Plans for the future of the Sonoma Developmental Center campus have been in discussion since the facility closed in 2018.
Plans to develop the former Sonoma Developmental Center near Glen Ellen are going back to the drawing board, as the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors this week decertified its environmental impact report and repealed their approval of the SDC “specific plan,” the comprehensive planning initiative created to guide development of the project. The board stopped short of abandoning the SDC Specific Plan altogether, as the years-long process in creating it included extensive community input, county officials said in a statement.
The board’s move came in the wake of recent court rulings which found county officials had failed to adequately assess environmental impacts, wildfire safety nor account for community concerns over the draft EIR when they originally approved the plan in 2022. The plan had called for up to 1,000 housing units on the 180-acre main campus, which for decades had operated as a home for developmentally disabled residents. SDC was shuttered by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018 and the state eventually turned management of the 945-acre property over to the county.
The plan has faced fierce opposition from some community members. In January 2023, a group called Sonoma Community Advocates for a Livable Environment, or SCALE, took legal action against the county, alleging the project failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act. On Oct. 22, the court ruled for SCALE. Meanwhile, Eldridge Renewal—an LLC formed by Napa-based Rogal & Partners and the Grupe Company—was chosen in 2023 to develop the Eldridge property.
In a statement from the county, officials stressed that “under state law, the county is restricted in its ability to deny or reduce the density of the project, even if it conflicts with the General Plan or an adopted specific plan.”
These latest actions will almost certainly set back development of SDC for months, if not years.
