Valley Forum: Unincorporated communities find their voice

Municipal Advisory Councils becoming a reality in Springs, Glen Ellen|

This is an exciting time for the Springs and the Glen Ellen-Kenwood-Eldridge communities. Why? Because these communities are about to form Municipal Advisory Councils, or “MACs.”

MACs were established in the early 1970s in California to allow unincorporated communities to have a stronger voice and greater influence on their county supervisors. The communities mentioned above are all unincorporated and yet are more urban than rural in terms of their population density – and need infrastructure and services commonly enjoyed by municipalities.

The Springs, which includes such neighborhoods as Verano, Boyes Hot Springs, Fetters Hot Springs and Agua Caliente, has a population about one and a half times the population of the town of Sonoma. Yet, as these communities are in the unincorporated area of the county, they are, for the most part, treated like rural communities in Sonoma County. In other words, the Springs is an underserved urban community with a growing population that deserves a better infrastructure and level of services.

A great example of this disparity is in comparing the number and size of public parks in Sonoma vs. the Springs. The Springs has 37 percent more land and 41 percent more people than the City of Sonoma, yet the amount of green space is less than one-third that of the town of Sonoma. Or less than one-quarter, if Maxwell Park is considered as serving both communities.

Over the past few years the Springs Community Alliance has been working closely with 1st District Supervisor Susan Gorin, seeking solutions to a host of challenges, none of which are really new.

Just ask some of the community leaders who have been working on these for the past 30 years – Mark Bramfit, Steve Cox, Gina Cuclis, Art Fichtenburg, Penny Hartman, Cathy Wade Shepard – and many others. These challenges include traffic, parking, housing, safety, sidewalks and blight, just to name a few. These efforts have had limited effectiveness due in large part to a lack of influence at the county government level. Sonoma Valley suffers from being “out of sight, out of mind” of the Board of Supervisors, being geographically isolated from the 101 corridor and the larger communities.

This is in no way an indictment of the work that Supervisor Gorin and her predecessors have done. Indeed, Supervisor Gorin deserves credit for a number of accomplishments including the still-developing Springs Specific Plan, the establishment of the Springs Plaza and the role she played in getting the Highway Improvement Project finished – which came very close to losing the funding for the final phase. She’s the first to admit, however, that the Springs MAC is necessary to give her much-needed leverage with the Board of Supervisors when getting stuff done in the Springs.

So what would this Springs MAC look like and how would it work?

Based on the proposed by-laws that were approved by the Board of Supervisors earlier this week, it would be comprised of seven members of the community – all of whom would have to actually live or work in the Springs to qualify. They will be appointed by Supervisor Gorin out of a pool of nominees to be submitted by mid-January and reviewed by a committee of community members. It is hoped that, in the future, the members of the MAC will be elected. The MAC will not have any legal authority, but will serve in an advisory capacity to the Board of Supervisors, much as the Redevelopment Advisory Committee operated before the demise of the Redevelopment Agency.

This group will have the ability to evaluate and make recommendations on all of the issues mentioned above and more on matters that are relevant to the Springs community.

Supervisor Gorin expects to have the Springs MAC operational by early February (and the Eldridge-Kenwood-Glen Ellen MAC up and running by March).

So the Springs will have its own voice - a much stronger voice than it has now.

It is hoped that the Springs will embrace the MAC and that there will be a robust response and level of participation.

The Springs MAC needs the full participation of talented community leaders who might otherwise be devoting their time and expertise to City of Sonoma initiatives. This is the time to make the Springs a vibrant, thriving and sustainable community. Stay tuned for information about qualifications for serving on the MAC and the nomination process.

Together we can transform the Springs.

Rich Lee is the President of the Springs Community Alliance.

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