Sonoma County is back to square one in its plan to redevelop the 945-acre Sonoma Developmental Center property near the unincorporated community of Eldridge.
The county Board of Supervisors voted last week to decertify the environmental impact report that had cleared the way for the county’s plan to build a mixed-use development, a climate research center and affordable housing at the site to move forward, according to a news release from the county.
The county has been looking for the best way to use the property since it stopped functioning as a home for the disabled in 2018. It had operated since 1891, undergoing multiple name changes, expansions and renovations over the years, most recently between 1979-1982, according to the California Department of Developmental Services.
The Board of Supervisors approved a comprehensive redevelopment plan called the SDC Specific Plan in December 2022. But about a month later, a group called Sonoma County Advocates for a Livable Environment, or SCALE, sued, arguing that the EIR was in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act.
A court ruled in favor of SCALE in October, forcing the Board of Supervisors to rescind the adoption of the SDC Specific Plan.
While the Board of Supervisors voted to rescind the Specific Plan, it has not abandoned it, according to the county’s news release.
The plan included multiple public workshops between 2020 and its adoption in 2022.
The board is considering a scaled-down proposal from Eldridge Renewal LLC that was submitted in August 2023 to redevelop the site’s 180 core acres. The board is seeking to revise the Specific Plan in accordance with the proposal if the environmental impacts can be measured.