HEALDSBURG, CA—A study commissioned by local officials indicates that Healdsburg could use twice as many hotel rooms as it currently has.

The Sanoma County tourist destination has such a draw, that as many as 450 new hotel rooms could be built to satisfy pent-up demand on the existing 365 rooms in nine hotels, the study shows. But the cranes aren't rolling into place just yet, according to a local media report.

“It's not the first step toward this huge explosion of 400 rooms in Healdsburg,” Mayor Jim Wood told the Sanoma Press Democrat. “It's informational about what is the potential and locations that might be able to handle hotels in this community.”

Healdsburg Citizens for Sustainable Solutions, said the study contradicts a recent City Council strategic planning sessions in which residents asked for “economic diversity,” instead of more promotion of hotels and tourism.

Wood noted that the city's general plan and its goal of preserving small town character will guide what actually ends up getting approved and built. He added that a controversial 75-room, five-story hotel that was proposed last year near the Healdsburg Plaza, then dropped, “never made it past the planning director” as details about its size were revealed.

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