Conservation Action Alert
Stop Walmart from Expanding in Rohnert Park!
Walmart wants the Rohnert Park City Council to violate Rohnert Park’s General Plan by reversing
the Planning Commission’s unanimous vote to reject their SuperCenter project.
TELL WALMART THAT THE CITY’S GENERAL PLAN IS NOT FOR SALE!
Rohnert Park City Council Meeting
July 29th @ 6pm • City Hall, 130 Avram Avenue
A Vote for Wal-Mart will harm Rohnert Park ’s future. Here’s why:
• Loss of local business networks and good jobs, with no real gain in sales tax revenue.
• The closure of scores of local businesses, causing widespread store-front vacancies and higher unemployment,
resulting in urban blight.
• More traffic gridlock on US 101, the Expressway and Golf Course Drive.
If you can’t attend the City Council meeting, call or email the Council
to tell them you oppose the Wal-Mart SuperCenter expansion.
Mayor Pam Stafford pstafford@rpcity.org 707-584-5892
Councilmember Gina Belforte gbelforte@rpcity.org 707-888-2724
Councilmember Ami Breeze abreeze@rpcity.org 707-217-3795
Councilmember Joe Callinan jcallinan@rpcity.org 707-585-3277
Councilmember Jake MacKenzie jkackenzie@rpcity.org 707-584-1195
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Say "No" to 1700 Acres of Forest-to-Vineyard Conversion at "Devastation Ranch"
Background
The largest and most prominent use issue in Sonoma County is the Preservation Ranch project, near Annapolis. This is the largest forest-to-vineyard conversion project ever proposed in California coastal forestlands. The Permit and Resource Management Department (PRMD) of Sonoma County has initiated the required Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process on this proposal.
The core components of the proposal are: permanent rezoning from timber production use to rural residential development forest conversion to vineyards is prohibited under current zoning); use permits for 17 ridge top vineyard blocks; and “consideration” of other project activities. The Initial Study describes a project that includes a 3 to 5 year construction period for ridge top vineyards, reservoirs, gravel quarries, internal road expansion and upgrades, drainage and water delivery systems, worker housing and renewed timber operations. This land has been over-logged for decades, which is why it now looks profitable for a land conversion and these new uses.
Take Action Now!
Tell the Permit and Resource Management Department and Efren Carrillo not to approve this Timber Conversion
Points to include:
- This project should be denied because of its negative impacts on forests, streams, wildlife habitat and fisheries. Also, it will put additional strain on our fire and road services.
- The County's target is to reduce GHG emissions, community wide, by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2015. This analysis will require very careful and detailed assessment of the projects projected impacts on carbon emissions in many respects, including forest sequestration loss, soil disturbance loss, and the GHG impacts of increased traffic, equipment use, etc.
- The land could be managed for sustainable forestry just as some properties in Mendocino County have been, without the necessity for deforestation, land-use change and vineyard development.
Address the letters to:
Board of Supervisors
575 Administration Drive, Room 100A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403-2887
AND
Sonoma County Permits and Resource Management Dept.
Attention: David Schiltgen - File No. PLP06-0107,
2550 Ventura Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95403-2829
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Prevent Permanent Damage to our Wonderful Shollenberger Park Wildlife Refuge
Petaluma and the county have spent years and over $1,000,000 to create the fabulous wildlife refuge, park and walking paths that we now have at Shollenberger Park. The Park is a rare gem for Petaluma and regionally for the 150,000 visitors who walk its paths every year; and it's the upper end of the great Petaluma Marsh, the largest relatively intact high-elevation coastal marsh on the West Coast.
Yet the County is on the verge of approving the Dutra Asphalt Batch Plant and Asphalt Recycling and Crushing Operations, proposed for the property directly across the Petaluma River from the riverfront walking path in Shollenberger. These heavy operations are being proposed for final County approval by the Supervisors sometime in late April or May, and it will have huge impacts on your enjoyment of Shollenberger and on the nearby wildlife; including the egret and heron rookery within the eucalyptus trees on the Dutra site itself.
If you don't help to protect our Shollenberger Park experience and wildlife, who will?
Please join your friends and neighbors in helping to making this right. Your voice is critical!
Take Action Now!
In your own words, Please tell the Board of Supervisors NOT to approve this project as is. Tell them that problems must be fixed before this project is approved, to preserve the
public's investment in and use of Shollenberger Park, and to prevent significant loss
of critical wildlife that makes this area so rich for enjoyment, relaxation, wildlife viewing and tourism.
Points to include:
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Do not allow 24/7 operation of the plant at any time of year, as currently proposed when major paving operations are in full swing.
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Provide noise, light and odor controls by totally enclosing the asphalt batch plant within
a building, or find an alternative site location (such as the industrially-zoned river dependent vacant Pomeroy property).
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Protect the egret and heron rookery on the Dutra property, in the eucalyptus trees directly across the river from the Shollenberger trail, by moving operations to the other parts of the property
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Do not allow polluted stormwater runoff from the property to reach the Petaluma River.
Contact Supervisor Mike Kerns and tell him the current Final EIR doesn't do the job we need
in South County to protect our public, our park and our environment. Tell him he has to do far better!
Address the letter to:
Supervisor Mike Kerns and the County Supervisors
575 Administration Drive, Rm. 100A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
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Support Policies for Green Building and
Energy Efficiency
BACKGROUND
The City of Santa Rosa appointed a Green Building Advisory Committee over a year ago to create solutions to “ramp up” Santa Rosa’s Green Building Ordinance, as well as to suggest ways to help reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The committee was broad based, with participation from builders, realtors, environmentalists, planners, architects, public health professionals, et al. The Green Building Committee has sent a series of policy recommendations to the Santa Rosa City Council that are broad and comprehensive, and we must tell the City Council to accept and begin implementing these environmentally friendly policy recommendations!
The Green Building policy recommendations will be heard by the City Council on Tuesday, December 16th. First, we want to increase the number of “green points” builders are required to meet when building new homes. Many builders are already meeting this requirement, and we feel it is very achievable with little to no cost increase. Secondly, our GHG emissions are seriously impacted by existing residences. Thus we are calling for existing homes to perform an energy audit to be completed at time of title transfer, which is a natural time to take inventory for a home owner/buyer. In order to get these homes to then upgrade, we are asking the city to establish an energy-efficiency financing district, where home owners can apply for a loan which they pay back on their property taxes at the end of the year! We are also advising the council to require that buildings be brought up to a baseline energy performance standard when they change ownership. Similar upgrades are required in Berkeley and San Francisco, and the financing district can be used to fund these retrofits.
Take Action Now!
In your own words, ask that the following policy tools be implemented to green Santa Rosa’s buildings!
Points to include:
- Include a requirement that residential development meet a 100 point minimum threshold on the Green-Points Rating system
- Include a requirement that all buildings at time of sale conduct an energy audit
- Include a requirement that all buildings at time of sale/major renovation upgrade for energy efficiency
- Ask the Council to keep you informed on this issue!
Address the letter to:
Santa Rosa City Council
City of Santa Rosa
100 Santa Rosa Ave, Room 10
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Email:
Susan Gorin: gorins@sonic.net
Veronica Jacobi: vjacobi@sonic.net
John Sawyer: jsawyer@ci.santarosa.ca.us
Jane Bender:jbender@ci.santa-rosa.ca.us
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Support Affordable Housing for Northeast Area Specific Plan!
*See PDF Version to Share with Neighbors!
The Sebastopol City Council has been working on a Specific Plan for the Northeast quadrant of the city. The Northeast area is currently mostly industrial use, and as proposed would become a mix of uses, including residential, commercial, office, and civic in addition to some light industry.
The process has taken multiple years, and the Draft EIR is scheduled to be complete this year. Accompanying the draft EIR will be a proposal for development of the Northeast. It will be at this time that the City Council decides on the amount of affordable housing must be part of the proposed development.
Sonoma County Conservation Action is committed to infill development versus sprawl, green building, and the development of more deed restricted affordable housing units. One place that the city could do all of these things would be in the Northeast area of the downtown.
The city has a mandatory Green Building Ordinance, which is great. They are protecting the green-belt by developing near the downtown instead of on the city's edges. They also have the best Inclusionary Zoning ordinance in the county, which mandated that deed restricted affordable housing be built on site of any new development.
What we want the City Council to do is to make the Northeast even better, by increasing the amount of affordable housing stock development created in the area. We are urging the Council to build 40% of the new development as inclusionary stock: 20% for moderate income and 20% for low-very low income.
Take Action Now!
Express your enthusiasm for the City of Sebastopol to build more affordable housing!
Points to include:
•Thank the council for having the best Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance in the county.
•Urge them to adopt a mandatory 40% Inclusionary Zoning for the Northeast Specific Plan, half for moderate housing and half for low-very low.
•Suggest that the city and the developers work with the county and other interested parties to maximize funding and credits for affordable housing implementation.
Address the letter to: Sebastopol City Council
7120 Bodega Avenue
Sebastopol, CA 95472
Email: mgourley@sonic.net
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Healdsburg
Demand Parks, Trails, & Affordable Housing at Saggio Hills!
Background: What's going on with Saggio Hills?
Saggio Hills is a 300+ acre parcel of land in North Healdsburg. Saggio Hills is one of the last and largest parcels of land within Healdsburg's Urban Growth Boundary. The Urban Growth Boundary of Healdsburg was firmly established by the voters of Healdsburg in a 1996 ballot vote. As citizens concerned about the protection of open space, we must ensure that land available within Urban Growth Boundaries is used in the most efficient, community serving way possible. Currently, the proposed Saggio Hills development on the north side of Healdsburg is not serving the public's best interest.
We must remind our City Council that it is our desire as citizens to maximize the use of our land within existing city boundaries, and avoid sprawl at all costs. It is vitally important for the Healdsburg City Council to show support for Healdsburg's dwindling middle class, by forcing the developer of Saggio Hills to include a park, playing fields for our kids, housing that is affordable to a range of income levels, a fire station for public safety, and a public trail system. We must hold developers responsible for the impacts of multi-million dollar projects on the community!
Take Action Now!
Write the Healdsburg City Council and demand that the developer of Saggio Hills provide the following in exchange for a luxury resort and 50 upper class hillside starter mansions:
•Demand that the developer finance and build a 32 acre park that includes multiple playfields for soccer, baseball, and softball.
•Finance and build 150 affordable housing units- for a mix of income levels.
•Finance and build a public trail system to provide access to beautiful open space
•Ask the council to keep you informed on the progress of this issue.
Address the letter to:
Healdsburg City Council
Email: administration@ci.healdsburg.ca.us
401 Grove Street
Fax: (707)-431-3321
Healdsburg, CA 95448
Phone:(707)-431-3317
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WE NEED A COMPREHENSIVE WATER
MANAGEMENT PLAN NOW!
Over the next 20 years, the population of Sonoma County is planned to grow 27% to more than 600,000. Already, the difficult task of maintaining a sustainable supply of safe water is resulting in lowered water tables and damaged habitat for fish and other wildlife. Most of the water we use in our cities comes from the Russian River. Diversions from the Eel River to supplement this are being reduced and may eventually stop. To fuel new urban growth, cities and the county are now bringing emergency wells into full-time service, further lowering groundwater levels. Meanwhile, we have no comprehensive water management plan. There is no county-wide water budget to make sure we do not use more than we have without depleting future resources. If nothing is done, our water supply will become very expensive, and you, the water user, will have to pay with higher water rates and damaged water supplies.
Many other counties in California have comprehensive water management plans. The Planning Commission is reviewing an update of our General Plan right now. We must protect the health of our watersheds and our aquifers. Tell your elected representatives to make this one of their highest priorities. Other cities – even Los Angeles – have grown without using more water overall. If LA can do it, we can do it!
