Cloverdale weighs setting urban growth boundary

Cloverdale, the only city in Sonoma County without a voter-approved urban growth boundary, is almost certain to have the issue on the ballot next year.

There is increasing momentum to establish a clear boundary. But the question is where will the line will be drawn?

"People are telling us they want an urban growth boundary," said Mayor Gus Wolter, who favors the concept, along with a majority of the City Council. "I think we need one, to define how far you want to grow, how far the city will expand.

"We need to be educated, to make a wise decision on where we want it to be," he said.

One of the more controversial aspects of the discussion is whether Cloverdale should extend its city limits south to include a car dealership and the old Italian Swiss Colony site at Asti.

Stretching to Asti -- something the City Council endorsed as part of the update of the city's general plan -- could boost city tax revenues. But critics worry it will be too big a reach, gobbling up acreage and squandering the city's water supply.

"Cloverdale has a lot of in-fill potential that could be better utilized than growing farther and farther outward," said Daisy Pistey-Lyhne. She is a representative for Greenbelt Alliance, one of the co-sponsors of a community meeting scheduled Tuesday to help define what Cloverdale's boundaries should be.

Urban growth boundaries are seen as the way for voters to control development on city fringes. They help limit sprawl, promote in-fill development and preserve agriculture and community separators, according to proponents.

And they have enjoyed strong support from voters in Sonoma County, ranging from 55 percent to 79 percent in favor.

Santa Rosa, Healdsburg and Sebastopol passed the first urban growth boundaries in Sonoma County in 1996. The same year, a county measure locked in long-term protection for adjacent community separators.

In 1998, Windsor, Petaluma and Cotati voters approved urban growth boundaries. By 2000, Rohnert Park and Sonoma had done so.

The voter-established boundaries are good for 20 years and can be changed only by going back to voters.

In Petaluma last week, developers looking to build 2,100 homes outside the urban growth boundary dropped their plan after surveying voters on the prospect of changing the boundary to allow the homes. The developers were considering offering a $40 million gift to the city in exchange for easing the boundaries.

But the proposal created a backlash and Petaluma City Council members are now supporting placing a measure on the ballot next year to ask voters to extend the life of the existing boundary.

Cloverdale's measure is also expected to be placed on the November 2008 ballot by the City Council.

Cloverdale in recent years has been Sonoma County's fastest-growing city, but community leaders worried little about sprawl, citing the surrounding hills and Russian River as natural constraints to growth.

Between 1990 and 2005, Cloverdale grew by 67 percent, going from a population of 4,924 to 8,241. The rate of growth has slowed more recently with population estimated at 8,517 in January.

Carol Russell, a new member of the City Council, said Cloverdale has been absorbed in redeveloping its downtown and ensuring the city would not wither after Highway 101 was relocated from its old route down Cloverdale Boulevard.

"An urban growth boundary was not the most important thing to worry about when you worry about whether your town survives," she said.

But talk of a boundary became more of a priority in the last couple years. The ongoing update of the city's general plan, projected to be complete next spring, moved the issue to the forefront. A citizens advisory committee working on the general plan narrowly recommended a voter-approved growth boundary in late 2005.

And Russell and council member Joe Palla were both elected in late 2006 after promising to support establishment of a boundary.

The revised general plan has protections built in to keep development off the western hillsides and from crossing over the Russian River to the east, according to Planning Director Bruce Kibby.

But those in favor of an urban growth boundary worry that without one, it will be too easy for future City Councils to change the general plan with a simple majority vote.

"If we put it to a vote of the people, it would last 20 years," said Virginia Greenwald, a member of the Cloverdale Committee for an Urban Growth Boundary. "If we don't establish it like that, it could change with our City Council or Planning Commission recommendation."

Her committee, the Greenbelt Alliance and Sonoma County Conservation Action are sponsoring the meeting Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Cloverdale Citrus Fair Tea Room.

The City Council and Planning Commission have scheduled a joint public workshop on the topic Oct. 17 at 6:30 p.m.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat

.com.