Elections have consequences, thank you Rabbit, Gorin and Coursey reps: The votes to not have the facility get a use permit were Gore’s and Hopkin’s representatives. Rabbit’s, Coursey’s, and Gorin’s reps voted to require the use permit.
Amazon delivery hub a ‘freight terminal,’ say zoning officials
A proposed Amazon delivery hub outside Sonoma is a freight terminal and not a storage facility, an influential county panel ruled this month, a critical distinction that could subject the sprawling warehouse to a lengthy environmental review process.
The county Board of Zoning Adjustments upheld an appeal challenging the use permit granted for the Schellville building in January 2020 by Permit Sonoma, an agency that oversees development and land use planning in unincorporated areas of the county.
To streamline the opening of the Schellville facility, Amazon sought to apply the use permit for the warehouse at Victory Station and add a new parking lot on a 3.5-acre lot it leased next door. Project managers began remodeling the warehouse last year, prior to approval of the permit, activity that was halted by county officials in July with a stop-work order.
Norman Gilroy and Kathy Pons, who represent neighborhood watchdog groups Mobilize Sonoma and the Valley of the Moon Alliance, respectively, have objected to the proposed use by Amazon, arguing that it exceeds the “scale of uses on which the (project’s) original permit approvals were predicated.”