Concerns Raised by Neighbors

 Cal Fire recently designated the Sebastiani Winery site and surrounding neighborhoods as “VERY HIGH” fire hazard, the most severe rating. This should be all that is needed for the City to reconsider unrestricted development of the winery site.  Other studies such as the Sonoma SAFE Study have called out similar concerns regarding evacuation times in a wildfire emergency in other parts of Sonoma Valley.  

The existing infrastructure is inadequate for up to 500 new housing units and the corresponding 800+ new cars (assuming 1.7 cars per household). Add in three shifts of hotel workers, hotel guests, and retail and commercial visitors to a site over two times the size of the historic Sonoma Plaza - and the result is congestion and gridlock on the narrow bridges and residential streets on the East Side, the Plaza, and throughout the City. The City would need invest significantly to upgrade infrastructure, including widening bridges and canals and installing traffic lights and sidewalks, long before it could reap any potential revenue from taxation. 

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 building competing commercial areas on historic vineyards and wine production sites.  

The Foley / Sebastiani acreage has always been zoned for Agriculture 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.  Join 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. 

Hydrology and Water Quality stormwater drainage, flood risk, groundwater impacts, and related runoff are issues that need to be adequately addressed for creek impacts, erosion control, and water supply, especially given Sonoma’s wet-season flooding concerns.

Sensitive species, wetlands, and habitat evaluations impact special-status species and habitats across Northern California. As we know, mitigation measures for species like California tiger salamander, raptors, bats, or wetland plants can be signifcantly impacted as well as Sonoma Valley's ecologcial context including oak woodlands, creek habitats, and vineyard interfaces.

Impacts on historic buildings, landmarks, and neighborhood character apply to the Sebastiani project’s potential effects on Sonoma’s historic fabric.  The winery itself and nearby historic structures add to the value of Sonoma's character as well as branding which is financially key to attract ongoing tourism.

The cumulative noise impacts including traffic noise, commercial noise, hotel event noise, construction noise, and mechanical equipment noise impact the community and environment.