Petaluma park funds eyed for Lafferty Ranch

As a decades-long battle over public access to Lafferty Ranch wages on, the Petaluma City Council voted last week to raise the fees imposed on future developments, which could provide a new funding source for the creation of a long-envisioned park at the 269-acre city-owned property on Sonoma Mountain.

The council’s 4-1 vote, with Councilman Chris Albertson dissenting and the mayor and vice mayor absent, approved an increase of 2.5 percent per unit to the city’s Park Land Development Impact Fee to account for the applicable costs for improvements at Lafferty Ranch, and added the project to the list of parks that can be funded using the money generated from those fees levied on new business and residential developments in the city.

A study by an outside consulting firm found that 21 percent, or $848,520, of the estimated $4 million in planned improvements at Lafferty Ranch could be covered by the impact fee. The increase, which will go into effect in December, is expected to generate that amount of additional revenue by the time the city reaches the levels of development projected in the 2025 General Plan, according to Senior Planner Scott Duiven.

Funds from the impact fees can now be used for the project to create trails, parking, bathrooms, signs, storm water pollution protection, fencing and other associated improvements at Lafferty Ranch, though the council’s vote didn’t set aside any specific money for the improvements.

“This doesn’t mean those monies will be available first, how soon they will be, and it doesn’t segregate them, but adds the legally allocable share of the Lafferty cost to the program,” City Attorney Eric Danly said at the Oct. 3 meeting.

The park land development fund, which has most recently been tapped for the East Washington sports complex project, has a current balance of about $1 million, according to budget documents, and is expected to reach an estimated $32.5 million when the city achieves the level of development outlined in the current General Plan, according to estimates provided by Duiven.

The potential for new funding comes as the city and Lafferty Ranch advocates hope to wrap up a mediation process with adjacent neighbors by the end of the year, according to Councilman Mike Healy, an attorney who helped Friends of Lafferty Park with the legal strategy for an initial “quiet title” lawsuit against the property owners.

At issue is a technicality over a 905-square-foot piece of land between Sonoma Mountain Road and a gate that provides the sole entrance to Lafferty Ranch, which has been owned by the city since 1959 and identified in the general plan as a location for a park since the 1960s.

Neighbors have long argued that the small swath of land in front of the gate belongs to them. Advocates counter that the property owners can’t legally prohibit access to the public property.

Though specifics about the mediation process remain confidential, Healy said experts retained by both parties recently worked together to create the conceptual plan for the property, which served as the basis for the engineer’s report that established the cost estimate for the project. The tentative plan includes a network of trails spanning from the bottom of the land to the top of the mountain, he said.

“I’m cautiously optimistic. It is in kind of crunch time, and we’ve potentially worked through some challenging issues, but there are several potential show stoppers still,” he said.

Les Perry, a Santa Rosa-based lawyer representing the neighboring property owners, said proposals have been exchanged, but the two parties “aren’t there yet.” He declined to elaborate on outstanding concerns or sticking points because of the ongoing mediation process.

“Obviously there’s some common ground or we wouldn’t still be at it, but there’s also ground that’s not so common,” he said.

Matt Maguire, a former city councilman and a member of the Friends of Lafferty Park, said he’s also hoping for a prompt resolution to an issue that has been at the forefront of conversations in Petaluma politics since the 1990s.

“Although I’m frustrated with the continual delays in the process, I still hold out hope for success in the near future,” he said.

The sprawling property that offers panoramic views of the Bay Area is several miles outside city limits, and Albertson argued that the money raised by the impact fee increase would be better suited for projects closer to home, like Wickersham Park, the McNear Peninsula or for creating bike paths in the city. His sentiment was also echoed in the sole public comment made by Sonoma Mountain Road resident and Petaluma Service Alliance member Michael Caruana.

“I can support raising the impact fees,” Albertson said. “In fact, I can support the Lafferty property being a park and putting hiking trails up there. But I don’t want city money and resources that could be spent here in the city limits on necessary projects benefiting our community in the city going five miles up Sonoma Mountain.”

However, Healy said the potential funding source will provide an opportunity to pursue a resolution to a project that would mend a deep “political wound” in the community, and give residents long-deserved access to the “gorgeous” public land.

“The increase to impact fees isn’t going to raise that much, but this gives the city something to start with, something to approach funding partners with,” he said, adding that funding has not yet been sought because of the barrier to access.

Maguire said his group has raised donations, though those resources have been used to cover legal fees and the cost of the more than two-year-long mediation process. However, he’s said he’s confident that the costs of the necessary environmental review and subsequent developments can be covered if the project moves forward.

“Certainly there’s a strong constituency in support of Lafferty in the community, and the greater number of people that see it, the greater that constituency is,” he said. “When the time comes, I’m confident we will be able to raise funds and volunteers to help construct trails and put in the appropriate signage.”

Lafferty Ranch is a “unique gem” in Petaluma, Maguire said, adding that it would provide opportunity for recreation unlike any other near the city.

“It will be a reality someday,” he said.

(Contact Hannah Beausang at hannah.beausang@arguscourier.com.)