Why are new gas stations proliferating in Sonoma County now?
For several months Petaluma residents have been in a David-and-Goliath battle with Safeway’s, which is
trying to build a mega 16-pump gas station adjacent to a residential district near an elementary school, a
child care center and fields where children play. The residents are distraught, because a gas station doesnot mix well with children or bode well for their health, for many reasons.
Meanwhile, another totally unnecessary 16-pump gas station (including 4 diesel pumps), with a carwash and 24/7 convenience store (selling soda, chips etc.) is now being proposed at Highway 116/Stony Point Road in an unincorporated, semi-rural area of the County, less than 2 miles from Cotati on the way to Sebastopol.
The handful of small, locally owned businesses on the site, including Cali Kind tie-dye clothing shop, the Pond & Garden Nursery and Martin’s Market & Deli would have to go.
There are already five gas stations within 2 miles of this site, four clustered around the Hwy 116/Hwy
101 intersection, and Bill’s Valero to the north on Hwy 116. There are also two carwashes, a full service
and a self-service, less than 2 miles away in Cotati.
Over 10,000 sq. ft. of impervious surfaces would be added. Well water, a septic system, wastewater
from the car wash and run off from the gas station would all supposedly be dealt with on site, while
ditches from alongside the site run into nearby Gossage and Washoe Creeks, tributaries to the Laguna de
Santa Rosa – a wetland of international significance. Sonoma County is already riddled with Leaking
Underground Storage Tanks, including within a few miles away. Underground gas tanks from gas stations
almost always leak. One gallon of oil can pollute 1 million gallons of water. One pin-prick size hole in an
underground gas tank can leak 400 gallons of fuel a year. And all of this potential trouble lies upstream
from the Llano Road water treatment plant.
The site is in a “High Priority Greenbelt” area, on a Scenic Corridor, and surrounded on two sides by a
Community Separator, voted in 2 years ago by 81{5fc40a96f14c4a6aa4c2a32569b0a57dcc67c0b31eb04c341474283f11b6cdd2} of the voters to protect green open spaces between
cities. The surrounding land consists of seasonal wetlands, and lies within the area of critical habitat for
our local endangered species, the California tiger salamander.
Quite apart from local impacts, why would anyone want to build another gas station now, with the
climate crisis looming over us, gas stations plummeting, and sales of electric cars rising rapidly? If built,
how soon will this one become an obsolete white elephant and who will pay for the clean-up costs?
The project came to preliminary Design Review and was sent back to the drawing board for a redesign,
mainly because it is in a scenic corridor and not suitable for a rural area. The site is zoned for Limited
Commercial and development would require a Use permit. You can submit comments to staff at Permit
Sonoma, Daniel Hoffman
dhoffman@migcom.com
and Chelsea.Holup@sonoma-county.org