Preservation Ranch's parcel mergers support a rural future
Based the actions of prior owners, the Preservation Ranch property is currently split into 160 legal parcels, which are separate lots that each could be developed with houses and other structures, roads, wells and septic systems, limited timber conversions, etc..
This fragmentation is undesirable, as it is inconsistent with the County's General Plan land use densities and breaks up the timberland into small, non-economic units, Considering Sonoma County's population growth, it is likely that the individual lots would ultimately be sold and developed if a use cannot be created that supports a rural future of agriculture and forestry.
The Preservation Ranch proposal would create such a use: high value vineyards on limited areas of the property (10%), with forestry and conservation guaranteed forever on the balance (90%). In addition, Preservation Ranch proposes to "give up" 97 of these parcels, merging many of them for a total of 63 parcels instead of the current 160 parcels. This signficantly reduces fragmentation and better supports the timber resource that needs larger parcels to be economically viable.
