The Esmeralda Development Plans On Airport Land Use Commission Agenda Today

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Plans by a group to build an independent settlement in Cloverdale are on today's Airport Land Use Commission agenda beginning at 9 a.m. today.

Commissioners will be reviewing a proposal today to develop the Esmeralda settlement at the south end of the Cloverdale Municipal Airport runway.

The Esmeralda Land Company seeks to develop nearly 270 acres at the southeast edge of Cloverdale. The site lies at the end of the airport runway and falls under the commission’s purview because of potential land use and safety impacts.

Devon Zuegel, associated with Esmeralda Land Company, has been pursuing the Cloverdale property since 2024.

The Esmeralda Land Company already teamed up with the organization, Edge, which is associated with the “Network State,” a cryptocurrency- and smart contract–based decentralized community that begins online and aims to establish physical settlements with its own culture, economy, and governance structures.

Together they created an annual Healdsburg pop-up village.

The development is moving through Cloverdale’s Planning & Community Development Department and has secured several key approvals, including a state-required Water Supply Assessment approved on Dec. 10. Water availability long blocked projects proposed on the site.

“This is the latest in a long line of ideas for that property,” City Manager Kevin Thompson told the Healdsburg Tribune. “There’s been discussion of some kind of development down there since the ’90s. It’s changed over the years. It’s been a golf course. It’s been a horse ranch, or equestrian center," he said.

The property, commonly known as the Alexander Valley Resort site, is accessed via Asti Road and occupies the former location of a lumber mill. Over the past two decades, developers have proposed a golf course, parks, a hotel, and a spa. Any development requires full remediation of the former industrial site before construction can proceed.

With water supply concerns now formally addressed, the Esmeralda proposal has cleared a major hurdle that delayed earlier plans. Today’s Airport Land Use Commission review marks another step as the project proceeds for regional and local consideration.

Permit Sonoma Hearing Room
2550 Ventura Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
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