Coddingtown mall got the go-ahead Thursday to build a Target big-box store following an unusually contentious and emotional Santa Rosa Planning Commission meeting that exposed a deep ideological divide over what kind of jobs the city should encourage. The extraordinary meeting featured one commissioner rebuking his colleagues for delaying a job-creating project, another accusing staff of stifling valid inquiries, and a third claiming Santa Rosa is in the ‘Stone Age’ compared to how other communities consider development projects.

Plans for a Target store at Coddingtown mall cleared a key hurdle Thursday when the Santa Rosa Planning Commission granted a permit for the big-box retailer.

A bold plan to encourage higher density housing near the future commuter rail station near Coddingtown mall is winning praise for its embrace of sustainable development principles but also criticism from some worried about its impact on their private property rights.

For anyone with ideas about how to improve the way Santa Rosa is governed, it’s time to step up to the microphone. Santa Rosa’s charter review process — a once-a-decade mini-Constitutional Convention — hosts a special public forum Saturday.