Sonoma County Grand Jury
• 2019-2020
Springs Specific Plan a Public Disclosure Misfire
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 9 findings
F1
A resident of Donald Street, using reasonable diligence, would have had difficulty finding out that their neighborhood was part of a large rezoning planning process.
Related Recommendations (3)
R1
Permit Sonoma offer Donald Street residents an official apology for their missteps by July 1, 2020. (F1,F2,F3,F4,F6,F7)
R2
Permit Sonoma hold substantive discussions with the Donald Street residents regarding their principal concerns regarding the SSP by July 1, 2020, or before finalizing the SSP, whichever comes first. (F1,F2,F3,F4)
R5
Permit Sonoma determine where the procedures used for SSP failed, and adopt revised procedures to avoid a repetition of the oversight, with a copy of the revised procedures sent to the Grand Jury by July 1, 2020. (F1,F2,F3,F6,F8,F9) The Grand Jury has recommended several dates above prior to the official required response dates. These earlier dates are provided because the approval process is ongoing and time critical.
F2
The boundaries of the SSP area, intended by MTC and ABAG to be within a street or two of a rural transportation corridor – Highway 12 in this case – does not logically encompass a neighborhood as far removed as the Donald Street area.
Related Recommendations (4)
R1
Permit Sonoma offer Donald Street residents an official apology for their missteps by July 1, 2020. (F1,F2,F3,F4,F6,F7)
R2
Permit Sonoma hold substantive discussions with the Donald Street residents regarding their principal concerns regarding the SSP by July 1, 2020, or before finalizing the SSP, whichever comes first. (F1,F2,F3,F4)
R4
The Grand Jury does not dictate policy, however, if accommodations cannot be reached, the Board of Supervisors should consider severing Donald Street from the SSP. (F2,F4,F7)
R5
Permit Sonoma determine where the procedures used for SSP failed, and adopt revised procedures to avoid a repetition of the oversight, with a copy of the revised procedures sent to the Grand Jury by July 1, 2020. (F1,F2,F3,F6,F8,F9) The Grand Jury has recommended several dates above prior to the official required response dates. These earlier dates are provided because the approval process is ongoing and time critical.
F3
Planners should have recognized that the Donald Street neighborhood was not represented in any of the public meetings. The groups tasked to work on the SSP, such as the Community Advisory Team (CAT), Municipal Advisory Committee (MAC), the Sonoma Alliance, and others also failed in this regard.
Related Recommendations (3)
R1
Permit Sonoma offer Donald Street residents an official apology for their missteps by July 1, 2020. (F1,F2,F3,F4,F6,F7)
R2
Permit Sonoma hold substantive discussions with the Donald Street residents regarding their principal concerns regarding the SSP by July 1, 2020, or before finalizing the SSP, whichever comes first. (F1,F2,F3,F4)
R5
Permit Sonoma determine where the procedures used for SSP failed, and adopt revised procedures to avoid a repetition of the oversight, with a copy of the revised procedures sent to the Grand Jury by July 1, 2020. (F1,F2,F3,F6,F8,F9) The Grand Jury has recommended several dates above prior to the official required response dates. These earlier dates are provided because the approval process is ongoing and time critical.
F4
Because the Donald Street residents reasonably assumed they were not part of “The Springs,” and notifications did not mention Donald Street’s involvement in the SSP, their distress and surprise upon learning of the rezoning of parcels in the neighborhood is understandable.
Related Recommendations (4)
R1
Permit Sonoma offer Donald Street residents an official apology for their missteps by July 1, 2020. (F1,F2,F3,F4,F6,F7)
R2
Permit Sonoma hold substantive discussions with the Donald Street residents regarding their principal concerns regarding the SSP by July 1, 2020, or before finalizing the SSP, whichever comes first. (F1,F2,F3,F4)
R3
Permit Sonoma respond to the principal concerns expressed by Donald Street neighborhood with an explanation as to why they can or cannot accommodate the requests of the Donald Street neighborhood residents by July 1, 2020. (F4,F5,F6,F7)
R4
The Grand Jury does not dictate policy, however, if accommodations cannot be reached, the Board of Supervisors should consider severing Donald Street from the SSP. (F2,F4,F7)
F5
Citizens’ trust in their government was tested at many points in the handling of the SSP, leaving the Donald Street residents feeling marginalized and unheard by their County government.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Permit Sonoma respond to the principal concerns expressed by Donald Street neighborhood with an explanation as to why they can or cannot accommodate the requests of the Donald Street neighborhood residents by July 1, 2020. (F4,F5,F6,F7)
F6
The Donald Street residents were caught off guard in the requested meeting on March 6, 2019; they felt they were misled by a County official as to its purpose.
Related Recommendations (3)
R1
Permit Sonoma offer Donald Street residents an official apology for their missteps by July 1, 2020. (F1,F2,F3,F4,F6,F7)
R3
Permit Sonoma respond to the principal concerns expressed by Donald Street neighborhood with an explanation as to why they can or cannot accommodate the requests of the Donald Street neighborhood residents by July 1, 2020. (F4,F5,F6,F7)
R5
Permit Sonoma determine where the procedures used for SSP failed, and adopt revised procedures to avoid a repetition of the oversight, with a copy of the revised procedures sent to the Grand Jury by July 1, 2020. (F1,F2,F3,F6,F8,F9) The Grand Jury has recommended several dates above prior to the official required response dates. These earlier dates are provided because the approval process is ongoing and time critical.
F7
By not proactively engaging with the Donald Street neighborhood, the County did not live up to its best practices as explicitly set out in MTC Resolution No. 4035.
Related Recommendations (3)
R1
Permit Sonoma offer Donald Street residents an official apology for their missteps by July 1, 2020. (F1,F2,F3,F4,F6,F7)
R3
Permit Sonoma respond to the principal concerns expressed by Donald Street neighborhood with an explanation as to why they can or cannot accommodate the requests of the Donald Street neighborhood residents by July 1, 2020. (F4,F5,F6,F7)
R4
The Grand Jury does not dictate policy, however, if accommodations cannot be reached, the Board of Supervisors should consider severing Donald Street from the SSP. (F2,F4,F7)
F8
No public disclosure laws were broken.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
Permit Sonoma determine where the procedures used for SSP failed, and adopt revised procedures to avoid a repetition of the oversight, with a copy of the revised procedures sent to the Grand Jury by July 1, 2020. (F1,F2,F3,F6,F8,F9) The Grand Jury has recommended several dates above prior to the official required response dates. These earlier dates are provided because the approval process is ongoing and time critical.
F9
It is important for County planning officials to disseminate information about development plans in a timely manner in order to uphold residents’ confidence in the fairness of the development process.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
Permit Sonoma determine where the procedures used for SSP failed, and adopt revised procedures to avoid a repetition of the oversight, with a copy of the revised procedures sent to the Grand Jury by July 1, 2020. (F1,F2,F3,F6,F8,F9) The Grand Jury has recommended several dates above prior to the official required response dates. These earlier dates are provided because the approval process is ongoing and time critical.
Conclusions 1
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CL1 Page 8The process followed by County officials did not conform to the MTC public participation policy for project selection (MTC Resolution No. 4035). Thirty-five percent of the SSP affected area was effectively excluded from participation. The Grand Jury, after extensive research, could not find a single reference in published press releases or newspaper articles prior to February 2017 to the Donald Street neighborhood’s inclusion. It is unclear why Permit Sonoma waited five years after the 2012 approval of the SSP to make the first public disclosure that Donald Street was part of the Plan, which occurred in a Permit Sonoma press release dated February 24, 2017. The Grand Jury assumes and hopes that this was due only to an oversight and not to any conscious intent.
No Responses Found 2
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
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