Sonoma voters may have two options in June to expand the city’s urban growth boundary to allow construction of a new hospital.
One option would allow construction of a privately financed hospital at Eighth Street East and Napa Road.
The other option would clear the way for a hospital at Broadway and Napa Road.
Or so it seemed at the end of city council’s Jan. 3 meeting, which began with a presentation by Boyes Hot Springs architect Michael Ross on behalf of Cirrus Health, a Dallas, Tex.-based company that wants to build a privately funded hospital on a 22-acre parcel on the northwest corner of Eighth Street East and Napa Road.
That was followed by an impassioned plea by former mayor Larry Barnett, who opposes Cirrus’s proposal because he thinks it will lead to sprawl. Instead, Barnett suggested that council ask voters to make a change to the urban growth boundary that he says would only allow the Sonoma Valley Hospital to build a new facility on Broadway.
Cirrus’s proposal
Cirrus plans to gather 915 petition signatures calling for a special election in June in which Cirrus would seek approval from a majority of Sonoma residents to expand the city’s urban growth boundary, or UGB, to incorporate the 22-acre parcel along with 50 acres on Napa Road of what’s now mostly vineyards.
Cirrus needs the expansion of the urban growth boundary because then the city can provide treated water and sewer service to the 22-acre site, which otherwise would have to rely on well water and a septic system.
“This is a very rare event. Few hospital developers are willing to build and spend $100 million on a modern, state-of-the-art hospital,” Ross told council during his presentation. “The city of Sonoma will be making possible a major public good for the valley as a whole.”
Council didn’t take any action on Jan. 3. Ross’s presentation was informational only.
Council has the power to put Cirrus’s request before the city’s registered voters. But instead, Cirrus plans to get on the ballot by gathering petition signatures.
Barnett’s proposal
Larry Barnett was the first person to make public comment after Ross’s presentation.
“This proposed UGB amendment has roused my deepest concerns,” said Barnett, who helped craft the urban growth boundary proposal that city voters approved by a 70 percent margin in 2000.
“This proposal is akin to a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” he said, warning that it could lead to “full-tilt commercial development” first along Napa Road and then on Eighth Street East.
However, Barnett told council he thought it was an “excellent idea” to amend the urban growth boundary to exempt hospitals in general, provided such an exemption isn’t tied to any particular parcel.
As a practical matter, Barnett explained later, his proposed exemption would only apply to sites contiguous to the city’s current border, such as the 15-acre site on Broadway and Napa Road that’s being eyed by the Sonoma Valley Hospital as a site for a publicly owned, seismically safe facility to replace its aging Andrieux Street hospital.
Councilmembers Steve Barbose, Ken Brown and August Sebastiani seemed receptive on Jan. 3 to the idea of adding “hospital” to the list of urban growth boundary exemptions, alongside “schools” and “parks.”
City manager Mike Fuson said this week that more information about the idea will be presented at an upcoming council meeting.
