Community Separators, wineries, & protecting the coast letter by Helen Shane

The following letter, written by Helen Shane, on behalf of Sebastopol Tomorrow, was sent to the Board of Supervisors and published in this week's Sonoma West. The Board is scheduled to discuss these issues on the morning of Nov. 10.

Protectors
EDITOR: The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors will soon be considering changes to the County General Plan. Sebastopol Tomorrow, for decades has actively advocated for protection of our open space and small town values. The following was sent today to the Board of Supervisors:

Sebastopol Tomorrow urges you to put on the 2016 ballot the proposal to update and extend the County’s Community Separator, adding as priorities the Penngrove area, the Cloverdale area and the Agricultural and Open Space District Priority Greenbelts near urban centers. Please review the possible designation of other high value ag and resource lands in the county as to the use of water and inevitable generation of traffic onto our already sorely burdened highways and local roads.

Since the introduction of the Community Separator policies in the County’s General Plan in 1980, as well as the Urban Growth Boundaries put into effect by most cities between 1996 and 1998, the number of wineries in the County has grown exponentially. The nature of the industry has also radically changed. Their metamorphose into production facilities and event centers continues to strain our carrying capacity, especially water, and exacerbates the already troubling traffic on our highways and rural roads; their generation of greenhouse gas, not to mention their impact on rural life is a concern.

We in the Sebastopol area are particularly opposed to the proposed Dairyman’s Winery and Event Center on Highway 12. It is within the voter-approved Community Separator between Sebastopol and Santa Rosa. Almost all of the grapes and other raw materials needed for the 500,000 cases of wine and 250,000 gallons of spirits would have to be imported and trucked across the very popular and well-used Rodota Trail, the pedestrian and bicycle path that connects Sebastopol and Santa Rosa; the Rodota is adjacent to the Laguna de Santa Rosa, the second largest freshwater nature preserve in California. The finished products would have to be trucked back across the Rodota onto Highway 12 and beyond. The water used to produce the huge quantities that Mr. Wagner proposes would far exceed any operations' fair share from our precious aquifer.

This is an industrial use, rather than an agricultural operation, and should not be permitted there. Strict adherence to the provisions of the Community Separator language should prevent the industrialization threatened by the Dairyman's project.

We urge as well that the 2016 ballot measure delink the Community Separators from the Urban Growth Boundaries and remove its sunset date. Our rural areas must be protected and preserved forever.

Also at risk is our Coast. The Local Coastal Plan must be strengthened to protect that pristine and precious region from industrialization by the invasion of winery/event centers and bottling plants in these agricultural-zoned areas. These industries do not depend on coastal amenities for their operations; there is no defensible reason to site such facilities in our coastal zone.

You as Stewards of the open space in the County should review the possible designation of other high value ag and resource lands as to the use of water and inevitable generation of traffic onto our already sorely burdened highways and local roads.

We urge each of you, as County Supervisors, to continue to be protectors of the well being of our unique community of Sonoma County, its natural beauty of landscapes, life supporting character and thoughtful people.

Helen Shane