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First St. East hotel/housing project gets review

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Sonoma Valley Sun

The proposed hotel/housing project on First Street and Second Street East will come before Sonoma’s Planning Commission this Thursday at a meeting beginning at 6:30pm in the community meeting room. The topic of the Study Session meeting is determining the scope of an environmental impact review of the project.

The project’s developer Ed Routhier is making the case that the proposal is good for the neighborhood and the city as a whole, while project opponents, namely the North of the Mission Neighborhood Association, believe its intensity of use is inappropriate to the site. The group believes that design guidelines and prior city council actions pertaining to development in the North East Planning Area make the current proposal a non-starter, and a website, protectsonoma.com, has been developed by the Association to further their efforts.

Routhier and investor Bill Jasper have gone on the record in this newspaper stating why they feel this project should proceed, including the economic effects. They feel they have listened to the community and modified the project to satisfy neighbor and community concerns. Thursday’s meeting, however, is focused on the scope of any required environmental review, and discussions about size, mass, character or economic benefits may be deemed extraneous to the discussion.

 




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