San Francisco Oakland San Jose, CA, October 15, 2026 —

The Cloverdale City Council has granted preliminary approval to Esmeralda, a proposed development that would include approximately 600 homes, an event center, a resort hotel and parks. The project is planned for Cloverdale, a town in Sonoma County.

Esmeralda was initiated by Devon Zeugel, described in the available information as a former software engineer. The project is intended to revitalize the town, though details about how that goal would be achieved were not provided.

The proposal has drawn some opposition over environmental concerns connected to the site’s past use. The nature of that past use, the specific environmental issues raised and the identity of those opposing the project were not provided. No inspection findings, environmental assessments or determinations about the site were included in the information available.

The council’s action is described as preliminary approval. The approval’s conditions, the timing of any further review and the next steps in the process were not specified. It is also unclear from the available information whether the proposal has received any other required approvals.

The project’s approximate housing count and proposed amenities outline its intended scale, but details such as construction timing, costs and the number or types of homes were not provided. The information also does not describe how the proposed hotel, event center and parks would be developed or operated.

For now, the proposal combines a large housing component with hospitality and public-space features, while environmental concerns remain part of the discussion. Further details about the site, the concerns raised and the terms of preliminary approval were not available.


Story summarized from the original created by Steph Rodriguez on ww2.kqed.org, see more information here.

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