Balancing priorities for the future of Sonoma Developmental Center

As interest groups vie to remake the Sonoma Developmental Center in their image, the Board of Supervisors weighs how to best fill the many needs of Valley residents.

The final plan will be chosen in July 2022, but the next important milestone for the remodel will come in November when alternative plans for the site are put forth for public comment, according Permit Sonoma Policy Director Bradley Dunn and the project overview on the website hosted for SDC.

First District Supervisor Susan Gorin will be one of the people who makes a final decision on the site’s future and has been monitoring the transition of the SDC since the facility began closing down its operations in 2015.

“Before we were involved in the pandemic, we had expected large community meetings to sit down, pore over maps, have discussions,” Gorin said. “And COVID made a virtual coming together difficult, not necessarily impossible, but difficult.”

As a wide swath of interest groups have reconvened at community meetings, there are a number of key priorities for redeveloping the site, according to Gorin, which were submitted in a list of proposals. These include affordable housing, restoring historical portions of the site and creating middle-class jobs.

The Sonoma Developmental Center first opened its door on Nov. 24, 1891. But after more than 120 years in operation, and more than a few scandals involving patients, the state closed the 1,670-acre property to patients in 2018. From the dilapidated infrastructure rose plans to redevelop the storied property.

The county created the SDC Specific Plan, which in addition to working with a variety of experts, features a Planning Advisory Team of 15 members who are stewarding the redevelopment process. They have looked at other similar projects to find ideas for balancing the needs of preserving the historic site with the desire to incorporate a flexible multi-use design, according to records concerning SDC’s redevelopment.

“We’re so attached to that property and having something great happen there that’s for the people of Sonoma Valley... not for the developers and the tourist trade,” said Bonnie Brown, co-chair of the SDC Campus Project, a group of citizens that would like to re-purpose and honor the facility’s history.

The SDC Campus Project is one of three top designs under consideration. It focuses on providing more affordable housing than other models, while the New Town project favors creating more commercial space and the Eldridge Enterprise project proposes to create an institution to tackle climate change while marrying affordable housing and other commercial endeavors.

The SDC Campus Project proposal would address the affordable housing issue in Sonoma Valley by repurposing “existing residential buildings on the site as affordable housing now, in the interim, and later, as the property is redeveloped.”

However, there is tension between commercial developers who believe an eco-tourism hotel would benefit the region, and affordable housing advocates who believe the addition of new low- and middle-income housing is more critical to the area.

Brown is concerned that the SDC will be turned into another asset for the transient consumers who make up hospitality — one of Sonoma Valley’s largest trade sectors — because “money talks.” And with a parcel full of buildings that are falling apart and in need of major renovation, money will be a major factor.

“There is a fair amount of concern about the state’s expectations for realizing the pretty substantial purchase price,” Gorin said, which is between $100 and $200 million.

The New Town proposal would allow a “savvy developer” to foot the bill for the major expenses of building 600 to 700 housing units along with a 100-room hotel.

The state of the buildings at the SDC would require major reconstruction to be livable, and Gorin remains skeptical that any developer would want to take on a project of that magnitude.

She added, “As the oldest center, (it has) a much more integrated infrastructure, water, sewer, electrical water, treatment plants. All are in horrible shape with leaks all over the place and will have to be replaced at a fair amount of investment.”

But the other concern Gorin holds is creating new jobs that diversify the economy and address other needs in the Valley.

“For Sonoma Valley, we're pretty heavily dependent on tourism, hospitality, agri-tourism. Not all of those sectors produce high wage jobs,” Gorin said. “In fact, very few of the jobs produced are our higher wages, which means that folks employed by those industries really have difficulty living here.”

The Eldridge Enterprise, one of the proposals for the new site, would create both housing and an institution “focused on finding solutions that will mitigate climate change.”

The proposal says it would add 980 dwelling units to the property — 40 studio units for scientist, 800 units designated for multi-family and on-site workers, and another 100 single-family homes, creating affordable housing, senior housing and housing for people with developmental disabilities.

Additional proposals include those by the Glen Ellen Historical Society to preserve historical structures and establish a museum, and the Community Alliance with Family Farmers that would develop eco-friendly farming and affordable housing.

It is the hope that after the November meetings have been concluded and the public comment period has ended that the Board of Supervisors will come to a decision on one of the proposed plans. And even then, a planner may have to make changes to the design.

“A very sophisticated master developer will have to think about what will require years of thought and very sharp pencils,” Gorin said.

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.