No to "adopt a Subsequent Mitigated Negative Declaration"

[Beverly Schenck]

Dear Wacco Community story from Beverly Schenck On April 17th at 2:10 pm there will be a meeting before the Sonoma County Board of Supervisor to determine if Mesa Distribution will be allowed to extend their hours of operation. Currently, as agreed to when the county granted Mesa its operating permit, the facility is allowed to operate Sunday through Friday evenings. This means, their trucks start rolling Sunday night and continue until Friday evening. They are now asking the county for an additional day of operation on Saturday which in affect will make them a 7 days a week almost a 24 hour a day operation. I live next door to Mesa distribution on Laughlin Rd. and N. Laughlin RD. and have resided in my home for many years. I have witnessed firsthand the permit process regarding Mesa Corp. and I have witnessed how Mesa seems to have total disregard for the concerns of its neighbors. Mesa's warehouse resides on the edge of the Sonoma County Airport industrial park. On three of its borders it is surrounded by residences and beautiful farms. From the beginning of the county permit process, the local residential community came together at the meetings to try and voice their concerns on noise, traffic and the environment in hope that both Mesa Distribution and the county would consider their input and adjust plans for the facility accordingly. The community as a whole did not object to the building of Mesa’s Warehouse they just asked for minor design changes to reduce the negative impacts on nearby residences. One of the requests from the neighbors asked that Mesa use the entire 20 acres and build the facility away from the homes and the Mark West Creek. One of the owners, Jack Studebaker, told the Sonoma County commission that the relocation was impossible and their land was pie shaped, and changing of the design would place more traffic on our roads. If the county had gone to the site and viewed the parcel they would have found Studebaker’s statement to be untrue. And how do you to put more traffic on the roads by just moving the building to the back of the parcel? What Studebaker told my neighbor and attorney was he could sell the back lot for what he paid for the entire land. It appears the meeting was just for show and community input was not needed as the county and Mesa went ahead with their plans with no design changes asked by the community. The only concession that was granted by the county and agreed to by Mesa was the present hours of operation. Now the county and Mesa want to take that away from the community by extending the hours that Mesa can operate into the weekend. What the operations of Mesa Distribution brought to the surrounding community was, noise, increased traffic and environmental impacts. However from Friday night through Saturday the community gets a needed reprieve when Mesa is closed. The area becomes quiet enough to hear birds sing, has far less traffic, making it easier to enter and leave one’s home, and it made if safer for the weekend jogger and biker on the county roads. The roads around Mesa and the Airport are mostly unused during the weekend because the majority of businesses in the Business Park are closed. This helps provide a safe environment for numerous competitive biking and running events that are held throughout the year. My main point is this, Mesa Distribution agreed to a specific operation schedule when asking for a county permit and it should honor that condition of use. Having the weekends free of noise and traffic was the only concession the community received when Mesa was allowed to operate. Please don’t allow the county to take this concession away, show up at the Supervisors meeting on April 17 at 2:10 or e-mail the Supervisors let them know that, Mesa needs to abide by its agreement and let the community have its weekends. No to "adopt a Subsequent Mitigated Negative Declaration" [email protected] or call the Supervisors at: [email protected] [email protected] 707-565-2241 [email protected] [email protected] Please, I need your help now, sincerely, Beverly Schenck