Petaluma takes step to preserve open space

The city applied for a $1.2M grant to help save La Cresta Ridge, McNear Peninsula from future development.|

Petaluma officials April 16 took the first step toward purchasing and preserving two popular open spaces: La Cresta Ridge and a large swath of the McNear Peninsula.

The city council voted unanimously to submit applications for about $1.2 million in matching grants from the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District to acquire and protect the nearly 34 total acres of land. If those grants are awarded, three advocacy groups will be responsible for raising the other half of the funds for the approximately $2.4 million projects.

La Cresta Ridge, a 13.6-acre parcel in west Petaluma, is owned by the California Water Service and is frequently used by hikers and cyclists. The 20 acres in the middle of the McNear Peninsula is owned by surviving members one of Petaluma’s founding families and is currently not publicly accessible.

“Both of those parcels represent everything that the open space district should be about,” Mayor David Glass said.

City officials and environmental advocates have long sought to earmark the two prominent parcels for public recreational use, but previous efforts to procure them have been unsuccessful.

In 2001, a project to purchase the acreage on the McNear Peninsula was awarded matching grant funding, but negotiations with the property owners fizzled, according to a staff report. In 2008, a matching grant was awarded to the city from the open space district to acquire La Cresta Ridge, but efforts to purchase it didn’t come to fruition, Assistant City Manager Scott Brodhun said. Money from both projects was returned to the county, he said.

A spokeswoman for California Water Service did not return a call for comment.

Timo Rivetti, the real estate agent representing the McNear family, said the family is open to selling and is “willing to work with the city for a satisfactory meeting of minds.” The acreage is listed for sale for $1.6 million. Before properties can be purchased with grant funds, an appraisal must be undertaken to determine the fair market value, as the district can only provide funds up to that value.

Preliminary appraisals that helped shape the grant applications have been conducted, Brodhun said, but final figures have yet to be reached. Grants must be used within three years of the date that grant is awarded, according to the open space district’s website.

Grant applications are due June 6, and the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors will be tasked with approving the allocations in the fall, Matching Grant Coordinator Jennifer Kuszmar said.

Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt, who represents Petaluma, said he’s particularly excited about McNear Peninsula. The city owns the 10 acres at the base, which is currently home to Steamer Landing Park and the David Yearsley River Heritage Center. A small plot at the end is owned by Basin Street Properties and could be considered for a later purchase, Brodhun said.

The historic waterfront parcel is entangled in a complex web of ownership and is governed by stringent land use mandates that all but solidify its future use as a public park or open space. Much of La Cresta is designated as “low density residential,” Planning Manager Heather Hines said. There are no current applications for development at either site, she said.

Rabbitt said the McNear Peninsula offers the best opportunity for preservation. He said any development of a property could also include open space, like a proposed Davidon Homes project in west Petaluma.

“For me, sitting where I am, McNear Peninsula would be my No. 1 priority,” Rabbitt said. “For La Cresta, does it have development opportunity? Probably. But with any development opportunity also means the opportunity to create open space as part of it, just like with Davidon, so I look at those differently. It’s not the same for McNear.”

The executive director of Friends of the Petaluma River, a nonprofit that will be tasked with raising $500,000 to match the grant should it be awarded, did not respond to requests for comment.

The Save La Cresta Ridge and Ravine Coalition, which has for 16 years advocated for the preservation of the parcel, will work with the year-old West Petaluma Hills group to raise $732,000 through grants and donations. Amy Hogan, a founding member of the coalition, said the ridge is teeming with wildlife, plants and recreational as well as educational opportunities for residents and students.

“It offers the community passive hiking and the views up there – it’s a beautiful place to view the city,” she said.

In the future, Brodhun said the city may also work with West Petaluma Hills in its mission to preserve three surrounding parcels encompassing 28 acres that also provide access to La Cresta Ridge. The group has raised about $7,000 that’s in part gone to promotions and marketing, founder Lydia Schindler said.

It will continue to raise money through a fiscal sponsor, Schindler said. The project to preserve the surrounding parcels will be conducted in phases, and the group’s main focus now is La Cresta Ridge, she said.

“We have a vision to have it continue to be an open space for perpetuity,” she said of the parcels in the west Petaluma hills. “It already is a documented wildlife corridor, greenbelt and with that we want to have public access to all these lands.”

Since 1996, the city of Petaluma has used $5.5 million in grant funding from the open space district, Brodhun said. Projects have included the acquisition of Steamer Landing Park, Alman Marsh, Paula Lane Open Space Preserve and the development of the community sports fields, he said.

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