Published on : Wednesday, August 29, 2018
The City Manager David Mickaelian said that they are stressing on its quality of life. The trying to find that balance between tourism and livability and we think this is another step to accomplish that.
At the start of the yearn Healdsburg had 387 hotel rooms. By December there were 548. That is a 42 percent increase in just one year.
That’s just the start. Other projects in the works could create another 178 rooms in the coming years — a 121 percent increase. It’s a lot, Duchamps Hotel owner Mark Luzaich recognizes, but not a good reason for such sweeping changes, he says.
All the bed and breakfasts — the small boutique hotels like we are — there are a few of us at that size that had plans to expand and under this, they can’t.
There will be a moratorium on new hotel development along with new restriction in certain areas.
The hotels there will be limited to five rooms, and for every five rooms built anywhere inside city limits, hoteliers have to build one affordable housing unit.
The city Manager Mickaelian says it’s a way to raise the bar or entry for new business that also raises the quality of life. But some worry that may mean swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction.
Brian Sommer is chairman of the Healdsburg Tourism Improvement District. The plan still needs approval from city leaders, but City Manager Mickaelian is optimistic the plan will pass without too many changes to the existing framework.
Tags: Duchamps Hotel, Healdsburg, Hotel