Fire Hazard & Evacuation
“VERY HIGH” fire hazard zone is the highest possible categorization in the April 2025 released Fire Hazard Severity Zone that Cal Fire has designated for the Foley (Sebastiani) Winery and all surrounding neighborhoods. This, and the recent study on fire evacuation routes, should be all that is required to make the city reconsider giving developers a blank check for how that land is used.
Traffic Congestion and Safety
The existing infrastructure is inadequate for the allowable 1100 new housing units and the corollary 2200 new residential automobiles (assuming 2 cars per household). Add in the retail and commercial visitors of twice the size of the existing Town Square and the simple result is our bridges and 2-lane residential streets aren’t able to handle the increased congestion. This means our City has to first invest our money to fix all the infrastructure to widen bridges and canals and install traffic lights and sidewalks far before any our City can reap any potential revenues from taxations.
Our prized Town Square
Today, our prized Town Square draws tourists from around the world. Let’s enable more of the shuttered and struggling stores to flourish! Let’s not create a competing Town Square 1 mile East that is literally twice the size of our existing square! Let’s fix what we have instead of build on historic vineyards to build competing commercialism.
Agricultural Vineyard Land Usage
The Foley / Sebastiani acreage has always been zoned for Agriculature and Wine Production. This is the central attraction to Sonoma for residents and visitors alike. While we support the idea of finding better uses for this land, including more housing options, we are adamantly against this “blanket†change across such a large area. We are also against the minimum density of 7 housing units an acre, the maximum density of 25 units per acre, and the broad, undefined commercial use. Joining us in asking the Planning Commission and City Council to stop any further investigation of the currently proposed land use designation and work with residents to identify other more reasonable options.
Learn how we gather community feedback and advocate for sensible policies in the City of Sonoma and the immediately surrounding County.
