Save Our Petaluma River Wetlands - Legal Fund

WE ARE GOING BACK TO COURT! To the Court of Appeals to fight this inappropriate development that would destroy our vital and rare river wetlands and denude the river's banks of its mature woodland forest, critical habitat for a number of Special Status Species including salmon and Steelhead Trout. The massive Sids Commons development would destroy our North River ecosystems, moving 20,000 cubic yards of earth, and filling/grading/cementing over wetlands that have remained unmolested since before the first Petalumans arrived (see drone link below). Wetlands are critical in the fight to stop climate change; they sequester carbon, provide critical habitat for wildlife, recharge our groundwater, and protect us from floods. Terracing and widening the river banks would destroy the river ecosystem, and increase peak flows downstream, endangering our historic downtown. We seriously need your help! 

Petaluma Mayor Teresa Barrett and council member D’Lynda Fisher are staunchly opposed to this project.  The US Army Corps of Engineers, who built the $100 million dollar flood wall in the Payran area said, “Do not build upstream of the wall, it will degrade flood protections.” US Fish & Wildlife said this is rare and irreplaceable riparian habitat. The Audubon Society is hugely opposed saying, "This site is not appropriate for this massive development, and would destroy natural resources and ecological functions critical for wildlife and the public". 

In the early 2000’s, Petaluma taxpayers paid out $28 million in flood losses because our City approved development in flood-prone areas. We simply can’t afford for this to happen again. Per Scripps Institute and the US Army Corps of Engineers, Sonoma County  is #1 out of 11 Western States and 58 CA counties for flood losses, over $5 BILLION dollars, because we build infrastructure where we shouldn’t.  Our City Council is making reckless decisions that benefit out-of-town developers instead of Petaluma citizens. We need to fix our roads and protect our precious natural assets, not spend our monies on flood losses.

We need to raise $45,000. These monies will be used expressly to pay the legal costs in this lawsuit to stop the destruction of these vital and priceless wetlands, preserve our river for public use, and ensure our taxpayer monies aren't used to bail out rich developers for flood losses. Please donate generously if you can!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qpelPLpAaA