Letter from Ken Sund regarding Preliminary Draft Sonoma County Local Coastal

Plan 10-2-2015
Dear Supervisors and county plannersMy family has owned first and second homes on the Russian River since the early
1950s when our region was known as the Redwood Empire. The pressures of tourism,
wineries and urban growth has reached the peak carrying capacity of the Sonoma
Coast. We can't accommodate more traffic, more water consumption, more businesses
or more people. The Local Coastal Plans even states it: "Increased tourism on the
Sonoma Coast may result in an imbalance between local and tourist oriented
commercial development. Too many facilities in sensitive areas may harm the unique
qualities of the coast which are protected under the California Coastal Act and the Local
Coastal Plan."
The good:
In reading the Local Coastal Plan, I especially liked the sections where an effort is made
to control the growing virus of Vacation Rentals. Item 6 of Richard Charter's September
28 letter to PRMD speaks to it very well. Just last week, Santa Ana and Anaheim
imposed moratoriums on short term rentals due to cramped parking, rowdy renters and
trash. I can add that as a Jenner second home resident for over 20 years I am not at all
happy with the sale of the home next door to investors who are bringing in "new
neighbors every weekend", many of whom keep us awake at 2:00 A.M., block our
limited parking and are found in our boat house. Many of my Jenner neighbors are fed
up with the lack of county oversight of this issue in our coastal communities. Vacation
renters add little to our communities just ask Healdsburg and Sonoma. Add
enforcement to the suggested policies.
Policy C-LU-5l: Prohibit the use of of Second Dwelling Units for Vacation Rentals.
PolicyC-LU-5K: Consider regulating the use of existing residences on residential lands
for vacation rentals.
The Bad:
The expansion of vineyards, tasting rooms and wineries into our coastal hills.
We have very little water in our coastal zone and viticulture is a very poor choice for
replacing timber lands and grasslands. Our roads too narrow and remote for first
responders to arrive at accident scenes or fire emergency locations with current tourism
levels. If you add the drunken wine tasters to all the bicyclists up there we have more
disasters that will happen. Vineyards fence off wildlife. The California Coastal Act seeks
to promote and preserve the environmentally sensitive habitat areas that our coast is so
special for.
Wineries are industrial plants which use lots of water. Add to that the cooking and "event
centers" which always follow a winery permit and the water need explodes. The coastal
zone is a water scarce area. The SWig letter to PRMD describes this well.

Keep our coastal hills wild and it's animal life free to live in it's native habitat. Prohibit the
development of vineyard and wineries on our coastal hills.
Don't sell out our coastal hills to the wineries for A Fistful of Dollars.
The Ugly: Waste water treatment.
As a Jenner homeowner and one who swims, sails and kayaks in the river, I am
concerned with water quality. I installed a permitted aerobic septic system which works
perfectly on a postage stamp property. We've been to Mars, There are many systems
that are much better than the failing redwood or concrete tanks in use now that could be
upgraded immediately. According to the LCP,"Jenner has the highest density and most
severe septic problem than any other area on the Sonoma Coast". I don't know how
they came up with that statement, but Policy C-PF-2t wants to "Consider development
of a community waste water collection and treatment system or package waste water
treatment plant at Jenner". The only entities who would want such a plant are the
commercial businesses and those who want to build more in Jenner. That is a super
minority.
We don't want a sewer treatment plant in Jenner, Jenner residents need technical
assistance in choosing which small treatment system works best on their individual
property.
The county does not enforce it's own rules regarding failing septic systems. Some of the
restaurants and hotels are the ones who are leaking into the river and the county does
nothing to force them into compliance. My phone calls and e-mails to the county well
and septic go unanswered with regard to river health and septics.
Please consider the important documents and comments serious scientists have
prepared: Jane Nielsens' Sebastopol Water Information Group (SWig) regarding the
LCP
and also Richard Charter's comments on the draft proposed LCP.
Ken Sund
Jenner, Ca.