Petaluma church land to be sold

A garbage company is in the process of buying the 360 Church property, with plans for a garbage transfer station.|

A San Jose-based garbage company is in escrow to buy an industrial property owned by a Petaluma church, raising the possibility of a recycling facility near the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds.

GreenWaste Recovery, which has garbage collection contracts in the South Bay and was Petaluma’s former garbage hauler, is in the process of buying the property on Lindburg Lane, which is the home of 360 Church of Petaluma, according to Colton Irving, founding pastor of the church.

The congregation will likely move, Irving said. The church was founded at Valley Vista Elementary School.

Irving declined to give the sale price. He said in a 2015 interview that the church purchased the 8-acre former headquarters of North Bay Construction off of Lindberg Lane in 2012 for $8.2 million.

It is the latest chapter for the beleaguered church that earlier this year tried unsuccessfully to move into a now vacant fitness club. It also opens the possibility of a waste transfer station within Petaluma city limits.

GreenWaste Recovery hopes to close escrow on the property on or before July 15, according to a letter from the company to the Windsor Town Council. GreenWaste won the garbage contract on Windsor and is bidding to take over the garbage contract in Santa Rosa. A message left with GreenWaste Recovery was not returned.

According to the letter, the Lindburg Lane site would accommodate the company’s administrative offices, truck yard, maintenance yard and a transfer station for recyclable material.

“The site affords easy access to the freeway that does not require trucks pass through any neighborhoods and the adjacent land uses are consistent with our proposed use,” the letter says.

Petaluma City Councilman Mike Healy said that a garbage facility is a permitted use of the property, but the project would likely involve an environmental review.

“This would mean a huge number of trucks coming into that site each day,” he said. “It would put a huge amount of traffic on Petaluma streets. I have some concerns.”

Petaluma in 2012 signed a 15-year garbage contract with The Ratto Group, a company that is in the process of being purchased by San Francisco-based Recology. The sale is not expected to impact Petaluma’s contract.

The sale of the Lindburg property brings fresh uncertainty for 360 Church of Petaluma, which has been located at the industrial site for the past five years. Earlier this year, the church was in talks with the owners of Petaluma Valley Athletic Club to buy the Corona Road facility and convert it into a church.

Those plans were scuttled by the city council, which denied the zoning change, citing flooding issues on the property. Petaluma Valley Athletic Club closed at the end of March.

(Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)

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