May 26, 1999

Anti-hotel petitions filed

An initiative opposing hotel development on Sonoma's Upper Mountain
Cemetery property came another step closer to reality today, as backers
presented to the City Clerk more than 1,200 signatures supporting the measure.

In March, a local group filed papers with the city clerk aimed at passing an
ordinance "preventing the City of Sonoma from leasing or selling 60 acres of . . .
undeveloped hillside area behind Mountain Cemetery for the development of a
resort hotel."

Fifteen percent of the city's 5,611 registered voters - or 842 - were needed to
qualify the ordinance.

Once audited by the county Registrar of Voters office and certified by the clerk,
the results will be presented to the City Council - which then has 10 days either to
adopt the ordinance as written, or schedule a special election three months later.

The publicly-owned parcel - deemed unsuitable for burials according to a 1996
city report - has been eyeballed since last September by Dallas-based Rosewood
Hotels and Resorts, which would like to develop the site as a 105-room hotel
complex. No formal offer has been advanced by either side.