Letter to the Editor 12-10-15

The Laguna Restoration Plan, send it back
EDITOR: An expensive Laguna Restoration Plan was presented before the Sebastopol City Council last Tuesday night for approval. It should be sent back to the consultant for extensive revisions. The Plan addresses the City owned properties around the Laguna Channel and along the bike trails.
These propertiesn which are just steps from the town core, should be restored to beautiful natural places that invite the community to wander, explore and enjoy. But this plan does not. 

The plan offers little to make the area attractive to humans. For example: no walking paths along the waterways, no naturalizing of the most visible part of Calder Creek, which is now a channelized ditch, no uncovering the last remaining rail road track from our historic railroad past to allow one to follow them into the woods, no accommodation to launch a kayak into the Laguna Channel where we have a mile of pretty natural waterway that would be great for kayaking and lastly, no scenic benches or rest spots along Calder Creek off to the side of the bike trail.

These are a few of many improvements that should be goals for these areas and shown in the plan. For a more detailed list you can email ly******@so***.net.
This plan has little vision of what a truly beautiful community asset these special areas could be, as an entry feature to our town and for our community to walk through and enjoy.
Lynn Deedler
Sebastopol
Balanced policymaking
EDITOR: The large turnout at the Nov. 16 Permit Department Workshop on winery events illustrates how deeply the community cares about the need to preserve agricultural landscapes and rural character, making Sonoma County a premier destination. Balanced policymaking is critical given these unique attributes, which fuel our current economic boom.
No one disputes the benefits that the wine industry and tourism bring to the County; however, calculation of the costs in terms of negative cumulative impacts has been missing. In 2016, policy makers will be called on to enact checks and balances to reduce land use conflicts associated with high impact hospitality activities on Ag lands.
It’s time to uphold, not undermine, the policies in our General Plan designed to steer tourism-related hospitality uses to our vibrant town centers and to preserve the integrity of our rural agricultural lands for future generations. The Vintner’s position stated at the Nov. 16 hearing that they “will oppose any effort to limit winery activities and events” stunned community groups trying to work constructively with the County to develop balanced zoning standards.  We hope the vintners decide to take the high road and realize that we all must work together to keep Sonoma County a special place for everyone who lives, works and visits.
Helen Shane
Santa Rosa
Preserve the balance
EDITOR: Since 2000, Sonoma County has experienced explosive growth in the approval of wineries, accompanied by increasingly more intense hospitality and entertainment activities. By 2014, the County had already approved twice the number of facilities assumed in the General Plan (436 wineries), and there are now 60 applications pending. More and more, wineries have become venues for events and commercial activities. On most weekends, parking overflows and road congestion clogs up narrow, winding, country roads. These conditions create life-threatening road hazards for rural residents, especially when combined with party-level alcohol consumption.
Fortunately, the Board of Supervisors has acknowledged the problem and will be voting on new standards in the coming year. We hope that they will uphold the policies in our General Plan designed to steer tourism-related hospitality uses to our urban centers and protect our rural agricultural lands. Standards will not take anything away from the facilities that are operating lawfully now, and will create a level playing field to the benefit of all wineries.
Rural residents are asking county officials to preserve that balance between agriculture, natural areas and rural ambience, with town-centered marketing of local products. Our county has benefited from Napa’s over-development and its diminished tourist experience – let’s not make the same mistakes here.
Lorraine Bazan
Sebastopol
Plan lacking
EDITOR: I am a homeowner in Sebastopol with my wife and family. We are concerned that the Laguna de Santa Rosa Restoration Plan lacks any new public access or improvements to walking trails. The environmental focus makes good sense biologically, but why doesn’t this plan have a coordinated effort (City of Sebastopol and County’s) to improve areas for public access.
For example, right now you have to drive your car to get to the Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail. Who wants to fight traffic to go walking within a few blocks of downtown? A new connector trail needs to be built under the new bridge being built by Caltrans.
Also, the Joe Rodota trail really needs some improvements. Some nice walking paths with some picnic benches would be inviting to families. Non-native Himalayan blackberries need to be removed which would open things up making it less inviting to our growing transient population who frequently camps not far off the trail. The trash and garbage unfortunately ends up in the Laguna. An access point for kayaks would also be nice and would make Sebastopol feel like a destination.
Please consider including my comments in  Sonoma West Times and News, because I speak for a lot of citizens who are busy people and can’t make the time to go to lengthy city council meetings.
Josh Risley
Sebastopol
Stop arming countries
EDITOR: The New York Times editorial to “End the Gun Epidemic in America” when the United States’ largest export is arms (including hundreds of thousands of assault rifles) is like a homeowner saying that there will be zero tolerance for drug use in their neighborhood while at the same time, that homeowner’s main income is derived from supplying drugs to foreign and distant neighborhoods.
If the United States wants to control assault weapons in our country, perhaps we should stop arming other countries with the same.
Michael A. Carnacchi
Sebastopol