Sample letter and copy and past option to oppose fire safe road exemption
If you are finding it hard to compose your own email, here’s a sample letter you can forward to the Board of Forestry with the comment that you agree with the writer 100%. Please send your letters to publiccomments@bof.ca.gov. by the 17th at 12 p.m.
Title your email: Joint Committee workshop: Agenda item 3 – Introduction to Sonoma County’s Fire Regulations Certification, 9/22/2020
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2020 6:44 AM
To: publiccomments@bof.ca.gov
Subject: Sonoma County Fire Road Ordinance
Dear Board of Forestry,
I am a homeowner in rural, unincorporated Sonoma County, approximately 2 miles from the town of Sebastopol. In 2017 and 2018, I watched in horror as wildfires devastated communities in Northern California. During the most recent Walbridge fire, which stopped burning 9 miles from my home, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter, Jessica Christian, was astonished by the conditions of the one-lane roads, commenting both on the dangerous fires and the dangerous terrain. Please see her Twitter post below.
Sonoma County would like to reduce the 20-foot-wide road requirement on existing private roads to 12 feet. They would also eliminate all road requirements for existing public roads and allow for the development on long, dead-end roads. This makes no sense to me. I listened to your workshop on May 19th where you questioned Sonoma County Council because she failed to adequately address your concerns. Several months have passed and the updated Sonoma County regulation revisions do not address your concerns and are even worse than what you received in May.
Please do the right thing and follow your own laws and deny the Sonoma County Fire Ordinance regulation revisions. Cal Fire regulations are in place to protect both residents and firefighters from wildfires and County’s should abide by these regulations or have stricter regulations. We are trusting you to protect us.
Thank you,
Sebastopol, California
