Sonoma's Planning Commission to consider retail, residential ‘Gateway' project; delays Cheese Factory vote

The Sonoma Planning Commission will meet for the second straight Thursday on March 29 – this time to review the proposed “Gateway Project” at the site of the long-closed Sonoma Truck and Auto, at MacArthur and Broadway.

The latest project to be proposed for the long-vacant and slowly deteriorating site at 899 Broadway – first floated before a community meeting last September – has taken shape as a mixed-use development featuring 35 residences and a 4,100-square-foot commercial space, accommodating up to three tenant spaces at the southeast corner of the site, along Broadway.

The living units range from eight small apartments of only 486 square feet, to 20 two- and three-bedroom townhomes of between 1,261 and 1,458 square feet, four two-bedroom flats of 1,275 square feet each, and three detached four-bedroom houses of 2,934 square feet.

All structures currently on the site would be demolished, including the old 6,000-square-foot auto showroom, a 3,000-square-foot auto paint shop and a 1,000-square-foot garage.

According to the city staff report, the proposal – from Barry McComic of Vesta Pacific Development – appears compliant with the city development code and design guidelines, and the other areas of planning commission purview. The staff recommendation is for the Planning Commission to forgo further environmental review and grant the project a use permit.

Cheese Factory Sours

A proposal to remodel the Sonoma Cheese Factory hit a sour note at the Planning Commission’s March 22 meeting, when planning officials reviewed an ambitious renovation of the historic building on Spain Street from the developer of Napa’s Oxbow Market.

Responding to questions raised at the meeting by the commissioners and the public – many of which focused on the expected traffic impact of an Oxbow-like development in the Plaza area – Planning Director David Goodison encouraged the body to continue the discussion to the commission meeting of April 12, to allow for further staff study on cultural impacts, traffic and parking.

But after almost three hours of discussion, the mounting number of proposed conditions and concerns from planning commission members drew a sharp rebuke from the project’s planner, Steve Carlin.

Describing himself as “the one that’s responsible for Oxbow in Napa” – he also helped develop Napa Valley’s Oakville Grocery and San Francisco’s Ferry Building Marketplace – Carlin used his three minutes of public comment to lecture the commission on “how these things work.”

“We do not attract national tenants to our projects, we attract small town operators,” said Carlin.

“These are not tenants that can pay the kinds of rents that would support a full (environmental impact review) on a project like this.”

He went on to point out it wasn’t a residential project or an office building, implying that the terms the commission was considering were extraordinary and unnecessary.

He described his similar projects as “small town asset(s) that we have found communities embrace, and are very proud of.”

“These are people that live in the community that will work and own these projects,” said Carlin. “We can’t charge them the kinds of rents that would be required if we had to go through every single requirement that you’re talking about.”

Carlin wondered if “this isn’t the right project for Sonoma.”

“We can come to terms with that,” he said. “We work on projects in other parts of the country and, most of them, we are actually welcomed and supported because of what we’re doing for the community.”

He closed his statement by saying, “The Sonoma Cheese Factory is on life support; it’s going to close unless something happens to it, and then it’s going to be an empty building.”

Despite the warning, the Planning Commission voted 6-1 to continue the hearing until its April 12 meeting.

Contact Christian at christian.kallen@sonomanews.com.