To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Permit Sonoma
Staff Name and Phone Number: Scott Orr, Director, (707) 565-1754, Haleigh Frye, Planner III, (707) 565-2477, Ross Markey, Comprehensive Planning Manager, (707) 565-2543
Vote Requirement: Informational Only
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
General Plan Sonoma: Policy Development Kickoff Board Workshop
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Hold a public workshop to:
• Review the Draft Community Engagement Framework, and the revised Draft Vision and Guiding Principles and provide feedback prior to finalization; and
• Receive updates on the project schedule and the Existing Conditions and Trends Report.
end
Executive Summary:
In 2024 Permit Sonoma initiated General Plan Sonoma to update Sonoma County General Plan 2020 in response to changes in local conditions, State law requirements, and community priorities. The last comprehensive update to the Sonoma County General Plan was completed in 2008. Following 50 outreach activities that generated more than 5,000 comments, Community Visioning for General Plan Sonoma concluded in August 2025. The results from Community Visioning were documented in an Outreach Summary, and community feedback informed development of a Draft Vision and Guiding Principles to be finalized during the initial stages of Policy Development.
The remaining work focuses on policy development and includes ongoing community engagement. The process is anticipated to conclude in February 2029, as outlined in the General Plan Sonoma Policy Development Schedule (Attachment 1).
Permit Sonoma has prepared a Draft Community Engagement Framework (Attachment 2) to guide engagement throughout the remainder of the project. Staff have also updated the Final Draft Vision and Guiding Principles (Attachment 3 and 4) based on feedback from the Board of Supervisors, Planning Agency, and public comment.
Permit Sonoma has prepared an Existing Conditions and Trends Report (Report) (Attachment 5). The Report provides a common source of information about current conditions, trends, challenges, and opportunities to support community conversations and help staff, decision-makers, and stakeholders evaluate tradeoffs as policy development moves forward. It does not evaluate the potential environmental effects of any proposed changes; that analysis will occur separately through the Environmental Impact Report (EIR), which will use the Report and other technical information to establish the environmental setting and baseline for evaluating the proposed General Plan Sonoma and alternatives.
This item provides the Board and public with an update on the project schedule and Existing Conditions and Trends Report, and the Draft Community Engagement Framework, and requests Board and public feedback on the Draft Vision and Guiding Principles.
Discussion:
Background
Permit Sonoma initiated an update to Sonoma County General Plan 2020, which has been in place since 2008, to satisfy current State law requirements, reevaluate community priorities, address changes in local conditions, and review existing policies in light of recent events, including flooding and wildfire recovery. The current General Plan update effort is called General Plan Sonoma.
In December 2023, the Board of Supervisors accepted staff’s recommendation to proceed with Community Visioning for the General Plan update. Community Visioning included extensive public engagement, resulting in over 5,000 comments and over 4,000 participants through a variety of engagement activities.
As part of that initial work staff prepared a Draft General Plan 2020 Audit to identify potential changes necessary to comply with State law, ensure internal consistency, eliminate redundancies, and reflect current conditions. Community Visioning concluded in August 2025 when the Board reviewed the Outreach Summary and Draft Vision and Guiding Principles and gave direction to staff to proceed with the remaining scope of work for the General Plan update.
At its December 16, 2025, meeting, the Board of Supervisors authorized Permit Sonoma to execute a contract with PlaceWorks to support the remaining work on the General Plan update, which is a complex, multi-year planning effort. PlaceWorks also supported Community Visioning.
General Plan Sonoma Policy Development Schedule
The remainder of the update is anticipated to occur over the next three years and includes several major tasks, including existing conditions analysis, community engagement opportunities, development of land use scenarios, preparation of the draft General Plan, environmental review, and adoption. Work commenced in January 2026 and is anticipated to conclude in early 2029.
The project team has published the Existing Conditions Report and is now beginning community engagement focused on developing land use scenarios and identifying policy priorities. This initial round of engagement activities is expected to continue throughout Fall 2026 and conclude in Winter 2027.
A schedule showing the anticipated timing and duration of the major project tasks is included in Attachment 1 and is published on the General Plan Sonoma website.
Community Engagement Framework
Strong and meaningful community involvement will continue to shape General Plan Sonoma. Ongoing community engagement will help create a Plan that reflects the needs and interests of communities throughout Sonoma County while building trust in both the Plan and the planning process.
The Draft Community Engagement Framework (Attachment 2) lays the groundwork for engagement rather than detailing a fixed or exhaustive list of activities, allowing the approach to remain flexible and responsive to emerging community feedback and participation needs as the multi-year process unfolds.
Community Engagement Framework Contents
The Framework describes the goals, commitments, audiences, and methods for engagement as well as tools for increasing public awareness. It addresses equity and accessibility, barriers to engagement, alignment with County equity and accessibility policies, and engagement with community-based organizations. It also describes the roles and responsibilities of staff, decision makers, and advisory bodies during the update process. In addition, it outlines engagement timing and adaptability, as well as how the County will report back to the public and promote transparency throughout the process.
Staff consulted the materials prepared by the County’s Office of Equity, to ensure consistency with the existing community engagement plans prepared by their office.
Community Engagement Goals and Engagement Commitments
The Draft Community Engagement Framework establishes goals and commitments to support inclusive, accessible, and meaningful participation throughout General Plan Sonoma. The framework emphasizes reaching a broad and representative range of community members, reducing barriers to participation, adapting engagement based on community feedback, building trust through transparency and follow-through, creating space to discuss differing perspectives and tradeoffs, and working with community organizations, Tribal governments, agencies, and other stakeholders. Engagement will be guided by five commitments: accessibility and inclusion, equity-focused engagement, transparency and follow-through, flexibility and responsiveness, and respect for community time and lived experience.
Community Engagement Methods
The Draft Framework presents a range of outreach methods that can be tailored to different policy topics, audiences, and each task during policy development. Methods include in-person and virtual workshops, online tools, community events, technical panels, Advisory Councils/Commissions (CAC/MACs) and other public meetings with the Board and Planning Agency, in addition to targeted engagement with community-based organizations, youth, and Tribal communities.
The Draft Framework also incorporates creative engagement approaches and ongoing communications through digital, print, media, and community-based organization (CBO) networks.
Targeted engagement will continue through partnerships with community-based organizations (CBO’s) that have established relationships with underrepresented communities. These partnerships will support outreach, focus groups, and culturally appropriate and multilingual engagement activities.
Targeted engagement with Tribal governments will continue throughout the General Plan update, including consultation as appropriate. This work will provide opportunities for Tribal representatives to share knowledge, identify concerns, and inform the planning process.
Fall 2026 Community Engagement
Community engagement timing will be aligned with the major tasks of General Plan Sonoma so input is collected at the points when it can most meaningfully inform key decisions and refine General Plan direction.
The next major round of engagement is beginning in October 2026 and will focus on gathering input on specific areas of the county “study areas” to develop alternative land-use maps, known as land use scenarios, and evaluate the pros and cons of potential changes. First, community engagement will focus on what issues, opportunities, and priorities should shape the land use alternatives developed for those areas. Community input will also inform the identification of policy priorities that will continue to be discussed during subsequent rounds of engagement.
We anticipate a more targeted set of community activities than in prior rounds, including in-person and virtual workshops, an online survey and mapping tool, and focus group meetings with hard to reach communities, occurring primarily in November and December 2026, followed by Planning Agency and Board of Supervisors meetings in 2027.
Draft Vision and Guiding Principles
Staff developed the Draft Vision and Guiding Principles based on input gathered during the visioning process and presented them to the Board of Supervisors in August 2025. They were revised based on feedback from the August meeting and presented to the Planning Agency and public in March 2026.
The Planning Agency and community members were generally supportive of the Draft Vision and Guiding Principles but recommended additional refinements to the revisions improve alignment with longstanding General Plan policies. Specifically, feedback recommended using the term “city-centered growth” rather than “urbanized area” to more clearly reflect the County’s previously established growth strategy and clarifying the relationship between agricultural and open space lands.
In response, staff made minor revisions to clarify these concepts and better reflect established policy direction. See Attachment 3 for the revisions.
Existing Conditions and Trends Analysis
The analysis in the Existing Conditions and Trends Report (Attachment 6) establishes a foundation for General Plan Sonoma by documenting current conditions, identifying emerging trends, and highlighting potential challenges and opportunities in the unincorporated county. The Existing Conditions and Trends Report (Report) is divided into topical chapters, each providing a detailed analysis of its respective topic area. The Report will be used throughout the update to inform policy development, community engagement, land use decisions, and environmental review.
The Report is intended to give staff, decision-makers, and the community a common understanding of current conditions as the County considers how the General Plan should address future needs and competing priorities. It does not establish policy direction, but provides the current information needed to discuss issues, evaluate potential tradeoffs, and develop and evaluate future policy and land use options.
To make the findings more accessible, Permit Sonoma is preparing community-facing Existing Conditions Summaries and a Key Trends Brief. These materials will be available in English and Spanish, and highlight key findings, issues, and opportunities from the Report and will be used as engagement tools throughout the update. The summaries will include discussion questions to help connect the existing conditions information to upcoming community conversations.
Board Discussion
This item requests that the Board of Supervisors hold a public workshop to receive an update on General Plan Sonoma, including presentations on the Draft Community Engagement Framework, the Existing Conditions and Trends Report and its key findings, and the project schedule, and to provide feedback on the Draft Vision and Guiding Principles before they are finalized.
Next Steps
Based on Board feedback, staff will:
1. Finalize the Community Engagement Framework and Vision and Guiding Principles.
2. Implement the Community Engagement Framework through engagement activities occurring throughout the remainder of the General Plan Sonoma project schedule. Fall 2026 engagement will focus on identifying areas of the County for further study as potential land use scenarios are developed.
3. Continue implementing the General Plan Policy Development Schedule, including transition from Existing Conditions and Trends analysis into the development of land use scenarios. The Existing Conditions and Trends Report, along with community input, will help inform which areas may warrant further consideration for potential land use changes.
4. Develop land use scenarios and return to the Planning Agency and Board of Supervisors in winter or early spring 2027 for further discussion and direction
Strategic Plan:
This item directly supports the County’s Five-year Strategic Plan and is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective.
Pillar: Climate Action and Resiliency
Goal: Goal 5: Maximize opportunities for mitigation of climate change and adaptation through land conservation work and land use policies
Objective: Objective 1: By 2025, update the County General Plan and other county/special district planning documents to incorporate policy language and identify areas within the County that have the potential to maximize carbon sequestration and provide opportunities
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
Yes
A full racial equity toolkit analysis will be available once the plan update is completed and presented to the Board of Supervisors for adoption. Equity considerations are embedded in all stages of the project. The toolkit promptings will be used throughout the multi-year planning effort to guide community engagement, data collection and analysis, and development of policies, program, and accountability strategies.
The Community Engagement Framework presented to the Board with this item outlines the approach and commitments for equitable engagement and inclusivity throughout the life of the project. In addition, staff presented the Board with an existing conditions analysis that leverages up-to-date demographic and socioeconomic data to identify disparities in areas like housing, employment, health, transportation, and education to inform subsequent policy development. The toolkit will be used to evaluate how proposed policies, programs, and land-use decisions may affect different racial and socioeconomic groups within the community and refine them prior to adoption to minimize disparate outcomes.
Staff will continue to coordinate with the Office of Equity throughout the General Plan update process to share information and seek input, as appropriate.
Prior Board Actions:
December 16, 2025: General Plan Update Project Phase 2 Contract Award
<https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7777748&GUID=53E76097-8FEE-4463-B5A4-AE6CA22FF4E3&Options=&Search=>
August 12, 2025: Community Visioning Outcomes and General Plan Scope Recommendations
<https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7504927&GUID=27926E3D-BCC0-48BB-9A01-E2E6665AA026&Options=&Search=>
October 15, 2024: General Plan 2020 Audit and Community Engagement Plan
<https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6888966&GUID=EE057F3A-26D3-47E2-A55F-60A80906DBE2&Options=&Search=>
December 12, 2023: Sonoma County Comprehensive General Plan Update Kick-Off (<https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6446395&GUID=04FE3E33-FB4D-44B4-A5A8-59CB2E2FBACF>)
June 10, 2023: General Plan Update Project Phase 1 Contract Award (<https://sonoma-county.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6720195&GUID=EA6AEAD9-96BC-4C3F-A9CE-0E18F3F3B28C>)
Fiscal Summary
N/A
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
There are no direct fiscal or new General Fund impacts associated with this item. Funding for the General Plan Update comes from three sources: the General Plan Administration (GPA) Fund, existing staff time supported by ongoing General Fund allocations for Comprehensive Planning, and $2.8 million set aside during the FY 2022-23 budget hearings to cover funding gaps.
Funding needs are evaluated annually as part of the County’s budget development process, based on available GPA funds and the previously allocated $2.8 million.
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
N/A
Attachments:
Attachment 1: General Plan Sonoma Policy Development Schedule (English and Spanish)
Attachment 2: Draft Community Engagement Report Framework (English and Spanish)
Attachment 3: Final Draft Vision and Guiding Principles - Track Changes (English and Spanish)
Attachment 4: Final Draft Vision and Guiding Principles - Clean (English and Spanish)
Attachment 5: Final Existing Conditions and Trends Report (English)
Attachment 6: Planning Agency Public Comments
Attachment 7: Public Comments Since March 19, 2026
Attachment 8: Presentation (English and Spanish)
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
N/A