Are you concerned about the sprawl you see overtaking Sonoma County's rural environment? 

Given today's pressure to grow, are you afraid that Sonoma County may turn into "San Jose North"? 

If you answered "Yes" to either of these questions, now you have an opportunity to do something about it. 

Read on... and then join our campaign to preserve the rural character of 80% of the land in Sonoma County. 

  RHI, in brief:

 ....will require a VOTE OF THE PEOPLE to CHANGE THE AGRICULTURAL AND RESOURCES LAND  USE designations on the COUNTY GENERAL PLAN during the NEXT 30 YEARS. It will NOT AFFECT  CITY GROWTH or City Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs), but will PREVENT URBAN SPRAWL on  about 80% of the County's land area.

 The RHI is sponsored by Citizens for Sonoma County's Future, a network of concerned citizens and  organizations including Greenbelt Alliance, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Russian River and Sonoma  County Conservation Action. Sonoma County voters approved similar measures to protect community  separators in 1996 and 1998.  A similar measure in NAPA COUNTY was upheld by the California Supreme  Court.

 Technology industry-driven GROWTH PRESSURES will be intense in the coming decade, and 3 votes on a future Board of Supervisors can open the dike. NOW is the time to act if we don't want to end up like SANTA CLARA COUNTY or ORANGE COUNTY. 

Supports the General Plan: RHI will prevent urban sprawl on about 80% of the County's land area by implementing the "city and community-centered growth" policy of the General Plan. It applies to unincorporated land only and will not affect the ability of cities to decide how much land they want to annex and develop. The six cities where voters have approved urban growth boundaries (UGBs) that limit expansion have space for 80% of the 116,000 people and 96,000 jobs projected to be added by 2020.

Growth pressure mounting: Northern Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley) is virtually built out, leaving Sonoma County next in line for technology-driven growth projected to increase jobs by 47 percent in the next 20 years. Can Sonoma County handle this pressure while preserving natural resources, quality of life, our $1 billion visitor industry, and our $3 billion agricultural industry? We can if we demonstrate our long-term commitment to the stability of the County General Plan. This is the reason for the Rural Heritage Initiative. It is not wise to count on future Boards of Supervisors to always support the General Plan in face of development pressure. A few seemingly reasonable amendments could easily start the cascade of sprawl that would result in disappearance of agriculture here, as it did in the northern Santa Clara Valley.

Making changes: RHI allows the Board of Supervisors to approve changes in the use of land designated for Agricultural and Resources and Rural Development if they find the change is necessary to meet state affordable housing requirements, for limited public uses, to avoid an unconstitutional taking of property, or to provide greater protection for natural resources. Other proposals for changing these land use designations may be placed on the ballot by the Board or by petition and will be approved or rejected by a vote of the people.

A proven idea: Voters in Napa County (Term: 1990-2021) and Ventura County (Term: 1998-2020) have approved Measures virtually identical to the Rural Heritage Initiative. Sonoma County voters have already approved two measures establishing 20-year protection for Community Separators, the open spaces intended by the General Plan to keep cities from merging and diluting their identity. The Board of Supervisors put Measure D on the 1996 ballot to protect Separators adjoining cities that have voter-adopted 20 year Urban Growth Boundaries. In 1998 the Board added another Measure D enlarging the Petaluma/Novato Separator. RHI extends this protection to all unincorporated land designated for Agricultural or Resources and Rural Development use.

Who's behind it?: RHI is sponsored by Citizens for Sonoma County's Future, a coalition of four leading Sonoma County environmental organizations: Sierra Club, Greenbelt Alliance, Sonoma County Conservation Action and Friends of the Russian River. Together, we have members in 12,000 Sonoma County households.