Save Shollenberger Park

For Immediate Release: January 14, 2011, Petaluma, Calif. Destructive Dutra Asphalt Plant Challenged The City of Petaluma, community groups and individual citizens seek a legal remedy to protect the environment from Dutra's asphalt plant construction and operations at Haystack Landing, Petaluma, Calif. Today, the City of Petaluma and a large coalition of citizen groups and individuals have filed a lawsuit challenging the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors' flawed approval on Dec. 14, 2011, of the Dutra Haystack Landing Asphalt and Recycling Plant. The Plaintiffs maintain that the Dutra Asphalt Plant would blight the gateway to Sonoma County and Petaluma, harm the health of residents, businesses and visitors, and negatively impact the development of our local and regional economy. The factory would injure and discourage birds, fish and wildlife which use the Petaluma River and Marsh. Plaintiffs also assert that the Dutra factory operations would also destroy the peace, beauty...

FINAL VOTE 3 -2 in favor of Dutra. Kelley, Kerns and Carrillo vote YES to amend the General Plan and rezone the Dutra parcels to light industrial. Supervisors Zane and Brown vote NO. Yesterday the county counsel and planning staff made a mockery of CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), which was created to protect the environment and the citizen’s right to participate in the CEQA process. Yesterday morning at 9 AM 180+ pages of information were released by county planning staff to our attorneys and limited distribution, with only 4 hours until the hearing. The new information was not distributed to the list of interested citizen parties and no one was allowed speak at the hearing. Sonoma County Legal Counsel advised the Board to prohibit public comment on the Dutra agenda item. Even Mayor Torliatt, Vice Mayor Glass, Council members Rene and Barrett were not allowed to speak. What exactly did the Supervisors NOT want to hear? NO information on the environmental impact of build...

Always more Dutra Drama, just when you thought we'd had enough. The County says that the Dutra hearing is "closed to public comment". Do not allow the Press Democrat or Argus, City councils, County supervisors or any other public boards tell you that you can be prohibited from speaking at a public meeting to any item either on or off the agenda. The Press Democrat has erroneously repeated county counsel's seriously flawed assertion that the hearing for voting on tomorrow's Dutra Asphalt Plant project is "closed to public comment." Brett Wilkison double checked this afternoon with County Counsel Steve Woodside and assistant County Counsel Dave Hurst, who both repeated that they are acting in accordance with the Brown Act and can forbid public comment on Dutra. However, the Brown Act requires that you will be allowed to speak. Generally, the public can speak to any agendized item at the time it is being heard. The public can speak to any item not on the a...

Let's show them, they can't wear us out or down - we will never give up fighting for Shollenberger Park and the health of our community. ATTEND THE HEARING Drop everything, bring the kids, and show up! They count heads, so hold yours up high! Stay for a while, even if you can’t stay for the whole hearing. If you come at the beginning you can help hold up our sign “NO ASPHALT PLANT NEAR OUR PARK” If you’re there by 3 PM you’ll have an opportunity to speak to the Supervisors and put it on the record. THE LAST SUPERVISORS HEARING ON DUTRA TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2010 1:30 – 5:00 PM Agenda Item 5 – Dutra Asphalt Plant Supervisors' Chambers 575 Administration Drive Santa Rosa, CA Friends of Shollenberger Park Needs Your Participation to Save the Park!

80% of Respondents are Against Locating the Dutra Factory at Haystack Landing Is anybody listening? Poll: Supes made wrong decision on asphalt plant by Pulse.Of.Petaluma An overwhelming number of people who responded to the Argus-Courier's online poll October 21, 2010 feel that that the Board of Supervisors made the wrong decision on October 12 when it voted to approve a proposed asphalt plant south of town. More than 80 percent said it was a wrong decision and that the public did not have adequate time to review the 1,100 pages of documents describing the revised, reduced asphalt plant. Here are some of the comments from those who responded to the poll. Read more comments at the pulse of Petaluma blog at Petaluma 360 . "I don't feel like the majority of the supervisors are listening to the citizens of Petaluma. To allow an asphalt plant in this beautiful and vulnerable area does not make sense. This is not something that can be reconstructed if it gets destroyed. This is...

Next Step: We’ll stop them in The Courts Donate for the Legal Defense ! The Community vs. Dutra Materials and The County of Sonoma 2011 Dear Friends of Shollenberger Park, The Board of Supervisors’ straw vote on October 12, 2010 is not the end of the line for our campaign. We WILL stop Dutra from locating next to our park. If not with a vote from the Supervisors then in the courts with a lawsuit proving the inadequacy of the EIR and the hearing process, exposing the lack of compliance with CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act). It’s important to note our successes since this battle for our right to fresh air and well-being began: 1. We have exposed Dutra and their hired consulting engineer Al Cornwall, CSW Stueber Stroeh, as giving false map information on the location of the navigable channel and PG&E transmission pipes to the County and the US Coast Guard. 2. We have delayed final approval hearing of the project originally on the agenda from December 2008 to December 2010...

I am very disappointed with the 3 votes to support Dutra. The outcome seemed wired from the beginning of the meeting. The public had virtually no chance of providing new and corrected information and comments to the Supervisors, given both the extremely short timeline to review over 1100 pages of documents released just last week, and given the 3 minute limits of talking to the Supervisors. We very much appreciate Supervisors Brown and Zane's understanding of core issues about the asphalt plant's damaging health and air quality impacts, among other issues. I am very proud of our community, both our old and new friends and allies, who continue to address these problems with vigor, creativity, intelligence, caring and good will. We will be meeting to determine our next steps shortly. We believe strongly that our community will win, and prevent Dutra from building any asphalt plant at the entrance to our community and the Gateway to Sonoma County. It remains the wrong plant,...