NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
July 20, 2023 at 6 PM
Geyserville Fire Station
20975 Geyserville Avenue
Geyserville, CA 95441

The Northern Sonoma County Fire Protection District will hold a public hearing at the above time and location to consider the formation of a vegetation management zone under Division 12, Part 2.7, Chapter 10, Section 13950 of the California Health and Safety Code to provide comprehensive vegetation management services throughout the District. The zone would be called “Service Zone 1 – Comprehensive Vegetation Management Zone” and would cover the entire 412 square miles of the District.

Most of the District is forested and wildland areas, which are classified as Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone by the California Board of Forestry in part because of excess vegetation that can fuel fires. The purpose of the zone will be to reduce wildfire risks by reducing excess vegetation and to establish the District as having authority and jurisdiction for vegetation management services for the entire District. The zone will put the District in a better position to pursue additional grants, better collaborate with other government agencies that are performing vegetation management within the District, and compliment the District’s planning efforts to migrate toward landscape level (large acreage) vegetation management projects. A map of the District is available online at https://www.northernsonomacountyfire.org/service-area-map.  If you are receiving this notification, you own property in the District.

The services of Service Zone 1 will initially be funded with existing revenues. The formation of Service Zone 1 does not include the implementation of any new tax. Funding for vegetation management may later be supplemented with grant funding, fees, parcel taxes, or benefit assessments, but only by subsequent acts of the Board, and any new tax or assessment will require the approval of the voters or landowners of the District.