Healdsburg Agrees to Join Countywide Push to Ban Plastic Bags

Healdsburg City Council members agreed unanimously Monday to join with other Sonoma County cities to

"I'm comfortable with the idea of a countywide ordinance," said Healdsburg Vice Mayor Gary Plass. "There are enough off-ramps that if we get uncomfortable, we can get off."

Mayor Tom Chambers said he thought it would be "much easier with just one ordinance" rather than having individual cities impose their own regulations.

Council gave authoriization to Healdsburg Public Works Director Mike Kirn, the city's representative on the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency steering committee, to participate with other cities in planning the new law.

Patrick Carter, a waste management specialist for the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency, said if all nine Sonoma County cities and the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors agree, his organization would cover the cost to hire a consultant to do an California Environmental Quality Act environmental impact review, or EIR, and to draft the necessary legislation for a countywide ordinance.

"It has to be unanimous," he told council. "All nine cities have to agree."

So far, six cities have approved the effort: Petaluma, Sebastopol, Healdsburg, Windsor, Cloverdale and Cotati, Carter said. Sonoma was expected to vote Monday night on the issue; Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa are to address it next month.

Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, who also need to sign off on it, will look at the matter today, Tuesday, at their weekly public meeting, Carter said.

Sonoma County Waste Management Agency would also assume legal responsibility and mount a defense should anyone file a lawsuit against the ordinance, Carter said.

Lawsuits could happen, he said. For example, after winning a legal battle that went all the way to the state Supreme Court, the city of Manhattan Beach in Southern California was successful in imposing a ban on plastic bags.

Carter estimated the cost of the hiring the consultant at about $130,000; in addition, the agency would hire an enforcement staff for between $130,000 and $190,000 annually to monitor compliance with the new ordinance.

It would be expensive for cities to pay these costs on their own, he said.

"The bans that have been successful have had an EIR done and not only banned plastic bags, but also added a small fee to use paper bags," Carter said. By adding the small fee on paper bags, shoppers would be encouraged to bring reusuable grocery bags, he said.

Carter said the ban would only apply to carry-out plastic bags, not the plastic bags used for produce at supermarkets.

If Sonoma County, with multiple jurisdictions working together in a joint agency, is successful in drafting and adopting a countywide ordinance, it would be the first county in the state to do so -- with the exception of San Francisco city and county, which are just one jurisdiction, Carter said.

"I don't like it when I go into a store and buy one or two items and they just put them in a bag," said Councilman Steve Babb. "I tell them to take the items out and I give the bag back."

Babb said he supports the legislation, but said he also feels education is needed.

"Attitudes have to change, and we as a nation have to have tailgate meetings where we talk to people one-on-one," Babb said. "We don't do that anymore."

Plass said he hoped the city representatives on the planning committe would be sensitive to the needs of visitors to Sonoma County who might buy something that's put in a plastic bag.

"Remember what Sonoma County is based on -- agriculture and tourism," Plass said. "If we ban plastic bags, the tourists would have no way to get their products home."