Sonoma County adopts targeted urgency ordinance extending eviction protections for Lower Russian River communities

Sonoma County supervisors on Feb. 11 approved an urgency ordinance designed to limit evictions in unincorporated Lower Russian River communities after the February atmospheric river storm, and agreed to pursue a non-urgent code change to allow narrower, locality-specific invocations of the county'wide tenant-protection ordinance.

The ordinance, introduced and read by County Counsel Liz Coleman, narrows protections to tenants in the unincorporated communities of Forestville, Guerneville, Rio Nido, Monte Rio, Via Grande and Duncan Mills and would prevent landlords from commencing a termination of tenancy except in specific cases such as serious violence, imminent threat to safety, removal from the rental market, or compliance with a court or governmental order. The urgency ordinance will sunset on the earlier of Aug. 25, 2025, or 30 days after the termination of the underlying flooding emergency declaration.

The board first ratified a proclamation of local emergency for the Feb. 2025 Atmospheric River storm on Feb. 11 and at that time activated countywide emergency tenant protections under Ordinance No. 6,496. Counsel said the board directed staff to return quickly with a more geographically tailored urgency ordinance; that ordinance and a companion resolution terminating the countywide protections (if the resolution is adopted) were on Tuesday's agenda and were approved by the supervisors.

Why it matters: Board members and community groups said the measure aims to stabilize housing in flood-affected river communities and to protect tenants facing direct housing loss and indirect economic impacts from the storm. Supporters urged a broad approach because many residents who work in the affected area live elsewhere in the county and could lose income, while some board members said targeted protection is a preferable approach when the emergency is localized.

Discussion and public input

County Counsel Liz Coleman told the board that the urgency ordinance would restore protections similar to those previously in effect countywide but limited to the Lower Russian River area. The ordinance as drafted would become effective immediately upon adoption and would automatically sunset in six months unless the emergency declaration ends sooner. Coleman said staff can use the template again if future geographically focused emergency protections are needed.

Supervisor Robert (Bob) Corsi and Supervisor Susan Abbott asked about the data supporting an uptick in evictions after the storm. County staff said there was no immediate eviction data yet; observers said eviction filings could rise in the weeks after the storm. Janette Pantoja, identified in public comment as from "Sonoma County Coed," said the county Department of Emergency Management had collected roughly 262 responses to a post-storm community survey and that in a prior 2023 survey about 80% of respondents said they feared they might not be able to pay next month's rent.

Kendall Jarvis, Lead Disaster Relief Attorney for Legal Aid of Sonoma County and chair of the Sonoma County COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster), urged the board to maintain broad protections or, at minimum, ensure protections reach people who lost wages or childcare because of the storms. A coalition letter from nearly 30 community organizations, referenced in public comment, asked that Section 8 of Ordinance No. 6,496 remain activated until community input shows the protections are no longer needed.

Board direction and next steps

Supervisors expressed support for a geographically focused approach but also asked staff to return with an option to amend the tenant-protection ordinance so the board could invoke protections for targeted areas without first declaring countywide protections. The board directed staff to bring a non-urgent ordinance change clarifying the mechanism for invoking Section 8 in a geographically targeted way; County Counsel said staff would return with a draft revision to that single provision.

Formal action

The board moved and seconded approval of the urgency ordinance and related resolution; the board adopted the ordinance and resolution with a unanimous voice vote (all in favor, none opposed, no abstentions). The resolution, if adopted, will terminate the prior countywide protections 30 days after today; the newly adopted urgency ordinance will protect tenants in the listed Lower Russian River unincorporated communities on substantially the same terms as the earlier countywide emergency protections and will sunset on Aug. 25, 2025, or 30 days after the end of the underlying emergency declaration, whichever is earlier.

What was not decided

Supervisors agreed only to direct staff to draft ordinance language allowing geographically limited invocations of tenant protections and to return for further consideration; they did not adopt that code change during this session.

Who spoke (selected)

- Chair Susan Hopkins (Chair, Sonoma County Board of Supervisors) - County Counsel Liz Coleman (County Counsel; tenant-protections expert) - County Executive John Rivera (County Executive) - Supervisor David (David) Gore (Supervisor) - Supervisor Robert Corsi (Supervisor) - Supervisor Susan Abbott (Supervisor) - Supervisor David Rabbit (Supervisor) - Supervisor Hermosillo (Supervisor) - Janette Pantoja (public commenter, identified as "from Sonoma County Coed") - Kendall Jarvis (Lead Disaster Relief Attorney, Legal Aid of Sonoma County; Sonoma County COAD Chair)

Clarifying details

- Affected communities: unincorporated Forestville, Guerneville, Rio Nido, Monte Rio, Via Grande and Duncan Mills (as named in the ordinance). - Sunset/effective dates: the urgency ordinance would sunset on the earlier of Aug. 25, 2025 (six months from adoption) or 30 days after the termination of the underlying emergency declaration for the flooding emergency. If the board's companion resolution to terminate the countywide protections is adopted, the termination of countywide protections becomes effective 30 days from the board vote. - Data: staff said no immediate eviction filing data specific to this storm was available during the meeting; public commenters reported emergency-survey data collected by county DEM and coalition partners. - Intake form: staff discussed the county's Universal Disaster Intake (UDIP) and said it has been used inconsistently for recent events; staff said UDIP was used in November but may not have been used for the most recent storm.

Authorities

- Ordinance No. 6,496 (tenant protections; referenced in staff presentation and the urgency ordinance) - Proclamation of local emergency for the February 2025 Atmospheric River storm (ratified Feb. 11, 2025; referenced by staff)

Actions

- Kind: resolution/urgency ordinance adoption - motion: not specified in the record - mover: not specified - second: not specified - vote_record: not specified by name; voice vote recorded as unanimous - tally: yes:5 no:0 abstain:0 - outcome: approved - notes: urgency ordinance to limit terminations within named Lower Russian River unincorporated communities; companion resolution to terminate prior countywide protections effective 30 days after vote

Discussion_decision

- Discussion points: whether emergency invocations should be countywide or geographically targeted; lack of current eviction data; UDIP data collection inconsistencies; effect on commuters and service workers who live outside but work inside impacted area; ZIP-code vs. parcel-level approaches to defining the impacted area. - Directions: staff directed to draft a non-urgent ordinance amendment narrowing the provision that allows invocation of Section 8 (tenant protections) so the board can more readily limit future invocations to specified local areas; staff to return with the draft for board consideration. - Decisions: adopted urgency ordinance and companion resolution; board will consider code revision later.

Proper_names

[{"name":"Sonoma County","type":"agency"},{"name":"Ordinance No. 6,496","type":"other"},{"name":"County Counsel Liz Coleman","type":"person"},{"name":"County Executive Rivera","type":"person"},{"name":"Legal Aid of Sonoma County","type":"organization"},{"name":"Sonoma County COAD","type":"organization"},{"name":"Department of Emergency Management","type":"agency"},{"name":"Universal Disaster Intake (UDIP)","type":"other"}]

Community_relevance

- Geographies: Lower Russian River (Forestville, Guerneville, Rio Nido, Monte Rio, Via Grande, Duncan Mills); countywide implications for commuting workers. - Impact groups: renters/tenants in affected communities; service and tourism workers who lost wages; households experiencing property damage or displacement.

Meeting_context

- Engagement level: high discussion on this single item (multiple board members and public commenters); public coalition letter referenced; several community organizations spoke. - Implementation risk: medium (staff must return with legal code changes and ordinance language; enforcement and data collection limits exist).

searchable_tags:["eviction moratorium","Lower Russian River","tenant protections","Ordinance 6496","disaster response","Sonoma County"],

provenance:{"transcript_segments":[{"block_id":"block-38","local_start":0,"local_end":333,"evidence_excerpt":"Thank you so much. And we will go ahead and move on to our first regularly scheduled item, which is item number 19, the proposed Lower Russian River Eviction Defense Urgency Ordinance.","tc_start":"800.24","tc_end":"805.46","reason_code":"topicintro"},{"block_id":"block-164","local_start":0,"local_end":190,"evidence_excerpt":"So with that all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Seeing none, thank you so much and we will be moving on to our next item, which is when I think that at least a few folks in the audience, have been waiting for.","tc_start":"2190.755","tc_end":"2212.675","reason_code":"topicfinish"}] },