Sonoma County officials indefinitely close part of Joe Rodota Trail due to homeless camp

Sonoma County officials have indefinitely closed part of the Joe Rodota Trail in Santa Rosa because of a homeless camp that grew this month to include an estimated 15 to 20 tents.

The camp is “impeding safe public use of the trail,” a paved 8.5-mile path between downtown Santa Rosa and Sebastopol that is popular among bikers and walkers, according to a notice posted on the Sonoma County Regional Parks website.

The trail is ”so important for transportation and a fantastic recreation resource for Sonoma County,” said Bert Whitaker, director of Sonoma County Regional Parks, which manages the trail.

The closure began Friday for a section of the trail that spans about a half-mile between Dutton Avenue and Stony Point Road.

The tents are near Roseland Avenue, almost exactly in the middle of the area that’s closed, and have been set up along the side of the trail.

Whitaker said the camp “popped up” on July 6 and grew rapidly over the course of a few days.

A second homeless camp that includes 15 to 20 tents is in the area of the trail near Wright Road but the trail remains open there because the campers are far enough from the path so there is “no threat to trail users,” he said.

Homeless camps have been common along the trail in recent years, including one in early 2020 where an estimated 250 people were living.

In the past, Regional Parks officials have ordered campers to leave the area and erected fences to shut them out of the sites where they were camping.

But the department has no plans to force people to leave the camp that has triggered the current closure, according to Whitaker. They have not issued notices to campers asking them to vacate, he said.

Parks officials have not asked for help from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office or the Santa Rosa Police Department, according to officials with both agencies.

Officials have asked the campers to move along, but, “when asked to leave, they have stated that’s where they’re going to stay,” Whitaker said.

He said county health officials have been going out to the site to offer services to the homeless campers. But, he noted there aren’t enough beds available at Sonoma County homeless shelters to offer the campers a place to stay.

Regional Parks officials do not have a timeline for when the trail will reopen.

“That’s a question we’re getting from lots of constituents,” Whitaker said.

Trail users can take Sebastopol Road, which has bike lanes and a sidewalk, as a detour around the closed section.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correctly identify Bert Whitaker as the director of Sonoma County Regional Parks.

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Pera at matthew.pera@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Matt__Pera.