Last Wednesday, March 13, 2024, the Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council convened to address an array of challenges confronting the rural community. During the meeting, it was revealed that the California Highway Patrol’s ability to assist in curbing speeding issues may be limited. Additionally, members extended apologies to a pair of local cannabis growers caught in a neighborhood dispute. On a brighter note, there were discussions regarding genuine efforts to transform the Redwood Valley School Campus into a much-needed community center. Moreover, the council took a stance against a proposed gas station project within the valley.
Sergeant Adam Garcia from the CHP was invited back to the Redwood Valley MAC for a second time, as many residents are desperate for help in reducing speeding traffic. Garcia was not able to deliver much good news, unfortunately. Redwood Valley has radar-detecting signs in front of Eagle Peak School, showing the drivers’ speed, but these signs do not come with enforcement, they simply show the speed that cars are traveling. Garcia said that California law prevents using radar detectors to write tickets unless the road has a current traffic and engineering survey on file. Redwood Valley’s last traffic survey was done in the 1990s. The problem with updating a traffic survey is that if the results show that most of the traffic is going faster than the posted speed limit, the speed limit could actually be increased. Drivers going over 55 mph may be ticketed without using radar or an updated traffic survey.
Properties in Redwood Valley are set too far apart for it to be considered a residential area with a lower mandatory speed limit. Alternate MAC Member Marybeth Kelly asked Garcia about the speed-detecting portable trailer that the CHP was going to put on East and West Roads. Garcia said they can only use that on sunny days, as it is solar-powered, and couldn’t be used because of the weather over the past few months. He will try to get a trailer situated now that the sun is out.
Audience member Gizmo Henderson thanked Garcia for the CHP enforcement efforts at the West Road offramp. Garcia finished by saying that the state legislature makes the rules for traffic enforcement and vehicle codes, and perhaps communicating with our state legislators would be in order.
Sheriff Matt Kendall addressed the recent fentanyl overdose at the County Jail, saying this is a picture of what is going on all over California with regard to fentanyl. This smuggled fentanyl is different from prescription fentanyl. A body scanner is used at the jail to check for contraband, but the amount of fentanyl needed to get high is so tiny that it gets past the scanner. The Sheriff’s Department has obtained a drug detection dog for the jail, and hopefully, the dog can be better at detecting fentanyl than the body scanner.
A Search and Rescue training session will be held at Lake Mendocino with the new Blackhawk helicopter. Last year there were 53 Search and Rescue missions. Often the person needing to be rescued was from out of the area. Various civic groups and the Public Safety Foundation are donating towards the training so that the search and rescue volunteers don’t have to pay out-of-pocket for this. The Blackhawk helicopter requires more training than the previous helicopter.
Kendall said he has made multiple requests to the CHP to provide more officers in the lightly staffed North Coast region. He was dismayed when he recently saw a TV news story about 150 CHP officers assigned to Oakland as law enforcement because Oakland can’t hire enough police officers. There is a signature-gathering effort for a ballot initiative to increase sentencing for shoplifting, street crimes, and fentanyl sales. Kendall said, “If breaking a law is punishable by a fine, that means that it’s legal for a price.” The Public Safety Committee of the state legislature is “anti-law enforcement,” according to Kendall, and efforts to change the laws through the legislature have gone nowhere, thus the ballot initiative. Kendall said, “The current legislature is trying to legislate the tamest sheep of a peace officer.” According to a straw poll conducted by those promoting ballot initiatives, 80% of California voters are in favor of revising the laws that have led to crimes that don’t get punished.
Kendall is having difficulty hiring patrol deputies because Sonoma County offers more money and hiring bonuses. An audience member asked why this county doesn’t pay more. The reason is we have fewer people and lower incomes than in Sonoma, so our tax base will not support higher salaries. Kendall was enthusiastic about the Dream Act DACA new hires. These are people who were not born in this country but came here as young children and were raised here. They are more likely to stay in Mendocino County because their extended family is here. Kendall would like to hire more DACA-eligible officers.
As to the recent break-in on Road E, the perpetrators were filmed on camera. It is helpful to law enforcement when citizens send in pictures of criminals caught on doorbell cameras, as the jail staff can often easily identify them.
Henderson asked if a trustee crew would be working to clear the power lines at the KZYX transmitter up in the hills. Kendall said that National Guard troops have replaced the former prison crews that previously worked on fire abatement projects. County jails now house prisoners for up to 15 years, instead of the previous one-year sentencing limit. The state prisons are full of the worst of the worst criminals. Kendall said they can’t be allowed out in a camp, and “you sure as hell aren’t going to give them a chainsaw.” Meanwhile, the county jail is also full of hardened criminals who formerly would have been in prison. They are not trustworthy to let loose to clean up brush.
There was no official report from the MAC Cannabis Subcommittee, but MAC Member Chris Boyd said that cannabis is federally illegal. It is still a crime, and there is crime that follows it. She feels there is still a lot of danger around it for those living in residential neighborhoods. She said there is opposition and adverse effects up and down the state.
Other community members feel that cannabis is medicine. MAC Chair Dolly Riley apologized to Remi and Zoubeida Zajac, licensed cannabis growers in attendance at the MAC meeting, who were the subject of untrue statements made by their neighbor Shannon Montoya at the February MAC meeting. The MAC Members decided that in the future the MAC would not be commenting on disputes between neighbors unless they heard from both sides.
To be clear, the comments from the MAC were never officially submitted to Planning and Building. The Zajacs were not present at the February meeting when Montoya urged the MAC Members and the community to submit comments to Planning and Building in opposition to the Zajacs’ application for setback reduction, which application was not even necessary, as the Cannabis Department had given the Zajacs erroneous information. Riley said “The vote was not informed because neighbor Shannon Montoya gave information that was unverified. The Zajacs have been the subjects of 22 calls to code enforcement and the Sheriff, yet no violations were found.” Remi Zajac said “Thank you. You expressed it very well.”
Ever since 2016, The Faizan Corporation has been trying to build a 10-pump gas station in the shopping center at North State and 101 in Redwood Valley. MAC Member Chris Boyd said Faizan has numerous environmental violations at other gas stations that it has failed to fix, and the current application has been denied twice by the Planning Commission. Faizan is appealing to the Board of Supervisors and the matter will be on the agenda at the March 26 BOS meeting. The Redwood Valley MAC sent a letter drafted by Boyd in opposition to the gas station, citing traffic issues, light pollution, interference with neighbors’ right-of-way, the previous violations by Faizan, and more. Members of the public may submit online comments to the BOS at this link, and are welcome to comment in person at the meeting.
The Redwood Valley School Property has been vacant for 13 years. The Ukiah Unified School District has put the 12+ acre campus up for sale, with a minimum price of $900,000. Many Redwood Valley residents have longed for the campus to be remodeled into a community center. The property for the school was originally donated by the community-minded Wooley family in the early 1900s. Alternate MAC Member Marybeth Kelly has been meeting with Dr. Marvin Trotter, one of the founders of the Alex Rorabaugh Center in Ukiah, to brainstorm ways to make this happen. Kelly met with Carolyn Johnson, a Ukiah Unified School District Trustee. Johnson said Kelly needs to speak to at least three school board members, and also create a presentation of the group’s proposal for the school board. Kelly reports that Dr. Trotter is enthusiastic about getting a group together. The next meeting is March 25, at 10 AM at Testa’s Coffee Shop, if you want to hear about plans or join in on the efforts.
The vision would be to renovate the multipurpose room, gym, auditorium, and commercial kitchen. The gym has a beautifully crafted basketball floor. The wish list includes a lap pool, pickleball, and tennis courts. The upper part of the property could possibly become condos for teachers, nurses, and social workers who need affordable housing.
MAC Member Kahli Johnson, who works in the Ukiah Utilities Department, announced that Ukiah is in discussions with the County to annex land. The City and County are negotiating over sales tax issues, as Ukiah would gain sales tax proceeds and the County would lose. Ukiah would not annex Redwood Valley, but there is a tantalizing possibility that someday in the future, Redwood Valley could be served by the lower-priced Ukiah electric utilities, rather than PG&E. San Francisco is currently trying to separate from PG&E. If they are successful, it could set a precedent for Ukiah to expand its electric utilities.
Johnson said Ukiah’s Water Department is consolidating with Redwood Valley and Millview County Water Districts. This should provide water security for Redwood Valley. The consolidation may eventually lead to the lifting of the moratorium on municipal water hookups in Redwood Valley. An audience member questioned whether we want more people building and moving here, as some of us want to live in a rural area. Johnson responded that the slump in the cannabis industry caused a huge sales tax loss, so how do we sustain the economy and attract employers? Another audience member commented that if the economy in this county is doing so poorly, why are the roads so crowded? This sort of discussion is typical to a Municipal Advisory Council. MAC Member Adam Gaska, who usually delivers the water update, was absent because he was also on the board of the Ukiah Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency, which was meeting in Ukiah at the same time as the MAC meeting.
Chair Riley announced that the MAC sent a letter to PG&E opposing the rate increase. The Redwood Valley Community Action Plan and Design Guidelines have been approved by the Board of Supervisors and now it is up to Planning and Building to review.
Ruben Rojas, Fire Captain for Redwood Valley Calpella, was in attendance. There is one emergency siren in Redwood Valley, with four more planned. The siren manufacturer gave a public demonstration last year. The sirens have different tones and can also make voice announcements. The Fire Department spent a long time discussing how to train first responders and the public on the different tones, but ultimately decided to simply use a plain siren in the event of an emergency. If you hear the siren, look outside to see what is going on, check social media, and check with your neighbors to make sure everyone is safe.
New MAC Member Deborah Hughes was approved by the Board of Supervisors but was not present at the meeting.
Riley said that Supervisor Glenn McCourty is asking Redwood Valley residents for recommendations to name the new bridge over the Russian River. It will be named after somebody who has passed away, and who made an impact locally. Bring name recommendations to the April meeting.
The Redwood Valley Grange, the Redwood Valley-Calpella Fire Department, and the Humane Society for Inland Mendocino County will be co-hosting a pancake breakfast fundraiser on March 17 from 9:00 am to noon at the Redwood Valley Grange.
The Redwood Valley Grange and the Humane Society for Inland Mendocino County will be co-hosting an Easter Egg Hunt and Bake Sale on March 30 at noon at 9700 Uva Drive, Redwood Valley.
John King of the Humane Society for Inland Mendocino County will be the guest speaker at the April 10 MAC meeting.
Pot good. Gasoline BAD.
Just to clarify, I simply was stating that there have been talks of annexation previously in the news, such as Western Hills. Redwood Valley is not a part of that annexation at this time. With annexation and the water agencies consolidating, there could be excitement that electric utilities could be next, but this is not the case. The City of Ukiah can not offer power to those areas that are being annexed. BUT it would be nice since the City charges substantially less for power versus PG&E. San Francisco could be setting a precedent for a way forward on how to get there, but currently it is not feasible. When land has been annexed it does not necessarily mean that the utilities are going to be served by the new entity, unfortunately.