This is part two of George Snyder’s roundup of local news
for 2010.

SEBASTOPOL — Now that the New Year is upon us, a review of the
past year might serve as a guide to help us face the New Year with
all of its promises and challenges.
Here are some of the more notable events of the last six months
of 2010:
July:
Medical marijuana was exempted from Sebastopol’s no-smoking
ordinance adopted by the city. The revamped regulation includes
multi-unit family dwellings as well as other venues such as parks
and open spaces. At least for the time being, the council
unanimously voted to focus on tobacco smoking instead. 

August:
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors agreed in a unanimous
straw vote to certify the Environmental Impact Report for a
proposed Sutter Medical Center adjacent to the Luther Burbank
Center for the Arts.
Landowners on Freezeout Creek helped state and county wildlife
biologists plant the first of 2,000 young Coho salmon with hopes a
viable population of the endangered fish will be established on
this tributary to the Russian River near Duncans Mills.
September:
Sebastopol’s second annual Pedestrian/Bike/Traffic issues forum
was held at the library. City Councilmember Kathleen Shaffer and
Bike Walk Sebastopol hosted the forum, which was supposed to
feature Caltrans representatives as well as Sebastopol Police Chief
Jeff Weaver. Caltrans canceled at the last minute.
More than two-dozen conservationists, restoration workers,
ranchers and federal, state and county officials, including
Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, toured the Bodega Firehouse and a
nearby ranch where major rain-catchment projects are underway.
The projects will conserve hundreds of thousands of gallons of
water from winter storms to be used in lieu of heavily used Salmon
Creek.
The long-standing legal dispute between a Forestville citizen s
group and Canyon Rock Quarry was finally settled. According to Sig
Anderman, a Forestville Citizens for Sensible Growth spokesman, the
settlement puts a rest more than a decade of the long-standing
legal dispute between a Forestville citizen’s group and Canyon Rock
Quarry.
The citizen’s groups have been in court against Canyon Rock,
challenging an Environmental Impact Report and an expansion permit
granted to the quarry by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors in
June of 2006.
“In light of all circumstances, the 12 years of litigation, and
the realities of the legal landscape, I believe it represents the
best outcome for all concerned,” he said in a statement.
Inventor and video maker Billy Carmen and his wife Julie, helped
put Sebastopol on the map by working with city staffers, including
Planning Director Kenyon Webster, to create videos of local
businesses and creative residents that appear on the city’s
official website.
Sebastopol developer Barney Aldridge presented his plans for the
proposed Barlow Project to a large crowd of local business leaders,
including artists, who might want to lease space in his commercial
complex when it’s built.
The sound of the Graton Fire house siren has led to a lawsuit
claiming among other things, the whistle is bad for their health,
mostly because to some people’s ears, it is too loud.
The World War II-era siren has been used by the Graton Fire
District for decades to not only summon volunteers to fight fires
but to mark high noon and call volunteers to Thursday night
training sessions.
October:
The Sonoma County Water Agency released notice it is preparing
an Environmental Impact Report on the proposed Fish Flow Project in
the Russian River and Dry Creek mandated by the federal
government.
In a Russian River Biological Opinion issued by the National
Marine Fisheries Service in September of 2008, the agency is being
required to reduce minimum summertime flows in Dry Creek and the
Russian River in order to help young Coho salmon and steelhead
survive because the fast flows can increase their mortality.
“The Water Agency is carefully studying potential impacts of
changing flows in the river and in Dry Creek,” said agency
executive director Grant Davis. “The Notice of Preparation provides
people their first opportunity to become involved in this
multi-year process.”
Claiming flaws in the Environmental Impact Report, critics of
Sutter Health s $284 million, 82-bed hospital construction project
adjacent to the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts have filed suit
against its adoption by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.
Forestville residents were encouraged to contact county
officials with comments or questions about the town’s roundabout
project.
A Let’s Talk Business Sebastopol town hall meeting took place at
Park Side School. Each year the city Council creates a list of
community priorities, said Councilmember Shaffer, among which is
the city’s business climate.
Robert Jacob, founder of Peace In Medicine, in talking about his
group’s three years in Sebastopol, said his dealings with the
Sebastopol community, including city officials, has proven to be a
great experience.
The San Francisco-based Save the Redwoods League awarded grant
funding to El Molino High School and three area environmental
education groups. In addition to El Molino, the awards, which range
from $2,500 to $3,000, were given to Stewards of the Coast and
Redwoods, West County Community Services and the Santa Rosa based,
Landpaths conservation organization.
Following a lengthy, and jam packed, public hearing, the Sonoma
County Board of Supervisors approved a Final EIR and a Use Permit
for Syar Industries to remove up to 350,000 tons of gravel a year
for 15 years from the Russian River near Geyserville.
November:
California’s recreational or sports crab fishery opened along
the Sonoma Coast on Nov. 6, with state fishery officials expecting
a pretty decent season.
A decision by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to keep
permanent pavement on only a core network of county roads drew
mixed reviews ranging from visions of retro Mayberry to wrecked
emergency vehicles.
California’s fall wild turkey season started Nov. 13, meaning
those members of the county’s hook and bullet crowd not swayed by
the upcoming upland bird and water fowl seasons were probably
thinking about hunting up a big bird for Thanksgiving.
Hopes were high that 5,000 young Coho salmon released into
wildly running but small Devil Creek in the bottom of a canyon in
the Austin Creek watershed will live to go to sea and come back to
tell the tale.
Proposed planning options as well as vital information about the
groundwater supply in the Santa Rosa Plain water basin were offered
to the public in a trio of area educational workshops beginning in
November.
The Sebastopol Area Senior Citizen Center’s 2011 Classic Cars
Classic People calendar hit the road, complete with local stars;
community heroes and a dozen featured vintage vehicles.
December:
Some green building regulations first put into practice in
Sebastopol several years ago will become mandatory under state
building codes starting Jan. 1, a fact local city officials say
shows Sonoma County is on the cutting edge of environmental
building.
What will probably be the nation’s only firehouse on a Christmas
tree farm when construction is completed was open for business for
those customers burning to get ahead of the holiday tree rush. “We
probably are the only department to be on a Christmas tree farm,”
said Graton Fire District Assistant Chief Bill Bullard.
Sebastopol’s much beloved former Fire Chief Russ Shura got a
flood of tributes from family, friends and firefighters in a moving
ceremony at the Sebastopol Veteran’s Memorial Building Saturday.
More than 200 persons, including firefighters from across the
county and beyond, gave tribute to the 84-year Shura who died in
his sleep from heart disease.
Calling Sonoma County one of the most diverse places for native
fauna and flora in America, the Community Foundation Sonoma County
released an in-depth action plan aimed at keeping what we still
have in the way of the natural world.
Freestone has working fire hydrants again thanks to a
pull-yourself-up-by-the bootstraps community spirit by a trio of
area merchants that got the town’s ancient water tank up and
running after it was condemned more than a year ago.

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