Dear Editor,
Thanks for Teri Shore, Greenbelt Alliance, for her wisdom and comments in your Close to Home section from May 9. I couldn’t agree more with her concern and critique of our elected Board of Supervisors, who questionably continue the stall to update the county General Plan and zoning codes(for 3 years!). Recent Board chairs Zane and then Gore have failed to find the path forward, blaming Mother Nature for their path backward.
In the meantime (yes 3 years), this lack of county leadership threatens the accepted Sonoma County public goal of city centered growth. Limits on winery overconcentration and event centers in our valleys are hopelessly overdue.
And why a sudden rush to build our needed housing outside voter favored “urban growth boundaries, instead in urban zones? Why ignore good planning now by increasing rural congestion with an apparent urgent and short term housing “fix?”. Is this the answer? Open up our unique countryside to housing developments with no significant affordable requirements? We need some creative solutions.
W. Watkins
Healdsburg