August 22, 2024

In early 2024, a surprise proposal to build a new regional headquarters for CAL FIRE on a portion of the Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC) property was included in Governor Newsom’s FY 2024-2025 Draft Budget. In December 2023, the land in question—about 52 acres along the eastern part of SDC’s open space—was transferred from the Department of General Services (DGS) to CAL FIRE through a ‘transfer of jurisdiction’ that was not previously disclosed to the public or Sonoma County officials. This land was originally intended to be added to Jack London State Historic Park. 

According to CAL FIRE’s Budget Change Proposal, the area will be the site of a new Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit Headquarters and relocated Glen Ellen Fire Station. The project includes the acquisition of property, design, and construction of a new administration building, an Emergency Command Center (ECC) building, an auto shop, a service center, a training building, Captains Barracks, a training tower, a communications tower, a fire pump test pit, a generator/pump and storage building, a self-contained breathing apparatus recharge building, and a radio vault/repair building. Total project costs are estimated at $152,392,000, including a performance criteria phase ($7,619,000) and a design-build phase ($144,773,000). The performance criteria phase is estimated to run from Summer 2024-Summer 2026, and the design-build will be completed by June 2029.

After reviewing the budget proposal, Sonoma Land Trust worked with our lobbyist and legislative staff to create a new statutory requirement that CAL FIRE include protections for the wildlife corridor and natural resources in the performance criteria phase of the project. Specifically, CAL FIRE must ensure that:

“the design, siting, acquisition, planning, and construction of the facilities and related infrastructure conserve and protect to the greatest extent feasible the habitat, open space, and wildlife resources of the area within the former Sonoma Developmental Center property that is designated as a Habitat Connectivity Corridor and Community Separator in the Sonoma County General Plan. The design and location of the facilities and related infrastructure including, but not limited to, the placement of the facilities, lighting, and fencing, shall avoid and minimize impacts to the habitat connectivity corridor to the greatest extent feasible.”

Sonoma Land Trust will be meeting with CAL FIRE, the California Natural Resources Agency, and other interested parties throughout the fall to ensure that these statutory requirements are included in the performance criteria for this newly planned facility. It remains to be seen how the cumulative impacts from the campus redevelopment proposal and CalFire headquarters will be analyzed to ensure that environmental review is not done in a piecemeal fashion. It is also critical that the performance criteria ensure the protection and compatible use of the adjacent recreational and open space resources of Jack London State Historic Park and Sonoma Valley Regional Park.