Lower Russian River Municipal Advisory Council

The Lower Russian River Municipal Advisory Council (River MAC) is established to advise the Board of Supervisors and other County decision-makers on local planning and management decisions relating to the Lower Russian River region; to provide a regular forum for citizen participation in the formation of advisory recommendations on those decisions; and to provide a bridge for communication between the County and residents, businesses, and the general public on local government decisions affecting the Lower Russian River.

View the Lower Russian River MAC Map (PDF: 2.6 MB)
Look up your address on an interactive GIS map to see which area you live in.
Get regular updates from Supervisor Hopkins by subscribing to the District 5 Newsletter.
Find information about Vacation Rental permitting
Watch recordings from past meetings on the District 5 YouTube Channel
Stay up to date and communicate with other Lower Russian River residents in the Lower Russian River Municipal Advisory Council Facebook Group.
You are always welcome to reach out to your MAC representatives or the team at District 5. You can reach our office at district5@sonoma-county.org and phone 707-565-2241. MAC representative emails are on the representatives page of this website.

Project Kickoff — Lower Russian River Governance Study

We’re excited to announce the start of the Lower Russian River Governance Study. We invite your participation to help develop an effective, responsive plan!

Mark your calendar for
Community Workshop #1

Saturday, February 4^th10:30 am – 12:30 pm
at

Guerneville School

14630 Armstrong Woods Rd, Guerneville, CA 95446

Click here to sign up for updates & let us know what's important in your community!

The Governance Study will seek to improve government services in the Lower Russian River region. The Study will take 6 – 9 months and result in:

recommendations for improving existing and add new government services
a funding and governance strategy to implement these recommendations

The needs of the community will drive recommendations! Through several community workshops and online tools, the public be asked to identify unmet needs, gaps in existing services, and potential new services to improve the quality of life in the Lower Russian River region. The public will also be able to comment on draft recommendations before the final study is complete.

The Governance Study is managed by the Office of Supervisor Lynda Hopkins District 5 with technical and outreach support from the Blue Sky Consulting Group based in Oakland, California.

For more information, contact the Office of Supervisor Hopkins at district5@sonoma-county.org

The FY 2022-23 Tourist Impact Fund (TIF) Grant Application Process is open.

The Sonoma County Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) is a tax on accommodations at lodging and camping facilities in the unincorporated areas of the county. From this fund, each Supervisorial District in the county receives a percentage for discretionary projects within each District from the Tourism Impact Fund (TIF).

These funds are then awarded in small grants to not for profit organizations to create improvement projects in their community. Awards are based upon the TIF funding area and criteria as listed in below. For geographical areas covered by Municipal Advisory Councils (MAC), the TIF policy has been determined by the MAC with input from the community. For those geographical areas not covered by a MAC, the application will go to District 5 staff and similar policy and procedures will be followed.

General Funding Criteria (No preferential order)

*Applicants must be a not-for-profit organization.

Extra points will be given to those projects that can demonstrate the following, although all good projects fitting the funding priority areas will be considered.