Do you love decorating your home and front yard for the holidays? Do you think your house decorations are the most festive in Windsor?! If so, enter our holiday home-decorating contest!

It’s free to enter: Just email your name and address to Park & Recreation Supervisor Erin Stroud at estroud@townofwindsor.com by Thursday, December 9. We’ll judge the homes entered in the contest December 14-16 between 5:30 – 8 PM. Good luck! 

For more holiday happenings, click here.

“Pack the Patrol Car” Toy Drive 

Help the Windsor Kiwanis and Town of Windsor Police Department spread holiday cheer by donating to the Pack the Patrol Car Toy Drive. Toys will be distributed to Windsor families in need. 

You may bring toys to tonight's holiday celebration and tree lighting at the Town Green. The patrol car will be located on the east side of the Huerta Gymnasium. Police will also be taking toy donations at the police department until December 15. Thank you!

Celebrate the Holidays Sustainably

Through December, we will be publishing easy tips on our social-media channels on how to celebrate the holidays in a more sustainable way. The Town of Windsor takes part in the Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection Authority, whose Climate Action 2020 and Beyond plan provides a framework to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for all communities in Sonoma County.

We just published our first two posts, on LED holiday lighting and sustainable gift ideas. One gift idea is to give battery-free gifts. According to the EPA, about 40 percent of all batteries are purchased during the holiday season. Discarded batteries are an environmental hazard and even rechargeable batteries eventually find their way into the waste stream. Here are a few battery-free gift ideas for kids:

• Kites: All you need is wind!
• Bicycles, skateboards, scooters, roller skates: Kid-powered! Don’t forget helmets and wrist/knee pads.
• Engineering-, robotics- or science-project kits. No batteries needed for these “project in a box” kits that help kids build a foundation in physics, biomechanics, and other STEM-related fields.

Check out the posts here and here and please follow us on Facebook and Nextdoor to get the other sustainable holiday tips!

Town Council Appoints Interim Town Manager

Sonoma County Regional Parks is thinning vegetation this week, November 29-December 3, and next week, December 6-10, on three acres along the western boundary of Foothill Regional Park. The aim: improve forest health, increase defensible space, and reduce the severity of potential wildfires.
 
This work is part of a larger effort to rebuild Foothill Regional Park, of which 95 percent was damaged in the 2019 Kincade Fire, with a new “climate-adaptive” design to make it more resilient and to better protect surrounding neighborhoods. Crews are creating a shaded fuel break by removing small shrubs and trees and trimming up larger ones. No trail closures are anticipated. Shaded fuel breaks can reduce intensity of wildfire behavior and facilitate wildfire suppression.

2022 Winter/Spring Recreation Guide is Here

The Town of Windsor Parks & Recreation Department is excited to share the new Winter/Spring 2022 Recreation Guide. Registration for classes and activities opens on Monday, December 6. View and download the Winter/Spring 2022 Guide here: https://bit.ly/windsorwinterspring2022.
 
Please note: COVID-19 waivers are required. If you don't have a new COVID-19 waiver signed on each member's profile account, you will not be able to complete your registration. The system will display a pop-up that states "Access Denied.” For instructions on how to sign a waiver and to register online, go to www.townofwindsor.com/registration.

If you need help or if you’re not sure if you have a signed waiver on your account, please call (707) 838-1260. You may also email recreation@townofwindsor.com with questions.

Dec. 8: Workshop on Transportation-Impact Policy 

The Town invites the community to participate in a public workshop on Wednesday, December 8, at 6 PM to discuss a draft policy document governing the transportation impacts of new development or infrastructure projects. This meeting will be held via Zoom.

As of July 1, 2020, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires traffic-related environmental impacts to be based on Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), not Level of Service, which, for intersections, measures the average delay that drivers experience. VMT better balances “the needs of congestion management with statewide goals related to infill development, promotion of public health through active transportation, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.” The Town Council will likely consider formal adoption of a VMT policy in early 2022.

The December 8 community workshop follows a joint Planning Commission/Town Council meeting on October 13 to introduce and discuss the draft policy document. That document, along with the staff report, presentation, and video of the meeting are available on the Town's website. Please use this link to access the meeting. A recording of the event will be posted online after the meeting.

Work Resuming on Roundabout Project

Construction work is resuming on the Windsor Road-Windsor River Road roundabout project this week after temporary delays due to recent rainstorms and an issue involving two PG&E gas lines and the installation of new storm drainpipes. 

Once PG&E has relocated the gas lines, the project contractor will finish installing the new storm drainpipes before the end of December, weather permitting.  Once the storm drain work is complete, the contractor will then work on placing road base and installing curb, gutter, and sidewalk. Town staff and the project contractor believe that most of the delay can be made up through efficiencies and adjustments to construction staging.
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Temporary Shelter at Holiday Inn to Close

The County of Sonoma has informed the Town that it is ending the use of the Holiday Inn located near Lakewood Drive as a temporary shelter. Since June, the hotel has housed 30 to 40 unsheltered individuals who, though they have not been diagnosed with COVID-19, are considered at high-risk of serious complications should they contract this virus. 

No new unsheltered individuals may now stay at this hotel. The County estimates it may take until the end of March 2022 to find housing for each current resident. During operations, Town staff and the Police Chief met regularly with shelter staff and no major incidents or concerns were observed or reported to the Town during this time. The County of Sonoma has expressed its gratitude that the Windsor community has been able to assist our region’s most vulnerable residents through this effort.

Video: Meeting on Short-Term Vacation Rentals

On Monday, the Town hosted a community meeting on a proposed short-term vacation rental ordinance. Town staff gave a brief presentation and overview of the ordinance and answered questions from those in attendance. If you were unable to attend the  meeting and wish to view it, a video recording is available here.

For Healthy Waterways, Pick Up Your Dog Waste 

There is nothing like taking a pleasant stroll and then you look down and see … yuck! Dog waste is a common sight on Windsor’s creeks and trails. But it’s not just an eyesore. It’s also a health and environmental concern: Water-quality testing shows that dog droppings are a main source of high bacterial pollution levels in Windsor’s creeks.

Water runoff from rain carries disease-causing fecal bacteria into our creeks as well as other local waterways such as the Russian River, a main source of drinking water for more than 600,000 people in Sonoma, Mendocino and northern Marin counties.

We can prevent this pollution! Please carry baggies with you and use them when your dog does its business. Throw the bag in a trash can, even if that means carrying the waste until you find the nearest trash bin. It’s a great idea to carry a few extra bags for fellow dog owners who don’t have bags on their walks. Remember: if your dog poops, please scoop (even when nobody is watching).

Holiday Safety Tips on Lithium-ion Battery Use

With the holiday season here, your Sonoma County Fire District would like to share a few tips to keep us safe when it comes to lithium-ion batteries. These batteries, which can be found in many gifts, can cause a fire or explosion in rare cases. Lithium-ion batteries power many toys and other devices such as smartphones, laptops, scooters, e-cigarettes, smoke alarms, and even cars. Please follow these tips:

• Only use the charging cord that came with the device.
• Do not charge a device under your pillow, on your bed or on a couch.
• Keep batteries at room temperature.
• Do not place batteries in direct sunlight or keep them in hot vehicles.
• Store batteries away from anything that can catch fire.
• Only use the battery designated for the device.
• Put the batteries in correctly.
• Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Stop using the battery if you notice these problems: odor, change in color, too much heat, change in shape, leaking, odd noises.