County plans to drop costly seismic study for rebuilding homeowners

‘We lost a building season because of just a crazy, crazy requirement by this county,’ one homeowner said Tuesday.|

More than five months after a roaring October wildfire destroyed Al Stoll’s Wikiup home, he received a letter from Sonoma County that ground his rebuilding efforts to a halt.

The mid-March letter informed Stoll and his domestic partner, Jennifer Honey, they needed to complete a costly geologic study because their property is located near an active earthquake fault.

And they weren’t alone. The owners of about 55 other homes destroyed in the October fires faced the same requirement due to their proximity to the Rodgers Creek fault, which runs from San Pablo Bay to the northern outskirts of Santa Rosa. The geologic studies cost about $15,000 each, according to the county, though some fire survivors say they were quoted figures several times higher.

After he got the letter, Stoll, 78, embarked on a half-year crusade to free himself and the other affected fire survivors from the cumbersome requirement. He estimates he spent about 280  hours studying state law and geologic science in an effort to bolster his case.

“It was a difficult time,” Stoll said in an interview. “We lost a building season because of just a crazy, crazy requirement by this county.”

Stoll’s quest culminated Tuesday when the Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to come up with a way for fire survivors to rebuild without the expensive studies. County staff members will spend about three to four months coming up with a path forward, a process elongated largely by state environmental analysis law, according to Permit Sonoma Director Tennis Wick.

Supervisor James Gore, whose north county district includes the vast majority of fire survivors who were told they needed to conduct geologic studies, acknowledged the March letters made recipients “question the intentions” of county staff members.

“The reality is that staff is in a position to reduce risk and to implement the law,” he told a group of survivors who showed up to Tuesday’s vote. “It’s our job to change the law if it’s not working the right way.”

The issue traces back to a 1972 state law, the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act, which was designed to prevent new construction on top of active faults.

The Rodgers Creek fault that cuts through the heart of Sonoma County is one of four major faults in the Bay Area, one that experts say is primed with enough pent-up energy to produce a major earthquake.

While the state exempted ?single-family homes from needing to complete the costly geologic studies, Sonoma County decided to remove that exception when supervisors updated the county’s general plan in 1989, Wick said. The policy change was incorporated into county zoning rules in 1993.

“This has probably been the most challenging issue I’ve had to face in my career,” Wick told supervisors Tuesday. The studies posed huge hurdles for fire survivors on top of so many other challenges, he noted. “We have been working together to try to find a solution to this vexing problem.”

Already, about 15 properties completed the geologic studies, and two more are currently in the process of doing so, Wick said.

For the remaining property owners, the studies were a major obstacle. They require digging a trench 10 to 15 deep in some places, according to Wick.

One by one, several fire survivors told supervisors Tuesday they might not rebuild at all if the requirement was not lifted.

“It’s not just the fact of the money,” said Wikiup property owner Lisa Frazee. “I can’t move forward without your help. I’ve tried everything.”

Fernando Mora said he was concerned a seismic study might unnecessarily jeopardize his ability to rebuild his Wikiup Bridge Way home within its existing footprint, and he didn’t know if he could feasibly reconstruct it anywhere else.

“We’re panicked to the point we’re not even making progress for fear of the unknown,” he said.

Supervisor Shirlee Zane said “there was a level of terror” about the seismic study requirements among fire survivors in her district, which includes Santa Rosa’s devastated Fountaingrove neighborhood,.

“This was the thing that they dreaded the most, because it was just like the kiss of death in terms of being able to rebuild,” Zane said. None of her constituents ended up being affected, but she strongly supported moving forward with helping those who are, she said.

While supervisors’ final vote on the issue is still months away, Stoll said Tuesday’s vote brought tears to his eyes because he and Honey finally have the certainty they need to develop plans for their new home.

“Now we know we can build,” Stoll said. “It’s really, really wonderful. We’re sort of sitting in a state of shock right now, because this is a whole new system that we’re gonna be working with.”

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.