Welcome to the Sonoma County Outdoor Recreation Plan

In 1995, the Board directed the Sonoma County Regional Parks Department, in partnership with the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District (SCAPOSD) and the Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) to develop an Outdoor Recreation Plan to help guide the future of public outdoor recreation in Sonoma County. The Board of Supervisors established a Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) in 1996 to act as an advisory body to the planning process. In July 1999, the CAC completed its work and a Draft Plan was submitted to the Board for policy direction in August 1999. The Plan was revised based on the Board’s comments and input from the CAC.

The Revised Outdoor Recreation Plan was completed in March 2003. The Plan identifies existing and future parkland and recreation needs, recommends specific projects that could address these needs, and identifies policies and financing options to assist with implementation of projects. Highlights of the Plan include additional and expanded regional recreation areas and community parks, open space and trails - 101 separate projects are identified, forty-eight of which are new projects that were not contained in the 1989 General Plan or its amendments. The Plan includes maps indicating the general location of the proposed projects and includes recommendations concerning lands that are operated by the State of California, the United States Government and other organizations where some level of recreation might be accommodated.

Currently, the Plan and Appendices are being updated to acknowledge Plan-recommended projects that have already been developed or approved for development, extending the timeline of the Plan to the year 2020 to match the Sonoma County General Plan Update timeline, coordination with the SCAPOSD Open Space Acquisition Plan, and updating the demographic information.

In addition to updating the Plan, the Regional Parks Department is currently working with its consultant to prepare the environmental document in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). On May 6, 2003, the Sonoma County Environmental Review Committee (ERC) recommended that an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) be prepared for the Plan. The Regional Parks Department contracted with EIP Associates to prepare the EIR. The Regional Parks Department expects that the Draft EIR, along with the revised Plan, will be available for public review and comment in 2006.

For additional information, please contact Nora Guy at (707) 565-2746.

Documents Available for Online Review

These documents are saved in Adobe Acrobat format and you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the reports. Visit our page to download Acrobat Reader.

*Some of these documents are over 1 MB, so you may experience some delay depending on your connection speed.

Outdoor Recreation Plan - Initial Study (entire document, 4.5 MB) - March 2003
	Or individual chapters available below
	Chapter 1: Project Description
	Chapter 2: Initial Study Checklist
	Chapter 3: Proposed Mitigation Measures
Outdoor Recreation Plan - Volume I (entire document, 7.9 MB) - March 2003 Under Revision
	Or individual chapters available below
	Executive Summary
	I: Introduction
	II: The Value of Recreation to Sonoma County
	III:Recommended Policies
	IV: Parkland Classification and Inventory
	V: Assessment of Parkland Needs
	VI: Recommendations
	VII: Financing Options
	VIII: References
Outdoor Recreation Plan - Vol II: Appendices  - March 2003 (Please note that only appendices 1, 4, 5 and 11 are available online. All other appendices are available in printed form at Sonoma County public libraries.) Under Revision

A copy of the Public Comments and Responses is available for online review. This is a large document - please be patient while it is made available to your browser. Please note that letters are not on the web site.

Copies of the staff reports on Agenda Item V, Agenda Item VI and Agenda Item VII are also available for online review.

Printed copies of the agenda, staff reports, Public Comments and Responses and attachments are also available for public review at the Sonoma County Regional Parks Main Office at 2300 County Center Drive Suite A120, Santa Rosa between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.