PD Editorial: State plans for Sonoma Developmental Center need scrutiny

California’s nonpartisan legislative analyst is raising some red flags about the expedited pace of Brown administration plans to close the Sonoma Developmental Center and two similar facilities that care for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.

The developmental centers ­- the others are in Porterville and Costa Mesa - are home to about 1,000 people who have autism, cerebral palsy and other developmental or intellectual disabilities. The centers offer round-the-clock licensed care and provide specialized services for profoundly disabled individuals - medical and dental care, even a cobbler at the Sonoma Developmental Center in Eldridge.

Some residents have lived in the centers for decades, and some have returned after placements in group homes and other community settings failed. Many want to stay.

Regrettably, the choice is no longer theirs.

The state plans to close the Sonoma Developmental Center by the end of 2018 and the others by the end of 2021, leaving open only a locked unit at Porterville for people who have been accused of committing crimes but are too severely disabled to assist in their own defense.

Closure is probably inevitable. Policymakers frown on institutional settings as too costly and contrary to the goal of allowing disabled people to live more independently. But parents and guardians of Sonoma Developmental Center residents don’t think adequate alternatives exist, and a legislative analyst report raises doubts about establishing them by 2018.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year assumes that about 250 developmental center residents will move out by June 30, 2017. He proposes a one-time $78.8 million expenditure to facilitate the accelerated relocation of residents from the developmental centers. That would be on top of $43.9 million for Sonoma Developmental Center residents in the current state budget.

Much of the money is earmarked for expansion of community-based resources for people moving out of the centers, but the legislative analyst warns that it may not be possible to establish the necessary residential, medical and social support services prior to the 2018 deadline for closing the Sonoma Developmental Center.

“Historically,” the analyst said in a review of the governor’s budget proposal, “the development of new community resources, primarily housing, has taken about two to three years due to property acquisition, construction, building modifications, licensing and other needed activities to ensure the service is ready for consumer placement.”

Brown administration officials say they can speed up the process by applying lessons learned from the 2011 closure of the Agnews Developmental Center in Santa Clara and the closure of the Lanterman Developmental Center in Pomona three years later. Yet the analyst warns that the state’s schedule is “very ambitious,” noting that the previous closures took place over five- and six-year periods “and were completed one at a time.”

The governor made several promises regarding closure of the Sonoma Developmental Center, including retaining specialized health services until residents are established in the community and working with local stakeholders regarding disposition of the land. We intend to watch closely to ensure that those promises are kept, and we urge legislators to give close scrutiny to closure plans and, if necessary, to alter the timetable to protect developmental center residents.