County acquires Highway 12 frontage

In order to facilitate the Highway 12 Corridor Improvements Project, the county has been acquring easements across the front of parcels through the Springs area, including one last week. According to District 1 County Supervisor Valerie Brown, “There were some properties along the Route 12 corridor where we’re doing the sidewalks and we have to pay for easements from property owners.”
Eminent domain may also come into play. “There are about ten properties listed where we had not formalized easement contracts, and we may have to go to eminent domain.” She said she hoped all steps would be taken to avoid that, noting that for those properties, the easement area may be the only place the residents have to park their cars. Negotiations are in process, she said. However, a public hearing before the Board of Supervisors is set for February 26, 2008, at 2:10 p.m. to consider a Resolution of Necessity.
Brown also noted that January 11, 2008, had been proclaimed Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Unseen though it may be, this is an issue for Sonoma, she said, and the YWCA had seven cases last year. “People won’t come forward,” she said, “because if they’re undocumented, they’re afraid to be sent back to wherever they’ve come from.”