This land has been undisturbed with very little human access until April 3, 2022, when Davidon started giving tours.

Davidon will bring in bulldozers to remove the hills and build million-dollar homes for a few people.

What does Davidon say about grading?

Quote from the Draft Environmental Report (DEIR), p. 4.3-72

Grading associated with construction activities generally increases erosion and sedimentation, and urban pollutants from new development would reduce water quality. DEIR, p. 4.3-72 -

What is beneath the native grasses and soil that we can’t see?

Above is a map from the Petaluma new General Plan maps.

This map shows where experts find a large California red-legged frog habitat. The red-legged frog is federally listed as a Threatened species and a California Species of Special Concern.  The Davidon tour included walking directly through the habitat. The proposed roads, homes, and parking lot along Windsor Drive will be built on top of this habitat. The new trails leading to the proposed Helen Putnam Park extension will be 6 feet wide, paved with asphalt, and be next to Kelly Creek. People, horses, and dogs will be moving along those trails.

Does it matter that this land is home to the California red-legged frog?  As people were trampling through the frog habitat, does it matter that these frogs were in their breeding season?  Some adults inhabit the breeding pond all year, but other frogs disperse into other habitats and must travel overland some distance, usually on rainy nights, to get to the breeding pond.

What does Davidon say about the increased activity by humans and pets?

DEIR 4.3-72

Opportunities for foraging and dispersal from Helen Putnam Regional Park across the site and to locations to the east and southeast would be reduced as a result of proposed development and the effects of increased activity by humans and their pets.

What does Davidon say about the trail?

DEIR, p. 4.3-62

Implementation of the proposed regional park trail project could result in potential impacts to special-status plant and wildlife species, including California red-legged frog, special-status plant species, and nesting birds, which would be a significant impact.

What does Davidon say about wildlife movement?

DEIR, 4.3-70

The proposed regional park trail improvements through the regional park would alter existing wildlife habitat values and disrupt wildlife movement in the vicinity. This portion of the regional park is relatively isolated, with very little human access or disturbance.

After all, this is only 28 homes and an extension to Helen Putnam Park.

If you are at all leaning toward the philosophy that "this is the best that we can do," we encourage you to read though Davidon's own environmental report. You will find quotes that we did above and many, many more. 

RDEIR – 4.3 Biological Resources

For anyone thinking of supporting this development, reading this one section about biological resources is disturbing. 

How are all of these devastating problems caused by the park extension and development going to be solved?

Mitigate, mitigate, mitigate!

If this developer were a true environmentalist, the mitigations would never be proposed. The land would be left as open space for the community to enjoy at the edge of town.  True environmentalists would never set foot on this pristine land.

Questions about the Park Plan

and its impact on Biology - Part 1

The extension of Helen Putnam Park plan was designed behind closed doors by just a few people. Isn’t this a park for the people and future generations?  Zero community input was gathered before the park plans were presented to the public.  The handful of people who planned the park asked for input after they had made all of the decisions.

How does constructing parking lots, a playground, an amphitheater, and paved trails along Kelly Creek for people, bikes, dogs, and horses through highly sensitive, environmentally fragile land make sense? Why should an environmental report contain pages and pages of mitigations to try to get the environmental destruction to a level of “less than significant”? 

If the community were designing an extension to Helen Putnam Park, a logical step would have been to hire ecologists to analyze the land for the least environmentally sensitive portion of the property. If the these environmental experts were unable to find a location for trails and public access, the community would not recommend the current plan presented to the public.  The "behind closed doors" solution presented to the public purposefully has fencing, signs, and asphalt trails down the wildlife corridor and through the red legged frog habitat.

And, keep in mind, the park has something equally destructive tied to it:  28 high-end homes.  All or nothing.  Approve the 28 homes or don’t get the park.

What is in the environmental report?

Throughout the Davidon environmental report process, the community has been discussing the destruction of the wildlife habitat, corridors, and plant species.  The following are not our words but quotes taken directly from the RDEIR. Do facts matter?

Davidon, who proposes to build on the rural edge of Petaluma, has been trying to find any kind of mitigation to get its houses built.  Davidon is hoping that no one takes the time to read the Biology section of the environmental report.  Analyze for yourself how harmful this development and park will be on the open space at Windsor and D Streets.

All environmental problems can be mitigated to “less than significant.”  How are those mitigations communicated to the plants and wildlife?  The answer:  with signs and fences.

The following are direct quotes from the RDEIR.  We have found so many detrimental quotes to this land that we have divided up the data into two parts.  This email is Part 1.  Read on if you are interested in the park destruction of our precious biological resources.  Warning: the biological impacts are worse than the imagination.

https://cityofpetaluma.org/documents/rdeir-4-3-biological-resources/

p. 4.3-57-58

"Opportunities for movement across the project site and to surrounding undeveloped lands would be affected by proposed development."

"Nonetheless, the new multi-use trails would border the southern and northern edges of Kelly Creek corridor, increasing pedestrian activity along this movement corridor for wildlife. Putnam Park Extension Project component visitors and their pets would disrupt wildlife use of the site."

p. 4.3-58

"The pedestrian bridges over Kelly Creek may encourage visitors to enter the creek channel. As discussed above under Impact BIO1, it may be difficult to effectively exclude Putnam Park Extension Project component visitors from venturing into the creek corridors and the southern portion of the site, including the stock pond, which would be disruptive to CRLF and other wildlife."

"Proposed residential development in the northwestern portion of the project site would limit opportunities for deer and other terrestrial wildlife through this area, although narrow 5-foot wide movement corridors are proposed along the west and northern edges of the site (see Figure 3.0-4). Collectively, the potential impacts of the project on wildlife movement would be potentially significant."

p. 4.3-58

Mitigation Strategies to make the impacts less than significant (our summaries)

1. An interpretive program with permanent signage for people to read about the sensitive habitat.

2. Dogs, cats, and other pets shall be leashed at all times.

3. Exclusionary fencing used to contain livestock and control access by visitors and their pets shall be wildlife-friendly.

4. The existing fencing between the western boundary of the project site and Helen Putnam Regional Park south of Kelly Creek and replaced with wildlife-friendly fencing.

p. 4.3-70

However, wildlife would eventually become acclimated to the future trail use. The impact of the regional park trail project on wildlife movement would be less than significant

p. 4.3-72

Cumulative development contributes to an incremental reduction in the amount of existing wildlife habitat, particularly for birds and larger mammals.

Habitat for species intolerant of human disturbance would be lost as development encroaches into previously undeveloped areas, disrupting or eliminating movement corridors and fragmenting the remaining suitable habitat retained within parks, private open space, or undeveloped properties.

Damage to the wildlife corridor with trails, houses, people, and pets

Quotes from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2022: 

"Whether they run, swim or fly, wild animals need to move to complete their life cycles. We call their routes wildlife corridors. These can span anywhere from a stretch of river to a whole continent. The more crowded and developed our world becomes, the more critical these pathways become."

Vitally important wildlife corridors exist in Petaluma.  Two are relevant for the Davidon property.  One corridor traverses through the property and extends north to the Paula Lane open space land and farther north and northeast to the North Petaluma River properties.  Another corridor extends south from the Davidon property toward Novato and to Pt. Reyes National Seashore.  

These wildlife corridors are critically important to facilitate (1) access to habitat and free movement, avoiding human-wildlife encounters, (2) support for strong gene pools and biodiversity, with wildlife able to move freely and extend their range and contacts, and (3) access to varied habitat areas as wildlife necessarily adapt to changes in temperature related to climate change impacts in habitat areas.

Most communities understand and strive to preserve wildlife corridors and help wildlife survive.  This is also very important for Petaluma.  For those who appreciate wildlife and their movement throughout our community, developing portions of this corridor would destroy a pristine natural setting and interrupt the ability for wildlife to live and move naturally.  (Resource:  Wildlife Corridors and Crossings mapping, Petaluma, 2021, Susan Kirks, Naturalist). 

Questions about the Park Plan

and its impact on Biology - Part 2

The ecologically fragile open space on 58 acres at D Street and Windsor, right next to Helen Putnam County Regional Park and Petaluma's urban growth boundary, is on a fast track to be developed.

If 28 luxury homes are not approved, "anything short of approval for the construction of 28 homes would void the agreement."  That means, if the City doesn’t approve 28 homes, the park will not be built. This in effect holds the City hostage to NOT exploring other options for this property.

The more we review the environmental reports about the park plan, the more we realize how the plan is human-centered: easy access to Helen Putnam Park from D Street, new paved parking lots for cars, paved trails along the creek that do not have much of a slope, good views, a place to bring a dog, horses, bikes, and strollers. 

We continue to ask the questions about how does constructing parking lots, a playground, an amphitheater, and paved trails along Kelly Creek for people through highly sensitive, environmentally fragile land make sense? Why should an environmental report contain pages and pages of mitigations to try to get the environmental destruction to a level of “less than significant”? 

What is in the environmental report?

Davidon has been trying to find any kind of mitigation to get its houses built.  Davidon is hoping that no one takes the time to read the Biology section of the environmental report.  Analyze for yourself how harmful this development and park will be on the open space at Windsor and D Streets.

We previously sent Biology Part 1, which described the destruction caused by people, dogs, bikes, and horses. The following are direct quotes from the RDEIR.  Read on if you are interested in the park destruction of our precious biological resources. 

https://cityofpetaluma.org/documents/rdeir-4-3-biological-resources/

p. 4-3-62

"Implementation of the proposed regional park trail project could result in potential impacts to special-status plant and wildlife species, including California red-legged frog, special-status plant species, and nesting birds, which would be a significant impact."

p. 4.3-62-63

"Of particular concern is the potential for inadvertent take of CRLF, which is known to occur in both Helen Putnam Regional Park and adjacent project site. Equipment operation during trail construction could result in inadvertent take of individual frogs, if dispersing through the vicinity of the trail alignment during construction."

"Construction of the regional park trail could also result in adverse impacts on nesting birds, if established nests are in active use at the time trail construction is initiated. This could result in nest abandonment, which would be a violation of the MBTA and State Fish and Game Code."

p. 4.3-63

"The proposed regional park trail alignment through this portion of the regional park currently has little human activity. The development of the regional park trail at this location would lead to an increase in pedestrian, bicycle, equestrian, and most likely dog use. Future regional park trail users and their dogs and horses could injure, harass, or kill individual frogs."

p. 4.3-63-64

Mitigation Strategies to make the impacts less than significant (our summaries)

1. Sonoma County Regional Park would take out permits before construction.

2. A Final California Red-Legged Frog Mitigation Plan would be prepared and monitored during construction.

3. Fences would be constructed to keep the frogs out of the construction area.

4. Develop an educational program with signs and fences.

5. Schedule grading, vegetation removal and revegetation activities during the non-nesting period (if possible).

p. 4.3-65

"Active nests of raptor, loggerhead shrike, or other birds protected under federal and state regulations in the vicinity of construction shall be avoided until young birds are able to leave the nest (i.e., fledged) and forage on their own."

p. 4-3-67

"Based on surveys conducted by Zentner and Zentner in 2016, the proposed regional park trail alignment would pass through several stands of native grasslands."

"Adequate area does occur along the trail alignment to accommodate replacement of native grasslands required as mitigation, including cut slopes created upslope of the proposed trail. However, given native grasslands are a sensitive natural community type, even with limited disturbance areas, this would be a significant impact."

p. 4.3-68

Mitigation Strategies to make the impacts less than significant (our summaries)

1. Develop a program to replace native grasslands.

2. Construction personnel shall be trained about native grasslands.

3. Monitoring will occur for five years.

Dr. Shawn Smallwood Assessment

As many of you are aware, Dr. Shawn Smallwood, a well-known ecologist, has been analyzing this land since 2013.  Dr. Smallwood's scientific analysis disagrees with the biological studies presented in the RDEIR and current FEIR.  Dr. Smallwood states that "the site is rich in wildlife.”  He also pointed out the occurrences of ecological keystone species to which the RDEIR and FEIR are silent.

Dr. Smallwood's surveys in 2021 and 2022 combined with a 2021 biologist (Martin) survey for the FEIR documented 90 species of vertebrate wildlife, 17 of which are special-status species  

Dr. Smallwood is much more qualified that a layperson to analyze the FEIR.  Dr. Smallwood wrote a detailed report analyzing the FEIR. We will make his 2022 report public in the near future so you can read for yourself how devastating this project will be on this ecologically diverse land.