Can Realtors Help Guide Environmentally Sensitive Development?

I believe we can and I hope other Realtors agree, given the pressures we face from clients, developers, and our own financial needs and goals. Don't get me wrong: I also believe in property owner's rights. However, I think we need to balance those rights with enforceable guidelines for building. Who wants to see this hillside covered with homes?

I felt like I stuck my neck out today when I sent an email to an architect who will be working with new clients that are planning an addition/remodel of a home here in Sonoma Valley. I'm concealing his name and theirs but am posting the message below:

"Hi (Mr. Architect): Thanks for updating me on your discussions with (my clients.) I'm so glad you agree they are extraordinary folks. Thanks, too, for the invitation to lunch. As to "issues and sensitivities" regarding development in Sonoma Valley....and, actually, throughout the county...there are ordinances that the Board of Supervisors has adopted that clearly spell out what can and cannot be done along ridge tops...and in scenic view-sheds.

There was a recent article in the Kenwood Press that gives a pretty good overview of the issues and concerns of a significant number of valley residents. My mom is quoted and, to my surprise at the time, so was I: www.kenwoodpress.com/pub/a/3996?full=1 .

To clarify my position, it's all about doing what we can as individuals to maintain the natural beauty, and corresponding aesthetic and economic value of what we have here. I'm a bit unusual in that I'm a Realtor who looks at the very big picture rather than short-term profit. We have fragile natural resources and I think we must protect them, rather than build those "monuments to ourselves" that so many folks seem to "need." My passionate desire is to bring people into this amazingly beautiful environment who share a vision of a future Sonoma Valley that bears no resemblance to Tiburon or Belvedere. Otherwise, we lose what we have here and that would be tragic. I'm not a crusader and I'm certainly not naive about client demands and expectations but I do believe we can be influential and educational when it comes to more sensitive development. I hope you understand. I look forward to opportunities to collaborate with you and your firm to help shape the future of Sonoma Valley...and, yes, the county, too. We all need to do what we can.

Thanks, Kirsten."

I would love to get feedback on this post. Can we....should we....try to encourage sensitive development?