Sally Tomatoes Owner Giudice Refused to Abstain From Voting on Annual Agreement for SOMO Planned Development While Serving on Rohnert Park Council - Conflict of Interest Much?
When life gives you tomatoes, turn it into cash money!
On March 28, 2023, the Rohnert Park Financing Authority Successor Agency to the Community Development Commission was tasked with approving the following agenda item:
Receive and Accept the Annual Development Agreement Review for Southeast Specific Plan, University District Specific Plan, Five Creek Planned Development, Redwood Crossing, and SOMO Planned Development.
The agenda report included the following language:
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Receive and Accept the Annual Development Agreement Review for Southeast Specific Plan, University District Specific Plan, Five Creek Planned Development, Redwood Crossing, and SOMO Planned Development.
BACKGROUND: California Government Code Section 65865.1 and Rohnert Park Municipal Code Section 17.21.050 requires annual review of Development Agreements. This requirement is mirrored in Section 9.05 of the Development Agreements (DAs) for the Sonoma Mountain Village Planned Development, the Southeast Specific Plan, and the University District Specific Plan and Section 8.5 of the DA for the Five Creek Planned Development, the Station Avenue Planned Development and Redwood Crossing.
The annual review provisions require the developers to provide evidence of good faith compliance with the terms and conditions of their DA. This evidence is then evaluated by the City to confirm the developers’ compliance with the terms of their DA. If, after its review, the City finds the developer has complied in good faith with the DA, the City may issue a Certificate of Compliance. If, after an annual review, the City finds that the developer has not complied with the DA, then various remedies may be considered up to and including termination of the DA.
The Municipal Code and the various DAs differ slightly in their requirements for the annual review. Some designate the review responsibility to the City Manager and some designate it to the Director of Development Services. Some require the annual review report to be delivered to the Planning Commission and some require that it be delivered to the City Council. This annual review report is intended to be a comprehensive review – it has been prepared by the Development Services Department and reviewed by the City Manager. It will be delivered to the City Council with a copy to Planning Commission for its reference.
ANALYSIS: Staff has conducted an independent review of each developer’s compliance with its DA. At this time, the developers at the Southeast Specific Plan Area, University District, Five Creek, Redwood Crossing, and SOMO Village are actively pursuing their projects and are currently in compliance with their DAs. The City acquired the property covered by the Station Avenue DA in April of 2022. On February 28, 2023, the City Council directed staff to pursue rescinding the Station Avenue entitlements and terminating the DA, as a result, the Station Avenue DA is not discussed in this report.
SOMO Planned Development: The SOMO Planned Development (SOMO) is located in southeast Rohnert Park, south of Camino Colegio, west of Bodway Parkway and east of the SMART tracks. The planned development area includes 175 acres. It was originally approved in 2010 and in 2021, the City Council approved revised entitlements for the project to include up to 823,000 square feet of commercial, office, retail and industrial use, over 38 acres of parks and open space and 1,750 dwelling units with the affordability mix outlined in Table 4. The re entitlements included an Amended and Restated Development Agreement which became effective May 28, 2021. The DA has a term of 15 years and will expire in 2036.
The developer (SOMO Village LLC) has initiated its first phase of development, which is a portion of its approved Phase 1 North, located generally east of Mitchell Drive and north of Waterside Lane. The development includes 116 single family lots and 32 townhomes, which have been approved by the SOMO Village Design Review Board. Staff is working with the developer to approve a final subdivision map and improvement plans for this phase.
As required by the DA, the developer has dedicated a fire station site and a public access easement over SOMO Green (adjacent to Credo High School) to City and has acquired the Bodway Parkway right-of-way from the City. On December 13, 2022, City Council authorized the formation of the required Community Facilities District per the DA agreement and approved the Phase 1N-A final map includes the dedication of a 0.4-acre park to serve the first phase of development.
Attachment 1e includes additional information about the SOMO Village project provided by the developer.
The developer of SOMO Village is in compliance with the terms of its DA.
Councilmember Giudice made the motion to approve the consent calendar, and failed to abstain from approving the SOMO planned development.
2009 California Government Code - Section 65864-65869.5 :: Article 2.5. Development Agreements states the following:
A development agreement shall specify the duration of the agreement, the permitted uses of the property, the density or intensity of use, the maximum height and size of proposed buildings, and provisions for reservation or dedication of land for public purposes. The development agreement may include conditions, terms, restrictions, and requirements for subsequent discretionary actions, provided that such conditions, terms, restrictions, and requirements for subsequent discretionary actions shall not prevent development of the land for the uses and to the density or intensity of development set forth in the agreement. The agreement may provide that construction shall be commenced within a specified time and that the project or any phase thereof be completed within a specified time.
The agreement may also include terms and conditions relating to applicant financing of necessary public facilities and subsequent reimbursement over time.
Rohnert Park Councilmember Gerard Giudice is the Owner of Sally Tomatoes catering & event venue located at 1100 Valley House Dr, Rohnert Park, CA 94928 in the SOMO Village.
Mr. Giudice was fully aware of the necessity to abstain from voting on matters regarding SOMO Village, as he abstained during further meeting dates.
On January 9, 2024, the Council minutes stated that Vice Mayor Giudice leases a premises in SOMO Village and therefore has a potential financial conflict of interest regarding the acceptance of the Sonoma Mountain Village Planned Development and Directing Related Actions.
Additionally, Councilmember Giudice failed to abstain from the March 8, 2022 discussion and vote for:
Introduction of Ordinance Amending the Wilfred-Dowdell Specific Plan and the Northwest Specific Plan, and Amending Section 17.06.840 (Permitted Land Uses, Article XV.A Sonoma Village Planned Development) and Section 17.07.020 (Footnotes) and of the Rohnert Park Municipal Code to Prohibit New or Expanded Fueling Facilities.
Proposed Amendments to Municipal Code Section 17.06.840 (Sonoma Mountain Village Planned Development Zoning District) reflect the Development Agreement that also covers a portion of the SOMO Village Development: The most technically complex set of amendments are to Zoning Code Section 17.06.840, the Sonoma Mountain Village Form Based Code. This section of the zoning ordinance includes a land use category call “Fueling Station”. Fueling Stations are permitted with a CUP in the T-5 and T-7 transects (zones). SOMO Village entered into a Development Agreement (DA) in early 2021, which restricts the City’s ability to change certain aspects of the land use entitlement with concurrence with SOMO Village. The “T7 Transect”, which include the existing industrial buildings at the core of SOMO Village, is not subject to the DA, so the restriction on petroleum fueling would apply to T7. However these restrictions cannot be unilaterally imposed by the City in the T5 transect. The City has reached out to SOMO Village representatives, and they do necessarily object to the proposed changes related to petroleum fueling facilities, but believe that more time is needed to amend the code and DA correctly, which is why staff is proposing to continue the moratorium on new or expanded stations.
Staff is proposing amendments to Zoning Code Section 17.06.840 (SOMO Village Form Based Code) that manage the two distinct areas of the campus. A land use category of “Fueling Station (alternative fuels only) would be added in Section 17.06.840 (part of Article XV.A, Sonoma Mountain Village Planned Development Zoning District) to the land use table and the Glossary. This allows for fueling stations, which do not include petroleum fuels, with a Conditional Use Permit in two districts (T5 and T7). The new land use category would be defined as follows:
"Fueling Station (alternative fuels only)." A retail business selling vehicle fuels, but not including gasoline, diesel, or other motor vehicle fuels for combustion engines, and related products. Hydrogen is an alternative fuel. A fueling station may also include a convenience store of less than four hundred square feet.”
The land use category of “Fueling Station (including alternative fuels)” will remain in the land use table in Section 17.06.840 to reflect the SOMO Village, Development Agreement (DA) adopted by the City in early 2021. A footnote (“9”) would allow for petroleum fueling stations in the interim, as follows: “9. Only if and when subject to an effective Development Agreement. Otherwise, the use is prohibited.
The language below refers to the pedestrian friendliness of the SOMO Village design as presented within the ordinance:
Pedestrian Friendly Design. The following policies will encourage less vehicular use and more pedestrian oriented design, reducing the overall need for petroleum fueling facilities.
o LU-4 Develop the City Center and Sonoma Mountain Village Planned Development as mixed-use pedestrian oriented areas.
o LU-5 Encourage development of the northwest growth area along Wilfred Avenue [now Golf Course Drive West]…as mixed-use centers (that is, with different use at different levels in a building), while permitting single or multi-use (that is more than one use on the site, but in separate buildings) development.
o LU-35 Ensure that land uses are dispersed in accordance with the provision of the Sonoma Mountain Village Planned Development zoning District:
-Include a framework of transit, pedestrian, and bicycle systems, both within the Sonoma Mountain Village area and connection to the surrounding community, that provide alternative to the automobile.
-Develop neighborhoods that are compact, pedestrian-oriented and contain mixed-use.
The North Bay Business Journal published an article on September 14, 2023 which indicated that the SOMO Village development project has been in the works for two decades.
It’s been nearly two decades since the transformation of a former HP plant in southeast Rohnert Park started, and now construction of the first homes are underway.
SOMO Living on Thursday commemorated the start of construction on the first 148 homes out of 1,750 planned in three phases on 175 acres of the SOMO Village mixed-use project on Valley House Drive. In addition to the existing 600,000 square feet of commercial buildings, the project is set to have a 25-acre working organic farm and 38.5 acres of parks and open space.
Century Communities of Greenwich Village, Colorado, was named as the builder of the first phase. Among its current endeavors are two projects in Solano County. The first SOMO Village homes are set to come on the market in early 2024, with pricing expected to start in the $700,000 range.
“I wasn’t sure this day was ever going to come,” said SOMO Living CEO Brad Baker to the crowd that had gathered in front of the former high-tech buildings in the complex. “It is 15 years late.”
The family of real estate developer Hugh Codding purchased the property in 2005, but then came the housing market downturn that led into the Great Recession. Baker pursued a highly sustainable focus for the redevelopment, earning a One Planet Community designation in 2009.
Rohnert Park Mayor Samantha Rodriguez at the ribbon-cutting event Thursday noted how the SOMO Village was part of the city’s recently being named by California as a “prohousing” community.
On Aug. 4, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Rohnert Park, Santa Cruz and South San Francisco had joined the list of now 30 communities with a prohousing designation, including locally Santa Rosa, Windsor, Ukiah and Sonoma County. That makes them eligible for funding incentives and additional resources as a reward for their work to reduce barriers to building more housing.
“They stand in stark contrast to the handful of locals who are failing their constituents and refusing to help California families struggling with runaway housing costs,” Newsom said in that news release.
Logan Pitts, senior field representative for state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, whose 3rd District includes the area, told the event crowd of a couple hundred that Rohnert Park has distinguished itself in home construction.
“Some communities tear themselves apart over building one apartment building, and that’s just not what we’re seeing here in Rohnert Park,” Pitts said. “They’ve taken the time to plan this and to look into the future.”
Pitts said such plans need innovative leaders in the private sector to make them happen.
David Rabbitt, whose 2nd Supervisoral District includes Cotati just west of SOMO Village, said Rohnert Park was thoughtful in developing specific plans for how the city would grow and provide housing for the workforce. He noted the pushback against state laws signed in the past few years that prioritize housing construction.
“We’re losing population in our county and certain parts of the Bay Area, and this will help us recover from that and provide those truly middle-class homes that we need for all of us to be able to stay through our hopefully long, healthy, retirements into the future,” Rabbitt said.
While the housing at SOMO Village has been delayed, the commercial aspect of the development has been steadily progressing. The four buildings of the former HP plant, built in the 1980s and vacated two decades ago, have been progressively revamped as tenants signed leases.
Today, the complex is home to nearly two dozen tenants such as Traditional Medicinals, World Centric, Resynergi, Trevi Systems, Morton & Bassett Spices, Operant Networks and Credo High School, a public Waldorf charter institution. Restaurant Sally Tomatoes anchors the event center, and Old Caz is prepping to open a taproom below the 24,000-square-foot SOMO Cowork center.
Councilmember Giuidice’s bio from Zero Waste North Bay states:
Born in The Bronx in New York City in 1962, his family relocated to Marin County in 1972. Gerard graduated in 1980 from Novato High School and attended Hotel and Restaurant Management school at City College in San Francisco. He has worked in the hospitality industry his entire career opening nine restaurants and/or Event Centers, most with his business partner of 32 years Bill Pettibone. They branched out on their own and opened Sally Tomatoes in 2005. Gerard has extensive background with both Front and Back of the House operations.
He began his passion for community service with Rotary in 1999 and has since served with four clubs over the past 25 years, two as President of the Rotary Club of Rohnert Park-Cotati. He also served as a director for Social Advocates for six years from 2016 to 2022.
He was appointed to the Planning Commission of Rohnert Park in 2010 and served 10yrs before being elected to the City Council in Rohnert Park in 2020 becoming Mayor in 2021. Gerard currently serves as the Vice Mayor of Rohnert Park; his committee assignments include Director for Sonoma County Transportation Authority/Regional Climate Authority. He is also your elected representative as Director for the Golden Gate Bridge District through Mayors and Councilmembers in Sonoma County. He is blessed to live with Suzanne, his wife of 33 years in C section, they have two grown daughters Katarina (31 years old) and Isabella (26 years old). For fun he enjoys playing with his rock band Rotten Tomatoes or his Lab puppy Tomatoes!
Government Code Section 1090 prohibits an officer, employee, or agency from participating in making government contracts in which the official or employee within the agency has a financial interest. Section 1090 applies to virtually all state and local officers, employees, and multimember bodies, whether elected or appointed, at both the state and local level.
“Making” a contract includes final approval of the agreement, as well as involvement in preliminary discussion, planning, negotiation, and solicitation of bids.
Being that Councilmember Giudice knew he needed to abstain from discussing and voting on agenda items regarding the development of SOMO Village, why did he fail to do so? Was the error due to a lack of attention to detail, denial of conflict of interest or point blank shadiness?
“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.”