Supervisors need to hold firm in opposing asphalt plant

<p>Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo cast the key vote to stop the Mecham Road landfill divestiture.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>He, along with Supervisor Shirlee Zane, should be congratulated for reflecting the voters’ green mandate and the values of their constituencies. We can now pursue a recycling goal to reduce the significant greenhouse gas output that would not have been addressed by the lone bidder, Republic Services Corp., with an environmental reputation worse than that of Exxon.</p><p>These values will again be challenged at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Dec. 8 when Dutra, a company with a damaging environmental record equal to that of Republic, seeks permission to build an asphalt plant at Haystack Landing, located in the voter-mandated scenic corridor at the entrance to Petaluma and the county.</p><p>Expressing the voters’ green mandate, the Sonoma County electorate has used the ballot box to protect its coast, take control of land use in our community separators, establish voter control over urban growth boundaries around most of the cities, fund SMART rail, express concern for agriculture and our beautiful scenery by creating and twice financing the Open Space District and establish the scenic corridor and its rules below Petaluma. Sonoma County is receiving growing statewide recognition for what the voters’ green mandate has accomplished.</p><p>The visual, noise, smell, toxic air and other asphalt plant impacts on Shollenberger Park are very real to residents of Petaluma. The proposed Dutra assault on voter-mandated protections and community values would cause consternation by any city of our county. Even London now requires asphalt plants to be located 20 miles from city limit lines.</p><p>The EIR finds regional asphalt plant capacity more than adequate, so why should the county accommodate a company with such a history of violations in our voter-mandated scenic corridor? </p><p>The disregard of voter mandates protecting the Petaluma site has drawn little supervisorial attention. Petalumans voted by a super-majority for their urban growth boundary, with the promise that the county would not change zoning within the boundary. The asphalt plant would require five zoning changes.</p><p>For this and other reasons, a unanimous Petaluma City Council has asked the county to deny the Dutra location.</p><p>Thanks to the leadership of Sebastopol Mayor Sarah Gurney, who saw the significance of Petaluma’s unanimous vote of protest, the Sebastopol City Council took issue with the Board of Supervisors’ initial straw vote endorsing the plant.</p><p>Sebastopol was followed by four other cities that made similar criticisms. Supervisorial disregard for the Petaluma City Council and the general plan of Petaluma would erode the necessary working relationship between city and county elected officials.</p><p>The Board of Supervisors, through staff and public hearings, periodically updates our county general plan. Supervisors retain the power to alter the plan to accommodate changing circumstances. However, in the Dutra case, the scenic corridor, with 20 years of voter control, precludes the supervisors from altering the land use to accommodate an asphalt plant. Changing this voter-mandated designation to allow an asphalt plant requires countywide voter approval.</p><p>County supervisors have inherited the 1998 voter mandate to protect the scenic Highway 101 corridor from Petaluma to the Marin County line. Out of respect for the will of their voters, supervisors should not challenge this mandate of their constituents.</p><p>Carrillo’s swing vote on landfill divestiture was difficult but was appreciated by many. His swing vote to prevent Dutra from violating the legal restrictions of a voter-controlled scenic corridor would not be a political decision. It would be the correct decision.</p><p><i>Bill Kortum, a former Sonoma County Supervisor and former chairman of the California Coastal Alliance, is chairman emeritus of Sonoma County Conservation Action. He lives in Petaluma.</i></p>