Plans laid for Sonoma County park upgrades with new voter-approved tax

A forest of 15-foot-tall mustard plants and other towering weeds now cloaks the hillside above Petaluma Hill Road off the north end of the parking lot serving Taylor Mountain Regional Park.

But a natural, interactive play area soon to be developed there - including boulders to climb, a log balance beam and a place to dig - is expected to transform the half-acre site into a favorite destination for Sonoma County children and families by year’s end.

The first-of-its-kind playground in the regional park system is among numerous projects slated for year-one funding under Measure M, the 1/8-cent countywide sales tax approved by voters last fall.

“We’re excited about this, because it’s been on the books,” said Scott Wilkinson, a park planner assigned to the project in southwest Santa Rosa.

Projected to cost about $300,000, “it’s not a really high dollar value,” he said, “but it’s a high value.”

Paid by consumers since April 1 of this year, the new tax is expected to be worth about ?$12.3 million in new revenue in the coming fiscal year - two-thirds of it, or about $8.2 million, for Sonoma County Regional Parks, and the remaining ?$4.1 million to be divided among the county’s nine cities and towns for park and recreation needs.

The cash infusion is expected to boost the regional park department’s 2019-20 budget by about one-third over last year - a rare and exhilarating turn of events for park supporters during a time of restrained budgets, allowing for dozens of projects and programs, large and small, officials said.

They include everything from a new online campground reservation system to replacement radios for park rangers working with 25-year-old equipment; arranging for initial public access to the 335-acre Carrington Ranch on the coast, currently owned by the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District; an overhaul of the boat launch area at Doran Beach; wildlife-friendly fencing and fuels management at numerous sites; new trails and design of interpretive signs intended to add depth and interest to visits at parks throughout the system.

Regional Parks Deputy Director Melanie Parker said the new money allows the county to speed some projects and to devote additional resources to habitat restoration with multiple benefits, including water quality protection and fire prevention. Previously no dedicated source of money existed for such habitat projects in regional parks, she said.

Crews were out last week cutting back weeds and preparing trails to launch once-a-month public preview days at the 1,192-acre Mark West Regional Park, the system’s newest addition. Beginning July 13, visitors will be allowed to walk existing trails in the park on the second Saturday of each month, thanks to Measure M, which will also fund initial master planning for the new park, officials said.

An exceptionally wet winter and late spring rains pushed the start date back several months.

Maxwell Farms Regional Park in the Sonoma Valley, long overdue for updated sport fields and overall upgrades, is in line for at least $2.1 million worth of improvements - aided by ?$1 million from Measure M funds.

The additional tax revenue also will allow county parks to cover 31 hires in a year when county government is set to lose up to 123 positions across other agencies, though many of those posts are vacant.

Not one to gloat, especially when there is budget strain elsewhere, Regional Parks Director Bert Whitaker acknowledged that having a dedicated revenue stream for parks “feels really good” after decades of relying largely on admission and reservation fees. Staffing levels at the agency have been virtually unchanged since 2008, he said.

It also means the department is looking at a heavy backlog of deferred maintenance and development projects - a list so long that the first-year funding could be spent many times over.

So while “it doesn’t do everything,” Whitaker said, new tax funds will go a long way toward “helping to catch up and stabilize the facilities that we’ve had inadequate resources to maintain.”

Measure M was approved by more than 72% of the county’s voters last November, marking the first time the county’s 52-year-old park system has had a funding stream that cannot be diverted to any other function besides parks and related activities.

Though not as lucrative as the half-cent tax that fell just short of passage two years earlier, Measure M is nonetheless expected to generate about ?$123 million over its 10-year life span for county and city parks and related activities, which are to divide one-third of the proceeds according to their respective population sizes.

Santa Rosa, the county’s largest city, expects this year about $2 million, an amount already earmarked for seven parks damaged in the 2017 firestorm, beginning with Coffey Neighborhood Park, which alone will require close to $1.7 million, said Kristi Buffo, marketing and community outreach coordinator for the city.

The city has an estimated ?$6.3 million gap between the projected cost of restoring Coffey Neighborhood Park and six other city sites burned in the wildfires and what it expects to receive from insurance reimbursements and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Buffo said.

Buffo said the city would work with the public to prioritize deferred maintenance needs at all 74 city-owned parks so it’s ready to move onto other projects as soon as additional funding is available in successive years.

In the case of both cities and the county, Measure M designates tax revenues to be used for things like trails, athletic fields, playgrounds, recreational activities, health and educational programming, as well as fuel load and fire-risk reduction, restored waterways and wildlife habitats.

But in the case of regional parks, the tax measure specifically mandates the county’s share be apportioned into three slightly unequal funding pools: deferred and ongoing maintenance and upgrades to parks, playgrounds and amenities; improved access to parks, trails and open space preserves; and protection of natural resources.

For county officials, that means picking and choosing among an array of needs spread around the county. The Board of Supervisors has endorsed their first round of year-one priorities and park officials are working on a three-year spending plan.

Behind-the-scenes initiatives include a bid to co-manage Tolay Lake Regional Park with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, a plan to launch a career pathways youth corps dedicated to the park system and a move to expand marketing and outreach to key audiences - to “really engage people to get out there and be healthier,” Whitaker said.

But there will also be activities that the public will see, like prescribed burns at Sonoma Valley and Gualala Point regional parks, livestock grazing to reduce wildfire fuels, removal of old, broken down fencing and installation of wildfire-friendly enclosures.

Trail work is planned at Putnam, Taylor Mountain, Hood, Mark West and North Sonoma Mountain parks, with planning efforts scheduled for Stewarts Point and the Kashia Preserve, Whitaker said.

More substantive projects include replacement of the Tolay Lake barn, which burned down in 2012 and was used as a maintenance shop; upgrades to the Doran Beach boat launch; and renovations at Shopflin Fields in Santa Rosa and Arnold Field in Sonoma.

In most cases, Measure M proceeds will be used to augment funds put aside or acquired elsewhere. Often those reserves fall short of covering projects amid rising building costs in a post-wildfire economy.

The Doran boat launch, for instance, is being funded primarily through a $990,000 grant from the state Division of Boating and Waterways and includes a renovated parking area, accessible pathways, a fish-cleaning station, boat wash area and an area that will make it easier for disabled boaters who are embarking and disembarking. But the grant is $200,000 short of the overall cost - a gap now to be covered by Measure M funds.

Taylor Mountain was opened to the public in 2013, and the Sonoma County Park Foundation began raising money the next year for a natural play area that studies show has multiple benefits for young children, Whitaker said.

The foundation has raised almost $120,000 toward the project, but rising cost estimates have put the likely amount closer to about $300,000. A bump of nearly $200,000 now available through Measure M means the Taylor Mountain play area can actually become reality, putting a park in an area of the county with a growing population base and providing what Wilkinson hopes will be a hook that brings in families to enjoy picnics and hiking trails.

“We’re hoping it’s going to be a kind of unique destination for families,” he said.

Four years of master planning for Maxwell Farms park in Sonoma have identified a host of new additions and upgrades in its future, though not all of them are to be included in the first phase, set to begin this year.

That round of work includes renovation of one soccer and one baseball field, both with synthetic turf, as well as concession stands and restrooms; expansion of parking and realignment of the driveway and parking area for improved traffic flow; improved, hardened pathways in natural open space areas, new irrigation and landscaping.

Whitaker conceded the aging park, brought into the system in the 1980s, desperately needs updating and said he expects to the first phase to cost about ?$3.3 million. So far, he has secured $2.1 million, including about $1 million from Measure M, and is still looking for the remainder.

“It’s pretty much a major investment to bring it up to the needs of the community,” Whitaker said.

Supervisor Susan Gorin, who represents the area, said she’s eager to see her constituents’ patience finally pay off - though she also recognizes more time and money will be needed.

The coming investment “is very, very welcome, and we’ll be delighted to have the new fields,” Gorin said. “We also know that the price tag for the additional facilities at Maxwell Farms is probably $8 to $10 million, plus the additional $3 to $4 million at Larson Park, so we’re going to have to be patient some more. That’s really the angst that we all feel.”

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.