Springs project hangs on April 15 vote

At a public hearing on Tuesday, the Community Development Commission presented their proposed amendments to the Springs redevelopment plan to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. After unanimously supportive comments from the public, and discussion among the supervisors, supporters of the project came away hopeful that the next step, the vote, on April 15, will be a positive one.
Kathleen Kane, Executive Director of the Community Development Commission, laid out two objectives for the supervisors: first, to approve the CEQA; and second, to approve the collection of additional tax increment revenue. The essential change requested would raise the funding cap from the $20 million set in 1984 to $120 million, which would extend through the life of the plan, ending in 2024.
Among the speakers in support of the plan were Rich Lee and Steve Cox, of the Redevelopment Agency, and Mayor Joanne Sanders, of the City of Sonoma. Lee, reached later for comment, said, “It’s vitally important for future of the Springs for this plan to be approved. If it did not get approved, we would no longer have voice because there’d be no funding for the project.” He said people should feel free to contact Supervisor Valerie Brown and voice their feeling about the plan.
There was some discussion among the supervisors about the possibility that the City of Sonoma might have considered annexing the Springs, and whether that would adversely influence their support for the redevelopment project. Supervisor Tim Smith said if the city has looking at annexing, he’d have voted no. Supervisor Paul Kelley also had problems with the idea, but said he would support the redevelopment project. Brown said later that she was hopeful the vote on April 15 would be solidly behind the project.
Redevelopment Manager Boris Sztorch, in a subsequent interview, outlined some of the details of the amendment. He said that the amendment would update the plan’s goals and objectives, add capital improvement projects to redevelopment project, increase the amount of indebtedness to $40 million, and increase the amount of tax revenue to $120 million. It would establish annual revenue of $7 million per year, which they don’t anticipate getting until near the end of the redevelopment program. He said that projections show they’ll hit the cap in 2022. The amendment will also update various provisions to make it current with redevelopment law. Lastly, he said, they are changing the project name from the Sonoma Valley Redevelopment Area to the Springs Redevelopment Project Area.
“The next milestone,” said Sztorch, “will be April 15, when the board will respond to all objections to the plan–of which there are none–and then they will take action to adopt an ordinance.” Then, on April 22, the board will conduct a second reading of the ordinance adopting the plan amendment. “At that point, it will be official,” he said, “but there are still some steps that need to be taken. There’s a challenge period to the EIR, which expires on May 23, and then the referendum period ends and the ordinance becomes effective on July 21. That is the end of the challenge period for the plan.” He said the Department of Transportation and Public works asked the board to use eminent domain for the remaining three parcels. “That means the initial sidewalk and road improvements can move forward.” They are looking to June and July for the first phase, streetlights, wider road shoulders, curb gutters, and sidewalks on both sides of the highway and a bike lane. For the last phase, from Boyes to Agua Caliente, they expect to acquire the right of way in 2009 and begin construction in 2010. At the end of the recitation, he sounded a little incredulous and elated. “Even at the meeting last Thursday, they didn’t believe us when we said this was going to happen!“