Shopping center supporters, critics spar at Sheraton party

<p>Supporters of a Target-anchored shopping center on East Washington Street say their private party was marred by disruptive and confrontational critics of the proposal.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>But those critics responded that they were there to speak out about their concerns over the project’s design and impact when supporters tried to silence them.</p><p>Details of what exactly happened at the Petaluma Sheraton April 2 vary. Witnesses said a group of anywhere from 30 to 45 people were in a fourth-floor room at an event hosted by developer Regency Centers.</p><p>Regency vice president Bruce Qualls spoke to the group about East Washington Place, the 373,000-square-foot project his company is planning on the former Kenil-worth Junior High School site.</p><p>He said Regency invited supporters of the project to attend the event, but “20 or so” project critics came as well.</p><p>“They got pretty animated and assertive,” he said. “It certainly changed the atmosphere of the evening.”</p><p>Former City Council member Karen Nau said she was speaking to attendees about her support for the project when she was interrupted by two critics, Petaluma Neigh-borhood Association co-founder Paul Francis and former council member Matt Maguire.</p><p>“I was pretty much screamed at,” Nau said. “They got right in my face. It was scary.”</p><p>But the two men say they weren’t there to crash the party and disputed supporters’ accounts of the evening.</p><p>Francis said he learned of the event and notified Qualls he’d be attending. He was standing close to Nau and said after five minutes, he interrupted her “off-course political grandstanding” because it wasn’t helpful to a discussion of the project.</p><p>He accused Regency of providing “skewed information” about the project’s benefits and said critics tried to present their side.</p><p>“There was nothing aggressive in nature,” Francis said. “We simply corrected the course of discussion.”</p><p>Maguire said when he tried to make suggestions about revisions to the project, he was heckled by supporters. When Francis interrupted Nau, another man grabbed Francis’ arm and Maguire headed over in their direction, he said.</p><p>“He wasn’t threatening her,” Maguire said.</p><p>Nau , however, said she felt intimidated by the two men’s actions and said she was thankful that supporters intervened. After the incident, some supporters started to leave the party, she and Qualls said.</p><p>“I felt it was disrespectful,” Qualls said. “It was supposed to be a private event. It was disappointing.”</p><p>Maguire said he did not know the gathering was a private event and if he had, “I might have given it different consideration.”</p><p>But he and Francis said the problems they see with the project need to be vetted in front of the entire community. Francis said he’s asked Regency not to hold unannounced meetings about its project in Petaluma.</p><p>“Considering the scale of the project and the issues involved, Petalumans need to be notified,” he said.</p><p>Qualls said some supporters of the project were put off by what happened.</p><p>“It was not the type of evening we had envisioned, which was probably their plan,” he said of the project’s critics.</p><p>(Contact Corey Young at corey.young@arguscourier.com)</p>