Springs ‘plan’ to get specific before SVCAC

Just how specific is a Specific Plan? Find out Wednesday at the SVCAC meeting.|

The Springs Specific Plan, Sonoma County’s proposal to turn the Sonoma Highway corridor in the Springs into a vibrant community of economic and community activity, takes another step down its path on Wednesday with a hearing before the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Committee.

The Springs Specific Plan targets only 178 acres along Highway 12, the Sonoma Highway from Agua Caliente to Verano Avenue. That’s only a part of the 4.4-square-mile Springs community, from Arnold Drive to the hills east of Highway 12, but it’s the most visible and vibrant part of the community.

The SVCAC hearing follows Permit Sonoma project planner Yolanda Solana’s presentation before the Springs Community Alliance, which last week produced a lively exchange about the power and limits of the specific plan process.

A “specific plan” is more rigorous than the “Highway 12 Design Guidelines” that were written up in 1994 for the area, and less detailed than a “master plan,” as is currently being prepared for Maxwell Fields Regional Park. Community Alliance vice chair Ellen Conlan illustrated the point last week by holding up a copy of the design guidelines, festooned with colored stickies at points where it had been violated in implementation. A Master Plan, by contrast, identifies the purpose of every parcel for future planners to adhere.

According to Maggie Fleming of Permit Sonoma, “The draft Specific Plan will include changes to land use and zoning for most of the planning area. The regulations for each zoning district lists a variety of uses that would be allowed in that zone. For example, the Neighborhood Commercial zone would allow restaurants, retail, offices, and other uses.”

But some of the guidelines in a specific plan can become more authoritative with the terminology used, as Fleming pointed out. “A guideline that uses the word ‘shall’ or ‘must’ is mandatory,” though agencies like the Design Review Committee – another step on the Springs Specific Plan road to implementation – can depart even from a mandatory guideline.

All of which means that whatever plan results from process is still subject to input and approval from the community it affects, in this case the Springs. Increased public engagement from the Springs Community Alliance, and eventually the proposed Springs Municipal Advisory Committee, can go a long way toward assuring that residents get the kind of community they want to see, said Solana.

The community has already made its preferences known through previous meetings and surveys, which prioritized their values and vision as including: a community plaza and events (projected for the area called the Hub, at the intersection of Highway 12 and Boyes Boulevard); affordable and mixed housing; transportation improvements including bicycle and pedestrian routes; safety along Highway 12; maintain its rural and historic character; encouraging a diverse, multicultural environment; and preserving small local businesses.

But uncertainties plague the process – for instance, the inevitable parking issue attendant on any development plan, and the fate of the so-called Donald area east of the lower end of the corridor. This area provides plenty of room for affordable housing, Solana said, but as it abuts the City of Sonoma the county has been reluctant to move on plans because of a potential annexation by the city.

(Sonoma City Manager Cathy Capriola told the I-T that she had not heard anything about such a plan to annex.)

The related issue of traffic was also discussed, specifically the high speed that many drivers seem to feel entitled to drive along Highway 12. Cathy Wade Shepard, a longtime area resident, insisted “the solution starts with me,” and urged others to do what she does – drive the speed limit and no more, even if it means more impatient traffic stacking up behind her.

Then there’s the issue of affordability. Mario Castillo – one of a small handful of Latinos in the audience at the Springs Community Center – pointed out that if the area becomes too attractive to development, it could further push out the Hispanic community. He noted, too, that since the process of a specific plan takes so long, the area could gentrify out the locals before it’s even approved.

Pocket parks for young children in the neighborhoods, water stations for residents and pets, perhaps a branch of the library in the Springs – all the ideas were floated, some already sketched into the plan and some that Solana promised would be.

The public’s next chance to review the Springs Specific Plan, and offer input, comes Wednesday, Aug. 22, at the SVCAC meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Council Chambers, 177 First St. W. More information and the opportunity to offer comments, is online at thesprings.specificplan.org.

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