Residents press Sonoma City Council for detailed review before changing Sebastiani parcels' zoning

A resident asked the Sonoma City Council on May 21 to retain agricultural zoning for parcels associated with the Sebastiani property and to hold a focused community meeting before any land-use change is adopted.

Janet Boyle, a Brazil Street resident, told the council, “I implore the city council not to change the zoning or land use designation for all parcels known as Bastiani,” and asked for a meeting “specifically on the topic of the Sebastiani property.”

The request matters because the city’s general-plan update and environmental review could lead to changes in land-use designations. Jennifer Gates, the city’s director of community development, said a consultant is working on environmental and draft general-plan elements and that she expects to start public review of draft elements in the coming weeks. Gates said, “When we have draft elements ... my goal is to start reviewing with the general plan task force and release to the public in a couple of weeks.”

Gates described the planned process: draft elements will be reviewed in “chunks” with the general-plan task force and then considered as a cohesive document; an environmental draft (EIR) should be available for public comment before any adoption step. She also noted an ad hoc planning-commission committee is preparing recommended changes to the development code tied to the general-plan changes — including possible new rules if quadplexes are allowed in single-family zones.

Gates told the council it could be several months before the EIR is complete, and she recommended that council members have that information before holding any special meeting on the Sebastiani parcels. “It will be many months before we get the EIR back,” a council member observed; Gates agreed that the EIR could provide “significant information before we actually have ... a special meeting around this.”

Boyle told the council a petition with 449 signatures was circulating and said neighbors feel they have not been adequately heard during prior outreach, including a January presentation at the Vintage House and comments to the planning commission.

Gates said the general-plan task force meetings are open to the public and will include public-comment opportunities as elements are released. She advised residents and the council to use the upcoming drafts and scheduled meetings to review traffic, vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) studies and an evacuation study that are still in progress and will inform any change in land use.

The council did not take a formal vote on the Sebastiani parcels at the meeting. Staff committed to releasing draft elements and the environmental review for public comment when available and to providing additional study-session opportunities before any adoption vote.

The council will receive the draft elements, the environmental analysis and related development-code recommendations in public hearings and study sessions before adopting any changes to zoning or the general plan.