Opening Up the Open Space

#10, March 4, 1999

They have your money, and they want more. In return, you might get a wonderful network of open space parklands and trails, a legacy for centuries to come. Or, if you don’t act fast, you may get more of the same for all the tax dollars you've invested: more “closed space” bristling with “keep out” signs.

1999 is a decisive year for Sonoma County residents who love to walk, bike, or ride horseback in nature.

Today, we have a shortage of outdoor recreation resources, a result of fast-growing demand and stagnant, inadequate supply. This year, County Government agencies will be approving plans which will set the direction for at least the next decade, and determine if more of our tax dollars will be spent for open space or closed space. There’s an opportunity for outdoor recreation and agriculture interests to team up for a plan that benefits both.

Sonoma County population has grown rapidly in past decades, and is expected to continue to grow. The Association of Bay Area Governments predicts an additional 130,000 residents by 2020. Newcomers are attracted by our quality of life, and they want more opportunities to enjoy the countryside. Respondents to the 1995 Sonoma County Regional Park Study Public Opinion Survey, asked to rate potential additions to the County Park System, gave the highest scores to "unimproved natural open space, followed by "hiking trails within parks" ,"nature centers", and "regional trails".

On the supply side, Sonoma County, by any measure, stinks. The National Recreation and Parks Association standard for regional park acreage, cited in our 1989 County General Plan, is 20 acres per 1000 residents. Sonoma County rates a pitiful 11.6 acres, compared to an average of 35.7 acres for the nine Bay Area Counties. Of those counties, only urban San Francisco has a lower ratio. Our neighbors in Marin enjoy 149 acres per 1000 residents.

What this means is that we Sonoma Countyans have to drive a long ways to find good places to hike. And Petaluma is the worst of the worst. We have only 368 acres of natural parklands within a 30 minute drive, compared to an average of 2702 acres for Sonoma County’s nine cities. At a 45 minute drive, we are still dead last, with less than a third of the acreage accessible to eighth place Cloverdale.

In 1990, County voters created the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District (OSD.) We agreed to a quarter cent sales tax to buy property and easements, for protecting agriculture and providing open space for recreation and aesthetics. But in the first 10 years, only 0.2%, or 48 of 25,317 acres protected by the OSD have gone to regional parks.

Why? Influential large landowners have been milking the system, hidden from public oversight by the OSD’s Byzantine organization and processes. Our infamous Lafferty-Moon swap is a perfect example. The District ended up paying the landowner $1.4 million to prevent just six homes on Moon Ranch's 380 acres of low priority open space. The deal provides no public access, but allows development of an estate home and conversion of natural habitat to vineyards.

During the next 9 months, the County will complete work on its Outdoor Recreation Plan and the OSD’s Acquisition Plan. The former will set priorities and policies for natural parks and trails, the latter should provide the funding. But last year, representatives from the Farm Bureau were successful in gutting the draft trail plan. Their partners in the Sonoma Mountain Conservancy have proposed rules that would make all new park and trail acquisitions as difficult as the creation of Lafferty Ranch Park.

Passive recreation and agriculture are not incompatible. Experience shows that, more often than not, wildland parks benefit their ag neighbors. Many other communities have proven that the farm-trail synergy can stimulate the agri-tourism which will help sustain agriculture in the face of urbanization.

Getting the natural parklands and trails we need requires public pressure on the County Supervisors. If you want to help, call the Coalition for the Outdoor Recreation Plan (CORP) at 789-0142. Let’s open the process to the public, and put the “open” back in open space.