Sonoma County grading rules draw lawsuit

They argue the new law should include a requirement that farmers undergo environmental review and studies before planting new vineyards and orchards.

The groups, including the Town Hall Coalition, Forest Unlimited and the Coast Action Group, have demanded that the supervisors set aside the ordinance on the grounds that it violates the state environmental quality law.

Oakland attorney Stephan C. Volker said his clients want the county to write an environmental impact report for the law itself and also to require that new orchards and vineyards fall under the state environmental review process — requirements now used for new housing subdivisions, shopping centers and other development projects.

“We would want the public in every case to examine the proposal and to comment on whether further review is needed,” Volker said last week.

County supervisors, however, concluded that such reviews could result “in inappropriate and burdensome delays” for farmers,” said Jeff Brax, a deputy county counsel.

Supervisors maintain that the ordinance, adopted in December, already is one of the strongest in the state. and that Sonoma is one of the few counties to impose its rules and permit requirements on farmers.

The new law for the first time requires farmers to get county permits when planting new orchards. In expanding an eight-year-old law on vineyard development, it requires the plants be set back at least 25 feet from all streams and 50 feet from all wetlands.

Paul Kelley, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, reaffirmed his objection to requiring environmental studies for what he called routine farm practices on land already zoned for agriculture.

“Agriculture is the foundation of the economy in Sonoma County and the economy of California,” Kelley said. Government should make sure that farmers “continue to thrive and survive.”

Attorneys for both sides will meet this week for a settlement conference, Brax said.

In hearings, some farmers objected to the rules. But environmentalists, supported by the state Department of Fish and Game, want the county to require that the orchards and vineyards come under the state environmental review process.

The prospect of a lawsuit was foreseen last fall by then-Supervisor Mike Reilly, considered the member most sympathetic to environmental regulation. At one public meeting, Reilly cautioned environmental leaders that his board colleagues wouldn’t accept the additional review requirements.

He suggested the result of a lawsuit could be to scuttle new protections in the grading ordinance and wind up with “nothing at all.”

Brax insisted that the county didn’t need to write an environmental impact report specifically for the grading law, partly because of a state exemption when the result of a plan is greater protection for the environment.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat

.com.