CORP letter to Board of Supervisors on SCAPOSD's draft Acquisition Plan 2000

Sonoma County Supervisors
575 Administration Drive, Room 100A
Santa Rosa, California 95403

May 18, 2000

Dear Gentlemen of the Board of Supervisors:

The SCAPOSD "working group" and staff are to be congratulated for producing Acquisition Plan 2000. This plan represents a major improvement over its predecessor, and will help the District function more efficiently and with less controversy than in recent years.

While CORP welcomes the increased attention given to trail-oriented recreation, we believe the following additional policies are required to achieve the stated goals.

[New] Objective 3: Acquire lands or easements providing guaranteed recreational opportunities which dovetail with other District goals and objectives, including Greenbelt Objective 5 (linear open space along creeks for wildlife and recreation) and Natural Resources Objective 4 (watershed meander belts) and 5 (habitat linkages).

[New] Objective 4: Provide the maximum level of guaranteed public access in each easement acquisition consistent with landowner wishes and other District goals. Make this process as open as possible following acquisition so the public can gauge how well their interests are served.

[Move and rename Policy 2e] Policy 4a: Inquire about individual landowner interest in allowing for public access as part of the District's project application process.

[New] Policy 4b: Offer compensation to landowners in exchange for guaranteed public access, such as trail easements, where such public access would be consistent with District goals. When a property would be a desirable acquisition in fee for recreation, but the landowner wishes to keep the land and sell only an easement, negotiate and offer compensation for rights of first refusal when the property does come up for sale.

[New] Policy 4c: When easements are acquired without a guaranteed public access component, explain how the public interest is better served by this course of action.

Our proposed Policy 4c calls for a bit of explanation. We believe a significant level of guaranteed public access is both theoretically and empirically compatible with any of the other goals of the District, though we recognize that in specific instances there may be an overriding public interest in protecting land without such access.

We intend for the term "public interest" to be understood broadly. In specific cases, for example, the public interest might be better served by protecting a family farm without potentially intrusive public access. In other cases, the public interest might be best served by protecting specific habitat or biotic resources where extensive public access would be demonstrably disruptive. The point is that the public needs to evaluate these decisions, even if only after the fact, and that the public interest is the proper yardstick where public expenditures are concerned.

Please feel free to contact me for any discussion or clarification of these points. We look forward to contributing every way we can to processes which will lead to more public access to, and enjoyment of, nature and open space in Sonoma County.

Sincerely,

Larry Modell

Larry Modell, Chair,
Coalition for the Outdoor Recreation Plan (CORP)

cc: Steve Sharpe, Acting General Manager, SCAPOSD
Andrea Mackenzie, Senior Project Manager, SCAPOSD
Press Democrat editorial board