West County sees budget woes, environmental challenges in 2010

This is part one of George Snyder’s two part roundup of
local news for 2010.
Now that the New Year is upon us a review of the past year can
perhaps act as a beacon of sorts into the possibilities of the
future of what is always an ongoing past.
Here are some of the more notable events of the first six months
of 2010:
January:
Activist Passes On: Mary Ruthsdotter, 65, a Sebastopol-based
feminist activist and a co-founder of the National Women’s History
Project died on Jan. 8.
She was one of four Sonoma County women who began the project as
a path to the acknowledgment of women ignored by history.
City Money Man Retires: Sebastopol Finance Director Ron
Puccinelli, the man with a deft hand on the tiller, or till as the
case may be, and who has successfully guided the city through
nearly 30 years of financial storms, officially retired.
Puccinelli, 62, is a native of Santa Rosa.
City Goals Met: The Sebastopol City Council got a boost with a
largely positive report on the council’s progress in meeting last
year’s goals and priorities.
Sutter Concerns: The Sonoma County Permit Resource Management
Department (PRMD) gave citizens their final opportunity to publicly
voice concerns about the potential impacts of the hospital proposed
by Sutter for the Wells Fargo property north of Santa Rosa.
February:
SMART Money Hunt: Members of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail
Transit   board of directors went on the hunt for more money,
including federal dollars, to keep the plans for its 70-mile
railroad rolling on down the line.
Watershed Grant: Several Russian River creeks are the initial
focus of a $696,000 grant awarded Monday by The National Fish and
Wildlife Foundation, according to Lisa Hulette, executive director
of the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District.
Indian Census Push: Saying it was time for Native Americans in
Sonoma County to “stand up and be counted” members of five county
tribes visited family and friends, ate a bountiful lunch and
listened to community leaders urge them to be sure and take part in
the upcoming 2010 Census April 1.
“We want to be noticed in Sonoma County,” said Dry Creek
Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians Tribal Chairman Harvey Hopkins,
“being undercounted impacts health, education and housing for the
tribes. We want people to stand up and be Indians.”
iGrow Grows: With just a week under its belt since the launch of
its interactive website, the iGROW segment of the Sonoma County
Health Action project seemed to have taken healthy root. The iGROW
project is one of seven community health improvement projects to
provide healthy food community wide.
SMART Train Funding: The SMART train went back on track
following weeks of funding worries, proposed delays and muddled
deliberations by project leaders that sometimes resembled a verbal
train wreck.
March:
Best Family Winery Fight: The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
on a 4-0 straw vote approved the controversial Best Family
Investors winery project just north of Sebastopol.
County Budget Woes: The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
received a stark budget picture that shows the national recession’s
local impacts. Board members were updated by the County
Administrator’s Office and department heads on the latest income
and expense figures that show a $47.5 million budget shortfall.
The Board began the process of shaping the 2010-2011 budget
early by taking aggressive actions to contain costs immediately to
mitigate impacts to services and employees. In an effort to save
funds, the Board enacted a hiring and spending freeze effective
immediately.
April:
Forestville Town Square: Forestville residents on the waiting
list for a downtown condominium may only have to wait a few more
years, as the Sonoma County Planning Commission recently approved
Orrin Thiessen’s Forestville Town Square redevelopment plan,
sending it on to the Board of Supervisors for eventual
approval.
Thiessen has been trying to get the project approved for about
six years.
The proposal consists of commercial/residential developments on
three 8-acre parcels west of Highway 116, and will include 49
residential units, 19 commercial units — including several
restaurant spaces — and an 18-room hotel.
The centerpiece of the Square will be a ½-acre park in the
center of downtown Forestville that Thiessen hopes to turn over to
Sonoma County Regional Parks, but will likely be maintained by the
property’s homeowner association, as the park department has not
shown interest, due in part to the size of the parcel and the state
of the county’s budget.
May:
Climate Protection: Everybody Profits was the name of, and the
reason for, the sixth annual conference, which brought together
political, business and community leaders of Sonoma County to
compare notes and coordinate strategies on how to effectively
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect natural resources.
Michelle Chan, senior policy analyst with Friends of the Earth,
Peter Barnes, senior fellow with Tomales Bay Institute, and Jan
Masurek, California Air Resources advisor were the keynote speakers
for the event, hosted by the city of Sebastopol. Ann Hancock,
executive director of Climate Protection Campaign, presented the
Sonoma County Annual Greenhouse Report Card and elected officials,
education administrators, high school students, nonprofit board
members, industry CEO’s, and others reported on coordination of
climate change issues and progress made toward regional greenhouse
gas emissions.
Food Drive: The Redwood Empire Food Bank’s annual 3-month-long
Summer Hunger drive was underway looking for cash and food donors
across the community. The drive, which started May 1, continued
through July 31. The goal was to collect 50,000 pounds of donated
non-perishable food and at least  $15,000 in cash for additional
fresh victuals like produce and fruit.
Wine Grapes Boost County Ag: Buoyed by higher wine grape
production, the value of the county’s agricultural sector bumped up
some 12 percent in 2009 despite the lame economy, according to the
Sonoma County Agricultural Crop Report. The county’s 2009 farm year
resulted in a gross value of $653,236,600 as compared with
$583,386,800 in 2008, according to the report.
The value of wine grapes, production of which was up 22 percent,
was $465 million in 2009 compared with $378 million in 2008. Total
vineyard acreage for all varieties, including bearing and
non-bearing land, was 62,907.2 acres in 2009 compared with 61,971.6
acres in 2008, according to the report.
June:
County Supes OK Best: The Best Family Winery got the official
nod, allowing them to proceed with building a 26,500 case winery
with a 33,000 square foot production building, along with a 5,000
square foot tasting room building, at the intersection of
Occidental Road and Highway 116.
Opponents, many of them nearby residents, cited noise, traffic
problems and a too large industrial footprint for their rural
residential neighborhood.
A Sonoma County Planning Commission hearing on a draft
environmental impact report on a plan by Syar Industries to skim
gravel from a series of Russian River gravel bars drew a full house
and support from many Alexander Valley riverside residents.
Several spoke of severe land loss from erosion, other residents
cited economic and community hardships inflicted by flooding or
damage to the Geyserville Bridge on Highway 128.
Other residents, however, expressed concerns about noise and
truck traffic, as well as air quality concerns resulting from the
proposed project. Other critics included conservationists like
Brian Hines, Redwood Empire Trout Unlimited spokesman, who said the
EIR fails to adequately address watershed issues, including gravel
movement affecting spawning grounds for salmon and steelhead.