City, Opposition Groups File Appeal in State Court

On Friday, the city of Petaluma filed an appeal at the First District Court of Appeals, urging the state court to reconsider the asphalt plant across from Shollenberger Park, approved by the Board of Supervisors in December 2010.

Five community groups and five individuals are also part of the appeal, which is estimated to cost the city around $10,000 and take up to two years before it is heard. Since the spring of 2009, the city has spent $68,000 fighting the project, along with an undisclosed sum by opposition groups.

In December, a Sonoma County Superior Court judge filed by the city and opposition groups, which claimed numerous violations, including not conducting an environmental impact report on an updated version of the project and not allowing comment once it had been changed.

Meanwhile, Dutra Group, a San Rafael-based construction and dredging company which already has a quarry in San Rafael, has said that it intends to move ahead on the project. However, there are more than 100 conditions the company must meet--everything from noise to traffic mitigations--before it can receive a grading permit from the county.

Although the project would be located at the entrance to Petaluma, just off Petaluma Boulevard South, it would not generate tax revenue for the city of Petaluma because it lays just outside city limits.

On Friday, oppositions groups issued a statement saying they were looking forward to taking the project to the state appellate court in San Francisco. 

"We will continue to strongly oppose this wrongly-made decision and project approvals at all levels," the opponents, which include Moms for Clean Air and Friends of Shollenberger, said in a statement. "This will be done in court, as well as at the various local, state and federal agencies whose approvals are necessary prior to Dutra's construction and grading permits and actions."

Check out other other Dutra asphalt plant-related stories on our new Dutra topic page.