Rescue Roseland Neighbor Wood
The Citizens Advisory Committee for the Sonoma County Agriculture Preservation and Open Space District will meet on Thursday Feb. 22, 2018.Letters can be sent to them to encourage the review of the Conservation Easement for 1400 Burbank Ave. signed in 2010.
Roseland Neighbor Wood needs your community support to help protect nature at Roseland Creek near the Roseland Creek Elementary School on Burbank Ave.The Roseland Creek Community Park Final Master Plan Meeting has been moved to Weds. Feb. 28, 2018 with the Santa Rosa Board of Community Services to give advice to the Santa Rosa City Council on the Final Draft of the Master Plan for the Park. Roseland residents have to be involved before this time by submitting comments to the city council and the planning commission even before the meeting is held. This is because the city staff of the Recreation and Parks Department have basically ignored the comments of many local residents at a December 2, 2017 meeting to discuss what Roseland residents wanted. The city staff have their own plans on how to proceed.
At the Wed. Jan. 24, 2018 meeting of the Santa Rosa Board of Community Services the Recreation and Parks Department staff were seeking approval of a park plan which essentially was ignoring what Roseland residents had said to them about the Roseland Neighbor Wood.
Residents have stressed for well over a decade there should be a Bikeway/Greenway on the southern edge of the creek. Plus they have stressed there should be a Pomo Interpretive Village designed by local Pomo Indians from Roseland. The original conservation easement for the property on the south side of the creek with the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District (SCAPOSD) states there should be such a place.
The “Final Master Plan” was not even available to Roseland residents between Dec. 2017 and Monday Jan. 22, 2018. During those six weeks Roseland residents did not know the city was ignoring their requests for the park. It was not until the Wed. Jan. 24, 2018 meeting of the Santa Rosa Board of Community Services (BCS) many citizens found out the same plan, vigorously disputed by local residents, was being submitted to the BCS by city staff.
When local residents and former Santa Rosa City Council members Marsha Vas Dupre and Veronica Jacobi pointed out the community needed to see the plan before the meeting the plan was posted onto the City Website on Monday Jan 22. The item was pulled from BCS agenda and rescheduled for Feb. 28, 2018.
What follows are brief quotes from the PowerPoint presentation city staff was going to present. One statement is “In summary, most residents who live nearby the Park wish it to be left in a natural state, with little to no improvement except for trails, a nature center,...”. Staff then had inserted a falsehood because this reporter was at all meetings regarding the park planning process and knows first-hand the residents said NO PARKING was needed in the Neighbor Wood. City staff claimed residents supported “associated parking”. This is NOT TRUE. Here is what the city staff will present to the BCS asking for their approval on Weds. Feb. 28, 2018.
“Proposed concept plan for Roseland Creek Community Park Master Plan and associated environmental declaration, including a Nature Center, restroom, parking, trails, interpretive signage, fitness stations, sports courts, picnic areas, group picnic areas with sink, play area, multi-use turf, active use area, active use area (dog park, community garden, or bicycle pump track), hydration stations, site furnishings, split rail fencing, entry gates and crosswalk.”
One local resident involved with the process for many years stated to Roseland Review it is like they are retaliating against us because we pointed out Marc Richardson was doing “sweetheart deals” to let people live in the two nice three bedroom homes on the properties bought by the taxpayers. At the Thurs. Jan. 25, 2018 meeting of the Community Advisory committee for the (SCAPOSD)Roseland Review inquired of staff members there about the Conservation Easement signed by Santa Rosa and (SCAPOSD) in 2010. The staff there feels the city staff needs to honor the conservation easement which DOES NOT ALLOW many of the things Santa Rosa city staff are proposing. Roseland Review will keep readers abreast of this. ~ Duane DeWitt
