Final sign-on letter and CONGAS Comments Package sent 6/26 re: PLP13-0023 – Gas Station proposal at 5300 Sebastopol Road

Climate, Groundwater, Health, News, Resources / June 27, 2020

Final sign-on letter and CONGAS Comments Package sent 6/26 re: PLP13-0023 – Gas Station proposal at 5300 Sebastopol Road

Good Morning All,

Thank you for signing on in opposition to the ridiculous gas station proposal at Llano Road and Hwy 12. Your organization signing on helped make this a powerful comment package. I think we are going to beat this one. Please take a look at the attached letter “CONGAS Sign-on letter – PLP13-0023” and make sure your organization is listed correctly and that your logo looks good. If we had had time, we would have done this before sending. But it will be good to know if there are any changes for future purposes. Below is the cover note we sent, and attached is the main sign-on letter and attachments, minus the petitions (it is a huge file; if you want to see it, let me know). The cover note explains what the attachments are.

IMPORTANT: The BZA is still accepting written comments – all the way up to July 2. The deadline yesterday was in order to be included in the Board packet. If you would like to send a comment separately, it will be placed in the file.

Regarding July 2. We still do not have a virtual meeting link for the July 2, 1pm Board of Zoning Adjustments meeting. As soon as we have it, we will share it. Or you can check THIS LINK on Monday afternoon, which is the latest they can send out the agenda and meeting information per the law. Hope you can join us ON Thursday and let them know the should DENY THIS PERMIT!

One last thing… we really need letters to the editor to go to the Press Democrat now, opposing the project. Send letters, 200 words or less, to letters@pressdemocrat.com

Thanks,

-Woody

 

Dear Mr. Hoffman and Commissioners:

 

We, the undersigned Sonoma County-based organizations, urge you to reject the application for a conditional use permit for the project located at 5300 Sebastopol Road in unincorporated Sonoma County (File No. PLP13-0023), and to reject the proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration as inadequate. This project requires a full Environmental Impact Report due to unmitigable impacts related to aesthetics, traffic, and water-related issues. There are many other significant issues that appear to have been summarily and inappropriately dismissed as insignificant or as having no impact, where impacts are indeed identifiable.

 

A fundamental problem with this case is that when this application was first filed in 2013, the County determined that a General Plan amendment and zone change would be required due to the fact that commercial retail operations such as gas stations and convenience stores are not included in the lengthy list of permissible uses in the M3 Limited Rural Industrial zone. There is no justification or grounds to be found in the case file upon which the decision on the part of the Planning Director was made some time after 2013 that such a use would not require a General Plan amendment and zone change. It appears to be an arbitrary, baseless decision.

 

The five attachments to this letter comprise our comments on this case. Attachment 1 is a section by section critical review of the Initial Study and proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration; Attachment 2 is a history of the General Plan, Land Use, and Zoning Issues; Attachment 3 is a table of General Plan Conflicts; Attachment 4 is a critical review of the Draft April 2016 Greenhouse Gas Assessment; Attachment 5 is the scanned hard copy petitions opposing this project with over 600 names on them.

 

There is no justification for granting a conditional use permit for this project. It does not fulfil any pressing need in the community. No community members have emerged to clamor for a new gas station, mini-mart, or carwash. We strongly urge you to deny this permit.

Sincerely,

Woody Hastings and Jenny Blaker, Co-coordinators, Coalition Opposing New Gas Stations

Co-Signatories:

(Note: Organizations are listed in alphabetical order; Many of these organizations have submitted letters previously, opposing this project)

  • 350 Sonoma County
  • Analy Activists
  • Car-LITE
  • Daily Acts
  • Families Advocating for Chemical and Toxics Safety (FACTS)
  • Friends of the Climate Action Plan, Santa Rosa
  • North Bay Electric Auto Association
  • Greenbelt Alliance
  • Preserve Rural Sonoma County
  • Sebastopol Climate Action
  • Sebastopol Grange
  • Sebastopol Water Information Group (SWIG)
  • Sierra Club Redwood Chapter Sonoma Group
  • Sonoma County Climate Activist Network
  • Sonoma County Transportation and Land Use Coalition
  • Sonoma County Water Coalition
  • Safe Agriculture Safe Schools (SASS)
  • Sonoma Solidarity with Standing Rock
  • Sunrise Movement – Sonoma County
  • Wine & Water Watch
  • Youth vs. Apocalypse
  • cc: (via email)Planning Commissioners:

    Greg Carr, 1st District

    Larry Reed, 2nd District

    Komron Shahhosseini, 3rd District

    Ariel Kelley, 4th District

    Pamela Davis, 5th District

    Arielle Wright, Sonoma County Planning Secretary

    Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, District 5