Sonoma County Conservation Action ALERT!

Conservation Action Alert

Say NO to Landfill Sale

The County is looking at getting out of the garbage business, and selling off the landfill that sits outside of Petaluma. There are MAJOR problems with the proposed deal- chief among them is that it’s not a good deal for taxpayers or county residents!!!

SCCA, Sierra Club, Climate Protection Campaign, and hundreds of county residents and ratepayers have banded together to stop this stinky deal. Some of our reasons:

The County is about to make a real estate transaction without ever having done an appraisal on the land. Are you kidding me?!
The “deal” awards a 20 year exclusive agreement for trash to Republic Services, of which the floor (that mean minimum) rate increase per year will be 3.2%, with a 5% ceiling (max). This is absurd, who would ever lock themselves into a minimum increase for 20 years?!
The contract does not encourage or demand recycling or waste diversion; in fact, the faster Republic fills up the “hole” or “landfill”, the faster they make their money!
We as ratepayers want and need public oversight and public ownership of our utilities, as they are our basic necessities that everyone needs and uses. We must maintain public control, and not outsource our utility to an out of town, out of state interest who’s sole purpose is to profit!

County Landfill could go to a private corporation!

Tell your local Supervisor and City Council to reject the proposed Purchase and Sale Agreement with Republic Services because the deal undermines this community's long term environmental and economic goals.

Please contact your Supervisor today by calling or emailing! Phone number is (707) 565-2241 and the email list is:

1st District Valerie Brown vbrown@sonoma-county.org

2nd District Mike Kerns mkerns@sonoma-county.org

3rd District Shirlee Zane szane@sonoma-county.org

4th District Paul Kelley pkelley@sonoma-county.org

5th District Efren Carrillo ecarrillo@sonoma-county.org

Additional information can be found at

http://supervisors.sonoma-county.org/

Additional serious flaws in the agreement to sell Central Landfill include:

Greenhouse gas from organics, the main source of emissions from solid waste, is inadequately addressed - making it very unlikely that Sonoma County will meet its greenhouse gas reduction target in the solid waste sector.
A 'put or pay' clause in the agreement creates a perverse incentive and removes possible savings from increased recycling and zero-waste policies.
More than $100 million will be drained from Sonoma County's economy in the form of profit for Republic Systems, an Arizona-based corporation.
Read Joint CPC_Sierra Club_SCCA Letter to the Board of Supervisors

We encourage you to attend the hearing next Tuesday, 10/27, at 11a.m. in the Board of Supervisor's Chambers,

575 Administration Drive, Santa Rosa, CA. The Board is scheduled to vote on this item and not open public commenting.

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Say "No" to 1700 Acres of Forest-to-Vineyard Conversion at "Devastation Ranch"

Background

The largest and most prominent use issue in Sonoma County is the Preservation Ranch project, near Annapolis. This is the largest forest-to-vineyard conversion project ever proposed in California coastal forestlands. The Permit and Resource Management Department (PRMD) of Sonoma County has initiated the required Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process on this proposal.

The core components of the proposal are: permanent rezoning from timber production use to rural residential development forest conversion to vineyards is prohibited under current zoning); use permits for 17 ridge top vineyard blocks; and “consideration” of other project activities. The Initial Study describes a project that includes a 3 to 5 year construction period for ridge top vineyards, reservoirs, gravel quarries, internal road expansion and upgrades, drainage and water delivery systems, worker housing and renewed timber operations. This land has been over-logged for decades, which is why it now looks profitable for a land conversion and these new uses.

Take Action Now!

Tell the Permit and Resource Management Department and Efren Carrillo not to approve this Timber Conversion

Points to include:

This project should be denied because of its negative impacts on forests, streams, wildlife habitat and fisheries. Also, it will put additional strain on our fire and road services.

The County's target is to reduce GHG emissions, community wide, by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2015. This analysis will require very careful and detailed assessment of the projects projected impacts on carbon emissions in many respects, including forest sequestration loss, soil disturbance loss, and the GHG impacts of increased traffic, equipment use, etc.
The land could be managed for sustainable forestry just as some properties in Mendocino County have been, without the necessity for deforestation, land-use change and vineyard development.

Address the letters to:

Board of Supervisors
575 Administration Drive, Room 100A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403-2887

AND

Sonoma County Permits and Resource Management Dept.

Attention: David Schiltgen - File No. PLP06-0107,

2550 Ventura Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95403-2829

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Prevent Permanent Damage to our Wonderful Shollenberger Park Wildlife Refuge

Petaluma and the county have spent years and over $1,000,000 to create the fabulous wildlife refuge, park and walking paths that we now have at Shollenberger Park. The Park is a rare gem for Petaluma and regionally for the 150,000 visitors who walk its paths every year; and it's the upper end of the great Petaluma Marsh, the largest relatively intact high-elevation coastal marsh on the West Coast.

Yet the County is on the verge of approving the Dutra Asphalt Batch Plant and Asphalt Recycling and Crushing Operations, proposed for the property directly across the Petaluma River from the riverfront walking path in Shollenberger. These heavy operations are being proposed for final County approval by the Supervisors sometime in late April or May, and it will have huge impacts on your enjoyment of Shollenberger and on the nearby wildlife; including the egret and heron rookery within the eucalyptus trees on the Dutra site itself.

If you don't help to protect our Shollenberger Park experience and wildlife, who will?
Please join your friends and neighbors in helping to making this right. Your voice is critical!

Take Action Now!

In your own words, Please tell the Board of Supervisors NOT to approve this project as is. Tell them that problems must be fixed before this project is approved, to preserve the
public's investment in and use of Shollenberger Park, and to prevent significant loss
of critical wildlife that makes this area so rich for enjoyment, relaxation, wildlife viewing and tourism.

Points to include:

Do not allow 24/7 operation of the plant at any time of year, as currently proposed when major paving operations are in full swing.
Provide noise, light and odor controls by totally enclosing the asphalt batch plant within
a building, or find an alternative site location (such as the industrially-zoned river dependent vacant Pomeroy property).
Protect the egret and heron rookery on the Dutra property, in the eucalyptus trees directly across the river from the Shollenberger trail, by moving operations to the other parts of the property
Do not allow polluted stormwater runoff from the property to reach the Petaluma River.

Contact Supervisor Mike Kerns and tell him the current Final EIR doesn't do the job we need
in South County to protect our public, our park and our environment. Tell him he has to do far better!

Address the letter to:

Supervisor Mike Kerns and the County Supervisors

575 Administration Drive, Rm. 100A

Santa Rosa, CA 95403

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Support Policies for Green Building and

Energy Efficiency

BACKGROUND

The City of Santa Rosa appointed a Green Building Advisory Committee over a year ago to create solutions to “ramp up” Santa Rosa’s Green Building Ordinance, as well as to suggest ways to help reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The committee was broad based, with participation from builders, realtors, environmentalists, planners, architects, public health professionals, et al. The Green Building Committee has sent a series of policy recommendations to the Santa Rosa City Council that are broad and comprehensive, and we must tell the City Council to accept and begin implementing these environmentally friendly policy recommendations!

The Green Building policy recommendations will be heard by the City Council on Tuesday, December 16th. First, we want to increase the number of “green points” builders are required to meet when building new homes. Many builders are already meeting this requirement, and we feel it is very achievable with little to no cost increase. Secondly, our GHG emissions are seriously impacted by existing residences. Thus we are calling for existing homes to perform an energy audit to be completed at time of title transfer, which is a natural time to take inventory for a home owner/buyer. In order to get these homes to then upgrade, we are asking the city to establish an energy-efficiency financing district, where home owners can apply for a loan which they pay back on their property taxes at the end of the year! We are also advising the council to require that buildings be brought up to a baseline energy performance standard when they change ownership. Similar upgrades are required in Berkeley and San Francisco, and the financing district can be used to fund these retrofits.

Take Action Now!

In your own words, ask that the following policy tools be implemented to green Santa Rosa’s buildings!

Points to include:

Include a requirement that residential development meet a 100 point minimum threshold on the Green-Points Rating system
Include a requirement that all buildings at time of sale conduct an energy audit
Include a requirement that all buildings at time of sale/major renovation upgrade for energy efficiency
Ask the Council to keep you informed on this issue!

Address the letter to:

Santa Rosa City Council

City of Santa Rosa

100 Santa Rosa Ave, Room 10

Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Email:

Susan Gorin: gorins@sonic.net

Veronica Jacobi: vjacobi@sonic.net

John Sawyer: jsawyer@ci.santarosa.ca.us

Jane Bender:jbender@ci.santa-rosa.ca.us

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Support Affordable Housing for Northeast Area Specific Plan!

*See PDF Version to Share with Neighbors!

The Sebastopol City Council has been working on a Specific Plan for the Northeast quadrant of the city. The Northeast area is currently mostly industrial use, and as proposed would become a mix of uses, including residential, commercial, office, and civic in addition to some light industry.

The process has taken multiple years, and the Draft EIR is scheduled to be complete this year. Accompanying the draft EIR will be a proposal for development of the Northeast. It will be at this time that the City Council decides on the amount of affordable housing must be part of the proposed development.

Sonoma County Conservation Action is committed to infill development versus sprawl, green building, and the development of more deed restricted affordable housing units. One place that the city could do all of these things would be in the Northeast area of the downtown.

The city has a mandatory Green Building Ordinance, which is great. They are protecting the green-belt by developing near the downtown instead of on the city's edges. They also have the best Inclusionary Zoning ordinance in the county, which mandated that deed restricted affordable housing be built on site of any new development.

What we want the City Council to do is to make the Northeast even better, by increasing the amount of affordable housing stock development created in the area. We are urging the Council to build 40% of the new development as inclusionary stock: 20% for moderate income and 20% for low-very low income.

Take Action Now!

Express your enthusiasm for the City of Sebastopol to build more affordable housing!

Points to include:

•Thank the council for having the best Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance in the county.

•Urge them to adopt a mandatory 40% Inclusionary Zoning for the Northeast Specific Plan, half for moderate housing and half for low-very low.

•Suggest that the city and the developers work with the county and other interested parties to maximize funding and credits for affordable housing implementation.

Address the letter to: Sebastopol City Council

7120 Bodega Avenue
Sebastopol, CA 95472

Email: mgourley@sonic.net

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Healdsburg

Over the next 20 years, the population of Sonoma County is planned to grow 27% to more than 600,000. Already, the difficult task of maintaining a sustainable supply of safe water is resulting in lowered water tables and damaged habitat for fish and other wildlife. Most of the water we use in our cities comes from the Russian River. Diversions from the Eel River to supplement this are being reduced and may eventually stop. To fuel new urban growth, cities and the county are now bringing emergency wells into full-time service, further lowering groundwater levels. Meanwhile, we have no comprehensive water management plan. There is no county-wide water budget to make sure we do not use more than we have without depleting future resources. If nothing is done, our water supply will become very expensive, and you, the water user, will have to pay with higher water rates and damaged water supplies.

Many other counties in California have comprehensive water management plans. The Planning Commission is reviewing an update of our General Plan right now. We must protect the health of our watersheds and our aquifers. Tell your elected representatives to make this one of their highest priorities. Other cities – even Los Angeles – have grown without using more water overall. If LA can do it, we can do it!