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Politics & Government

Barnett Explains the Initiative at Petition Kick-Off

Not just about one hotel, but the ones to follow, explains former mayor

Sunday afternoon was warm and sunny in the Sonoma Plaza, with good vibes and picnics and children playing and music, and for hundreds of tourists Sonoma looked like the best place to be on earth.

Except, perhaps, for the slow traffic circling the Plaza, looking for a place to park.

Not far away, at the Vintage House on N. 1st St. E., a hundred or so locals gathered to help keep it so – or such was the pitch from Preserving Sonoma’s director, former mayor and city council member Larry Barnett.

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It’s been widely perceived as an anti-“Chateau Sonoma” initiative, using the former name of the 59-room hotel project on West Napa St. that is being proposed by Darius Anderson, who owns the Index Tribune among other properties and businesses in the area.

But Barnett was quick to put his opposition to that project in perspective.

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“The hotel near the plaza certainly formed part of the impetus behind what we're doing here,” he told the first couple dozen people to arrive at the Vintage House gathering.  “It started a process of evaluation about the way the hotel business, and lodging in general, and tourism as a whole, operate in the City of Sonoma.”

He was speaking before a mixed group of Sonomans, both by voting precinct and self-identity. Several were from Glen Ellen, or the neighborhoods north and west of city limits, some from farther away. Maps, in fact, were Exhibit B at the petition tables lining the perimeter of the meeting hall – next to the petitions themselves – and potential signatories examined the city limits on the black-and-white printouts.

Officially it was an introduction to the petition and a party to celebrate it, which means it was a fundraiser as well. There was a number of silent auction items offered by area businesses and individuals – jewelry, Audubon prints, hand-made clothing, acrylic paintings – even a “case review and consult” from a local attorney (Robert Edwards, who as it turns out is a member of the Preserving Sonoma board), a $1500 value for a minimum bid of $500.

It was also a gathering of other Sonoma Valley residents concerned about commercial growth and development going on between the cracks in various municipal codes, as a representative from the Sonoma Valley of the Moon Alliance told me. Agricultural zoning – does that really mean tasting room with live music and barbecues? Or “rural character” – who defines that anyway?

Barnett, as he mentioned in his remarks, wasn’t against all hotels – he is a former innkeeper himself, a six-room B&B called the Thistle Dew. It was primarily the 59-room development on West Napa in that first block before the Plaza, where the Index Tribune building stands now.

But Barnett and the other members of Preserving Sonoma are not just after one development, one hotel, one investor. “This is not going to be the last of the hotel projects that is proposed for Sonoma,” Barnet says in the video accompanying this article.

"In looking at it deeply, we decided we needed to come up with an approach that addressed not just his project, but the next hotel and the one after that and the one after that and the one after that.”

In Barnett’s responses to questions, and in talking with attendees during the 2:30 – 4 p.m. gathering – it became evident one large concern was not just the 59 rooms, but the traffic – people going in and out of the hotel, uncertain of where they are or where they are going, adding to the already troublesome slow-down in the blocks surrounding the Plaza.

"We obtained nearly 150 signatures in less than three hours," Barnett reported later. "That's over 10% of what we need to trigger a special election." He reported that many attendees signed up to volunteer, as well.

Toward the end of the meeting, I spoke with volunteer Peter Hansen, who had been videotaping testimonials from attendees for the petition website. Turns out he’s been circulating the petition himself for a couple days already.

“It’s going great !” he said with a big smile. “People realize it’s not just about one hotel, but living in Sonoma.”

More information about Preserving Sonoma, including the Hotel Limitation Initiative, can be found on their website.

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