SDC

 

LAST CHANCE TO SPEAK UP FOR OPEN SPACE

AND REJECT SPRAWL AT SDC

Board of Supervisors to Vote Friday, December 16 at 10 AM

Send Comments by Dec. 14

Tell Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to revise or reject Sonoma Developmental Center Specific Plan and Final Environmental Impact Report.

After more than three years and despite widespread opposition, Sonoma County is pushing forward to develop a 1,000-home subdivision and hotel at Sonoma Developmental Center in the middle of Open Space and the Sonoma Valley Wildlife Corridor. 

The County’s plans will demolish historic buildings, increase wildfire risk, impede the wildlife corridor, and exacerbate the climate crisis by driving emissions.

FINAL COUNTY VOTE AT 10 AM FRIDAY DECEMBER 16 PUBLIC HEARING 
(Zoom and in person. Details of the meeting will be posted here when available: https://www.sdcspecificplan.com/meetings) 

TAKE ACTION NOW

Submit Written Comments by Wednesday, December 14 at 10 am

Pick several issues relating to Permit Sonoma’s proposed SDC Specific Plan – the 3 issues that matter most to you to include in a short, pointed email letter.

If you can, spend a little time writing up a 30-second statement on each issue to read in person or at the Zoom meeting at 10 am on December 16.

Contact emails:
PlanningAgency@sonoma-county.org 
Brian.Oh@sonoma-county.org

CC: bos@sonoma-county.org, engage@sdcspecificplan.com, Susan.Gorin@sonoma-county.org, district3@sonoma-county.org, district4@sonoma-county.org, David.Rabbitt@sonoma-county.org, Lynda.Hopkins@sonoma-county.org,senator.dodd@senate.ca.gov,  senator.mcguire@senate.ca.gov, damon@damonconnolly.com

SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM FOR SAMPLE EMAIL TEXT

BACKGROUND

The County Planning Commission, on a vote of 4 – 1, recommended approval of the proposed SDC Specific Plan on Monday, November 7. Commissioner Greg Carr, representing Sonoma Valley, was the only “no” vote. Commissioner Carr noted practically unanimous public opposition and a highly flawed Final Environmental Impact Report as reasons influencing his vote.

While a few changes were made to the plan, the buildout numbers remain the same – 1,000 homes and 900+ jobs. The Board of Supervisors will consider the Planning Commission recommendations at a hearing on Friday, Dec. 16 (details and links to follow as the date approaches).

WHAT’S NEXT?

Recommendations from the Planning Commission now go to the Board of Supervisors for final adoption/approval. There are 3 possible outcomes at the BOS:

Note: The Board of Supervisors has an agreement with the State to complete the Specific Plan process by the end of the year. 

1.         The BOS certifies the final EIR as being “adequate” and approves the SDC Specific Plan as recommended by 4 of the Planning Commissioners. (likely)

2.         The BOS makes changes to the scale of the SDC Specific Plan and/or the policies in the plan, based on public comments. This action would not require changes to the EIR, since the EIR included evaluation of a scaled-down alternative. (Possible but not likely, given the Planning Commission’s recommendation)

3.         The BOS requests staff to make changes to the EIR (and possibly changes to the SDC Specific Plan), in which case the BOS would have to wait for those changes to be made before approving the plan. (Highly unlikely)

Once the BOS certifies the EIR and adopts/approves the SDC Specific Plan, there is a 30-day time limit for someone or some entity to file a lawsuit with the County on the inadequacy of the Final EIR. To file a lawsuit, the entity or person must have submitted comments on the EIR.

For more information, please go to https://eldridgeforall.org/home

SAMPLE EMAIL TEXT

SUBJECT LINE: REVISE OR REJECT SDC SPECIFIC PLAN AND FEIR

Dear Sonoma County Board of Supervisors,

Please revise or reject the proposed Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC) Specific Plan and Final Environmental Impact Report. The SDC Specific Plan is inconsistent with longstanding county land use policies for city-centered growth and protection of rural and open space lands.

The Final Environmental Impact Report is inadequate and fails to meet legal thresholds under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as it does not adequately identify, analyze and/or mitigate the negative environmental impacts of the Specific Plan.

Instead of approving the oversized development and inadequate FEIR, I urge you to: 

  1. Scale Back Size and Phase in Development to 450 or fewer homes and require that most of them be affordable to the majority of people who live in Sonoma Valley. Eliminate the hotel, retail and commercial space that is already provided in Sonoma Valley. 
  2. Adopt Historic Preservation Alternative as it is the most environmentally sound.
  3. Protect Open Space and Wildlife Corridor by providing enforceable timeline, boundaries, and actions for the immediate and permanent protection of the 745 acres of open space and transfer to county open space district and state and regional parks.
  4. Address Climate Crisis: Revise the Specific Plan and FEIR with legally enforceable measures to reduce climate emissions, such as building fewer homes, reusing and demolishing fewer buildings, and providing transit.
  5. Require Wildfire Safety: Revise wildfire evacuation impacts to reflect on-the-ground experiences during recent wildfires and new county wildfire risk and hazard maps.  Eliminate the shelter-place as there is no evidence it would save lives.  
  6. Revise Inadequate FEIR: The FEIR does not adequately analyze, prevent or reduce environmental impacts in most if not all of the areas studied as evidenced by few actual requirements and many vague words such as “promote” or “encourage” or “if feasible.” The DEIR needs to be revised and the Conditions of Approval strengthened and moved into a legally enforceable Mitigation and Monitoring Program.
  7. Require a Project EIR for all future development. (One that is specific to the project that will actually be built, not the Programmatic EIR that has been created for the Specific Plan, which is hopelessly flawed)

Thank you for your consideration,

Your name, address