Proposed 16-pump gas station at 116/Stony Point

Hi Folks,

I want to make sure people are aware that there is a proposal afoot to wipe out the businesses at the corner of 116 and Stony Point including Cali-Kind Tye-dye and the Pond & Garden Nursery and build a 16-pump gas station with a carwash and mini-market. There is no date set for the next time this issue will be considered, but if you don't like the idea, please send your comments to the Sonoma County Design Review Committee Staff: Send comments to: Daniel Hoffman: [email protected] and [email protected]

Some points: There are already five gas stations within a 2 mile radius, including four near Hwy 101 in Cotati, and two car washes within 2 miles. A 16-pump gas station is twice as big as any other rural gas station in the county, and bigger than every station in Rohnert Park except Costco.

The land is zoned Limited Commercial. The County General Plan states that "Limited commercial land is intended to accommodate retail sales and services for the daily self-sufficiency of local rural or urban neighborhoods or communities in keeping with their character." (Page LU-53). This is just one of many conflicts with the General Plan.

Only neighbors within 300 ft have to be informed by the County. Neighbors further away in the surrounding rural area will also be impacted by increased traffic, traffic congestion, pollution from idling cars, noise, bright lights at night, etc.

This encroachment of urban-style development into the rural area between Cotati and Sebastopol is close to a Community Separator. Community Separators were approved by 81% of Sonoma County voters in November 2016, to protect land between the cities for 20 years.

Water would come from a well on site. Sewage, wastewater and runoff would all be dealt with on site and have the potential to contaminate nearby creeks, tributaries to the Laguna de Santa Rosa, a Wetland of International Significance.

Leaking underground storage tanks are ubiquitous in Sonoma County. Even small amounts of pollution from gas stations are a threat to groundwater supplies and public health.

Experts have criticized the biological evaluation as inadequate (e.g. surveys were done at the wrong time of year, on site only and not in adjacent areas as required, and correct protocols were not followed). Other studies e.g. on GHG emissions have also been criticized by experts. The site lies within an area designated as critical habitat for the endangered California tiger salamander.

As we face the climate crisis, Sonoma County has taken a lead in trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encourage the use of clean energy. Gas stations are decreasing and sales of electric cars are soaring. Who will pay for and clean up the mess when the gas station becomes obsolete? What would be the cumulative, long-term and perhaps growth-inducing impacts of building a gas station, convenience store and car wash at this site?

A handout is attached that you can use to share this information.

Hello friends. I use this intersection quite a bit, I know how intense it is already. I sent a message to the people linked below and they responded politely in one day. I encourage you to do the same.

Kim

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Posted in reply to the post by Woody:

... please send your comments to the Sonoma County Design Review Committee Staff: Send comments to: Daniel Hoffman: [email protected] and [email protected]

...

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Hi Again Folks,

Three quick updates:

1. If you would like to be added to the listserv focused just on this issue, email me at woodyhastings [at] gmaildotcom

2. The City of Cotati has drafted a letter of opposition that they will consider at their council meeting on May 28, 7pm (item #11). Come if you can to encourage them! Info here:
https://cotaticityca.iqm2.com//Citiz...g.aspx?ID=2122

3. I don't think I mentioned in my original post that the Design Review Committee (where this matter is currently being decided) meets regularly on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month, and the item can come up with 3-days notice at any of these meetings. The June 5 meeting was canceled so the next time it might come up is June 19.

Thanks!
-Woody

NIMBY's like this are part of the reason the cost of housing is so high here.

I get that you have a right to oppose anything you want to, however, consider that you are part of the problem.

Despite your moral high ground that you cloak yourself in.

Just sayin'

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Posted in reply to the post by Woody;226816Three quick updates:

1. If you would like to be added to the listserv focused just on this issue, email me at woodyhastings [at:

gmaildotcom

2. The City of Cotati has drafted a letter of opposition that they will consider at their council meeting on May 28, 7pm (item #11). Come if you can to encourage them! Info here:
https://cotaticityca.iqm2.com//Citiz...g.aspx?ID=2122

3. I don't think I mentioned in my original post that the Design Review Committee (where this matter is currently being decided) meets regularly on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month, and the item can come up with 3-days notice at any of these meetings. The June 5 meeting was canceled so the next time it might come up is June 19.

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Posted in reply to the post by ray50sfo:

NIMBY's like this are part of the reason the cost of housing is so high here.

I get that you have a right to oppose anything you want to, however, consider that you are part of the problem.

Despite your moral high ground that you cloak yourself in.

Just sayin'

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for once, Ray, I might have agreed with you if this was about housing. But what does a gas station have to do with the cost of housing? If you look more carefully you'll see that actually this development makes the area more industrial and less suited to the needs of the nearby neighborhood. Like most your Trumpy cartoons, this is based unwarranted inferences and is force-fitting the situation to stereotypes that actually don't apply.

Clearly no self-reflection, only blame the other guy.

NMBY's primary trait is that they know what the other guy should, or should not, do. Never control or modify their own behavior. Just the other guy.

Yes, this project is commercial not residential, but the self righteous opposition is the same. It drives up costs, and eventually makes many projects un-feasibe.

As for my personal opinions, I can only quote Zippy The Pinhead, "But I didn't want my brain washed."

Clearly you have taken the Blue Pill.

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Posted in reply to the post by podfish:

for once, Ray, I might have agreed with you if this was about housing. But ...

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Posted in reply to the post by ray50sfo:

Clearly no self-reflection, only blame the other guy....

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more trumpy projection -- when called out on factually incorrect statements, the story changes and the issue's rephrased with yet more stereotypes trotted out. Zippy would be ashamed of you.

OT... but given your quote below, I presume you fully support a woman's choice to continue a pregnancy or not, right?

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Posted in reply to the post by ray50sfo:

...NMBY's primary trait is that they know what the other guy should, or should not, do. Never control or modify their own behavior. Just the other guy.

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I don't know about the blue pill, (I thought that was a 'guy' thing). However, isn't self-righteousness one a god given right of Sebastopuddlers?

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Posted in reply to the post by ray50sfo:

...Clearly you have taken the Blue Pill.

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Wow. All you've gott to do around here to bring down wrathis be a good guy, looking out for the county and the beauty that brought so many of us here. I just about unsubbed from this thread because of this, not just you, Dorothy, but others as well. Thanks, Woody, for being a good citizen and speaking up for the land even when it seems to be a lost cause.

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Posted in reply to the post by Dorothy Friberg:

I don't know about the blue pill, (I thought that was a 'guy' thing). However, isn't self-righteousness one a god given right of Sebastopuddlers?

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Posted in reply to the post by sealwatcher:

Wow. All you've gott to do around here to bring down wrath is be a good guy, looking out for the county and the beauty that brought so many of us here.....Thanks, Woody, for being a good citizen and speaking up for the land even when it seems to be a lost cause.

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I don't think Woody was the one targeted here, much less for being a 'good guy'. I suspect Dorothy's talking about the O.T. digression into motivations and character, not the issue of whether or not gas stations are a good thing.

In which case I apologize for my misunderstanding, Dorothy. :heart:

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Posted in reply to the post by podfish:

I don't think Woody was the one targeted here, much less for being a 'good guy'. I suspect Dorothy's talking about the O.T. digression into motivations and character, not the issue of whether or not gas stations are a good thing.

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Posted in reply to the post by Dorothy Friberg:

I don't know about the blue pill, (I thought that was a 'guy' thing)....

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LOL!

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...However, isn't self-righteousness one a god given right of Sebastopuddlers?

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What were you meaning to say, Dorothy, and why?

The developers are hosting a community meeting about this project on June 25 at 6:30pm in Cotati.

More info here

There's an old saying the only things certain in life are death and taxes. In my (almost) 50 years I'd add that towns change. I've watched towns grow and towns die. This area has already changed drastically in the 25++ years I have known it. And let's be real... like it or not it's going to continue to grow.

I don't really have any particular problem w the plan for a gas station there. (And I have no doubt- if it goes through- many people complaining about it there WILL go the AM/PM when gas prices spike, as the regularly do, and you can save 20 cents or more a gallon).

To those who say the area doesn't need a station because there's one done by 101 and the valero heading N.... this would be on a major, albeit "back road" route between Petaluma and points west and rohnert park & santa rosa. I've been on that route before and had to detour to go get gas....

Let's be realistic folks...whether we like it or not... more and more land is going to turn into vineyards. The population is going to grow- and we are going to see more and more chain businesses...and the loss of more and more small businesses. Housing is going to get more expensive and more competitive.

The region many of us know and loved... simple point of fact...can not be saved. What's the old R Crumb print? "Progress" or something g like that? 12-16 frames of land going from forest to agrarian to town to city?

My only caveat with that is if the area continues to burn and flood... and the heat waves continue and destroy the wine industry built on a different climate... but how many are going to want to stay and rebuild in that case?

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Posted in reply to the post by SonomaPatientsCoop:

There's an old saying the only things certain in life are death and taxes. In my (almost) 50 years I'd add that towns change. I've watched towns grow and towns die. This area has already changed drastically in the 25++ years I have known it. And let's be real... like it or not it's going to continue to grow....

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I'm a huge fan of looking for historical parallels. And I can't think of a stable, pleasant and successful place that remains so for decades, much less centuries. Places grow and decay, often cyclically. Why history should have ended at the most recent time when things were great escapes me. Just like MAGA is based on a fiction, unfortunately so would be any attempt to freeze things so those that like it can keep enjoying it. We slow the changes down, usually there's no evil in that, but a glorified NIMBY isn't going to work. Until everyone's content with the world they're living in, people with circumstances worse than ours will find us here and try to share in it. Hard to blame them.

My problem with this proposal is not about development or growth, but the fossil fuel aspect of this... Both because it adds more infrastructure to our carbon based transit system just at the time we need to be transitioning away from it, and because of the environmental risks that are attendant to gas stations.

OTOH, I'd be happy to see a high speed electric vehicle charging station at this corner! :waccosun:

I hate to Cali Kind be kicked out. It’s one of my favorite shops.

"Be Realistic", "Nothing you can do", "Why Bother", 'My opinion doesn't matter' etc, etc

What the hell?

How would we accomplish anything in life thinking that way?

In the '70's, many of us here, and many who are no longer alive, voted for those Supes who worked for us to help us protect what we all enjoy now here in Sonoma County.

So NOW it is time for us all to continue to protect what we would like to pass forward.
Nature does not all have to be paved and tanked!
If you care about it do something; if not, get out the way man.

The light pollution from Petaluma as witnessed from the town of Valley Ford is massive.
Highway One in these parts is also known as the 'Star Route'; Keep building crap gas stations and Multi-Kilowatt Auto Dealers and the Star Route disappears, fades into the distant cosmos, unappreciated by local
humans. The lights from this gas station would be visible from Valley Ford and Freestone. Too large and out of place for unincorporated Sonoma County.

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Posted in reply to the post by SonomaPatientsCoop:

There's an old saying the only things certain in life are death and taxes. In my (almost) 50 years I'd add that towns change. I've watched towns grow and towns die. This area has already changed drastically in the 25++ years I have known it. And let's be real... like it or not it's going to continue to grow....

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