Environmentally advanced mixed-use project approved in California

City Council in Rohnert Park, California, approved the $1 billion Sonoma Mountain Village project, hailed as a model of environmentally responsible development.

On a split vote, the Council gave Codding Enterprises the go-ahead to produce 1,694 residential units, accompanied by 825,000 square feet of commercial, retail, and office space, on 175 acres that had been a manufacturing campus for Hewlett-Packard and Agilent.

Codding's development director, Richard Pope, said the blend of environmentally attuned development and a mix of business uses would raise Rohnert Park's profile immensely, making it "a destination city and not just a sign on the freeway," The Press Democrat in Sonoma County reported in an Aug. 25 article available here.

City staff said the project, in which Codding has invested $12 million since 2004, "would pay its own way. It "will use 100 percent renewal energy and emphasizes pedestrian and cyclist needs," the newspaper said.

The September New Urban News will present a full report on the project.