County teams up with Mattsons to build Springs Plaza

Sonoma County has finalized a draft development agreement with Ken and Stacy Mattson, investors who have bought up dozens of properties throughout Sonoma Valley, to create a community plaza at the Post Office building in Boyes Hot Springs.

The project would convert the Post Office building at 22 Boyes Blvd. and its adjacent parking lot into a community plaza, according to documents of preliminary plans introduced in October at a Springs Municipal Advisory Council meeting. But the Mattson’s history of stalled projects has caused some apprehension among the members of the advisory council.

“I’m not anti-development in the slightest,” Hannah Perot, a member of the Springs MAC said. “I just don’t see these people (the Mattsons) completing their projects.”

The Mattsons bought the property in December 2020 for $3 million dollars, according to the Sonoma County Assessor’s office. Ken Mattson presented a plan last October to the county which piqued the interest of 1st District Supervisor Susan Gorin, who said the Springs has long-needed a community plaza of its own.

“The Springs community absolutely deserves to have a gathering place and I'm committed to making that happen,” Gorin said. “He’s (Ken Mattson) done some real estate changes hither and yon, but I'm focusing on my work with him on the two projects on the Springs corridor and, of course, the now community plaza.”

The other Mattson properties in Boyes Hot Springs include the Lanning Structures property and the Boyes Food Market property, which are both in various stages of planning and development.

Gorin had attempted to allocate funding for a future community plaza about 2 years ago before the Mattsons purchased the property. But the plaza cannot exist without sufficient space for residents to park, Gorin said, and the “county cannot afford to build a multistory parking garage.”

The proposal by Ken Mattson would build a podium over the county parking lot and create a parking lot beneath the plaza, according to documents and Gorin.

“This is a novel approach,” Gorin said. “The county cannot afford to build a multistory parking garage, so this might be sort of the halfway point.”

Meeting halfway also meant that the Mattsons would be subject to greater site control, such as monthly meetings to provide updates on the progress of the project. The proposal was discussed in a closed session by the Board of Supervisors in October, Gorin said. And the county counsel drafted an agreement to work with the Mattsons on the project after the closed session meeting, but the agreement has not been finalized, so it is not available for public inspection yet.

Alexandra Fondren, the developer’s public relations representative at Glodow Nead Communications, did not respond in time for the publication of this article.

Gorin hopes that county involvement in the project will expedite the permitting process, with a goal that the project will come to fruition faster. But with other Mattson projects in the Springs moving slowly, she remains worried about the final schedule.

“I’m concerned about the timeline,” Gorin said. “I wanted to make sure that whatever was in the draft really specified the relationship or the responsibilities of Mr. Mattson for the entire project and the county for community outreach, engagement and negotiation over the air rights for potential parking.”

Air rights are the legal ability to occupy the vertical air space above a plot of real estate. The project also faces external challenges that could disrupt the development.

Perot mentioned the PG&E gas line which sits underneath the parking lot, and Gorin cited the challenges of building a project next to Highway 12, one of the main thoroughfares in Boyes Hot Springs, in addition to the ongoing supply chain shortages for building materials.

But Gorin is on her own timeline. Knowing that the end of her supervisor role is approaching in 2024, she sees the Springs Plaza as one of the major projects she wants to see finished before she leaves office.

“I'm determined to make that happen with or without the involvement of the Mattsons,” Gorin said. “I want to accomplish a lot in the next three years.”

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.