view of the Project from their homesite.
You hope to have clients execute build contracts that will eventually pay you a commission. If your clients do not like the look of the affordable housing project within their view corridor, they may choose not to build and therefore you would not earn commissions from their project. You state that the Project could impact SNH by increasing or decreasing its annual gross revenue by more than $1,000,000.
The planning commission decisions regarding the Project will involve not only the look of the Project but whether it should move forward at all.
On November 8, 2022, a Planning Commission Hearing was held regarding the Saggio Hills Affordable Housing Project.
The Applicant hosted two community meetings in June and August of 2021 to obtain early input regarding the Saggio Hills Affordable Housing Project ("Project"). Corazon Healdsburg and the City assisted with outreach and the meetings were attended by approximately 50 and 70 people, respectively. The Applicant also held two focus group meetings with four neighbors whose homes on Palomino Court are immediately adjacent to the Project site.
The Saggio Hills Development park area is located on the north side of Healdsburg, adjacent to the Parkland Farms neighborhood, Healdsburg Avenue, and Passalacqua Road. The City received approximately 38 acres of land as part of the Montage resort project for the new public park, and the developable area is about 12 acres.
According to the website for The Marquis + Farwell Group, Ms. Samantha Marquis is a founding agent.
The firm specifically focuses on the sale of Montage Residences within their portfolio.
Recently, Councilwoman Kelley and Corazon Healdsburg endorsed the City’s Measure O, Yes for Homes. This a request to modify the City’s Growth Management Ordinance.
Argument in Favor of Measure O
Measure O seeks to amend the City’s Growth Management Ordinance (“GMO”) to exempt multi-family housing along portions of the Healdsburg Avenue corridor. Measure O would not authorize any additional units.
In 2000, the Healdsburg voters adopted the GMO, which limits the number of building permits the City may issue to an average of 30 per year, not to exceed 90 in a three-year period.
In 2018, the voters approved Measure P, which amended the GMO to allow the City to issue an additional 50 building permits per year, on average, to multi-family, income restricted rental units. In 2020, the voters further amended the GMO to allow the 50 units per year, on average, authorized in 2018 to be offered for sale as well as for rent.
In the six years following the enactment of Measure P, the City has issued building permits for twelve middle-income, multifamily housing units. These units are included in a larger development in the City.
If approved, Measure O would exempt multifamily dwellings in the Healdsburg Avenue North Corridor (North Street to Grove Street); Central Healdsburg Avenue Plan; and South Entry Area from the GMO. This means that construction of multifamily dwellings in those specific areas would not be subject to the restrictions otherwise imposed by the GMO. Single family homes would still be subject to the restrictions of the GMO.
A “Yes” vote is a vote in favor of amending the City of Healdsburg’s Growth Management Ordinance, as set forth above.
A “No” vote is a vote against amending the City of Healdsburg’s Growth Management Ordinance, as set forth above.
If Measure O is not approved, the City’s existing GMO will remain in effect. Measure O will be approved if a simple majority of voters vote “yes”.
The rebuttal argument was presented as follows:
Per Councilwoman Ariel Kelley’s 2024 Statement of Economic Interest (SEI), her spouse, Mr. Tim Kelley, earns income as an Owner Rep for Grey Barn Management & as a General Contractor for Integrity Build Group.
Has Councilwoman Kelley possibly been utilizing her positions with local agencies to middleman business dealings for contractors, real estate agents and developers for which she has a vested financial interest?
“I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
-Revelation 2:9
Ok. I get it. Complete the initial form. Get and distribute money to friends and family. Never file another form again. Mission accomplished…friends and family got paid.