Two Groups Assisting in the Sonoma County's Well Ordinance Begin Meetings | KSRO
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Two Groups Assisting in the Sonoma County’s Well Ordinance Begin Meetings

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Two groups assisting in revising the county’s well ordinance will meet this afternoon. The technical and policy working groups created by Permit Sonoma will have their first meeting today from 3 PM to 4:30 PM. The groups will help create a new framework to evaluate environmental impacts during the review of permit applications for drilling new or replacement groundwater wells. After today, separate meetings of the technical working group and policy working group will take place on alternating weeks through February or March 2023. This comes after the Board of Supervisors approved a moratorium on new well permits back in October. The county needed to update its ordinance in response to evolving California case law that requires local governments to protect the health of rivers and other public trust resources.

The policy working group members represent diverse stakeholder interests and will make policy recommendations based on input from stakeholders and the technical working group. The policy working group includes:

 

Mike Martini, Co-Chair – Ag and development interests

Rue Furch, Co-Chair – Sonoma County Water Coalition

Brock Dolman – Occidental Arts and Ecology Center

Monty Schmitt – Nature Conservancy

Charlie Schneider – Trout Unlimited

Gary Michelson – Well driller

Sandi Potter – Petaluma Groundwater Sustainability Agency Administrator

Mike Sangiacomo – Vineyard manager

Rob Cantu – North Coast Builders Exchange

Lisa Badenfort – North Bay Association of Realtors

Dayna Ghirardelli – Sonoma County Farm Bureau

Carolyn Wasem – North Bay Water District

 

The technical working group will develop and assess policy recommendations using scientifically accepted theory, methods and practices. Members of the technical working group include:

 

Jay Jasperse – Water Resources Consultant, Retired – Sonoma County Water Agency

Sam Boland-Brien – California State Water Resources Control Board

Jessica Maxfield – California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Rick Rogers – National Marine Fisheries Service

Andy Casarez – Office of the Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner

Marcus Trotta – Sonoma County Groundwater Sustainability Agencies

Matt Peterson – Well driller

Laurel Marcus – Agricultural practices

Brad Peterson – Vineyard manager

Melissa Rohde – Environmental consultant

Bruce Abelli Amen – Environmental consultant

Ken Johnson – Environmental and geotechnical consultant

 

For more information on the well ordinance update visit Permit Sonoma’s well ordinance update webpage.