Sonoma Valley Voice Quality of Life - New Engine of Economic Growth

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Quality of Life - New Engine of Economic Growth (July-September 1999, Pages 4 and 14)

While Sonoma contemplates the loss of its public open space, communities across the United States are buying back privately owned land to protect it from development. In 1998 alone, voters nationwide approved $7.8 billion to preserve open space. (For details, see "The Economic Benefits of Parks and Open Space," published by the Trust for Public Land.)

The reason for this unprecedented buy-back is simple. Cities everywhere face a grim reality that most new residential and some commercial developments cost more to service with police, fire, sewers, water, etc., than they yield in tax contributions.
So for cities to try to grow out of their problems would only deepen the crises. But the acquisition of strategic open space prevents the creation of tax liabilities and allows controlled developments which can be serviced affordably.

In addition to actually SAVING money, open space has other benefits:

Massachusetts towns that have protected the most land with short term tax increases in the past now enjoy the lowest property tax rates in the state; a community’s bond rating can rise when it shows it can control growth through the purchase of open space; owners of small businesses ranked recreation/parks/open space as the highest priority in choosing a business location, and corporate CEOs say quality of life for their employees is the highest priority after market access and availability of skilled personnel

Quality of life is "the new engine of economic growth." A 1998 real estate industry analysis predicted that over the next 25 years, real estate values will rise fastest in "the smart communities that incorporate the traditional characteristics of successful cities: a concentration of amenities, an integration of residential and commercial districts, and a pedestrian-friendly environment."
According to the special projects director of the Sierra Nevada’s 450-member Business Council, "As the Sierra Nevada’s population grows, maintaining a clear edge between town and country is the most critical step counties and cities can take to retain the rural character that has been the source of our wealth."

The preservation of public land as open space encourages other local land owners to sell development rights in exchange for income and reduced taxation. This slows the conversion of agricultural land to residential development, with its attendant infrastructure costs.

But the benefits of Open Space don’t stop there. Created for $425,000, San Antonio’s Riverwalk Park has overtaken the Alamo as the single most popular attraction for the city’s $3.5 billion tourist industry. · Extending tree coverage in Atlanta has saved $15 million on air quality measures, and $883 million on storm water retention facilities.

The alternative to planned and controlled growth is scary. Development in the Cape Cod area has been so fast and unrestrained that in some communities, property taxes have doubled to pay for schools and other services, the water table has been polluted by septic tanks, and roads are miserably clogged with traffic. In 1998, voters in all 15 Cape communities approved a 3% property tax surcharge to purchase remaining open space. Rep. Turkington, who sponsored the bill, said, "People have to understand that every parcel not saved is going to cost them, both in higher taxes and in a deteriorating lifestyle."

So why, faced with the same issues, does our Sonoma city management say the opposite: Develop more and do it on public open space?

In the last four years, we have added hundreds of new homes and hotel rooms, a conference center, a culinary school, tasting rooms, a brew pub, upscale restaurants, gift stores, and boutiques. Yet it is impossible to balance the city budget and maintain services, and a growing deficit is predicted.

The City’s surprising solution is to exchange the forever asset value of our open space for the temporary band aid of commercial tax dollars. The ludicrously overblown $2 million per year income projections from a luxury spa would demand a success level for a resort that no developer in his right mind would guarantee. At the April meeting at the Veterans Building, developer Hal Thannisch made it perfectly clear that neither he nor Rosewood will guarantee $2 million per year to the City of Sonoma.

In essence, the city management is counting on one super-successful commercial development, on public land, to supposedly pay enough tax to cover all the other private developments that will be tax liabilities.

The core issue facing the City of Sonoma is the need to control growth. Failing to address this critical need is diametrically opposed to modern risk management principles, relies on a totally untested business concept, and leaves Sonoma with no Plan B.

The City recommendation to privatize 95% of the walkable acreage on Sonoma’s hillside property makes a mockery of conservation efforts in the county, the state, and the country. And it makes a mockery of the very spirit of independence that created this unique place Sonoma, and sustains it to this day.

Please think about public land, think about the future, and your quality of life here in Sonoma. Vote FOR the September ballot initiative.

Let’s hold on to our public land. It holds more value and more promise for the future just the way it is.

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