Redwood Valley residents packed the November 13 Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) meeting to tackle pressing issues—from pothole-riddled roads to emergency alert systems that could save lives. With input sought for the 2026 Regional Transportation Plan, progress on a long-awaited recreation center, and debates over cannabis permits and traffic safety, the evening was a lively snapshot of community action in motion. Here’s what you need to know.
The guest speakers were Alexis Pedrotti and James Sookne from the Mendocino Council of Governments, our county’s regional transportation planning agency. MCOG is in the process of updating its 2026 Regional Transportation and Active Transportation Plan. Public input on the plan, which is revised every four years, is vital to let MCOG know what the community needs. MCOG supports regional transportation, roads, bike lanes, public transportation, and tribal transportation.
Attendees and MAC Members expressed the need for roundabouts to calm traffic in various intersections around Redwood Valley. Everybody agreed that pavement conditions are terrible on many local roads, especially Roads A and B in Redwood Valley. Sookne said that there is a $350 million budget deficit for repaving county roads. The county’s focus is on the busier roads.
The new bus stop at the corner of West Road and North State Street will soon have a shelter. The old shelter is being renovated and will be reinstalled in the new location. MAC Member Patricia Ris-Yarborough asked whether speed enforcement can be put into the MCOG Plan. She would like to see lower speed limits and more bike lanes. Sookne replied that in terms of bike lanes, for a narrow road such as West Road, there would need to be a separate bike path off the road. As far as speed enforcement, he said the same thing that last year’s CHP guest speaker told the MAC: a speed survey is necessary before the speed limit can be changed. If 85% of cars are going over the existing speed limit, the speed limit will not be lowered, in fact, it might be raised. A method of lowering the speed limit is to pick a section of road where traffic moves slowly and do the survey on that spot.
MAC Member Deb Hughes said her students from the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians need reliable bus transportation to school. On the topic of long lines and traffic jams around the local schools, Sookne said the parking lots were poorly planned at the time of construction, and there is a shortage of school bus drivers, so many parents drive their children to and from school.
Learn more about the plan and take a survey giving your input on important transportation issues at this link. The web page contains an interactive map, where you can drop a pin on the map with your comment. Survey results and comments will be analyzed by those revising the Plan. MCOG welcomes public attendance at board meetings, which are held the first Monday of each month at 1:30 pm in the County Board of Supervisors chambers.
Gizmo Henderson reported that the new asphalt at the remodeled on-ramp and bridge at Hwy. 20 is super slick. Alternate MAC Member Marybeth Kelly said that she had seen similar comments on the Redwood Valley Facebook group. Caltrans needs to be notified.
MAC Member Chris Boyd, who is also on the Board of the Redwood Valley-Calpella Fire Department, noted that there were several fires in October. Now that it is burning season, it is vitally important to monitor burn piles, as they can easily get out of control. Boyd said, “Keep up the good work, those of you who haven’t started a fire.”
The emergency sirens purchased by a prior Fire Chief have never been put into use. One of the sirens was tested and demonstrated to the public two years ago. The remaining sirens have never been installed and the existing siren is not in use. The reason is that responsibility for emergency notifications is now with the Sheriff’s Department Office of Emergency Services. The OES is using Nixle, Watch Duty, social media, and texts to alert the public to an emergency. These methods all rely on an internet or cell phone connection, which sometimes goes down in an emergency, and many locations in the county have poor coverage.
The MAC Members discussed the pros and cons of installing the high-tech sirens, which can use several different sounds and even spoken messages. Some feel that it can be effective to simply blast the siren as loud as possible during an emergency, so people will have a warning that something is happening. Boyd said at its most basic, the siren means “Wake up so you don’t die.” The public is welcome to attend the Fire Department Board meetings every 3rd Thursday at 6:00 pm in the firehouse.
Marybeth Kelly provided a Grange update. The remodeling is on schedule to be completed on March 31, 2025, at which time they can resume building rentals, including the rental of the new commercial kitchen. Kelly announced that a community dance with music by the Fargo Brothers would be held on November 16 (post-meeting note: the dance was a success, with 200 people attending). The Christmas Craft Fair will be held on December 14th.
Marybeth Kelly reported on the progress of the group working at the Redwood Valley Recreation Center. The State Department of Education approved the use of a waiver at its November meeting, allowing Ukiah Unified School District to sell the school property on the market, or rent it. Supporters of a potential recreation center need to wait for UUSD to issue a request for proposal. It is doubtful that UUSD will have time to prepare the RFP in time for the December 12 Board of Trustee’s meeting. The Redwood Valley MAC supports using the campus as a rec center.
State Farm Insurance Agent Jay Epstein was elected to the Board of Trustees for Mendocino College. He will let the Mendocino College Trustees know about the efforts to build a Redwood Valley Recreation Center, as they may want to support this effort. Epstein will return as a guest speaker at the February 2025 MAC meeting to provide an insider’s view of what is going on with fire insurance in California.
Redwood Valley resident Charlie Coleman spoke to the MAC about his neighbor’s application for a setback variance for a cannabis grow. Planning Director Julia Krog announced that neighbors within a 350-foot distance were informed of the application, and the notice was published in the Ukiah Daily Journal. Coleman said the original application was filed in February 2024, and he did not receive notification by mail until months later when the process was already underway. Coleman was planning to attend the October 10 meeting regarding the application, but that meeting was canceled without notification to him. MAC Chair Dolly Riley informed Coleman that the MAC Cannabis Policy Standing Subcommittee checks every month for new cannabis applications, which are available online for public view and comment.
Riley reported that the permit application by Faizan Corporation to install a 10-pump gas station on North State Street has not yet been approved. Caltrans has finally replied to Planning and Building Services, holding to its previous finding that in order to approve a gas station at that location, the median on Highway 101 would need to be closed, along with other road improvements, at a cost of no less than $2 million, payable by the applicant. This would take close to two years to accomplish. This would stop most businesses from proceeding. Faizon is said to have deep pockets. The MAC will continue to monitor the situation.
The Redwood Valley Community Action Plan is inching forward, still under review by County Counsel.
MAC Member Sonya Pio reported that she visited the Tribal Office at Coyote Valley to inquire about possibly opening their swimming pool for community use.
MAC Member Kahli Johnson resigned. There is now an opening for two new members and a secretary. Jeff Adair from the Mendocino County Office of Emergency Services will be the guest speaker in January.
There is no MAC meeting scheduled for December. The next meeting is set for January 8, 2025, 5:30 pm at the Redwood Valley Grange.
I love that people don’t cut around the North State junction anymore with the new curbs. The smartest move made in the county to date. Now just maybe paint them red or something?
And seriously please get the regular siren working, don’t rely on everyone’s phones being on and by their heads all night long in an emergency. Cleary phones didn’t reach everyone last time, let’s not be insane.
And I find it interesting that white people be asking tribes to uses their community services (their pool) , the pendulum us in full reverse. Cool.
Believe it or not, there’s not just white people in Redwood Valley…but I agree with what you’re saying, the pool was built for the tribe so I don’t see why they should just open the gates to everyone who wants entry.
Please at least once a week park an officer on State St. to control the speeders. I was getting service done at Big O so I decided to walk down to Black Oak with my daughter to get coffee and a snack. The amount of drivers doing 40-50 mph was mind boggling. It felt very unsafe even though we were walking on the sidewalk. I start work at 4am as a delivery driver and it’s the same issue…people absolutely flying down State and I hardly ever see any Law Enforcement Officers.
And people wonder why they widened the sidewalks in downtown.
Redwood Valley and the RVMAC are full of it on their cannabis hypocrisy and the gas station. Being brainless isn’t helping their leadership. 1/2 of Redwood Valley was growing weed when code enforcement started their cleanup to help them deal with their “complaints” about cannabis odor etc. regarding the couple legal grows they want out. Total hypocrisy.
They could activate the two brain cells they used up protesting weed to see that a zoning overlay could be pursued to prevent gas stations where they don’t want them- but without resorting to the outright racism and bigotry they relied on during their campaign to prohibit weed. Hire a private firm to get signatures on the gas station issue instead of relying on a neighborhood bullying effort to pressure people to sign. Keep the information private until everyone has signed or not. Then go to the BoS with a revised ordinance that works to prohibit an actually dangerous and damaging environmental hazard-petrochemical gas stations. Save the ground water. Save the land. Save the air!