traffic – Enviro Updates

Crews start work on long-awaited Highway 101 bridge

April 10, 2026

Natalie Hanson, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Crews will break ground Saturday in Santa Rosa on a long-awaited bike and pedestrian bridge over Highway 101, beginning the process toward building a new corridor for people traveling by foot and bicycle.

Santa Rosa City Council unanimously approved a $37.6 million construction contract, awarded to Ghilotti Construction Co., to begin work on the bridge by summer 2027. The bridge, stretching across the six-lane highway, is planned to help link commercial, government, employment and health care hubs and connect to the SMART passenger rail line via a crossing at Jennings Avenue.

The Highway 101 project has long been identified as a critical link in Santa Rosa’s bicycle and pedestrian network spanning Edwards to Elliott Avenues, connecting the Coddingtown area to the Santa Rosa Junior College area.

The city says the project will improve safety while reducing travel times for students, commuters and residents.

Transportationbike/pedestrian bridge, Highway 101 bridge, pedestrians, traffic, walkable community

Neighbors voice concerns with planned senior housing development on Highway 12

March 25, 2026

Paulina Pineda, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The latest proposal for housing on a 69-acre expanse off Highway 12 in eastern Santa Rosa faced close scrutiny and even outright opposition from some neighbors who packed a Monday meeting to get a first look at the project.

For about an hour, the new developers and city staffers were hit with comments from concerned residents who worry adding hundreds of new residents there would worsen congestion on the narrow, two-lane highway, particularly during an emergency.

Critics also raised concerns about the project’s impact on wildlife and water resources.

The discussion held at the Oakmont Village East Recreation Center served as a first public test for affordable housing developer Burbank Housing, which purchased the property three years ago.

Burbank’s proposal calls for 275 apartments and single-family homes in a 55-and-older mixed-income neighborhood.

Land UseBurbank Housing, Elnoka/SESR, Highway 12, Oakmont, traffic, wildfire evacuation, wildlife corridor

Residents to get look at new senior development planned on long-contested Highway 12 site

March 21, 2026

Paulina Pineda, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Residents will get a first public look at the proposal during a neighborhood meeting Monday, March 23 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Oakmont Village East Recreation Center, 7902 Oakmont Dr.

Revived plans for a long-contested housing proposal on Santa Rosa’s eastern edges are wending their way through the city development pipeline three years after the property changed hands.

The new owners, affordable housing developer Burbank Housing, envision transforming the 69-acre expanse off Highway 12 and Elnoka Lane into an age-restricted, mixed-income neighborhood.

The proposal calls for 275 apartments and single-family homes and about half the property would be preserved as open space.

Burbank officials say the project would add high-quality senior housing in eastern Santa Rosa, including much needed affordable housing, to meet the needs of a growing segment of the population that is increasingly being edged out of the market by rising prices, spokesperson Stefanie Bagala said.

Land Useaffordable housing, Burbank Housing, Elnoka/SESR, Highway 12, Oakmont, senior housing, traffic, wildfire evacuation

Estero solution moving forward

March 20, 2026

Austin Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

A new website that compiles community suggestions lists seven potential parking solutions to solve problem.

For some residents of Bodega Harbor, a quiet, high-end enclave of homes overlooking the Pacific, the opening of a nearby, 547-acre public preserve was not a reason to celebrate.

Following a four-month period of phased-in access over three days a week, the Estero Americano Coast Preserve, just south of Bodega Bay, fully opened in November 2025. For a brief spell, it operated under the radar. Then, following a flurry of media attention in January, “it went viral,” as Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins put it.

Suddenly, visitors from across the Bay Area and beyond thronged to the protected spot. That was a problem.

The stunning open space, owned and operated by the nonprofit Wildlands Conservancy, has no dedicated parking lot, forcing all those hikers and birdwatchers – nearly 1,200 on one sunny January Sunday – to park on Osprey Drive and other narrow byways close to Shorttail Gulch trailhead, the only way into the park.

Sonoma CoastEstero Americano Coast Preserve, parking, traffic

Close to Home: Supervisors double down on ‘inebriation tourism’

November 2, 2025

Judith Olney, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Once again, the Board of Supervisors is ready to throw Sonoma County taxpayers under the proverbial bus — and then back over us.

On Oct. 28, the board will discuss a cannabis ordinance that would reduce permit fees for cannabis cultivation on properties of 10 acres or more with agricultural or rural resource zoning, with operations only 100 feet from neighboring residences. In addition, the ordinance would allow events with cannabis consumption and sales.

After lowering fees for cannabis growers, the county still must pay for infrastructure and other public services, which means increasing the burden on other taxpayers.

It was bad enough when the supervisors granted the cannabis industry significant tax breaks, leaving residential taxpayers and businesses to cover the shortfall in revenue. Now, contrary to state regulations, the proposed ordinance includes unmitigated rights to host cannabis events, even on parcels that don’t have permits for cannabis cultivation, which require safety measures and qualified on-site security personnel.

With up to 104 event days per venue, plus large-scale cannabis events under zoning permits, the cannabis industry is securing more rights than the wine industry.

Agriculture/Food System, Land Usecannabis, cannabis regulations, events, tourism impacts, traffic, Williamson Act

Sonoma County Supes endorse new cannabis industry regulations

October 29, 2025

Emma Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Sonoma County’s highly anticipated overhaul of its ordinance regulating the cannabis industry arrived this week before the Board of Supervisors, where debate raised and settled for now a thorny question — whether commercial cannabis farming should be governed as agriculture.

On Tuesday, a board majority endorsed that regulatory set up, over opposition from the region’s largest ag trade group, while also deciding on other rules governing commercial cannabis cultivation, sales and distribution outside city limits.

The changes advanced by the board include defining cannabis as a form of controlled agriculture and classifying it as a prime crop making farmers eligible for tax breaks on their enrolled cropland. Going forward, the rules also would include cannabis in the county’s Right to Farm Ordinance, which is intended to protect and promote agriculture by prioritizing it on agriculture-zoned land.

Tuesday’s discussion marked the culmination of the county’s multi-year effort to conduct an environmental review of its embattled cannabis regulations and subsequently revise rules after years of piecemeal tweaks failed to resolve a stalemate between the local industry and residents.

Agriculture/Food Systemcannabis industry, cannabis regulations, controlled agriculture, noise, odor, traffic

Local legacy vs. big business in quarry quarrel

March 25, 2025

Martyn Lees, NORTH BAY BOHEMIAN

Pointing at the houses dotted around an aerial photograph of his property, Jonathan Trappe, a Forestville quarry owner and operator, indicated how close his family’s homes are to the asphalt plant he hopes to build on the quarry site.

“My father lives there, my brother lives there, I live here and our kids swim in that pond,” he said. All are within about a half square mile. He was speaking in reference to the community pushback the plan had elicited that cited environmental and fire risk concerns.

The point was clear, but Trappe added it anyway: “Who has more incentive to make sure this plant is safe?”

Tucked into the sweeping bends of Pocket Canyon Highway just outside of Forestville reside two stone quarries that serve western Sonoma County’s construction industries, most crucially the road repair sector. The quarries sit on either side of that stretch of scenic Highway 116, and both are surrounded by protected waterways and wildlife.

Land Useair pollution, asphalt plant, Canyon Rick Quarry, Forestville, traffic