Truck & Auto site cleanup declined by owner

A proposal by members of the Sonoma Valley Rotary Club to help spruce up the vacant lot of the former Sonoma Truck & Auto Center on Broadway is in limbo after the property owners declined the offer, according to Rotary members.

The idea had been percolating since September, when Sonoma resident Rick Wynne inquired with the City of Sonoma about the possibility of waiving the property owner’s liability “for anything that might happen during our efforts.”

“We would cleanup the landscape, paint the buildings, encourage mural artists to participate, etc.,” Wynne wrote in an email to Sonoma City Councilmember Kelso Barnett. “We did this with the barn where Spain (Street) comes into Sonoma Highway.”

On Sept. 23, Rotary Club member Scott Murray informed Wynne in an email that after Scot Hunter, the local representative for the owner, pitched the idea, the property owner “declined our offer.”

“The response was ‘thanks but no thanks,’” Murray wrote.

Hunter confirmed to the Index-Tribune that the owner did decline the offer, but had no further comment.

Until recently, the site at 870 Broadway had been the focus of a development proposal known as the Sonoma Gateway Project, a mixed-use housing project approved by the City Council in December of 2018, ostensibly paving the way for the construction of 3,500 square feet of commercial space and 33 residential units, eight of which would have been one-bedroom affordable housing apartments.

But the project faced staunch opposition from neighbors who appealed the approval and, when the appeal was rejected, later sued the city, demanding an environmental impact report.

While the Gateway Project sat in legal limbo, its developer – Broadway and MacArthur LLC – abandoned the project, and the property owner also dropped interest in pursuing the project, city staff reported last winter. The City Council formally withdrew its approval of the project on Feb. 1.

Since then the site has sat in a state of decay – with cracked asphalt, growing weeds, a deteriorating building and other debris and detritus littering the grounds.

“We’re kind of in limbo right now,” Rotary President Therese Nugent told the Index-Tribune about the cleanup proposal.

Despite Rotary’s tidying-up intentions, City Manager Garrett Toy said the property owner is under no obligation to OK a community cleanup.

“Community members can’t access private property without the property owner’s permission,” Toy said. “Nor can the City use community members to clean up property without the property owner’s permission.”

Toy said the City has referred the matter to its code enforcement officer, who will contact the property owner to clean up the property as required by city code.

Email Jason Walsh at Jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.