Politics & Government

Dutra Opponents Pack Courtroom as Judge Considers Controversial Project

Decision expected by end of the month

Dozens of Petaluma residents, several council members and the current and former mayors crowded into a Santa Rosa court room Friday to hear arguments in the trial against Dutra Materials, a San Rafael company that wants to build an asphalt plant across the river from Shollenberger Park.

In two and a half hours of testimony, attorneys for both sides presented their arguments to Judge Rene Chouteau, who is expected to issue a written decision sometime before Christmas.

The plaintiffs, who include groups like Moms for Clean Air, Friends of Shollenberger Park, the city of Petaluma, Madrone Audubon Society and several individuals, argue that the supervisors voted on the project despite a “data dump” of some 100 pages of new documents that came in the day of the vote.

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The project was approved last December, with Supervisors Efren Carrillo, Paul Kelley and Mike Kerns voting in favor. But if the decision is returned to the board, chances are slim it would be approved again. Kelley and Kerns have retired and Supervisor David Rabbitt has pledged his opposition to the project while still on the Petaluma City Council.

“The reason the things (new material) came in at the last minute was because Dec. 14 was the last meeting of that board,” said Tim Smith, an opponent of the project and an attorney who is familiar with, but not involved in the case. “There was no recirculation of the project because it would go to the next board and the likelihood is that they would oppose it.”

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On Friday, Lesley Perry, an attorney for Dutra Materials argued that both the supervisors and the public had ample time to review all consultants’ reports and that, in fact, the project was barely altered from what was originally proposed.

Perry also acknowledged that the company’s initial assessment of impacts on traffic and air pollution were incorrect, but said the findings were insignificant because they still fall below the safety threshold. 

Meanwhile county counsel, Jeffrey Brax, argued that the river needed to have an industrial use on it in order to continue being dredged by the U.S. Corps of Engineers. He also added that the Dutra project did not fall into a “community separator area,” created in 1989 to preserve land from development.

Opponents of the asphalt plant have said the project conflicts with the Sonoma County General Plan and can only be changed by voters.

Richard Drury, who is representing the nonprofit groups in the suit, argued that the asphalt plant, which would produce 225,000 tons of asphalt a year, did not have a final map, after being continuously revised. He also pressed the county to hire independent consultants to assess impacts on traffic, noise and pollution, instead of relying on those hired by project proponents.

Drury estimates the project will result in 144,000 truck trips a year, about 60 percent more than initially estimated by Dutra, as well as result in urban blight, impacting Petaluma's economy as less tourists visit the city and Shollenberger Park.

What’s your take on the project? Sound off in the comments.


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