Sonoma City Council zeros in on disaster readiness, climate and housing as top issues for 2026

Sonoma residents can expect a city agenda for 2026 that focuses on preparedness, partnerships and practicality, with less of a focus on new initiatives as city leaders plan to strengthen disaster and climate readiness, prioritize immigrant support and focus on regional housing partnerships.

Sonoma City Council met for its annual goal-setting session on Jan. 30 at the Sonoma Community Center.

The meeting included council’s evaluations of the city’s 2025 goals, as well as public input about what the city should focus on in 2026.

Areas of focus in 2025 included housing, parks, recreation/community services, economic development/financial stability, unification/annexation, and climate mitigation and adaptation.

Much of the Jan. 30 session centered on emergency preparedness, including clearer policies for warming and cooling centers and a broader view of financial, health and climate-related risks.

During the meeting’s public comment period, which lasted an hour, residents discussed concerns about evacuation plans, cold weather/warming center issues, protections for land and open spaces from development, increasing public art funding, improving bike/pedestrian paths for better walkability and safety, expanding tree work and native plant focus, including eliminating invasive species.

Representatives of Sonoma Ecology Center said, “We’d like to see Sonoma’s hillside background protected from future development and stewarded for ecological benefits. The city could buy the remainder of the Montini (Open Space Preserve) property … for example by buying options, retaining a right-of-first refusal or buying out remaining development rights.”

The center also requested the city create more walkable and bikeable connections between places “people need to go through, places that are green, beautiful and provide habitat,” and create a “public map of existing and potential future locations of open space, nature, waterways and trails,” which the organization has drafted.

On the issue of disaster planning, council members agreed the city needs to work with its valley neighbors.

“When these kind of cataclysmic events happen, whether they’re political or fiscal events, whatever they are, they’re going to be regional. They’re not going to be confined to the small city of Sonoma,” Vice Mayor Sandra Lowe said.

Council members supported reframing the unification and annexation goal as a broader, valley-wide concept, noting this approach could be applied to all categories within the city’s goals.

Mayor Ron Wellander proposed that Sonoma recognize that most of the issues it is concerned about are also regional concerns.

“Because it really comes down to forward thinking. We do live in a bubble, but we shouldn’t keep our focus in a bubble. We need to be mindful of things that impact us and our neighbors,” Wellander said.

Regarding goals for climate, council members emphasized practical adaptation over lofty emission targets, prioritizing fire and flood resiliency, as well as working with private landowners on fire-safe landscapes, and closer alignment with the city’s Climate Action Commission.

Council member Patricia Farrar-Rivas said the city should be upfront about which of its climate goals are no longer achievable and instead focus on preparing residents for increasingly volatile weather.

“We’re really not going to meet the climate goals that people want to meet to avoid some of the weather disasters that we’re going to be facing — it’s not possible anymore,” Farrar-Rivas said. “We have gone beyond the ability to change global warming. We’re not going to be able to (fix) that — not in any of our lifetimes.”

Farrar-Rivas continued, “What encourages people to do more is when you show them that we’ve done something well and celebrate that. So, continue to talk about what we’re doing well, but really understand the position we’re in and start tracking better.”

Reflecting on concerns raised during the State of the Valley event on Jan. 29, council members discussed how immigration policy and federal shifts could affect Sonoma’s economic and social fabric in 2026.

Nonprofits such as La Luz Center and Sonoma Family Meals were cited as key collaborators in community development and resilience, reinforcing council’s broader emphasis on partnerships over go-it-alone city efforts.

“There’s a real concern about the current immigration and anti-immigrant efforts in the Valley …,” Lowe said. “It’s a regional concern … It can be part of our preparedness, but we have a lot of immigrant workers in Sonoma Valley and they’re concerned. We need to reflect that.”

Council underscored its ongoing support for immigrant residents and nonprofit partners as part of its resilience strategy, framing immigration support as a continuous obligation rather than a one-off response to federal policy shifts.

City leaders agreed to work with the county to prioritize protection of Sonoma’s immigrant population.

Farrar-Rivas noted that Sonoma County is considered a model for emergency immigration support and urged city staff to look into obtaining similar education so the city of Sonoma can be better equipped and offer more resources to its vulnerable residents.

City staffers will present council members with a draft of Sonoma’s 2026 goals in March, City Manager David Guhin said.