Fitch Mountain Fixer (Not Available)

Fitch Mountain dominates Healdsburg’s east side. The mountain fills the skyline and forces the Russian River to make a wide swing around the town. The blue circled area in the photo holds several hundred homes along S Fitch Mountain Road, N Fitch MountainRoad, Redwood Drive, and a network of other small roads that are in Sonoma County’s jurisdiction rather than the city of Healdsburg. These homes, for the most part, were originally cabins and weekend getaways. Over time many of them have been updated to modern standards, but this is still a rural community with the feel of most redwood-dense towns serviced by narrow roads. You might think of Felton and Ben Lomond in Santa Cruz County or Rio Nido in Sonoma County as similar feeling neighborhoods. Depending on where you are on the hill, you may be in deep shade all year, or in one of the fortunate spots with acess to full sun.

UPDATED: Property Not Available
I just listed a property on the mountain with superb sun and nice river views. The blue circle on the photo to the right shows the house’s location with south being towards the bottom of the image and the river flowing from the north east towards the west. The river views from the house are westerly.

The house itself is right at the borderline of fixability. People may legitimately differ on whether the house should be torn down and built from scratch or repaired and upgraded.

The reality is that Sonoma County septic and construction guidelines will have more to do with how the new vs. remodel question gets answered than the actual situation might dictate. The single most important question that has to be addressed is the septic issue. There is no sewer service available on Fitch Mountain, and almost none of the existing residences could meet new code requirements for Class One septic systems. The current waste disposal systems exist and are maintained as well as they can be and are tolerated by the County as non-conforming.

Whether a home that has been unlived-in and red-tagged by the county will be tolerated without the upgrade to a Class One septic system is an open question. Potential buyers will have to hire septic system experts to analyze the site and negotiate with the county. Once that question has been answered, new owners can choose whether to build new or rebuild a home that sun lovers can appreciate.
UPDATED: Property Not Available