Page 36 - Sonoma County Gazette - May 2019

Spring is finally here. The air is bursting with a cacophony of scents and sounds, from children screaming and squealing in the mud and freshly mown lawns (or lawns in desperate need of mowing, like mine), to cows, sheep and goats bleating as they meander in fields bursting with spring blooms. This is my favorite time to traverse through West County, as every bit of it, as the buds on the apple trees begin to burst their way out like Sloth coming out of the cave in The Goonies, hollering with excitement, “Hey you guuuuuuys!”
In addition, TIF dollars can be used to support our municipal advisory councils and, in fact, I have asked both the Coast and River MACs to create steering committees to help recommend $100,000 worth of priorities for each area. These funds are allocated by the Board of Supervisors in late summer, so make sure to keep up-to-date with your local MAC, as each will be discussing recommendations for TIF projects soon.
We also received support from organizations across the country, including NECHAMA, a volunteer-driven nonprofit headquartered in Twin Cities, Minnesota. NECHAMA is the only Jewish organization to offer sustained direct services in the US following the onset of a disaster, which is exactly what they did for over a month, providing clean up and recovery help to the seniors and low income impacted persons after the flood.
The GSA is required as part of the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, a law requiring local governments to create agencies to monitor groundwater levels and achieve sustainable use levels. The bill requires that local governments around the state create agencies to monitor and improve groundwater use in basins at moderate or high risk of six “undesirable outcomes.” Those outcomes include depleted aquifers and surface water sources, contaminated water, and other risk factors.
The dry weather brings additional GOOD NEWS: major road construction will get to begin again. While the next two-year major Pavement Preservation Program schedule hasn’t been set yet, the list of approved projects for 2019 has been set. As such, West County residents can expect the following roads to undergo chip seal, full-depth reclamation, micro-surfacing or overlay this summer: Moscow Road, Ross Road, Todd Road, Green Hill Road, Green Valley Road, Pleasant Hill Road, Cazadero Highway, Jonive Road and Armstrong Woods Road.
In Sonoma County, the state has required the formation of three GSAs: the Santa Rosa Plain, Sonoma Valley and Petaluma Valley. The Santa Rosa Plain is the only local GSA to propose raising a fee on small users to pay for the formation of the GSP. The plan was not universally popular among the Board of Directors. Susan Harvey, who represents Cotati, raised concerns that the plan would increase the cost burden on small cities by requiring them to pass on costs to water users and that Hopkins’ plan had come at the last minute after years of similar discussions. “We have had this discussion for two years and we were set to go with this [plan] a year ago,” Harvey said.
In addition, in May, the Board of Supervisors will approve funding for
the 2020-2022 Pavement Preservation Program. In West County, the county will pour over $12 million during the fiscal years 20-21 and 21-22 to fix the following roads: Barnett Valley Road, Bodega Avenue, Bohemian Highway, Gold Ridge, High School Road, East Hurlbut Road, Main Street in Monte Rio, Moorland Avenue, Occidental Road, Rio Nido Road, Stony Point Road, Todd Road and Llano Road. I will also be advocating for additional funding for storm-damaged roads during budget hearings, hoping to bring some love and attention to roads (such as Neeley Road) that were especially hard hit by this year’s flooding.
The board agreed to vote on Hopkins’ funding proposal at their June 13 meeting after GSA staff have studied the idea more deeply.
The Board of Supervisors’ mid-April meeting brought big changes to the way we distribute Tourist Occupancy Tax (TOT). TOT—or hotel bed tax—is collected by hotels in unincorporated Sonoma County and funneled into the County’s General Fund. While much of the TOT program was previously directed to grants for non-profit and tourism generating activities, which are being dramatically scaled back, we were able to retain the Tourism Impact Fund (TIF) which was created with the passage of Measure L. We are also proposing to invest nearly $1M in vegetation management countywide to reduce fire risk.
Although Sebastopol was represented on the GSA’s advisory committee, the city has not paid fees towards the formation of the GSA because the city was not within the boundaries of the Santa Rosa Plain and has not been represented on the GSA’s board of directors.
Tourism impact funds enabled our office to grant over $200,000 in public safety funding to fire districts in our region to meet unmet emergency response needs during fiscal year 2018-19. The purpose of these funds are to meet the
“Really we’re talking about what is an equitable contribution [for Sebastopol
to make] recognizing what’s been built here and the benefits of being part of the board,” Roger said. Hinton, the city’s mayor, requested that the city pay a reduced fee to join the board because of its late entry. The Sebastopol City Council was “sticker shocked” when they saw it would cost $119,000 upfront to join the GSA, according to Hinton.
36 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 5/19
The GSA Board of Directors ultimately directed the GSA’s staff to offer Sebastopol a pro-rated entry fee—approximately $71,000, three-fifths of the total fee—and draft a formal procedure for other cities that might try to join the GSA in the future. Hinton said she would present the pro-rated fee to the Sebastopol City Council for their consideration and return to the GSA Board at a later meeting.
unique and urgent needs of our unincorporated areas that occur because of tourism; issues like safety improvements, environmental impact mitigation, public safety and parking enforcement.
Maybe it isn’t obvious, but I’m kind of excited it’s spring. We finally made
it to that six-week period of sunny reprieve where we bask in the splendor of spring’s lush, (albeit) allergen-rich fields of wildflowers, mustard and clover before it browns and crisps, bringing with it our annual worries of drought and fire season. And while my office has our eyes on fire preparedness, right now, I want to focus on recovery of our lower Russian River communities: they too is beginning to bloom again after February’s floods, thanks to community support, strength and resiliency.
To learn about upcoming meetings and agendas, visit sonomacounty.ca.gov/lrrmac or www.sonomacounty.ca.gov/sccmac
Supervisor Proposes ‘Plan B’ for Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Fee
The New Vision Foundation, a joint effort by the Russian River and Sebastopol Area Chambers, has raised $54,700. That money has been enough to help 19 businesses from both Sebastopol and the Lower Russian River area so far. The Lazy Bear Cares Foundation spearheaded additional fundraising for West County businesses.
Instead of charging rural well owners for the next three years to pay for an initial study of groundwater conditions and usage, a required report known as the Groundwater Sustainability Plan, Hopkins suggested the county should help cover the costs of those users.
But recovery is more than just our businesses getting back on our feet, though that’s a major part. Our families are working to move back into damaged homes and regain some sense of normalcy, too. With the help of West County Community Services and their Temporary Housing Assistance Program, 61 families have been placed back in housing, preventing them from becoming homeless due to the floods.
“The county is currently paying $143,000 to the Petaluma basin and $117,000 to the Sonoma basin this year,” Hopkins said. “That is really because the county recognizes that there is a common good in developing sustainable groundwater management throughout the county.”
By Will Carruthers
At a Thursday, April 11 meeting of the Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater
Sustainability Agency’s Board of Directors, Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, acting in her role as chair of the GSA board, proposed an alternative plan to pay for an initial study of groundwater use in the Santa Rosa Plain.
Hopkins’ plan calls for eliminating a proposed well registration program, which Hopkins said she fears will “incur significant costs.” Hopkins said that cities in the Santa Rosa Plain might pay less under her plan because the elimination of the well registration program would lower costs.
Sebastopol asks to join Santa Rosa GSA
The City of Sebastopol, represented at the meeting by Mayor Neysa Hinton and Councilmember Una Glass, asked to join the GSA’s Board of Directors late due to a recent change in the state-defined boundaries of the Santa Rosa Plain.
In February, the state agency managing the GSAs changed the boundaries of the Santa Rosa Plain, according to Andy Rogers, the GSA’s administrator.