The last time Sonoma County residents had a chance to discuss a new master plan for growth in the Bay Area, it resulted in chaos. The public hearing at Santa Rosa's Finley Center was marred by shouting matches and behavior that was so boorish police had be called in to calm things down.
This time around, however, the response to Plan Bay Area - including a recent public hearing at the Friedman Center in Santa Rosa - has been more civil. We trust this is evidence of reason prevailing on a planning tool that just makes sense, particularly for the North Bay.
According to planning experts, the Bay Area is expected to add 2 million people by 2040. With that will come 1.1 million new jobs and a need for 660,000 new housing units. Sonoma County's population is expected to grow 24 percent to nearly 600,000 residents - with 65,000 more jobs and a need for 32,000 more housing units.
Plan Bay Area is a coordinated effort orchestrated by the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to plan for that growth, while at the same time ensuring the region achieves the state's commitment under SB 375 to reduce greenhouse gases. The solution is to focus growth in "priority development areas," those places identified by cities and counties where they would like to see development occur.
Where these areas are in Sonoma County is no secret. They're in Roseland and Railroad Square in Santa Rosa, in central Petaluma, in Sonoma Mountain Village in Rohnert Park, around the SMART station in Cloverdale and other locations already tagged for their growth potential. (To see the full list of priority development areas, go to bayareavision.org.)
Some opponents have spread fears that Plan Bay Area is a conspiracy fueled by the United Nations' passage of Agenda 21 to force locals to concede land-use decisions to some new all-powerful centralized body. It's an absurd contention.
City councils and boards of supervisors identify the priority development areas and retain the right to change or add to them. Moreover, Plan Bay Area endorses planning values that the North Bay has already embraced - city-centered growth, urban growth boundaries, transit-oriented development, etc. The plan offers communities access to grants and other funding to help them meet their planning and infrastructure needs.
On Tuesday, the Santa Rosa City Council will discuss applying for one such grant that would provide money for bike lanes, trees, street lights and other improvements in the downtown core.
Planning for growth "is not going to be addressed by forcing zoning where it's not wanted," noted Napa Supervisor Mark Luce, the president of ABAG, during a recent meeting with The Press Democrat Editorial Board. The best hope of success is focusing it where it's already targeted. That's good for the Bay Area, and it's good for Sonoma County.
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