Politics & Government
Hotel Measure Impact Report to go Before Sonoma Council
The report will evaluate the economic impact of instituting the controversial Hotel Limitation Measure.
The results of a study commissioned by the Sonoma City Council evaluating the impact of instituting a controversial ballot measure limiting hotel development will be made public tonight.
The council will review the findings during a 6 p.m. meeting at the Community Meeting Room.
The Hotel Limitation Initiative aims to limit new hotels in the city to 25 rooms or less.
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The council will use the findings of the study to help them determine a course of action. City lawmakers are likely to put the measure on the ballot for a special election on Nov. 19. They also have the option of implementing the measure by changing the city's General Plan.
The city commissioned the report at its most recent meeting on July 16 at the cost of $17,500. Tonight's meeting is technically a resumption of that adjourned meeting.
Find out what's happening in Sonoma Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The initiative is the brainchild of Larry Barnett's Preserving Sonoma, a group that earlier this year cleared the signature-gathering hurdle of 1,017 valid signatures (15 percent of the city's approximately 6,700 eligible voters) to put the measure up for a vote.
The measure would require the city's annual hotel occupancy rate to rise above 80 percent before the city would even listen to a proposal for a hotel of more than 25 rooms.
Even under those circumstances – the city's hotel occupancy rate last year was 64.8 percent – any proposal for a more expansive hotel would need the approval of a four-fifths majority on the City Council and the Planning Commission's approval.
Barnett's group believes the measure is necessary to retain the city's small-town charm.
Barnett cites the results of a recent travel survey that ranked Sonoma the nation's ninth friendliest city. Sonoma is the only California city that ranked among the Conde Nast Traveler's Reader's Choice Survey's top 10.
"We need to make sure our popularity does not destroy our charming rural town, and that is why we advocate small hotels instead of large hotels,” Barnett said in a prepared statement shortly after the Conde Nast survey's release.
“Too much traffic and commercial development erodes the quality of life of those of us who live here and won't be popular with visitors either."
