Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Sonoma City adopts state-recommended fire hazard severity zones; council orders safety work ahead of general plan update
Summary
City council adopted an ordinance designating updated fire hazard severity zones based on Cal Fire recommendations and directed staff to pair the map with evacuation-route and defensible-space work that will be folded into the city's safety element and general plan update.
The Sonoma City Council on April 20 adopted an ordinance formally designating fire hazard severity zones for the city as recommended by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), a move that will trigger new building-material and defensible-space requirements for properties in high and very-high hazard areas.
The ordinance, introduced and adopted at the public hearing, follows state guidance and a map Cal Fire provided in February. It requires the city to implement Chapter 7A of the California Building Code for properties in high and very-high zones and to apply defensible-space rules and hazard-disclosure requirements in very-high areas. The council voted unanimously to introduce and adopt the ordinance.
City staff said the updated map assigns a single severity rating to each parcel (choosing the higher rating where a parcel crossed more than one zone) to simplify permitting and compliance. Jennifer Gates,…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
