Sonoma Materials to pay $75K for paperwork violation

Sonoma Materials, a longtime Sonoma family-owned business known for donating to local schools and nonprofits, has agreed to pay $75,000 in civil penalties for neglecting to submit a hazardous materials business plan.|

Sonoma Materials, a longtime Sonoma family-owned business known for donating to local schools and nonprofits, has agreed to pay $75,000 in civil penalties for neglecting to submit a hazardous materials business plan.

The business – which has since submitted the plan – agreed to pay civil penalties and costs to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office, which filed a complaint against the company. As part of the agreement, $25,000 of the amount will be suspended unless there’s a future violation, the DA’s office said.

Sonoma Materials didn’t respond to notices of violation from Sonoma County Fire and Emergency Services for failing to submit a hazardous materials plan for its 21040 Broadway location since 2014. Fire and Emergency Services referred the case to the DA’s Environmental and Consumer Law Division, which filed a civil complaint in March.

“(Sonoma Materials is) in compliance now,” said Sonoma County Assistant Deputy Attorney Ann Gallagher White. The company filed the plan this fall, she said.

The assistant DA said the company failed to file the plan because there was an issue of allocation of resources within the company as to who was supposed to do it, and also there was some trouble filing online.

“It’s a small business,” she noted. The assistant DA said, “(Sonoma Materials) is a good business that has done a lot giving back to the community.

“But,” she added, “they should have filed a hazardous materials business plan.” The company had also neglected to file a spill response plan, but filed that plan along with the other plan this fall, White said.

The violation involved paperwork only, Erik Garcia, a principal of Sonoma Materials, noted. There has never been an issue of contamination from the company, Garcia added.

“They did clear their violations,” said Andrew Parsons, assistant fire marshal with Sonoma County Fire and Emergency Services. Parsons acknowledged that the fine was steep.

“It is a lot of money, there’s no question about it,” Parsons said. He added, “The way the law is written, the penalties are very high. The penalties can reach $5,000 per day per violation.

“Fortunately they are in compliance and we can move on,” Parsons said.

Schell-Vista Fire Chief Ray Mulas explained that the hazardous materials plan is a document that often includes diagrams of the building and location of any hazardous substances kept on the premises in a box to help first responders such as firefighters.

“The plan needs to be located on the site and secured so that the firefighters can find it,” Mulas said.

Sonoma Materials has operated in Sonoma since December 1986. In 2014, Erik Garcia, son of Tony Garcia, the company’s founder, received the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Angel Award for outstanding service to children in the Valley.

Over the years, the company has donated materials for school gardens to schools throughout Sonoma. Sonoma Materials has also donated to La Luz and the Sonoma Stompers baseball team.

Reach Janis Mara at janis.mara@sonomanews.com.

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