WRONG PLANT WRONG PLACE!

Dear All,

It's been 6 months since we received the blow of losing our appeal. It has taken me a while to integrate this fact and see my way to next steps. I can imagine it has been equally hard for you all to just walk away after almost 6 years of dedicated efforts.

One thing is certain: The fight is not over. 

We have formed such a wonderful, effective, and creative community working to save our wetlands and park. This joining together made us strong. We can be satisfied that we brought pertinent issues into the public's consciousness. 

This kind of cohesive effort can go on, should go on. I hope you agree.

To start things going, there will be a party for us to gather at The Mail Depot on Friday November 14, 2014, 7 PM. Expect good music and of course great conversation. Bring pot luck food and drinks, bring friends. 

We'll have an update on future plans to persevere protecting our park and gateway and an opportunity to hear ideas from all of you.

So mark your calendar and join us on:

FRIDAY NOV 14, 2014   7PM

THE MAIL DEPOT ( Maureen is our host)

Bring a pot luck snack or appetizer or a bottle to share

The introduction of "The Bench Project"

We will build a bench in honor of this community which stands up to protect the park.  It will be installed on the south end of the path, be a double sided old growth redwood and look both north and south for our incredible views of the wetlands and Shollenberger. $100 for citizens, and $200 for organizations is the requested amount to

1) pay for the bench
2) have your name(s) etched on the bench.

There is only space for 50 donors.

Come to the gathering where you will see an illustration, can fill out a
donation form, and party with your friends and colleagues.

You can download a main-in form to donate via check here: Download Community Bench Donation Form


Online Bench Donations

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Individual/Family Donation: $100

Name to Inscribe on Bench: (25 character limit)

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Business/Organization Donation: $200

Name to Inscribe on Bench: (25 character limit)

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Dear Friends of Shollenberger,

Six years ago our community and City Council stood up for Shollenberger Park and rejected the Dutra asphalt factory proposal in favor of the health and quality of life in Petaluma. We spoke at the  Board of Supervisors hearings, we wrote letters and emails, and thousands signed petitions.  We spoke out against allowing a private business, Dutra Materials, to ruin our most popular park and valuable wetlands. We said "NO" to Dutra's asphalt factory towers and trucks blighting our Gateway and  the banks of our River.

Three of our our elected Supervisors (Carrillo, Kelley, and Kerns) failed to properly interpret and enforce our County General Plan. These three chose instead to find loopholes like the fairytale of  "river dependency" to allow the rezoning of Dutra's parcels to Light industrial. Two Supervisors, Shirlee Zane and Valerie Brown spoke eloquently in favor of protecting public health from the impacts of asphalt manufacture deadly by products like heavy metals  and diesel exhaust. Considering the proximity of the proposed factory to  public open space used for recreation, 26 schools, and hundreds of new subdivision homes, we applauded Supervisors Zane's and Brown's NO votes on Dutra.

We will continue to stand up and fight to protect Shollenberger Park, despite court decisions based on the defendants' (The County of Sonoma)  briefs relying on the parsing of words and legal loopholes, and not on the real interests of the people who elected them.We will fight on to SAVE SHOLLENBERGER.

Contribute online at the O.W.L. contribute page -- on the Friends of Shollenberger location OR, mail checks to Friends of Shollenberger, 521 Howard Street, Petaluma, CA. 94952. Contriutions are tax deductible.

Thanks -- this fight is not over.
Joan Cooper
Friends of Shollenberger

PLAINTIFFS ASK COURT OF APPEAL TO RECONSIDER ON DUTRA RULING

The City of Petaluma and the coalition of plaintiffs filed March 14, 2014 a Petition for Rehearing of three issues ruled upon by the State Court of Appeal on March 7, 2014. (Decision attached)

The City of Petaluma and our Community have fought long and hard to preserve and protect our most popular park, our wetlands, our health, and our Gateway. These are keys to Petaluma’s future prosperity and enjoyment of this place. We will continue to make our case for the rejection of the Dutra Asphalt factory at the proposed location and defend our community against degradation by Dutra’s project.

California law provides a legal path for rehearing of issues at the Court of Appeal by appellants who strongly believe the panel of judges significantly erred in their ruling.

The plaintiffs are requesting that the Court of Appeal reconsider and correct their decisions on three issues:

1. The Court ruled that there is no remedy available for the County’s violation of the Brown Act, when the Board of Supervisors prohibited public testimony at the Dec. 14, 2010 final hearing during which the County approved the Dutra project, despite releasing hundreds of pages of new project information that very morning.

The Brown Act protects the core democratic principle that the public should be allowed to confront and petition their elected officials through public comment at public hearings. By claiming that there is no specific penalty for violating a specific provision of the Brown Act (Sec. 54954.3), the court has left the public with “a right without a remedy.”

We are asking the Court to deem the Board’s project approval actions to be null and void, to require a rehearing and revote, or provide other appropriate relief for the violations.

2. The Court allowed the County’s use of harmful air pollutant levels from Dutra’s prior plant operations to reduce the calculated total emissions for the new vacant project site more than ½ mile away, as if those emissions were already present on the new, vacant site.

There are zero pollution emissions at the proposed new location. The distorted calculations made the emissions and health impacts at Dutra’s new asphalt factory appear significantly less harmful to people, wildlife and our environment.

Despite our having submitted expert testimony describing these erroneous calculations during the County’s hearings, the Court overlooked that written testimony, claiming that we hadn’t submitted any comments on this point, and that we had not ‘exhausted’ the issue administratively.

We are asking the Court to correct their error, to reverse its decision, and allow full rehearing on these issues, which were not properly decided.

3. The Court ruled that the impacts of the asphalt factory’s polluted air emissions on workers' health were adequately addressed by the County by merely citing OSHA regulations without any further analysis.

We presented testimony about the adverse and serious consequences to workers of exposures to hot asphalt’s “blue smoke” and particulates, including cancers, pulmonary and circulatory damages. The County instead claimed that simple compliance with OSHA standards would adequately mitigate impacts, and failed to calculate, analyze or address hazardous impacts to workers as required under law.

The Court further accepted the argument put forward by the County that worker health was not part of the “environment” under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Yet CEQA states that a project has significant impacts if it “will cause substantial adverse effects on human beings, either directly or indirectly.”

As a result, this issue was never briefed nor heard on its merits. We are asking the Court to allow a full rehearing on these issues.



There are no benefits for the City of Petaluma to have Dutra located on the Petaluma River opposite Shollenberger Park. This highly polluting industrial factory would be at our gateway for 30-40 years.

• We’d get wear and tear on our roads from 200,000+ diesel truck trips per year creating traffic delays at our southern entrance roads, with no assurances of cheaper asphalt – or the budget – to repair roads. Petaluma would get no sales tax.
• There’d be only 7-10 jobs in this automated plant, and Dutra really wants to take business away from Sonoma County’s existing BoDean and Syar operators.
• Since Dutra cannot use Shamrock’s river docks, their project would be served entirely by truck, and will not contribute to the Petaluma River’s commercial tonnage or likelihood of dredging.
• The asphalt plant would continue to threaten the value, investment, health and popularity of Shollenberger Park, our nearby commercial businesses and residents, and the use of the Petaluma River for recreation.

For more information contact:

David Keller, Petaluma River Council, 707-338- 3833, dkeller1@sonic.net

Joan Cooper, Friends of Shollenberger 415-516-3673, joancooper115@gmail.com

Click here to download the Petition for Rehearing