City of Sonoma’s General Plan Land Use Workshop Draws A Big Crowd

By Larry Barnett

An unusually large crowd of local residents packed the meeting room at Vintage House on the evening of January 30 to discuss proposed changes in land uses in the City of Sonoma.

Community Development Director Jennifer Gates led the discussion, first bringing the public up to date on the General Plan process so far, and then explaining what remains to be done over the course of the next year to bring it to completion.

Attention then turned to a land use map, which contained proposed changes in use in various locations in the city. Some changes have been requested by property owners, and others by parties with an interest in development. Land uses in the city are classified in various ways: commercial, mixed-use and residential. Each of these are then further refined; for example, the housing designation includes densities from low to high.

Of particular interest to the crowd was the consideration of changing the land use designation for the Sebastiani Winery, a collection of parcels amounting to over twenty acres located on 4th Street East. A group with development interest have proposed creating a luxury hotel, housing and tasting room. In order to allow that possibility, the city has created a new land use designation called “Sonoma Mixed Use,” not to be confused with its existing Mixed Use designation that requires 50% of a development to be housing.

Director Gates pointed out that no development proposal for the Sebastiani property has been formally submitted to the city; that cannot be done until the General Plan Update is completed and approved by the Planning Commission and City Council. Upon a submission, any project proposal would be subject to a complete review, CEQA, and public comment.

Other changes in land use were discussed but none generated the vigorous discussion of the potential Sebastiani change. Audience questions and comments were made over the course of an hour and a half. Overall, resident concerns leaned to the side of opposing large commercial development of a hotel on that property. Additionally, county residents on Gehricke Road expressed concerns about the traffic and fire evacuation problem that a hotel might generate on their only escape route on Lovall Valley Road, and neighbors noted that commercial development in their area would substantially change its character.

A number of residents spoke in favor of what is being called Green and Blue Infrastructure Planning, an approach to planning that makes green spaces and and linking them together a priority.

The entire meeting will be posted on the city’s General Plan website: https://sonomacity.generalplan.org/