Category: Land Use

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Climate Change & Energy, Forests, Land UseTags , ,

Controversial bill to abolish California fire hazard rankings dies in Legislature

Hayley Smith, LOS ANGELES TIMES

A bill that sought to overhaul California’s system for wildfire hazard mapping has died in the state Assembly.

A bill that sought to overhaul California’s system for wildfire hazard mapping has died in the state Assembly.

Senate Bill 610, introduced in June by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), sparked heated debate over its plan to eliminate the decades-old system of ranking state and local lands as “moderate,” “high” or “very high” fire hazard severity zones — designations that influence development patterns and building safety standards based on an area’s probability of burning.

The plan instead would have empowered California’s state fire marshal, Daniel Berlant, to create a single “wildfire mitigation area” classification for California, which supporters said would simplify the system and create a uniform set of standards for wildfire preparation and mitigation.

Read more at https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-08-17/bill-to-abolish-california-fire-hazard-rankings-dies

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Climate Change & Energy, Forests, Land UseTags , ,

A Newsom-backed bill to change California’s wildfire hazard rankings is taking heat. Here’s why

Ari Plachta, SACRAMENTO BEE

The bill would overhaul California’s ranking system for wildfire hazards.

A bill backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to overhaul California’s ranking system for wildfire hazards is taking heat from environmentalists and local governments, who argue the bill would lead to a dangerous increase in housing development in fire-prone areas.

Senate Bill 610 would replace the state’s existing, three-tiered, labeling system that rates communities based on their probability of burning with a single framework that would only identify whether or not an area requires “fire mitigation.”

The hazard ranking system is a key to local development processes, building safety standards and home defensible space requirements. Proponents say the reform would simplify a convoluted system and help expand compliance with those rules.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/a-newsom-backed-bill-to-change-californias-wildfire-hazard-rankings-is-tak/

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Land Use, TransportationTags ,

Company affiliated with Edge Esmeralda ‘pop-up village’ enters into purchase agreement for huge site in Cloverdale

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

A massive, vacant swath of land in southeast Cloverdale that once was to be transformed into a $200 million resort suddenly is slated for potential development by a surprise buyer: a company linked to Edge Esmeralda, the “pop-up village” that attracted visitors from around the world to Healdsburg in June.

Esmeralda Land Company, run by Devon Zuegel, a principal behind Edge Esmeralda, has entered into a purchase agreement for the 267-acre site, which has sat quietly on the real estate market for seven years.

Pending approval from Cloverdale city leaders and final signoff from Esmeralda investors, Zuegel told The Press Democrat on Friday she plans to transform the open space into a full-time neighborhood that includes a hotel.

The ethos of the community will mirror that of the month-long event Zuegel helped lead in Healdsburg in June, where people took part in a variety of lectures and day trips, harmonizing with nature and prioritizing health and wellness.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/cloverdale-alexander-valley-resort-esmeralda/

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Land UseTags , , ,

What could redevelopment at former Sears site mean for downtown Santa Rosa? Local officials weigh in

Sara Edwards & Paulina Pineda, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Government officials, business leaders and observers say two competing visions for the former Sears site at Santa Rosa Plaza could help inject new life in that corner of the mall and provide a boost to downtown merchants and restaurants.

Sonoma County Tourism has proposed building a convention center and 250-room hotel at First and A streets to rope more business tourism into the local economy.

Meanwhile, mall owner Simon Property Group is said to be in talks with an unnamed national housing developer to bring apartments and retail to the site.

The full picture of the economic impact of either proposal is still coming into view as public details of the proposals emerge.

But the discussion comes as Santa Rosa’s urban core grapples with an identity crisis fueled in part by boarded up shops and less foot traffic following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/industrynews/sears-downtown-santa-rosa-plaza-mall/

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Land UseTags , ,

Neighbors in rural Petaluma fight winery over tasting room proposal

Jennifer Sawhney, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

A neighborhood battle has quietly erupted west of Petaluma among the bucolic, rolling hills along Spring Hill Road. The cause? A local winery’s proposed tasting room.

Azari Winery’s owners have spent five years and more than $100,000 so far on the 2,800-square-foot tasting room, which they say is well-considered, safe for the area and perfectly legal.

But a group of over 30 neighbors has a different take, calling the winery’s new addition an “event center” and saying it could have harmful environmental and agricultural impacts on their rural neighborhood, and be an inroad to further development.

“You’re never going to tear a building down to put it back to farmland,” said Shelina Moreda, a fifth-generation dairy farmer who pointed to the loss of dairy farms as cause for concern. “Once these things come in and move in, you have forever lost that farmland — forever. The problem with it is that it’s not just one building, it’s the chain reaction that it affects.”

Some of these neighbors have had family in the area for over a century, while others arrived more recently for the calm setting. Evidence of their growing dispute with Azari Winery is already visible along the roadside, where they’ve posted red-orange signs reading, “No event center on Spring Hill Road.”

Read more at https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/news/azari-winery-tasting-room-fight/

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Land UseTags , ,

‘Toothless, vague, limited to hopeful intentions’: Judge upends Sonoma Developmental Center plans

Phil Barber, PRESS DEMOCRAT

A judge delivered a stunning setback to Sonoma County planners Friday, upending the approval of plans for the redevelopment of Sonoma Developmental Center.

It’s a decision that could stall, at least temporarily, a proposal to turn the 133-year-old campus into a residential and commercial community.

Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Bradford DeMeo, weighing a lawsuit filed by a coalition of Sonoma Valley citizens groups, ruled the county violated the California Environmental Quality Act by failing to clearly define the number of housing units allowed; address the cumulative impacts of a pending project at neighboring Hanna Center; respond to community concerns in the draft environmental impact report; and adequately gauge impacts on biological resources and wildfire evacuation.

Glen Ellen residents have been voicing those concerns loudly and frequently for several years. However, they have found little traction in convincing the county or the California Department of General Services, which is overseeing the sale of the state-owned site, which at 945 acres is one of the largest redevelopment projects in Sonoma County.

DeMeo’s ruling now resets the conversation and gives hope to community members who have been advocating for a scaled-down project at SDC, rather than the 1,000-housing-unit plan put forth by developers Keith Rogal and the Grupe Company.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/sonoma-developmental-center-judge-overturns/

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Land UseTags ,

Sonoma County releases business plan for climate hub at Sonoma Developmental Center

Phil Barber, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

The county released a business plan describing “a place where key stakeholders, leaders and private enterprise can work together to find new responses to the ongoing climate crisis.”

Sonoma County is throwing its weight behind a proposal for a climate action center as part of the redevelopment strategy for the historic Sonoma Developmental Center property in Glen Ellen.

The county released a business plan for the Center for Climate Action on Wednesday, describing the concept as “a place where key stakeholders, leaders and private enterprise can work together to find new responses to the ongoing climate crisis.”

The initiative is being funded by a $250,000 grant from the California Coastal Conservancy.

“This business plan marks our latest progress in SDC’s future,” Tennis Wick, director of Permit Sonoma, said in a news release. “As we implement the state’s mandate to protect open space, construct housing and provide economic development, the Center for Climate Action and Innovation concept is already attracting interest that could result in employers returning to campus.”

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/sonoma-county-releases-business-plan-for-climate-hub-at-sonoma-developmenta/

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Land Use, Sonoma CoastTags , ,

Op-Ed: Coastal protection threatened where it started

Richard Retecki, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Those of us who spent much of our lives working to protect the coast are dismayed and shocked that the Board of Supervisors would even consider overturning the well-thought-out recommendations of their own Planning Commission to benefit one particular East Coast developer whose bulldozers are aimed at sensitive natural habitat right above the oceanside bluffs near Timber Cove.

Can you imagine a four-lane freeway running from Petaluma to Jenner, built to service high-density subdivisions blanketing the scenic blufftops between Bodega Bay and the Russian River, and permanent closure of a swath of shoreline to block off access by the public?

These were just a few of the environmental threats the Sonoma Coast faced in the 1970s. Outspent financially and confronted by an aggressive billboard campaign underwritten by corporate oil and development interests, California’s voters and state Legislature simply said “enough” and set in motion an orderly process to ensure that the California coast would survive in perpetuity.

California’s voters had just adopted Proposition 20 — the statewide coastal initiative — in 1972, largely in response to a series of disastrous schemes targeting the Sonoma Coast. By 1976, state legislators had made coastal protection permanent.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/opinion/close-to-home-coastal-protection-threatened-where-it-started/

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Land UseTags , , , ,

Citizen groups sue to block Sonoma Developmental Center environmental report

Phil Barber, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The suit seeks to force the county to revise the environmental impact report for the 945-acre campus to address what it calls critical issues and provide more accurate analyses of subjects like emergency evacuation.

Two community organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the environmental impact report prepared for Sonoma County in its bid to redevelop the site of the dormant Sonoma Developmental Center in Glen Ellen.

The plaintiffs, Sonoma County Tomorrow and Sonoma Community Advocates for a Livable Environment, call the report — a massive 2,500-page document prepared by the urban planning firm Dyett & Bhatia and submitted in October — “a shortsighted plan with serious environmental consequences.”

The suit, filed Wednesday in Sonoma County Superior Court, seeks to force the county to revise the report, the plaintiffs say, to better address critical environmental issues and to provide more accurate analyses of subjects like emergency evacuation and protection of a vital wildlife corridor.

The suit states that the report fails to take into account the center’s rural setting, limited roadways, wildfire vulnerability.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/citizen-groups-sue-to-block-sonoma-developmental-center-environmental-repor/

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Forests, Land UseTags , ,

Land Trust of Napa County agrees to buy controversial Walt Ranch property from Hall Wines

Phil Barber, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Attempts by owners Craig and Kathryn Hall to transform the wooded ranch into a vineyard were at the epicenter of a wider battle between open space and grape growing in Napa County.

For more than a decade, the owners of Hall Wines have waged an effort to develop several hundred acres of oak woodland in eastern Napa County into vineyard, a plan that has sparked anger in Wine Country residents and embroiled county Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza in an ongoing public controversy.

The dispute came to rest at the epicenter of a wider battle over the future of open space in the North Bay, and the expanding footprint of the region’s famed wine industry.

A potential solution appeared unexpectedly Wednesday, when the Land Trust of Napa County and Hall Wines issued a joint statement announcing the land trust’s intent to buy Walt Ranch, the 2,300-acre property at the heart of the debate.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/land-trust-of-napa-county-agrees-to-buy-controversial-walt-ranch-property-f/