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lands from being subdivided through a zoning overlay on select parcels at the edge of city Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs), which are also voter approved.
But these voter protections will expire at the end of next year unless the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors acts now. Environmental advocates have been urging county supervisors and staff to modernize the policies and to place them on the ballot for a countywide vote in November 2016.
The Sonoma County Supervisors will take up this urgent issue at a public workshop with Permit and Resource Management Department (PRMD) staff on December 15th, 2015. PRMD will present options for the Supervisors for preparing a renewal ballot measure for November of 2016 would update and renew community separators. They will also provide options to implement
a robust public planning process to continue strengthening protections of significant lands between our urban communities over the next 2 – 3 years.
Options for Consideration:
• Renew community separators, maintain equal or greater protections, for at least 25 years.
• Remove the ordinance sunset or extend the sunset date.
• Extend voter approved community separators to additional unincorporated
areas.
• Along with preparing the ballot measure, initiate a public planning process
to draft a General Plan amendment protecting priority greenbelts identified and mapped by the Agricultural and Open Space Preservation District as community separators
• Extend the Glen Ellen/Agua Caliente community separator to the Sonoma Developmental Center natural lands including the Sonoma Valley wildlife corridor
• Improve conditions for use permits in community separators to maintain protections.
• Implement General Plan 2020 Community Separator Priority Designations, including:
• Open Space District priority acquisition lands near cities; • Penngrove area lands;
• Cloverdale area lands.
Protecting the rural character of Sonoma County by maintaining the identities of each of our cities and rural neighborhoods is critical to our economy and the well being of all our residents.
Speak Up
Let our County Supervisors know that you want the opportunity to vote in November of 2016 to continue protecting our Community Separators. With
the recent release of the Sonoma County Conservation Action report card, it appears that a majority of Supervisors lean towards the type of moderate yet effective tool the Community Separators policy provides. If you agree that renewal of the existing lands and additional greenbelt areas should be included in a 2016 ballot measure, please contact the County Supervisors right away with no further delay. Supervisors can be contacted at:
Susan.Gorin@sonoma-county.org, David.Rabbitt@sonoma-county.org Efren.Carrillo@sonoma-county.org, Shirlee.Zane@sonoma-county.org James.Gore@sonoma-county.org
Dennis Rosatti is Executive Director of Sonoma County Conservation Action, lives in Sebastopol, and has been working on the front lines of the environmental movement in Sonoma County for the past 13 years.
Help Us Protect Sonoma County From GMO Contamination
If you are a Sonoma County resident, business owner, or organization leader, 18 years or older, please endorse our ordinance at the website below, and help us join Marin, Mendocino, Trinity, Humboldt and Santa Cruz in prohibiting the cultivation, propagation, raising, and growing of genetically engineered organisms in our county. www.GMOFreeSonomaCounty.com
“Our Lives Begin to End the Day We Become Silent About Things That Matter.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
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