”A hundred years after we are gone and forgotten, those who never heard of us will be living with the results of our actions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Formation of an Independent Special District is an essential first step to the implementation of the Next 100 Years proposal, which is the key to a scaled down future for the former Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC) and its background watershed and viewshed, Sonoma Mountain. The District will provide an independent voice for the people of Sonoma Valley, now and even ten, twenty years or a hundred years from now. It will be called the Sonoma Mountain Community Services District.

Sonoma
Mountain
Community
Services
District

The District will empower the local community and provide local control through a locally elected board. And when the time comes, the District will be in place as a local agency to receive the SDC land and buildings should the State’s negotiations with the currently selected developer fail or should negotiations open the door to take over some parts of the project.  Through the District, the local community will be able to protect the rural character of the Valley we call home.

The Sonoma Mountain Community Services District will be formed in a series of steps:

  1. A Signature Drive to demonstrate local support for District formation.   Starting in January 2024, volunteers are circulating a petition to collect signatures of registered voters in the proposed District.  When complete, it will show both the Local Agency Formation Committee (LAFCO) in Sonoma County and our State Legislators in Sacramento that we have enough support from registered voters to put the District formation on the ballot.
    If you are a registered voter in the District (see map), please sign the Petition when a volunteer comes to your door so we can get the District on the ballot!
    Volunteer here to be a part of the walking team to collect signatures.

  2. The formation process itself, which could follow either of two paths, both of which will benefit from the show of support we expect to derive from the Signature Drive now underway. The paths include:

    • Formation via Legislation at the State level.  This is the quickest and most complete way to form the District, and it uses an approach that has been used successfully elsewhere in California. A bill to form the District has been proposed for the 2024 legislative session and, with the support of our local elected officials in Sacramento, it would form both the District and its specialized financing authorities in a single step. It would also authorize the range of community services and special authorizations needed to serve its local projects and, when called upon, to take over stewardship of all or part of the SDC.

    • Formation at the local level in Sonoma County. This would be a more complicated, and potentially much slower, process to establish such essentials for the District as the right to sponsor affordable housing through a pilot program and to access specialized financing. But it can be done. The key, however, will be for the community to be in a position to take a role in the future of SDC when the opportunity arises.

    Either way, the Signature Drive is the first and very important step.

  3. A period of detailed review. The evaluation will be performed by LAFCO and coordinated with the State legislation as it applies.

  4. A majority vote of the registered voters in the District will be required to ratify the District and to elect is first five member Board. A two-thirds approval would be required if any financial obligations, like a short-term parcel tax, were to be proposed.  The elections in November 2024 or early in 2025 are presently the targets for voter approval.

Learn more at the District Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Learn more about the Next 100 Years Proposal

Send questions and comments to SDCNext100@gmail.com.