Tag: Lafferty Ranch

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Land UseTags , , , , ,

Petaluma landowners staunchly opposed to long-sought park at Lafferty Ranch sue city, extending decades-old saga

Austin Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Under an azure sky in the spring of 2024, half a dozen hikers emerged from a grove of oak trees onto a meadow high up on Sonoma Mountain.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” exclaimed Matt Maguire, with a showman’s flair, “I give you the Petaluma Valley!”

To the west was a verdant carpet of ranchlands and rolling hills, a thin marine layer burning off over the Pacific, which lay just out of sight.

Their vantage for that panorama was Lafferty Ranch, a preserve owned by the city of Petaluma since 1959. Rugged, slanted and steep in places, this 270-acre rectangle stamped in a cleft of the mountain contains the headwaters for Adobe Creek, and was purchased by the city as a watershed.

In 1996, Petaluma passed an ordinance declaring that the open space “shall be made available for passive recreational use by the public.”

Easier ordained than done, it turns out.

Twenty-nine years later, Lafferty Ranch is still not close to becoming a park accessible to the general public. A small but litigious group of neighboring landowners has stood in the way, squaring off with the city in a series of rancorous and costly court fights spanning generations of family members and drawing on land records dating back to the 19th century.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/petaluma-lafferty-ranch-lawsuit-park/

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Land UseTags , ,

Petaluma forging ahead with Lafferty Ranch plans after dropping lawsuit

Matt Brown, PETALUMA ARGUS-COURIER

Petaluma city leaders are forging ahead with plans to create public trails on Lafferty Ranch, a scenic Sonoma Mountain property east of town that the city has owned for decades but has been tied up in legal disputes for a generation.

Disputes over public access to the 270 acres of wooded, rolling hills the city has owned since 1959 have polarized Petaluma politics since the 1990s, when council meetings overflowed with angry constituents and devolved into shouting matches.

Multiple legal claims have been fought, while mediation and near-agreements have played out behind the scenes.

But it now appears Petaluma believes it has the legal right to move forward with public access without a court order.

A lawsuit against adjoining property owners Kimberly Pfendler and the Bettman-Tavernetti families, pressed six years ago by open space advocates Friends of Lafferty Park and the city, was withdrawn in April with no agreement.

Mediation talks to allow some kind of public access broke down when the parties could not agree on access to parking and where trails might be allowed.

Sonoma County Superior Court records show the case was dismissed without a resolution.

“We did not reach a settlement and we are not going to reach a settlement,” City Attorney Eric Danly said. “It is not in litigation any more. The parties have withdrawn from mediation.”

Read more at https://www.petaluma360.com/news/9651791-181/petalumas-lafferty-ranch-lawsuit-dropped

Author SuzannePosted on Categories Land UseTags , ,

Lafferty plan: Access for all

Matt Brown, PETALUMA ARGUS-COURIER

[Fishman] said plans are in the works for a “spectacular” hiking park once access is secure. Plans include a 20-space parking lot and restroom with a trail accessible to people with disabilities on a raised boardwalk above the wetlands to an overlook with picnic benches. Other trail systems would run to the top of the property, affording even greater views.

Trekking through chest-high grass still tinged green from heavy winter rains, Mike Healy startled a white-tailed deer that bounded off through some cattails.
Farther along his hike through Lafferty Ranch, a city-owned parcel on the flank of Sonoma Mountain, the Petaluma city councilman stopped at an overlook.
The expansive Petaluma Valley stretched below with familiar downtown buildings just visible among green treetops. In the distance, the lazy Petaluma River meandered towards San Pablo Bay. Farther still, the prominent triangular peak of Mt. Tamalpais towered stoically over the vista.
“This is the money shot,” Healy said, gesturing toward the distant horizon.
The longest tenured of Petaluma’s current council members, Healy likes to visit the 270-acre Lafferty Ranch on occasion to remember why the city has been fighting for public access to this space for 25 years.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to get another look at your city from above,” he said. “The city has owned this land since 1959. It would be great to get people up here.”
Healy said he is hopeful that a resolution with neighboring land owners can be reached in the near future, ending one of the longest land use battles in Petaluma in a generation.
“The parties are continuing to discuss,” he said. “I have reason for optimism of a successful conclusion soon.”
Read more at: Lafferty plan: Access for all | Petaluma Argus Courier | Petaluma360.com