The developer of a proposed apartment complex south of Coddingtown mall is planning to spend $1.1 million to build a 2.7-acre city park adjacent to the project.

The Wolff Company of Scottsdale, Ariz. has approval to build 270 apartments in a 15-building development called Range Ranch.

It is the largest apartment project proposed in Santa Rosa in years and a sign of the strength of the rental housing market. Construction is anticipated to begin this summer.

Raising the train tracks to allow pedestrians and bicyclists to cross under them near Coddingtown is probably not feasible. Instead, city staff is recommending that Santa Rosa study either building a bridge over the tracks or ground level crossing gates to help get people across the tracks.

A last-minute compromise between Coddingtown mall officials and the Santa Rosa City Council helped smooth the approval of plans to guide development of a transit-oriented community around the future Guerneville Road train station. The mall had objected to some of its properties along Edwards Avenue on the southern border of the mall being rezoned to encourage a mix of housing and commercial uses near the station.

A plan to encourage development of a transit-oriented community around a future train station got sidetracked Tuesday by Santa Rosa City Council members concerned that the 300-page plan was overreaching and lacking the support of Coddingtown mall. The council spent four hours picking apart the long-range plan before directing staff to strip out several proposals that Coddingtown officials said would hinder the very economic development the plan sought to foster.

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.

The Santa Rosa Planning Commission today will reconsider its June 14 vote to grant a permit for a Target store at Coddingtown mall, a move that has frustrated some business and political leaders but encouraged advocates of better wages and benefits for workers. The decision could determine how quickly the mall can move forward with plans to demolish the two-story former Gottschalks building and replace it with a 143,000-square-foot single story Target, which would be Santa Rosa’s second.

The Santa Rosa Planning Commission voted Thursday to reconsider the permit it granted for a Target store at Coddingtown mall, citing inaccurate employment information provided by a company executive.

Of the 200 to 250 employees expected to be employed at the store, 60 percent would be full time, with the remainder split evenly among part-timers working 20 to 32 hours per week, who get some benefits, and those who work less, who receive none.

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.

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District on Thursday revealed that its initial 37-mile route will be extended 1½ miles north to a station on Guerneville Road in northwest Santa Rosa, as well as a station in Novato. Meanwhile, SMART said that critics must gather 39,000 signatures to place a measure on the ballot to overturn its funding – a threshold that RepealSMART organizers say will be difficult to clear.