Fountaingrove Won't Be Whole For Years: Trump's Lawyers Launch Defense
Fountaingrove Won't Be Whole For Years: Trump's Lawyers Launch Defense
Fountaingrove Won't Be Whole For Years: Trump's Lawyers Launch Defense
REBUILD AFTER FIRES » Residents struggle with costs, fears, red tape
Fountaingrove won’t
be whole for years
Pat Cipollone
Trump’s
lawyers
launch
defense
IMPEACHMENT »
Opening paints Dems
as politically motivated
By ELISE VIEBECK, MIKE
DEBONIS AND RACHAEL BADE
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — Lawyers
for President Donald Trump
argued Saturday that he had
valid reasons for withholding
military aid to Ukraine and that
House prosecutors overlooked
facts that are more favorable
to his case, giving a short pre-
view of the aggressive defense
they are expected to mount next
week in the Senate impeach-
ment trial.
In a two-hour presentation
that reserved their most provoc-
ative attacks for Monday, mem-
bers of Trump’s legal team
echoed the president’s justifi-
KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
cations for his actions toward
Ukraine and sought to plant
From Rincon Ridge Drive West, fog-covered Crown Hill Drive in Fountaingrove is busy with new construction at sunrise on Thursday. The doubts about both the prosecu-
neighborhood above the Santa Rosa Plain is recovering from the devastation wrought by the 2017 Tubbs fire, but challenges still loom. tors’ case and its lead advocate,
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank.
By WILL SCHMITT Yet in arguing that the case
K
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT for Trump’s removal was par-
tisan and misleading, lawyers
aren Erickson bets she for the president omitted facts,
could name all her for- presented claims that lacked
mer neighbors on Bent context or downplayed evidence
gathered by House investiga-
Tree Place in Santa Rosa’s tors. Their most sweeping ar-
Fountaingrove area. She was guments did not specifically de-
one of the original residents fend Trump, but instead framed
impeachment as no more than
of the short, tree-lined street, a politically motivated effort to
having moved remove him from the ballot in
there in 1990, ONLINE November.
“They’re here to perpetrate
about the time the Find interactive the most massive interference
maps and more
subdivision off photos by visiting in an election in American his-
tory,” said White House counsel
Parker Hill Road pressdemocrat.com
Pat Cipollone, who said Trump
was developed. /fountaingrove
did “absolutely nothing wrong.”
She forged close “We can’t allow that to hap-
pen. It would violate our Con-
bonds with neighbors, especial- stitution. It would violate our
ly fellow longtime residents. She history. It would violate our
and her husband, Joel, had no BETH SCHLANKER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT, 2019
obligations to the future,” Cipol-
lone told the Senate. “And most
intention of leaving. Karen Erickson, who lost her home in the Tubbs fire, wonders what her next step is as she rests importantly, it would violate the
“I was a block captain before on a stone at her property on Bent Tree Place in Santa Rosa on Dec. 16.
they had block captains,” Erick- TURN TO DEFENSE » PAGE A2
people died in the fire, including two who home with a big pool, basketball court
son said. were overrun by flames in Fountaingrove. and exercise room — now appears too
Her home was one of nearly 1,600 in the The Ericksons fought with their insurer expensive for the couple to break ground
INSIDE
Fountaingrove area destroyed in 2017 by over coverage and discovered crews on, Erickson said. Builders are scarce, and from the phot
ography staff
of The Press Dem
ocrat
the Tubbs fire, which altogether leveled over-excavated their lot during debris their planned custom home and amenities
nicle of 2019
A visual chro
2019 • A YEAR
more than 4,600 homes, including more removal, struggles that delayed their plans
than 3,000 inside Santa Rosa. Twenty-two to rebuild. And their project — a dream
IN PICTUR
Emails flood officials over SR camp PD’S BEST PHOTOS OF 2019: Review-CV
Year-in cover.indd
$5.95
-2019.indd
1
1
1:28 PM
1/9/20 10:12
1/6/20
AM
“The overwhelming sense of well-being that we have really makes it feel like
our journey away from the fire has come to its completion.”
GEOFF BRUNET, former Hidden Valley resident who, with his wife, Mary, moved to Denver in the years after the Tubbs fire claimed their home.
REBUILD
CONTINUED FROM A1
make for a complicated
and costly rebuild even
under favorable market
conditions, she said.
“We just have to wait it
out. We just can’t pay $400,
$500 per square foot,” said
the 65-year-old retired
physical therapist and
community volunteer.
“That would be our retire-
ment money.”
The Ericksons’ lot is
among 605 parcels inside
Santa Rosa where no
rebuilding activity has oc-
curred since the 2017 fires,
according to city records.
More than 80% of those
lots are in Fountaingrove,
which also holds the vast
majority of vacant, burned
lots in Santa Rosa that
have been sold since the
Tubbs fire.
The patchwork of bar-
ren, expansive lots in the
hilly, upscale neighbor-
hood reflects the daunting
obstacles for recovery in
the area.
Construction costs are
substantially higher than
in the flatland neighbor-
hoods closer to Highway
JACK DEMPSEY / FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
101, including Coffey Park,
where the rebuild is speed- Geoff and Mary Brunet decided to move out of state following Geoff’s retirement and losing their Hidden Valley home in the Tubbs fire. Siting in their new
ing toward completion. home on Tuesday in Denver, the couple said they had no regrets about their decision to leave, despite having loved living in Sonoma County.
After the Tubbs fire,
hundreds of Fountain- THE SCOPE OF FOUNTAINGROVE’S SLOW RECOVERY IN SANTA ROSA for labor and materials more adjacent lots have no
grove homeowners also Rebuilding is underway or complete on the majority of burned lots in Santa Rosa, but Fountaingrove’s pushed construction costs record of rebuild activity.
realized their insurance recovery is creeping along at a slower pace since the 2017 Tubbs fire destroyed nearly 1,600 homes in ever higher. Across Fountaingrove, no
coverage was dramatically the area. A third of those properties remain vacant, with no rebuilding plans on file. Of the hundreds The same period saw in- rebuilding has occurred
inadequate, with payouts of Santa Rosa homesites idle since the cleanup, 80% are in Fountaingrove. Driving factors include wide surers signal their pullout on 501 sites — more than
that fell far short of cov- insurance gaps, high development costs and the worrying specter of future fire. from high-risk fire areas, double the number of com-
ering expensive rebuilds. Fountaingrove included, pleted homes in the area.
That realization sunk or begin to impose rate Most inactive sites
hopes of a swift return hikes that rattled residents citywide appear to be
for many, including the Rebuild projects seeking to return. owned by the same people
Ericksons. on burned lots Also complicating mat- who held the property the
And for some, seeing the Santa Rosa city limits Completed ters: a monthslong quan- day before the fire, said
Kincade fire rush up to the Started dary beginning in late 2017 Jesse Oswald, Santa Rosa’s
city limits last fall — two involving the safety of the chief building official, who
Not started
years after the Tubbs fire region’s drinking water expected more sales to
St.
laid waste to swaths of the system, which was partly outside investors.
An
re
“I was surprised at
d
recent blazes rekindled pipes melted in the heat of actually guessed that a
stories of the 1964 Hanly the fire. much larger number of
Skyfarm Dr.
fire, which traced a nearly The pile of problems lots have been sold ... But
identical path to the Tubbs makes residents like that largest number is
at a time when most of Erickson pessimistic about original-owner.”
Fountaingrove was unde- the future of her stretch
veloped. Parker of Bent Tree Place, where City’s search for answers
Hill Rd.
Will Abrams, who lost many longtime residents City Hall officials are
Th o ma
The
a home off Riebli Road N Fountaingrove have left. seeking to unravel the
just north of city limits, is Club “It was a very special mystery of inactive sites,
s La
looking for more certain- street,” she said. “I’m reaching out to home-
Sta
Crown Rincon
Ridge
ke Ha
gec
ty — against the risk of Hill Dr. Dr. sure nice people will move owners with vacant lots
oa
insurance losses, planned in,” but “these people are who have yet to submit
ch Rd.
rri sDr.
Hadley H i
PG&E blackouts and Keysight your friends, and that’s any building plans. Their
utility-sparked wildfires — Technologies been difficult, losing your simple method of survey:
before he forges ahead on ll D
r. friends.” postcards.
building a new home. Altruria Since the 2017 firestorm, Hopefully, owners of
rove Pkw y Dr.
.
“Nobody is expect- taing when several major blazes idle plots will respond, Os-
Fou n
ing silver bullets,” said destroyed more than wald said, giving the city
Parker Hill Rd.
M
en
Abrams, who is living in 101 do
cin
5,300 homes in Sonoma a better idea how to help
the Skyhawk subdivision oA
Chanate Rd. County, The Press Demo- them rebuild.
ve
on the edge of Rincon Val- . crat has monitored the re- “If folks have already
ley. “We should take every Bicentennial Wa build by tracking local lot gone two years and we
y
small step forward we can. sales and pulling monthly haven’t heard from them
But we need to see a trend permit data from the yet, short of a potentially
of making things better for Source: City of Santa Rosa THE PRESS DEMOCRAT county and Santa Rosa. A significant successful
residents.” year ago, Fountaingrove outreach, I don’t know
Still others have pulled had 10 homes rebuilt and a that anything is going to
up stakes from Fountain- Rebuild projects glut of burned lots put up change,” he said.
grove and sold their lots: on burned lots for sale by fire survivors, To speed redevelopment
At least 155 burned parcels Santa Rosa city limits Lots sold the most of any burn zone after the disaster, Santa
in the area have changed in the city. Rosa offered a special
hands since the fires, a Today, more than standalone department for
turnover that’s roughly 200 Fountaingrove homes fire survivors and crafted
St.
triple the number of sales have been rebuilt, and temporary rules for build-
An
re
d
of idle lots in Coffey Park. more than 700 are under ing in fire zones. The city
ws
the fallout is clear: Far pipeline. But the contrast fire rebuilds, but later this
more vacant parcels dot with far-along Coffey Park year it plans to phase out
Skyfarm Dr.
the landscape in Foun- is stark: Fewer than a quar- the standalone center for
taingrove than any other ter of the 939 Santa Rosa those permits.
burned part of the city. homes rebuilt since the Just last month, those
In Coffey Park, save for fires are in Fountaingrove, building permits spiked
about four dozen vacant Parker even though the area ac- for Fountaingrove, reflect-
Th o ma
Hill Rd.
lots, nearly all 1,400 homes N counted for more than half ing perhaps a rush to beat
The
lost in the Tubbs fire will Fountaingrove the houses lost inside city the calendar-year deadline
s La
be completed or nearing Club limits in October 2017. for new building codes,
ke Ha
Sta
completion by this year. Crown Rincon Many lots remain for officials said.
Hill Dr. Ridge
gec
Leaving town
oa
Hadley H i
homes under construction Keysight according to real estate But there’s a sizable
.
are finished, but it won’t Technologies data provided by Compass, minority of residents who
catch up anytime soon. ll D
r. a Santa Rosa real estate haven’t stuck around.
Some say it could resemble Altruria firm. And the surplus of Some have remained local
rove Pkw y Dr.
.
the prolonged recovery taing for-sale sites in Fountain- but moved out of Foun-
Fou n
Parker Hill Rd.
after the worst disaster to in the area adds to the mix documented drop in coun-
befall Sonoma County, the of factors that has compli- ty history.
question hangs over Santa Source: City of Santa Rosa THE PRESS DEMOCRAT cated the rebuild, said Vice Geoff and Mary Brunet,
Rosa: How long will it take Mayor Victoria Fleming, formerly of Hidden Valley,
Fountaingrove to fully ly a decade, before Foun- when you get done.” fir and oak woodlands — whose council district enjoyed living in Sonoma
rebound? taingrove’s rebuild wraps stretching well beyond the includes Fountaingrove. County and wanted to find
“Nobody has an exact up. That forecast — and A pile of problems Santa Rosa Plain. “All of those things another place in the area
answer,” said Keith Woods, the prospect of an extend- An assortment of subdi- Some of those luxuries together make it a really after the fire destroyed
who as head of the North ed period of construction visions developed since the — the topography, the lot courageous act, a really their home on Sleepy Hol-
Coast Builders Exchange, din and bustle — makes 1970s, Fountaingrove was size, the wooded landscape optimistic act to rebuild,” low Drive.
a Santa Rosa-based trade for wary builders and new home to several thousand — proved a cruel twist she said. But they wrote off the
group, regularly meets settlers, suggested general people before the Tubbs after the inferno, when Progress is evident in prospect of rebuilding af-
with builders working in contractor Todd Bowen of fire. Their homes stood blocks of Fountaingrove concentrated areas, espe- ter seeing the hoops they’d
the fire zones. “It’s educat- Petaluma. mostly on larger lots, homeowners discovered cially Rincon Ridge and have to jump through with
ed guesswork.” “It’s pretty depressing with expansive footprints, they didn’t have the in- Hidden Valley. insurance and securing a
Many tracking the if you buy a lot and no interlaced open space, surance coverage needed But empty lots still pock- builder.
rebuild say they expect other homes are being an 18-hole golf course to replace their original mark stretches of Crown “We kind of knew right
it will be at least another built around,” Bowen said. that survived the fire and homes. The gap grew espe- Hill, Skyfarm and Fir
three years, and potential- “It’s not going to look good splendid views — past the cially as the post-fire rush Ridge drives, where five or TURN TO REBUILD » PAGE A12
A12 THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2020
“Fountaingrove’s going to end up being the newest, shiny spot to be. ... I think
you’re going to hit new levels of affluence.”
JEFF SCHWEEN, real estate agent who bought a lot on Skyfarm Drive in Fountaingrove after the 2017 Tubbs Fire
From Rincon Ridge West in Fountaingrove, Crown Hill Drive is busy with new construction on Jan. 9 from the devastation wrought by the 2017 Tubbs fire.
REBUILD
CONTINUED FROM A11
away we didn’t want to re-
build,” said Geoff Brunet.
They rented for a time
in east Santa Rosa while
looking for a new home.
They weren’t able to
buy the house they were
renting, and they couldn’t
find affordable homes on
the market — even after
broadening their search to
Forestville and Sebastopol.
When Geoff reached
the point of being able
to retire from his job in
Mendocino County, they
decided to move. They
now live in Denver, where
they can split their travels
between family in the Bay
Area and in New Jersey.
Speaking by phone
from their new home, the
Brunets sounded wist-
ful when they recalled
visiting friends in Santa
Rosa for Thanksgiving.
They were impressed by
the amount of rebuilding
in Hidden Valley, but they
were surprised by how
many for-sale signs they
saw. They didn’t share
any regrets about their
decision to leave.
“The overwhelming
sense of well-being that After being burned by the Tubbs fire in October 2017, Rincon Ridge in the Fountaingrove area of Santa Rosa, above, was devastated. On Dec. 26, 2019,
we have really makes it below, new houses were finally under construction on Rincon Ridge.
feel like our journey away
from the fire has come
to its completion,” Geoff
Brunet said.
Living in limbo
Many fire survivors
share the burdens of
insufficient insurance and
high rebuild costs. But ad-
vanced age and traumatic
memories of the Tubbs
fire also came into play for
many in Fountaingrove
when deciding whether to
commit to a process that
takes a year or more to see
through.
Fountaingrove’s resi-
dents tended to be older
and might not want to face
a complicated building
process late in life. They
also are more likely to
have the wherewithal to
relocate or to own homes
elsewhere, said Oswald,
the city’s chief building
official.
“They have someplace
else to live, and they’re
happy there,” he said. Still
others, he added, “haven’t
recovered personally,
psychologically, and don’t
necessarily want to deal
with rebuilding.”
Then there’s Jamie
Keck-Crozat, whose family
owns a local chain of auto
body repair shops and
who doesn’t fit neatly into
any of those categories.
She and her husband put
their Crown Hill Drive lot, building plans midstream to get rid of their footings opted to move forward house at the end of it.” There are plenty of
where they lived before the last year when, six months and restart completely, she on their new, west-facing boosters, including real
fire, on the market after after giving birth to their said. Skyfarm lot — even if it Investors see a chance estate agents and builders,
buying another Fountain- daughter, she learned she The Santa Rosa native means an extended wait. An increasing share of who’ve made big plays
grove property on Sky- was pregnant with a boy. said she felt some doubt “We decided to make new homes in Fountain- in the area. Backers of
farm Drive. “Oh dear God, we gotta about rebuilding, especial- this commitment, this sac- grove will be built not by redevelopment point to its
Altogether, the extend- rethink what we need to ly with her second child rifice if you will, to kind of fire survivors like Keck- views, spacious lots and
ed Crozat family lost five do,” Keck-Crozat recalled on the way. But her family live in limbo for the next Crozat, but by speculators nearby anchor employ-
homes in the firestorm. thinking. The logistics benefited from good insur- couple of years,” Keck- and developers who have ers such as Keysight and
Jamie and her husband, didn’t work on their for- ance coverage and a “par- Crozat said, “but we’re so far snapped up roughly
Shane Keck, changed re- mer lot unless they wanted amount” builder, so they going to have our dream 150 burned lots in the area. TURN TO REBUILD » PAGE A13
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2020 A13
REBUILD
CONTINUED FROM A12
Medtronic as reasons why
well-to-do professionals
will still want to live in the
area.
Once more burned lots
are rebuilt in Fountain-
grove, its residents will
inject more wealth into the
area, said real estate agent
Jeff Schween, who bought
a lot on Skyfarm Drive
after the fire.
“Fountaingrove’s going
to end up being the newest,
shiny spot to be,” Schween
pledged. He singled out
plans by the fire-damaged
Fountaingrove Club to
build a brand-new club-
house for its golf course.
“I think you’re going to hit
new levels of affluence,”
he said.
As of late July, 313 Foun-
taingrove lots had been
sold for a median price of
$270,000, according to the
latest data available from
Compass.
Investment activity on
bare lots has been concen-
trated among homes that
back up to the second hole
of the golf course. Half
of the first 14 homes on
Cross Creek Road north of KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT)
Thomas Lake Harris Drive Steve Franklin, left, and Joe Lemos frame a new home in Fountaingrove on Jan. 15 where the previous house was burned during the 2017 Tubbs fire.
have been sold to investors
and have seen no building dampen desire for settlers. he said. Piper has more recently their custom home. go — starting over again.’”
activity, according to city “You go down the street, worked on insurance mat- “To have what I had Fleming sounded a sim-
records. other parts look scary Haunted by fire ters with Santa Rosa fire is not easy,” she said. “It ilar note.
One of those 14 homes because it looks like a The effort to rebuild survivors as board presi- would be difficult to rec- While it’s unclear to
now belongs to a devel- checkerboard,” Blete said. Fountaingrove has par- dent of United Policyhold- reate, certainly, with the anyone how long Foun-
opment group that has “People aren’t going to allels to the 1991 Tunnel ers, a nonprofit consumer monies that we have.” taingrove’s recovery will
bought seven other nearby want to live in a checker- fire, which killed 25 people assistance group. She said And the threat of fire take, the councilwoman
Fountaingrove lots and board.” and destroyed more than the quandary faced by is unlikely to ever be said wildfire, more than
plans to start building all Other potential inves- 3,000 structures in the Fountaingrove residents re- extinguished for those who anything else for her,
eight by spring. The devel- tors have held off on plans Oakland and Berkeley minds her of her neighbors. choose to live in Foun- remained the dominant
opers, Terry Blete and Bob because of that patchwork hills. Before that wildfire, “They’re very much taingrove. The Kincade variable in the neighbor-
Lis, plan to save on costs in Fountaingrove. the area was dotted with like we were,” she said. fire demonstrated that for hood’s future.
by building in bulk. The Bowen, the Petalu- homes similar to those “They’re educated, they people like Keck-Crozat. “Fountaingrove might
think they’ll do well with ma-based general contrac- wiped out by the Tubbs have funds and they use She was more prepared not look like it used to
the sites they’ve acquired. tor, said his post-Tubbs fire in Fountaingrove — them.” this time, having packed look at any point,” she
“We just nailed the lo- fire plan was to build four spacious, upscale and But for Erickson, the and kept an eye on the said. “But it might have
cation,” Blete said, noting or five houses in Fountain- costly to rebuild. retired physical therapist, fire’s progress. When the a closer resemblance to
that a house near their lots grove or Wikiup, including At least five years passed the delay has been dictated flames came within reach how it used to look in five
recently went on the mar- a dream home of his own. before most of those by financial shortfall — of the city, prompting the to eight years, if we don’t
ket for about $1.2 million. But he has shied away properties were rebuilt, the gap between what they largest mass evacuation in have catastrophic Octobers
“Even at that price, it’s from buying even one lot said Sue Piper, who lost her have and need to rebuild. county history, “We were for the next couple years.”
a grand slam for us, and given the slow progress. home in the Tunnel fire She and her husband ready to go and prepared
I think we’re going to do “The biggest fear is you and considered herself one have been watching to say goodbye to every- You can reach Staff Writer
much better,” he said. won’t be able to resell it for of the first to return. PG&E’s bankruptcy thing again,” she said. Will Schmitt at 707-521-
But he acknowledged what it’s worth because “Most of us who lost proceedings to see what “We weren’t crying,” but 5207 or will.schmitt@
Fountaingrove could take the economy will take a everything, we’ve never sort of settlement might “we were scared. More for pressdemocrat.com.
several more years to downturn or nobody is had to build anything from emerge before they decide our kids, and scared of:
build out — and that could building houses up there,” scratch,” Piper said. whether to proceed on ‘Here we go again. Here we