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Sonoma State’s Damage to the Greenbelt
by Rick Luttmann — published April 01, 2006
I read with some interest the article "Private Land, Public Good: Taking Stock of Conservation Easements" by John Hart in your January-March 2006 issue. There is, unfortunately, some considerable irony in a photo showing the northeast corner of Rohnert Park. The optimism expressed in the caption regarding "protection in perpetuity" may apply to part of this green area adjacent to the city, but alas, not all.
Sonoma State University, located about a mile south of the area in the photo, has purchased the land immediately to the east of this section of Rohnert Park and intends to develop faculty housing there. This has local citizens considerably exercised, as this property lies outside the Urban Growth Boundary established by the voters of Rohnert Park.
The reality is, due to the university's unrealistic expectations of what it will cost to build housing, the project won't really meet the needs of new faculty hires, which is the whole point of the project. But the damage to the greenbelt will have been done.
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