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Politics & Government

Sonoma Council Green-Lights Hotel Cap Impact Study

The controversial measure will go before Sonoma voters in a special election likely to be held on Nov. 19.

Sonoma's City Council on Tuesday by a 3-2 vote approved an impact study on controversial cap that will go before voters later this year.

The Hotel Limitation Initiative aims to limit new hotels in the city to 25 rooms or less.

The report try to determine the impact on future tax revenues. It will cost the city $17,500.

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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.

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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.

“What I want to do is provide (voters) with enough information so they can make the best decision,” Councilman David Cook said of his support for the report.

The study will take less than a month to complete. The results will be available to the council when it reconvenes on Aug. 12.

“We need to wait and see what the impact report says” before making recommendations to voters, Cook said

The initiative's passage requires a simple majority.

The city will foot the bill for the special election.

“We're still trying to figure out what the costs are going to be but it's going to come out of the reserves,” Cook said.

A date for the special election has not yet been officially determined, but “it looks like there's going to be a special election on Nov. 19,” Cook said.

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