Sonoma’s Montini Preserve at center of standoff over dog access

Dog owners continue to press for access to the 98-acre Montini Open Space Preserve in Sonoma to exercise their pets, despite lingering resistance to the idea, with some of those opposed voicing concern about the risks to wildlife and other natural resources.

The Sonoma City Council, urged on by advocates of letting dogs roam at Montini, last week directed city staff to continue working on the issue. City officials are set to re-engage with counterparts from the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District on a possible amendment to the preserve’s management plan to allow dogs on the property. City leaders first authorized those discussions in October 2013.

“The issue is not likely to be resolved for some time, but it’s not for nothing that someone coined the phrases, ‘Hounded, and ‘Dogging their heels,’?” Bob Edwards, past-president of Sonoma Valley Dog Owners and Guardians, wrote in an email to The Press Democrat last week.

The county Open Space District in February rejected the city’s proposal seeking a management change that would allow dogs. Bill Keene, the district’s general manager, reiterated last week that he is not opposed to leashed dogs on the property. But he said the city still has not demonstrated that dogs won’t harm the preserve’s natural resources.

Keene cited a report from the city’s own consultant, who found that letting dogs on the site would likely lead to “widespread and long-lasting effects on natural resources.”

“I’m always going to be protecting the values in the (conservation) easement. That’s just the way it is,” Keene said.

The Open Space District bought the preserve and an adjacent 59-acre conservation easement in 2005 for $13.9 million, including a $1.15 million contribution from the city. The property forms much of the city’s backdrop and is historically significant because it was part of the foothills ranch bought in 1850 by Gen. Mariano Vallejo, who founded Sonoma in 1835.

Opponents of letting dogs at the preserve presented the Sonoma City Council last week with a petition with more than ?1,000 signatures. Their objections to dogs on the property range from potential harm to wildlife to doubts that people would abide by a leash law or confine their pets to the ?1.8-mile trail that winds along the hillside.

The preserve also is adjacent to the city’s Overlook Trail, where dogs are banned.

Proponents argue that with adequate enforcement of leash laws and measures such as fencing off sensitive areas dogs and nature can co-exist. The city’s consultant, Sebastopol-based Prunuske Chatham, Inc., agreed in its report that steps could be taken to minimize the detrimental impacts associated with dogs.

But some council members last week expressed doubts whether the city would be up to the task of enforcing leash laws that call for a minimum fine of $250 for a first violation and $500 for a subsequent violation.

The council also dropped a proposal that would have forced dog owners to obtain licenses in order to access Montini.

“I don’t know what we’ve done, if anything, to make the district change their minds,” said Councilman Gary Edwards, who opposes dogs at Montini.

Another sticking point is the preserve’s western access point, which is at Fourth Street West and crosses over land owned by California State Parks.

Dogs are prohibited on trails at state parks. In order to get around that prohibition, the city could seek a lot-line adjustment on the property or create a new entry point at its own expense. City staff estimates the cost of a new route at $38,500 to $113,500.

“I’m willing to consider dogs out there,” said Keene, with the Open Space District, “but I have to see what it is they (the city) is going to propose.”

Council members did not set a timeline for when the matter should come back before them for further debate and possible action.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.