Sebastopol stages economic summit

Sebastopol could boost its economic vitality by attracting a concentration of sustainable and gourmet food businesses, an idea expressed Thursday at the town’s economic summit.

“Sebastopol is uniquely positioned to plant its flag as the sustainable agricultural epicenter of Northern California,” said Mark Inman, co-founder of organic coffee purveyor Taylor Maid Farms. The audience of about 120 people gave the suggestion strong applause.

Inman, a fourth-generation Sebastopol resident, said the town shouldn’t sit back and watch as Santa Rosa plans to build a major food and wine center.

"We should beat them to the punch, and build a bigger and better one," Inman said.

The summit, sponsored by the city and the Chamber of Commerce, came nearly a year after the City Council rejected a plan to redevelop the old apple packing district between downtown and the Laguna de Santa Rosa.

That development, called the Northeast Area Plan, proved controversial in a town where the population of about 7,700 remains unchanged from 2000. Supporters said it would bring the town new business and residential units. Critics countered that it would allow too many tall buildings and too much traffic.

The plan’s failure showed a need to develop a shared community vision, said Linda Galletta, executive director of Sebastopol Center for the Arts.

“How can we achieve consensus and unity, because risking economic paralysis is not an option,” Galletta told the audience.

Helen Shane, a leading critic of the Northeast plan, said she heard many good ideas at Friday’s summit and wants “to go forward.” But to succeed in economic development, she said, “people have to have stamina and understanding and acceptance.”

Participants Friday noted that the town’s weekly farmers’ market draws large crowds, and Sebastopol already has a core of organic and alternative food makers. Others suggested the town might attract new businesses tied to eco-tourism or alternative energy products.

Keynote speaker Robert Eyler, a Sonoma State University economics professor, encouraged the audience to work for a common vision that would blend economic vitality, social equity and environmental balance. He said the community should choose to shape growth and a “lack of growth is really worse than too much growth in the grand scheme.”

Eyler, who heads the university’s Center for Regional Economic Analysis, said the community should be prepared for the ongoing effects of the national recession. It is going to continue and California likely will lag behind any recovery for the rest of the country, he said, partly because of the poor financial shape of the state’s government.