DUTRA ASPHALT PLANT - IMPORTANT MEETINGS
Why you should attend:  this county project affects you.
 
Dutra Materials proposes a 24-hour business with nighttime operations, continuous noise, emissions, dust particles, odors, and an assured change to life as all users of the park have known.  The county planning staff has recommended approving the environmental impact report, which contains impacts that cannot be reduced to an acceptable legal degree: noise, emissions, cumulative impacts, etc.
 
Shollenberger Park, wildlife, and the Petaluma River are threatened by this large asphalt plant and recycling operation directly across and upwind from Shollenberger. The heron and egret rookery is very seriously threatened.
 
We can make a difference for Shollenberger Park and the wildlife, and we must.  Your mere presence will say volumes about your support.
  
Monday October 6th
City Council 7:00 p.m.
City Council Chambers, 11 English Street
Share your concerns with the council members, so they can weigh in with county    officials who will make a decision on this project.
Write or call your city council members.
 
Thursday October 16th
Sonoma County Planning Commission, 1:05 p.m.
Permit and Resource Management Building
2550 Ventura Avenue, Santa Rosa
Planning Commission Hearing Room

THE DUTRA MATERIALS ASPHALT PLANT
 
THE PROJECT
 
From the Sonoma County Planning Commission Staff Report, 7 February 2008:
The project site involves three properties totaling 37.96 acres and consists of the construction and operation of an asphalt batch plant, an aggregate distribution facility, and a concrete and asphalt recycling facility.
[Project would be directly across the Petaluma River from Shollenberger Park.]
 
From the Sonoma County Planning Commission Staff Report, 21 August 2008:
Staff recommends that the Planning Commission hold a public meeting [final meeting scheduled for 16 October 2008] and recommends that the Board of Supervisors:
 
1. Adopt a Statement of Overriding Consideration after making findings provided in the draft Resolution and approve the following….
 
Approve the Use permit and Design Review Permit for an asphalt batch plant with a maximum production capacity of 250,000 tons a year, an aggregate distribution facility with a maximum annual capacity of 250,000 tons, and a recycling operation with an annual maximum capacity of 150,000 tons, resulting in a facility with a total capacity of 650,000 tons per year, subject to the conditions in Exhibit A [mitigation measures].
 
 
ALTERNATIVES
  
  1.  The Planning Commission could recommend approval of the project with  modified conditions and findings.
 
  a. The Planning Commission could find that the project as proposed by the applicant, with no limitations on nighttime operations for off-loading of barged materials, is more appropriate and will result in equal or greater public benefits to those listed above [Dutra Materials] and make a   recommendation to the Board Board of Supervisors] to approve that option;    or
 
    b. The Planning Commission could find that the limitation on nighttime off-    loading is not a feasible mitigation measure, due to the high tide fluctuations    and need for nighttime asphalt operations, and approve the project without   limitations or allow some flexibility and a limited number of night operations.
 
   c. The Planning Commission could find that the project benefits do not outweigh    all of the significant unavoidable impacts for approval of the project. Instead, the Commission could recommend Alternative C – The Modified Site Plan    Alternative, which includes the elimination of the recycling operations and the    relocation of the plant farther south, as a justifiable alternative due to a   reduction in some of the significant impacts. [Scaled back project]
 
     d. The Planning Commission could find that the project benefits do not outweigh    the significant unavoidable impacts for the project or any alternatives and    make a recommendation to deny the project. [No project]