PD: Close to Home: A greenbelt is no place for a resort
In the middle of the COVID-19 crisis, political unrest and economic uncertainty, Sonoma County is seeking to bypass voters and flout open space protections to push forward a luxury resort and major event center in the heart of the voter-protected Windsor-Larkfield-Santa Rosa community separator greenbelt.
The site on Old Redwood Highway also is also on the edge of Santa Rosa’s voter-approved urban growth boundary.
In one fell swoop, this development would trod on two critical legacy land-use policies overwhelmingly supported by the voters of Sonoma County. In 2016, voters approved Measure K to expand community separators by 81%. The Santa Rosa growth boundary was renewed in 2010 with 67% of the vote.
While everyone is tackling multiple crises, county planners want to allow construction of a luxury resort subdivision of a dozen one-, two- and three-bedroom Wine Country party houses, a warehouse-sized event building, commercial kitchen, pool bar, huge party tents and a new paved road in the community separator.
The plan is for a hundred events serving 10,000 people per year and open daily for high-end drinking, dining, weddings and music until 10 p.m. on what is presently undeveloped land next door to a youth summer camp and a residential center for seniors.
Even worse, the resort is to be located in the Tubbs fire burn zone at the foot of Fountaingrove, putting more people in harm’s way.
The resort would bring low-paying service jobs that would only exacerbate inequity and the housing crisis. It would compete with struggling local businesses.
Strangely, county planners have determined that there would be no significant environmental impacts from the intensified commercial use of the property to Piner Creek or to a large pond, which is home to yellow-legged frogs and giant salamanders on the property once known as Buzzard’s Gulch, but renamed Sonoma Solstice.
The resort and event center violate critical community separator protections, the general plan and the zoning code, and it would override the will of the voters by intensifying development and increasing density on rural land. There is nothing this big or with this many events in any community separator or any property designated for rural and resource development. There are other options for small-scale, low-intensity lodging that would be allowed.
The resort needs to be denied, delayed or sent to a vote of the people.
The county is accepting public comments on the proposal and environmental review until Tuesday. A public hearing before the Board of Zoning Adjustments is tentatively set for 1 p.m. Thursday for a vote on the environmental review and the project. Send your comments to permitsonoma@sonomacounty.org.
Teri Shore is North Bay regional director for Greenbelt Alliance.
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