Mike Harris 2018 Mayor Candidate

We sent a questionnaire to each of the 2018 mayoral and city council candidates. The questionnaire was very specific about the Scott Ranch/Davidon proposal and the future of the land at Windsor and D Street.

Petaluma Mayor Candidate

Mike Harris

Response

Question:

What role does a city council member have in protecting community character and addressing issues such as traffic circulation?

This is one of the biggest roles that a Councilmember/Mayor has while serving on the City Council. You must continuously find a balance between economic development, preserving the heritage of the city and protecting the community's character. If I'm honored to become the City's next Mayor, I will continuously strive to strike that balance and will always meet with the proponent/opponent of issues to try to find a middle ground.

Question:

What steps would you take to solve traffic congestion on Windsor, D Street, and adjoining streets now that commuters are using these streets to avoid 101 traffic?

I do support the Rainier cross-town connector for traffic circulation throughout the city. But in respect to this area of town, we must also continue to strive to move the Southern Crossing forward (at Caulfield). That would help with traffic in this quadrant of town. This infrastructure project while currently in the General Plan is admittedly a ways off, but we must continue to plan for it on a go forward basis.

Question:

What is the number of homes (if any) that you think should be built on this property?

As few as possible based on current negotiations and future negotiations that I'm not currently privy to.

Question:

Since 44 acres of the 58 acres will become part of Putnam Park, where on the remaining 14 acres should the 28 homes be located?

That is part of ongoing negotiations as well. Through these negotiations we should find the most environmentally feasible way to go. The negotiations should include staff, Davidon and all of the neighborhood groups associated with this proposed project.

Question:

Given that Petaluma is already critically short of police, fire, and first responders, would the Davidon development help solve this problem? How would you solve this problem?

The Davidon project would create 1 time impact fees for the city and ongoing property tax revenues in perpetuity. With that said, there will be an increase on the work load for our public safety group. When the goal setting session happens in Feb and ultimately the budget hearings in May/June we must continue to earmark additional revenues towards this issue. The Police Chief has recently stated that we are short approximately 15 sworn offices from where a similarly situated city of our population size should be. If honored to become the next Mayor, I look forward to those budgetary discussions so we can prioritize the appropriate dollars. In addition, I am honored to have been endorsed by the Petaluma Police Officers Association.

Question:

Are there net fiscal benefits to the proposed Davidon project? What are the potential costs to the city?

Similar to the answer in the previous question, the project would create 1 time impact fees for the city and ongoing property tax revenues in perpetuity. The costs to the city are essentially outlined in the previous question as well with the increase work load on our public safety groups.

Question:

Should the Council permit Davidon to build on the portion of the land that is habitat for the threatened red-legged frog, which would mean its death or removal or could these houses be relocated to avoid this significant impact?

We should work towards the relocation of the houses to minimize the habitat as much as possible and follow all of the necessary rules in protecting these frogs.

Please contact Mike Harris with any questions about these statements:

mikeharriscampaign@gmail.com