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PLANNING COMMISSION TO REVIEW PIAZZA’S H4 HOTEL
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
November 23, 2023 Date, Date, 20202020
REVISED MATERIALS, SETBACKS ANSWER COMMISSION’S EARLIER CONCERNS By Christian Kallen
Photo by Tarra Herrick
On Tuesday, Nov. 28, the city’s Planning Commission will meet to review the planned H4 Hotel at 400 Healdsburg Ave. for the third time, and developer Piazza Hospitality hopes the third time will be the charm. The hotel would be the fourth in Piazza’s group of Healdsburg hotels, as a 16-unit residence hotel that would have multiple bedrooms and bathrooms per suite, 37 rooms in all. Piazza’s other hotels include the H2 Hotel (219 Healdsburg Ave.), the Harmon Guest House (227 Healdsburg Ave.) and its first, Hotel Healdsburg (25 Matheson St.). To be situated on the northeast corner of Healdsburg Avenue and North Street, the hotel has twice escaped the 5-unit limit on downtown hotels imposed by the city council on Dec. 17, 2018. Though its application was filed following the council’s approving vote on the ordinance, city planning staff initially accepted the “deemed complete” application on Jan. 16, 2019, a date arguably past the qualification deadline. When the approval date was contested, an error in city posting of the ordinance was discovered, and the council had to vote a second time earlier this year to re-implement the hotel ordinance. The 400 Healdsburg Ave. application was again excluded from the constraints of the 2018 Housing Ordinance in September 2023.
EVERYTHING BUT THE BIRD A modern vegan, gluten-free, locally sourced menu from Little Saint is very much like what the First Thanksgiving table may have looked like, save the absence of fowl.
Thanksgiving Wine Through a Sommelier’s Palate THE PILGRIMS’ LOCALLY SOURCED, GLUTEN- AND DAIRY-FREE VEGAN REPAST By Christian Kallen
It goes without saying that the first Thanksgiving was nothing like the holiday dinner we celebrate today. Right? Truthfully, it wasn’t all that different. When the Pilgrims and their neighbors gathered at Plimoth Bay for a three-day feast, probably in early October 1621, it was to take advantage of the fall migration of waterfowl, the seasonal harvest of squash and the crop of corn. Turkeys were in abundance too, the cyclic rise and fall of their flocks
at a peak—and when 100 Pokanokets showed up with five freshly killed deer, well, the table was set. So to speak. Surprisingly, aside from the animal protein—the duck, wild turkey and venison—the menu looked a lot like the locally-sourced, dairy-free, vegan repast offered at Little Saint this past week. There were certainly no GMO products on the plate, and in the absence of wheat nothing was made with gluten. Unfortunately that kept pies off the menu, but one can’t have everything on the first Thanksgiving. One other absence that really hurts, though, was the lack of wine. That alone makes the last 402 years of civilization worth the struggle. Unable to cast her palate back in
time, Alexandria Sarovich, the executive wine director at Little Saint, applied her sommelier skills to the Little Saint Thanksgiving à la Carte menu and shared her choices of wines to pair for the coming holiday.
Modern Tastes And who better for the task? Though only 30, Alex Sarovich has already made her mark on the world of wine, earning a Level 3 Advanced Sommelier Certification through the Court of Master Sommeliers during her three years at SingleThread. Then she took over the beverage program at Little Saint, growing its wine list from 250 to over a thousand bottles. She also developed the service and beverage offerings at the Second Story, the elevated restaurant upstairs at 25
North St. Her latest recognition came last month when she was named VinePair’s Sommelier of the Year, high marks from an influential digital media company focused on drinks culture and trends. (vinepair.com) Sarovich knows just where to turn to please the diner’s palate, but be forewarned, there’s more than one bottle of wine open at one time on this table. Most though not all are available at Little Saint’s wine shop, and priced accordingly. Sommeliers give consumers advice on what wines to pair with what dishes, taking into account not only the reaction of the two with each other, but the consumer’s tastes and preferences as well. So it
➝ H4 Hotel, 6
seems appropriate to ask Sarovich what wines would best match the gluten-free, locally-sourced, vegan holiday menu enjoyed by both Pilgrims and many modern diners. Extra Brut Champagne, Lelarge-Pugeot, ‘Tradition’ ($55 750ml) A welcome recommendation is Sarovich’s first: a glass of the bubbly. “Lelarge-Pugeot Champagnes are some of my all-time favorites because they use a low dosage—making the wine nice and dry—while having great vibrancy because of where they are based in a colder part of Montage de Reims,” says Sarovich. “Farming is always important, and I love the fact that Lelarge is certified organic through EcoCertPlus—the wine is ➝ Thanksgiving Wine, 6
KELLEY ANNOUNCES BID FOR ASSEMBLY JIM WOOD’S DEPARTURE OPENS OPPORTUNITY FOR HEALDSBURG’S CURRENT MAYOR By Christian Kallen
to announce her candidacy for the 2nd Assembly District, the North Coast.
(Courtesy Ariel Kelley)
CANDIDATE Ariel Kelley poses in front of a redwood tree
The news that Jim Wood would not seek reelection to his 2nd Assembly District seat came as a surprise to his constituents last week. But the ink was hardly dry on the Nov. 10 press release when several North Coast politicians announced they would seek the seat in the
2024 elections—including Healdsburg city council member and current mayor, Ariel Kelley. Both Wood and State Sen. Mike McGuire, who represent almost-contiguous districts, face term limits on their seats, with 2024 the last time they can run for re-election. McGuire will certainly run one more time to round out his permitted 12 years in the legislature, since he has become one of the most powerful senators in the state, but Wood has been a less visible legislator. Wood said that his decision not to run for reelection “was one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make in many years,” adding, “I can make a case to continue my work, but I believe now is the right time for me to change my focus.” Family reasons seemed to be a primary cause of
Wood’s foreshortened political career. “My mother has been in declining health and now requires an increasingly higher level of care and I want to be a meaningful part of that,” he said. Yet he said he was hoping to find “different ways to support my district and the issues that are important to them, especially challenges faced by rural communities.” Like McGuire, Wood had been a council member and mayor in Healdsburg. That’s the case with Kelley as well, who was elected to the council in 2020 on her first try for elected office.
Kelley Joins the Race
Assembly District 2 is currently drawn from the northern half of Santa Rosa to the Oregon border in Del Norte County, including the cities of ➝ Bid for Assembly, 2