photo credit: Historic American Buildings Survey/picryl
Santa Rosa's historic Carrillo Adobe pictured circa 1933.

The Carrillo Adobe is supposedly the oldest partially standing building in the Santa Rosa Valley.

According to some local historians, it's been the subject of restoration and preservation efforts since at least 1937.

But the property is also privately owned, and 162 townhomes could rise on the historic site.

At a community meeting on December 15, Santa Rosa planning administrator Serena Lienau said any development is still a long way off.

"At this point, the applicant has not submitted an application," Lienau said to a packed Santa Rosa city council chambers. "We only have a concept design review at this point. So this is very early in the process."

The community meeting was moved to the larger council chambers to accommodate the large crowd.

That didn't stop a long line of Santa Rosa residents from weighing in on the proposal.

First to speak was Larry Carrillo, a descendant of the Carrillo family, and president of the non-profit Friends of the Carrillo Adobe.

"Yes, we have 162 units versus 165 before," Carrillo said. "The problem here is the 25 before were senior housing and the current project, as you see it, takes about 1/3 more land than before. It totally shuts off the visibility to the Adobe."

Carrillo said he's concerned the project will encroach on foundations of the historic structure, discovered after the last development proposal in 2007.

Swenson Builders, the developer, wants to put up 23 new townhome blocks on the property.

"The Friends of the Carrillo Adobe will not be backing this project as it is shown and we will do everything to possibly stop any portion of it that affects the Adobe the way it is shown," Carrillo said.

photo credit: City of Santa Rosa
Community meeting notice for the proposed townhouse development on the Carrillo 
Adobe property on Montgomery Drive in Santa Rosa.

The Carrillo Adobe sits between Montgomery Drive and Santa Rosa Creek, east of the city's downtown.

It was built around 1838, on what's believed to be the site of a southern Pomo village, and was once the home of Doña Maria Carrillo and her sons, the first non-indigenous residents of the Santa Rosa Valley.

The remnants of the 188 year old adobe brick building now sit behind cyclone fence, sheltered under a tin roof. The plan is to leave the registered historic landmark intact - but subdivide the 14 acre lot.

The property was previously owned by Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa, and the current owners, Swenson Builders, proposed a 265 unit apartment complex on the site in 2005.

Swenson hasn't filed for formal development, but if the company does, the new townhouse proposal still faces at least four more public hearings.