Hotel developers offer to address EIR questions

In a surprise move, the developers of Sonoma Hotel Project on West Napa Street are asking the City Council to request the EIR consultant to prepare a supplemental EIR to add alternatives and consolidate changes to the traffic study.

The Sonoma City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on an appeal of the Environmental Impact Report, EIR, for the Sonoma Hotel Project.

The Sonoma Hotel Project is a proposed 62-room hotel and 80-seat restaurant, which would be built on West Napa Street between First Street West and Second Street West. The project is being proposed by Kenwood Investments, which is owned by Darius Anderson who is also a principal in Sonoma Media Investments which owns the Index-Tribune and the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

The hotel has been in the pipeline since June 2012.

In a letter to City Planner David Goodison on Friday, July 14, Kenwood Investments’ attorney asked for the supplemental EIR.

Bill Hooper, the president of Kenwood Investments, said they’re interested in continuing to respond to community input.

“This will be a more informative EIR,” Hooper said Monday. “We think it’ll take an additional six months if the Council goes in that direction.”

But he said it’s entirely up to the council. “The applicant isn’t in control,” Hooper said. “The City Council is.”

On June 22, the council listened to four hours of background, advocacy by both sides and 31 audience members who had something to say about the project. After the four hours, the council decided not to decide that night and instead scheduled a special meeting Wednesday to discuss and render its decision.

In April, the city’s Planning Commission voted 5-1 to approve the EIR, but a group of citizens appealed the commission’s decision.

The one thing the council did decide that night was to close the public hearing which means it won’t accept any new comments on the matter. The public will still be able to weigh in with comments at Wednesday’s meeting, but the comments won’t be considered part of the public record for the appeal.

The appeal cited inadequate alternatives section of the EIR, both in scope and adequacy; piecemealing/inadequate project description; inaccurate and inadequate traffic analysis; inadequate mitigation measures; inadequate cumulative impacts analysis; and inadequate land use impacts analysis.

The group is asking the city council to overturn the Planning Commission’s actions and require the city staff and EIR consultants to “provide additional impacts analysis, project alternatives, engineering plans and to correct the noted insufficiencies and inadequacies of the EIR, including recirculation and the Sonoma City Council taking original jurisdiction over the recirculated EIR.”

Opponents cited a lack of a housing element, greenhouse gases, not enough alternatives, the loss of about 50 trees, sewage and infrastructure problems, traffic and Plaza impacts, while proponents touted living wages for the employees, less sewer and traffic impacts than apartments and the need for more hotel rooms.

The meeting, which is open to the public, is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 19, in the Community Meeting Room, 177 First St. W., Sonoma.