P O S T P O N E D
THE Thursday, December 12
HOTEL PROJECT SONOMA
Planning Commission Hearing
HAS BEEN POSTPONED
We will keep you Posted and share the new hearing date when we have it!
Dear Friends:
The opponents of our proposed hotel project have expressed concern that significant information has been added to the Revised Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) should be recirculated to be compliant with California requirements. While we disagree with their opinion, we believe that the Planning Commission would ultimately want to err on the side of caution and ultimately request the staff to recirculate the document. For us, it is consistent with our goal of having a Planning Commission vote that is fully informed without the distraction of technicalities in the process.
With that, we have informed the City that we would wait for the recirculation process to happen. They will likely repost the document for 45 days to gather and respond to public comments. We hope to have a hearing rescheduled shortly after the first of the year.
We appreciate those of you who arranged your schedule to attend the meeting and apologize for the inconvenience. Letters in support can continue to come in and we will keep you posted on the hearing schedule.
Thank you for your patience and Happy Holidays!
11 Things you Should Know
1. Tax contribution over five years: $10,300,000
2. Over $1 million per year in TOT (transit occupancy tax) paid to the City of Sonoma
3. Sixty new local jobs
4. Commitment to pay a living wage
5. Sustainable design strategies: LEED Certified (a green building certification), State-of-the-art water reduction strategies, Storm water retention, storage and recycle program in underground cisterns, Permeable paver systems.
6. Infill development: appropriately located in the business district
7. Reuse of a brownfield site
8. 95% of the new hotel will NOT be visible form the historic plaza
9. Respects the Urban Growth Boundary
10. Pedestrian and bicycle friendly site
11. The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) has been updated to review other development alternatives and an evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions