UPDATE, 3:11 p.m.

Rio Dell City Manager Kyle Knopp returned our phone message and explained that while the parcel is currently zone for one-acre minimum parcels, the city would “enthusiastically” support up-zoning to allow for denser development. 

The water board previously curtailed development in this area due to wastewater issues, but a new treatment plant was built in 2013 and restrictions were lifted in 2017. 

“We have a project going on already to upsize the sewer line in that area,” Knopp said. “The parcel is ripe for housing, it’s in a great location and it has beautiful views of the Scotia Bluffs.”

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Map of the Diocese of Santa Rosa. | CC BY-SA 3.0

The Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa recently put a handful of Northern California properties, including 8.19 undeveloped acres in Rio Dell, up for sale in an effort to raise some quick cash as it works through bankruptcy proceedings. 

The diocese, whose territory comprises Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma Counties, filed for bankruptcy in March 2023 amid an onslaught of more than 250 sexual abuse lawsuits. 

The bankruptcy proceedings paused court proceedings for those lawsuits, much to the frustration of survivors.

The Rio Dell property, located at 800 Rigby Avenue, sits on the east side of Hwy. 101, tucked into an elbow of the South Fork Eel River. Local real estate agent Marc Matteoli highlights the property’s development potential in an online listing, noting that it could be split into eight one-acre lots or subdivided into as many as 50 smaller lots.

However, a municipal zoning map shows the parcel zoned “Suburban Low,” a designation that mandates a minimum lot size of one acre. A call to Rio Dell City Manager Kyle Knopp seeking clarification was not immediately returned.

Matteoli’s listing says, “The City of Rio Dell has expressed willingness to work with a developer to create residential development here,” though it also notes that sewer system upgrades will probably be necessary.

Other properties placed on the market this week by the Diocese of Santa Rosa include a couple of vacant acres in Sebastopol, a Napa Valley vineyard, a small Napa home and a long-vacant former clergy residence in downtown Santa Rosa, the Press Democrat reports. 

A quick side note: The Diocese of Santa Rosa is headed up by Bishop Robert Francis Vasa, who last year injected himself into the State of California’s emergency abortion care lawsuit against Providence-St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka. Attorneys for the Catholic-run Providence-St. Joseph Health Northern California had reached an agreement with the Attorney General’s Office by which treating physicians would be allowed to terminate a patient’s pregnancy whenever they determined that failing to do so would seriously jeopardize the patient’s health. Vasa found the agreement’s terms were incompatible with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.

The Rio Dell property is listed at $749,000.