North Bay Business Journal

Allen Wine Group, LLP, a Calistoga-based wine industry business advisory service and CPA firm, now offers bookkeeping services. …

Nine Marin County communities recently qualified for national “Green Power Community” recognition by the Environmental Protection Agency due to the countywide switch to renewable electric service from Marin Clean Energy. …

Rohnert Park-based sheet metal engineering and fabricator ASM Precision, Inc., purchased and installed a new AMADA EMLK 3610NT punch and laser combination machine. …

Zap Jonway Automobile (ZAAP), manufacturer of electric vehicles and other new energy vehicles with operations in Santa Rosa and China, is exhibiting at the 15th International Shanghai Automobile & Manufacturing Technology Exhibition. …

The city of Santa Rosa earned the highest achievement for its economic development programming — the Award of Excellence — from the California Association of Local Economic Development. …

Healdsburg’s SHED, a multifaceted market, café, coffee bar, fermentation bar and “modern Grange” event center is now open to the public. …

The battle between local and state governments over redevelopment funds earmarked for construction projects is intensifying as Santa Rosa, Petaluma and the county of Sonoma take legal action after state finance officials repeatedly rejected claims that the funds are legitimately committed to projects in advanced stages of progress.

SANTA ROSA — A dispute between state government money managers and the city of Santa Rosa over millions of dollars in redevelopment money, part of which the city deems necessary in coming months to kick-start a large Railroad Square transit-oriented project, escalated in the closing days of the year, as the city joined a growing number of local governments statewide not in a hurry to comply.

SANTA ROSA — As a 13-year project to transform the historic yet vacant cannery area around a planned downtown commuter-train station reaches a critical point to start construction next year or lose critical funding, the city of Santa Rosa plans to plead its case in Sacramento later this month for the release of redevelopment funds considered key to starting the $200 million-plus project.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced more than $700,000 in grants to eight North Bay housing and low-income assistance programs, money that will help hire new staff and support various support services for HUD-assisted families.

Local recipients were Housing Authority of the county of Marin, Napa Housing Authority, Sonoma County Community Development Commission, Vallejo Housing Authority, the city of Santa Rosa and Lake County Housing Commission.

SANTA ROSA — The U.S. Justice Department today said it reached a settlement in a lawsuit against the city of Santa Rosa and La Esplanada Unit 1 Owners’ Association over allegations of Fair Housing Act violations.

On July 12 the Santa Rosa Planning Commission voted 6-1 to approve redevelopment of the vacant Gottschalks store at Coddingtown regional mall in Santa RosaI as a single-story Target department store. Questions about the number of planned part-time vs. full-time jobs brought the matter back to the commission twice after initial approval in June.

Take this week’s NBBJ Pulse Poll: Was the Santa Rosa Planning Commission correct in approving the Target store project in Coddingtown over opponents’ contentions about employee wages and benefits?

SANTA ROSA — State regulators are cracking down on contractors trying to cut corners on employment and licensing law to win jobs amid the steep contraction in the building industry in the past six years, while local governments increasingly have been actively looking for ways to speed projects that will revive the economy and tax base, according to experts set to speak at the Business Journal’s 2012 Construction Conference next week.

At the Business Journal’s Impact Sonoma conference last October, Santa Rosa Vice Mayor and supervisorial candidate John Sawyer said the city’s is gauging progress on reforming permitting processes by the declining number of applicants at the counter who exclaim in frustration”You have got to be kidding?” Mr. Sawyer ran through a litany of overly picky [...]

SANTA ROSA — As part of a wide-ranging review of zoning and permitting policies to spur business growth, the city of Santa Rosa plans to try same-day permitting for simple commercial tenant improvements, possibly shortening a process that can take weeks.

Welcome to the Business Journal’s sixth annual Top Projects competition recognizing 11 exceptional contributions to the North Bay’s built environment. Read about what makes each remarkable in 2011.

Since the $2.5 million adaptive-reuse painstaking transformation a 120-year-old historic horse stable into a high-tech community center was completed in March, DeTurk Round Barn in west Santa Rosa has accommodated weddings and receptions, birthday parties, business and group meetings, workshops and special events almost once a week, and a number of holiday parties are lined up through the end of this year.

The city of Santa Rosa is conducting an online survey of local businesses. Companies small and large are encouraged to log on and give their feedback. Responses will help the city to better understand business challenges, needs and opportunities.

SANTA ROSA — Kaiser Permanente Medical Center of Santa Rosa held its fifth annual “Neighbors in Health” on Sunday, an event geared toward providing health care services for uninsured children throughout Sonoma County.

SANTA ROSA – Launching today is the significant second phase of the Fuel from Aquatic Biomass, or FAB, project at the Santa Rosa Laguna.

SANTA ROSA – Start-up and second-stage companies looking for investment expertise should apply to be a presenter at the Eighth North Bay Growth & Innovation Forum. The event takes place on April 28 and the cutoff for applications is March 12.

SANTA ROSA – The Hugh Futrell Corp. and Burbank Housing are teaming up on a 51-unit affordable housing project with 2,500 square feet of commercial space in downtown Santa Rosa.

SANTA ROSA – JDS Uniphase has filed plans with the city of Santa Rosa to build a three-and-a-half-acre solar installation on land it owns on Thunderbolt Way in Santa Rosa’s Northpoint Corporate Center.
When completed, the one-plus megawatt system will be the largest solar array in the North Bay.
The cutting edge installation, incorporating a sun tracking system and a solar cell under development at JDSU, will provide heat, air conditioning and electricity to adjacent Building C on the Santa Rosa JDSU campus.

A group calling itself the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Association created a furor in the West End portion of the city early this summer by circulating fliers claiming “the city of Santa Rosa is in the process of imposing green building requirements on all existing buildings that will impact your home and business.”

SANTA ROSA – The Santa Rosa Economic Development Division can take a lot of the credit in Washington, D.C.-based Métier’s decision to open its first branch office in the city.