How to make a horrible project even worse…ignore CEQA, destroy wetlands/creeks allow huge trucks on narrow rural roads and cause even worse traffic.
Modifications being requested include to:
1) Revise the design for a traffic signal at Stony Point and Roblar Road
2) Modify the required Roblar Road width from 40 feet to 32 feet for 1.6 miles west of the quarry access
3) Allow realignment and reconstruction of 930 feet of Americano Creek to accommodate road widening and allow riparian and wetland encroachment or enhancement.
NOTICE:
The Roblar Road Quarry was approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2010 with more than 180 Conditions of Approval for the quarry’s development and operation.
CARRQ appealed this decision in court but lost our appeal in 2014. Since then, CARRQ was not aware of activity surrounding the quarry’s development until August 2016 when the first of two applications to modify some of the Conditions of Approval were submitted by the developer to PRMD (Planning Resource Managment Development – now Permit Sonoma). A revised application was submitted in September 2016.
Sonoma County PRMD has agreed to reopen the EIR and allow the developer to propose changing 3 conditions of approval, which he had agreed to in 2010, because they are not convenient! This is an abuse of CEQA at best and flies in the face of the community, CARRQ (Citizens Advocating for Roblar Rural Quality), City of Petaluma, and City of Cotati who fought to ensure the impacts of the quarry would be properly mitigated. So much for the process of public input.
The developer wishes to physically move the impaired Americano Creek, which feeds into the endangered Estero Americano Watershed, narrow improvements to Roblar Road beyond safe standards endangering all who use Roblar Road, and augment signaling requirements at Roblar and Stony Point.
Go to www.CARRQ.org for a history of the development and follow CARRQ on Facebook.
In response to an application by the developer of the Roblar Road Quarry (7601 and 7175 Roblar Road, Petaluma), Sonoma County has prepared a Draft Supplemental Environmental impact Report (SEIR) to modify/change several Conditions of Approval for the quarry. The Board of Supervisors approved the quarry in 2010, and actions are now being taken to begin work on developing the site. Some of the requested modifications may affect public safety given the condition of Roblar Road and the potential for substantial truck traffic on Roblar Road.
The SEIR is online at http://sonomacounty.ca.gov/PRMD/Planning/Significant-EIRs/ and available at the Rohnert Park, Petaluma and Santa Rosa Central libraries.