City of Sonoma urged to annex Montini, Maxwell, TrainTown

The city of Sonoma should consider annexing Maxwell Farms, the Montini Preserve and the 10-acre property that houses TrainTown, according to a new report by the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCo, which tracks efficiencies in city services.

Additionally, the report said, Sonoma should also consider annexing portions of Denmark Street, Four Corners and Harrington Drive.

“The city is encouraged to continue discussions… of expansion of city boundaries through Sphere of Influence amendments and subsequent annexations to include areas in the Valley that are largely developed and urbanized,” concludes LAFCo’s Municipal Services Report (MSR).

The report was approved Sept. 7 and was the first MSR conducted for Sonoma since 2006. “Ostensibly they’re done every five years or so,” Sonoma Planning Director David Storer said in an Oct. 5 presentation of the report before the Sonoma City Council.

LAFCo oversees implementation of state legislation mandating the efficient formations of local municipalities, service areas and special districts.

The areas recommended for annexation into the city encompass about 245 acres, according to city staff.

The areas highlighted by the report are all within what’s called the city’s Sphere of Influence, a LAFCo-designated area which meets or extends beyond the city limits to indicate areas that would more appropriately be serviced by the city of Sonoma, in lieu of the county.

The Montini Preserve, for instance, represents 60-acres of open space outside the city limits but, under an agreement with the county of Sonoma, is already maintained by the city.

TrainTown, meanwhile, is a 10-acre parcel at 20264 Broadway that is entirely within the Sonoma city limits, what LAFCo refers to as an unincorporated “island.” LAFCo, under direction of the Cortese-Knox-Hertzbert Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 (CKH), strongly urges cities to take advantage of annexation provisions in CKH to incorporate islands into city limits, to the point of doing so “absent property owner support,” according to the MSR.

Spheres-of-Influence-Map_sonoma.pdf

“The legislature has spoken with respect to the elimination of islands wherever you can,” said Storer.

Springs resident Jim McFadden spoke on behalf of the Sonoma Valley Housing Group, voicing support for folding urbanized areas of the Valley into the city and describing it as “a longtime coming.”

“Sonoma is the only city (in Sonoma County) that does not include its low-income neighborhoods,” he said, comparing the potential annexation of the Springs to Santa Rosa’s annexation of Roseland in 2017.

According to the report, the only “disadvantaged unincorporated community” – defined as areas whose median household income is less than 80% of the statewide median household income, or $56,982 – is within the northwest portion of the city’s Sphere of Influence, south of Verano Avenue.

“Only Sonoma has left the greater part of its urban area out in the cold in the unincorporated county,” said McFadden, adding that more than two-thirds of the Valley community lives outside the city limits.

Resident Fred Allebach described the Springs status outside the city limits as an issue of fair housing.

“(The Springs) is the only area in the county… where you have your low-income people of color segregated outside of the city boundaries,” Allebach said.

Spheres of Influence typically mirror a city’s urban growth boundary, or UGB. City staff emphasized that any consideration of annexing portions of the Springs beyond the UGB would require voters to amend the current Urban Growth Boundary, which was approved with 80.3% of the vote when its 20-year renewal came before voters in 2020.

That said, Sonoma City Councilmember Sandra Lowe said she’s “partial to” exploring opportunities of “extending the city limits into the Springs and making one Sonoma.”

“It’s not going to be easy,” Lowe said, describing it as “a big issue” that she frequently fields questions about. “But I think that it’s well worth discussion and well worth putting in the time to run the traps on it and see where we’re at.”

In a 5-0 vote, the council approved sending the four recommendations contained within the Municipal Service Report for the Sonoma Planning Commission to review and bring its own recommendations to the City Council in early 2023, in concert with the budget preparation process.

Email Jason Walsh at Jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.