SVCAC to eye lot split near refuse disposal site

Though it has a Petaluma address, a planned “minor subdivision” of a 110-acre Stage Gulch Road property into three smaller parcels has interest for Sonoma Valley residents and area commuters. So the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission decided to put a review of the Permit Sonoma application on their agenda for the Oct. 27 meeting.

The lot, whose address is 4653 Stage Gulch Road, is on the south side of Stage Gulch Road / Highway 116 about a mile west of the Arnold Drive intersection, just before the road rises toward the Sonoma Refuse Disposal site. It’s managed by Chad Moll, whose family is long-time resident in the Sonoma area, and who himself is a land surveyor and engineer with Bear Flag Engineering.

The lot would divide the larger property into lots of 35.6 acres, 32.5 acres and 44.2 acres. They would all be zoned DA, diverse agriculture, and collectively developed as the Hunt Minor Subdivision. Each property would have one house; at present one legal driveway entrance off Stage Gulch would serve two lots; a sub-standard driveway would be improved to serve the third.

The new residences would be served by public power, and private septic and water. Roads are proposed to access the residential sites to be constructed. Vineyard construction is also projected.

The property is described in the application by Bear Flag Engineering of Sonoma as “typical vegetation country hillside terrain,” with grasses, shrubs and trees in rolling terrain. Since there is no water service to the building sites, “it will be necessary that the future houses have private onsite water supplies to fight fires.”

The property itself is part of the Hunt Family Trust, of Hillsborough, California.

A Mill Valley environmental scientist, Lucy Macmillan, prepared a biological Resources Assessment for the property, lot APN 142-052-022. Her study revealed that 21 special-status wildlife species have been documented within five miles of the project site, including white-tailed kites, golden eagles, Western pond turtles, California red-legged frogs, and pallid bats. Only the last species is believed unlikely to be impacted by the project, provided no larger oak trees are removed.

Both bird species are fully protected, and “no takes are allowable and impacts… must be avoided.” Macmillan recommends that no large trees be removed and vineyard construction be limited to non-nesting season, but if nests are discovered anyway a “no-disturbance buffer should be placed around the nest until young have fledged or the nest is determined to be no longer active by a qualified biologist.”

Similar measures are proposed for the amphibian and reptile species, though they are not in the fully protected category. Other environmental concerns are possible, but adjustments to driveway access to the often busy State Route 116 are other causes for permit review.

The Hunt Minor Subdivision is on the SVCAC agenda for their next meeting, Wednesday, Oct. 27, via Zoom at 6:30 p.m. Get more info at sonomacounty.ca.gov/Sonoma-Valley-Citizens-Advisory-Commission.