A group of motivated activists in Sebastopol is making strong headway on collecting signatures for a ballot measure to renew the city’s voter-approved urban growth boundary (UGB) before it expires at the end of 2016.
The group, called the Citizens to Renew the Sebastopol Urban Growth Boundary 2016, wants to maintain the existing boundaries and extend the sunset date by 30 years. Follow the group on Facebook to get updates.
Greenbelt Alliance is partnering with the citizens group, Sebastopol’s civic leaders, and local organizers to finalize and pass a new urban growth boundary measure that will promote smart growth, affordable housing, and prevent sprawl for another 30 years or more.
Allowing the expiration of voter protections for any urban growth boundary opens the door to development beyond the growth boundaries with a simple majority vote of the City Council instead of a vote of the people. Read more about why we can’t let the Sebastopol UGB expire.
How You Can Help
Volunteer
Volunteers from Sebastopol and across Sonoma County are needed to help gather the final few hundred signatures. You don’t need to live in Sebastopol to help. If you can spend some time gathering signatures in scenic Sebastopol this spring, please contact Kathy Oetinger at backroad@sonic.net.
Attend the Meeting
Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, July 19 to support the Urban Growth Boundary measure when the Sebastopol City Council decides to either adopt or place it on the ballot for the general election on November 8.
Strong Support for Renewing
Sebastopol voters were among the first to adopt a 20-year UGB to protect farmland and open space beyond the city’s borders from sprawl development in 1996. Mayor Sarah Glade Gurney and the entire City Council are strongly in favor of renewing the UGB with minor, if any, changes.
Greenbelt Alliance, Sonoma County Conservation Action, the Sierra Club, Sebastopol Tomorrow, the Western Sonoma County Rural Alliance, and other open space enthusiasts are supporting the UGB renewal and assisting the citizens group.
Photo: Frederique Lavoipierre via Flickr
