Scoping for the Revised SDC Environmental Study Opens
Community Meeting has been set for September 25th
Our first opportunity to weigh in on a revised environmental impact report (EIR) for the redevelopment of the Sonoma Developmental Center’s 180-acre campus has arrived. SMP will submit a letter reiterating the need to scale back the size of the small city proposed for the site by Eldridge Renewal, the prospective buyer. Our letter calls for the protection of the natural, cultural, and recreational values we cherish on the east face of Sonoma Mountain.
This is also a chance for you, fellow mountain lover, to provide feedback to Permit Sonoma and its consultants on what the environmental study should include and why.
To be clear, this is not the time to express your support for, or opposition to, redevelopment of the former SDC campus. Rather, this is your opportunity to ensure environmental impacts on surrounding open space, Sonoma Creek and other stream corridors, and the wildlife corridor are studied and that adverse impacts are mitigated.
The 30-day scoping period for the new EIR includes a public meeting on Thursday, September 25, in the Altimira Middle School auditorium, located at 17805 Arnold Drive in Sonoma. The hearing begins at 6 p.m. and will include both a presentation and the opportunity for public comment. Written comments must be submitted to Permit Sonoma by the close of the scoping period on Monday, Sept. 29.
Once the scoping period closes, county planners and consultants will compile a draft EIR; a 60-day public comment period will follow the draft’s release. A final EIR will be prepared, and public hearings before the planning commission and the board of supervisors will be held. The final plan and EIR must also comply with the October 2024 judgement.
We have this opportunity for a redo at the SDC because of the successful lawsuit filed by SCALE (Sonoma County Advocates for a Livable Environment) and Sonoma County Tomorrow (SMP is a partner in SCALE). Our coalition maintained that the first SDC EIR failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and the court agreed. The EIR was memorably and vigorously repudiated by Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Bradford DeMeo in October 2024, and Sonoma County’s Board of Supervisors decertified both the SDC Specific Plan and EIR.
With Eldridge Renewal’s builder’s remedy proposal now on deck, which bumps up the number of dwelling units to 990, ~130,000 square feet of commercial space, plus a 150-room resort hotel perched on a hilltop within the Sonoma Valley Wildlife Corridor, the development pressure on the property and the mountain has amped up.
The County missed the CEQA mark the first time around, and we continue to work with our partners at SCALE to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. We must be vigilant to ensure county planners and the developer provide adequate responses to issues raised by stakeholders, develop clear and enforceable mitigations for environmental impacts, including a mitigation monitoring and reporting program, conduct a complete analysis of traffic impacts in an emergency or wildfire evacuation, and more. Environmental impacts in 16 CEQA categories must be addressed in the revised EIR, including aesthetics; air quality; biological resources; historic, cultural, and tribal cultural resources; hydrology and water quality; land use, population, and housing; utilities and service systems; transportation, wildfire, and more.
To learn more about the process, the proposals, and ways to comment, visit https://permitsonoma.org/sdcproject. The Zoom link for the Sept. 25 public scoping meeting is available on the site. Planner Wil Lyons is the lead agency contact at Permit Sonoma; his email is sdc@sonomacounty.gov.
