Supervisors consider fate of Bird Rescue Center on county land

After a public outcry, Sonoma County supervisors are considering extending a license agreement that could allow a decades-old nonprofit bird rehabilitation and rescue center to remain on county land beyond the contract’s expiration date ?next month.

Supervisors will meet behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss the future of the long-standing agreement with Bird Rescue Center to operate rent-free on the county campus off Chanate Road. The agreement expires Feb. 11, said Caroline Judy, the county’s general services director.

The rescue center, which cares for up to 3,000 birds each year, will need to relocate as the county moves forward for the second time with the sale of the former health services campus, officials said. However, Ashton Kluttz, the center’s executive director, said they’re seeking an extension at least through the end of the year to provide time to find a new home for the nonprofit, its 18 resident raptors and the fluctuating number of patients that are rehabilitated in the hospital.

Supervisor Shirlee Zane said she will bring forward a recommendation to allow the center to remain on the site longer as it prepares to relocate. There’s no option for the center to stay “indefinitely,” but Zane, who represents the northeast Santa Rosa area where the nonprofit has operated for nearly 40 years, said she plans to work with staff to find a reasonable time frame.

Sutter Health left the Chanate campus in late 2014. County officials have been attempting to find a new home for the bird center for years, though the nonprofit has said options presented won’t work.

“I’m hearing that it’s a beloved agency, and we definitely share their interest and share their concerns,” Zane said. “The county has offered several sites on county land in the last four years … I’m going to recommend that we extend that (agreement) to give them more time so there can be some flexibility.”

Judy said the center hasn’t been served an eviction notice, though social media posts, a petition and the center’s website have described a county letter as such.

The nonprofit’s directors and staff members are working with several private landowners in Sonoma County to find a new home.

It could cost between $500,000 and $1 million to build new facilities at minimum, Kluttz said. The agency operates on a $300,000 annual budget, and plans to reach out to supporters to help cover moving costs, she said.

In case the center needs to leave next month, Kluttz said she has reached out to six other organizations from Sonoma County to Walnut Creek to find temporary homes for the center’s birds, a complex process.

The center is busiest during baby bird season, which spans from about May to September, board chairman Jeremy Nichols said.

“It would be impossible for us to move in the middle of baby bird season,” Nichols said.

County supervisors are “sensitive” to the nonprofit’s situation, said David Rabbitt, the board chairman. But, he said, the nonprofit has long been aware the county planned to sell the land.

“I think that I can say, without going out on a limb, we’re going to be more than willing to work with them to make the time frame more palatable,” Rabbitt said. “It’s not open ended, there’s got to be give and take on this sort of thing. We need to find a solution that works for everyone.”

Bird Rescue Center volunteer Jeanette Thorpe two weeks ago launched an online petition urging the county to allow the center to stay in place. The petition has gained more than 4,000 signatures, a rush of support that’s been “heartwarming,” the Geyserville resident said.

“I just hope (the supervisors) realize that we’re not just a little organization that doesn’t have an impact in our community - I want them to understand that we have over the past 40 years,” she said. “We are serving a real purpose and a real need. It’s not something that could just go away overnight.”

The sale of the Chanate campus could take up to a year, Judy said. The land will be offered first to designated public agencies or housing sponsors for the development of affordable housing, parks or school facilities, a process the center doesn’t qualify for, Judy said.

You can reach Staff Writer Hannah Beausang at 707-521-5214 or hannah.beausang@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @hannahbeausang.