Housing plan earns Sierra Club support

The Sierra Club for the first time has endorsed a development project in Sonoma County, part of a trend by environmental organizations throwing their support behind "smart growth."

Sierra Club members say they want to call attention to worthwhile projects, and not be identified solely with stopping something they consider harmful to the environment.

"It's a relatively new phenomenon," said Tim Frank, coordinator of a national Sierra Club campaign against urban sprawl. "It's really more important to be for something, not just saying 'no,' but 'yes' where it's appropriate."

In Sonoma County, the Sierra Club this month endorsed a relatively small but controversial "infill" project in Windsor proposed by developer Orrin Thiessen, whose signature designs embrace smart growth principles.

Thiessen's projects make efficient use of available land by building town homes over stores, offices and restaurants. By offering a variety of businesses close to home, the idea is to reduce car trips and make communities more walkable and vibrant.

Environmental groups see such high-density development inside urban growth boundaries as the way to prevent ongoing loss of wilderness and farms, as well as promote mass transit and cut down on the use of fossil fuels.

Representatives of the construction and building industries in Sonoma County were surprised but applauded the Sierra Club's new direction.

"It's honorable and admirable. I never thought those words would leave my lips," said Keith Woods, chief executive officer of the North Coast Builders Exchange. "I hope this represents a change in attitude that says 'all development is not evil.' It's a very healthy sign."

"It's encouraging to see the Sierra Club supporting proposals that it agrees with and looking at this with a positive sense, rather than some group standing up and saying 'no,'" said Charlie Carson, director of the Homebuilders Association of Northern California.

He said his organization's main office in the Bay Area tried in the past to prod the Sierra Club to more actively promote building projects it likes.

The Sierra Club's willingness to help out developers is new in Sonoma County. But the Greenbelt Alliance, which is dedicated to protecting open space, has endorsed at least five projects in Sonoma County in the same number of years.

"We are really excited the Sierra Club is doing locally what they have been doing statewide and nationwide," said Kelly Brown, spokeswoman for the Sonoma/Marin Greenbelt Alliance. "A critical component to creating permanent greenbelts and livable communities is to encourage good, compact development."

The Sierra Club's Frank said stopping sprawl became one of the organization's top national priorities about six or seven years ago. "I know we've supported projects in essentially every state of the union," he said. Several of those are in the Bay Area and typically involve high-density, mixed-use developments close to transit systems. But Sierra Club members could not recall any such endorsements in Sonoma County.

"I don't recall anything like this in the past," said longtime Sonoma County Sierra Club member Len Swenson.

The construction industry and environmental groups have historically been at odds in Sonoma County over issues such as building Warm Springs Dam, widening Highway 101, measures to protect the California tiger salamander and establishing city growth boundaries.

But as every city in Sonoma County -- other than Cloverdale -- enacted voter-approved urban growth boundaries over the past decade, building on remaining land inside city limits has increasingly become subject to neighborhood battles.

That is what happened with Thiessen's 15-town home development on Old Redwood Highway on Windsor's outskirts.

Residents of the adjacent Oak Creek subdivision, whose homes are on rural-looking, big lots, fought Thiessen's project. In particular, they objected to the height of the three-story buildings featuring residences above ground-floor office and commercial space.

Thiessen eventually lowered the height of his buildings, and the Town Council unanimously approved the project Wednesday.

But not before the Sonoma County arm of the Sierra Club spoke up for the project after studying the blueprints and taking a vote on the issue.

Former Sonoma County Supervisor Eric Koenigshofer, an attorney who has been on opposing sides of issues with the Sierra Club, said "it is good policy and responsible politics for environmental groups to step forward and say it's important that we have these higher densities."

He said City Council members can be left hanging out in the political breeze if there isn't advocacy and support from environmental groups to counter neighborhood opposition to a high-density project.

"Certainly the good work Orrin Thiessen does around the county is deserving of that support, as are so many projects large and small," Koenigshofer said.

Some critics have said Thiessen's buildings, such as the ones he designed in Windsor's new downtown, can look a bit unreal -- like something out of Disneyland's Main Street.

But the Sonoma County arm of the Sierra Club was as impressed with Thiessen's designs as the environmentally friendly goals they promote.

Marsha Taylor, co-chairwoman of the Sonoma group conservation committee, said Thiessen does not engage in cookie-cutter sprawl or conventional shopping malls.

"Urban architecture can be gorgeous. And the designs I've seen of Thiessen's are gorgeous," she said.

Contact Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or cmason@pressdemocrat.com.