Page 10 - Sonoma County Gazette January 2016

Green Light for Greenbelts
By Teri Shore, Greenbelt Alliance In a big year-end win for greenbelts, all five Sonoma
Water vs. Housing
By Brenda Adelman
2015 has flown by so rapidly, we barely caught our breaths and now it’s gone. First and foremost, the year was marked by drought. Media filled us with daily messages to save water, exchange grass for cash, take shorter showers, turn off water when we brush, etc. It was even suggested that the dog be allowed to lick your dishes clean.
It worked! Each of Sonoma County Water Agency’s (SCWA) major contractors had been assigned conservation targets by the State Water Board. Because
of extraordinary citizen efforts, targets were met and even exceeded by
a significant amount. But now water rates are going up to maintain water infrastructure and cover costs of water delivery to compensate for decreased use. (Contractors include Santa Rosa, Petaluma, North Marin, Sonoma, Valley of the Moon, Rohnert Park, Cotati, and Windsor.)
The affordable housing crisis has received frequent attention by the media, builders, low income housing advocates and citizens. Since the economic
crisis of 2008, there has been a dearth of new housing built in Sonoma County. However, the definition of ‘affordable’ by governmental agencies and builders provides no help for minimum wage workers who have an extremely difficult time finding units they can afford. (A small two-bedroom apartment can easily cost $1500 monthly, while those making minimum wage may take home less than $1600.) New housing starts are not doing much to address that need.
County supervisors came out strongly in favor of extending voter protections for community separators and adding to them in 2016! Community separators are one of the important tools protecting the greenbelt lands between Sonoma’s cities and towns from sprawl development.
Drought, conservation, and inadequate housing
In a room filled with about 50 supporters wearing “Strengthen Community Separators” stickers, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to develop a ballot measure for November 2016
Contractor Conservation a great success
to renew county community separators.
All five supervisors also
made a commitment to consider
adding as many as 22,000 acres
of priority greenbelts to community separators in a parallel public process through the General Plan.
Housing shortage demands attention now
This is a big win for greenbelts, no doubt about it! Yes, we still have work to do, but now we have a clear path forward to renewing, strengthening, and expanding community separators. So let’s celebrate now and start up fresh in the New Year!
Please thank the Sonoma County supervisors for giving the green light to greenbelts in Sonoma County and let them know we look forward to moving forward together. http://www.greenbelt.org/actions/renew-sonoma-county- greenbelt-protections/
A recent Press Democrat article (12-6-15) entitled “After long lull, county homebuilding on rise” stated, “The increased activity came about mostly because home prices have returned to levels where builders can construct a house and make a profit, those in the industry said.” The article pointed out that the County median home sales price climbed 74% over lows in 2009. All the planned new growth will occur in areas obtaining their water from the Russian River, with about 1400 units in Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, and Windsor that have either commenced building or will do so soon. (Article enumerates only 600 units for Rohnert Park, when in fact, a total of 5600 have already been approved.)
What the Superviors agree to do next year
Ballot Measure: The Sonoma County supervisors voted unanimously to develop a ballot measure to extend voter protections for the county’s eight community separators for the November 2016 general election.
• The supervisors agreed to extend voter protections to existing and future
Where will water come from?
community separators between unincorporated communities for 30 years, a strong new policy that opens the door to community separators between places like Forestville and Graton.
So where will all this water come from to serve new development? How can we be so barraged with media incessantly reminding us about the drought and the severe shortage of water?
• They decided to keep the voter protections linked to urban growth boundaries. The revised policy maintains voter protections for community separators in perpetuity – as long as a city maintains voter protections
for its Urban Growth Boundary. A uniform long-term expiry date for all community separators are more protective by preventing lapses in voter protections.
Darren Jenkins, Rohnert Park’s City Manager wrote the following in a recent column in “The Community Voice” in response to that very question. “.... 20% of the water used in Rohnert Park is recycled water. Nearly all City parks and landscaped areas, as well as many of our schools, businesses, and Sonoma State University use recycled water for irrigation purposes...... After the drought
in the mid-1970s, Warm Springs Dam was built creating Lake Sonoma, which provides most of our water supply. Because Lake Sonoma was sized to provide flood relief, the lake is much larger than needed for water supply. It reliably provides more than enough to those cities fortunate enough to be connected to it. In addition, our groundwater wells provide a small portion of our drinking water. Our supply levels of all three sources are near all-time highs.” (emphasis added)
• They did not agree to add any new designations through the ballot measure.
General Plan Amendment: The supervisors voted to designate priority greenbelts and consider designating other at-risk county lands by amending the General Plan in a parallel public process in 2016 for adoption no later than January 2017.
In response, photographic evidence indicates that Rohnert Park regularly and consistently over-irrigated urban landscapes, causing partially treated wastewater (not all toxins are monitored and/or removed) to run off into drains in summer, when aquatic life and recreating humans are more vulnerable. Furthermore, Lake Sonoma’s size does not govern how much water Rohnert Park can obtain from it. Regarding ground water, Rohnert Park’s diminished withdrawals occurred partially because some house foundations were cracking from subsidence.
• Please note that they will consider adding more than 22,000 acres
of Sonoma County lands that qualify as priority greenbelts by the Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. The final acreage will be determined through the public process. Lands around Penngrove and Cloverdale will also be considered.
• The supervisors agreed to modify some of the policies including the “commercial development” loophole that has allowed several community separators to shrink.
WATER cont’s on page 9
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