
John Eder wrote:
How CVS conned Sebastopol
by John Eder, former Sebastopol City Council Member
Part 5 of 5
...
Conclusion
For years, every time that I passed the dead Pellini dealership, I intuitively knew that it was going to be developed, and, given its size, likely by a deep-pocketed developer who wouldn’t necessarily have the best interests of our town as their first priority. I, along with many others, was “asleep at the switch”. Preoccupation with my own life allowed me to ignore the looming potential of inadequate, substandard development at this site. Sebastopol could have gotten out in front of this project by visioning the future use of this property, and then taking the steps necessary to insure a successful result. They couldn’t afford to purchase the property, but they could have crafted parameters that would have provided a potential developer with a statement of our expectations. As a result of this experience, the City of Sebastopol took a more proactive route with the former Diamond Lumber Yard/Sebastopol Tractor Supply site adjacent to the Plaza. That process resulted in the current proposal for the Sebastopol Hotel. While many people are not pleased and worry, with justification, about the gentrification of Sebastopol, in my opinion, this process worked and the result is a success. For some time, there were unsubstantiated rumors that an Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar was going to be developed there. True or not, you can imagine all of the possibilities that would be much worse than the proposed hotel.
The City of Sebastopol had a solid case, and, based on the courts’ tendency to rule in favor of cities in similar cases, it was felt that we had a very high probability of prevailing in court. The cost, however, would be staggering. It was also felt by the City that the Committee for Small Town Sebastopol (STS) may have found the “smoking gun”- a flawed traffic study. Had an EIR with a more thorough traffic study been required, it likely would have divulged the inability of the CVS project to legally comply with CEQA due to traffic impacts, thereby killing it. It was also felt by the City that the settlement overture from CVS was motivated primarily by the STS lawsuit. It likely was of greatest concern to CVS, as they may have recognized the extent of their exposure to a loss in court should the case ever be heard. Unfortunately, STS was unable to continue to challenge CVS due to the enormous potential costs involved. The only other plausible explanation for their request for settlement discussions was recognition by higher management at CVS of the costs and time delays that had been incurred by them to that point. It is thought that CVS conceivably spent the better part of a million dollars on litigation to this point, with additional significant costs yet to come.
While the City Council fought hard, in the end we were outspent, out lawyered, out maneuvered and out smarted by CVS. This is what they do for a living. They fight battles in many communities like ours, and even the slightest appearance of a victory by the “little guy” is unacceptable to them, as it gives courage to their current and future foes.
Finally, as I stated in my farewell remarks when leaving the City Council last December, I truly feel that City staff and two successive City Councils failed the citizens of Sebastopol on many levels in this matter, and for that I am sorry.