‏Sonoma Planning Commission looks at Hotel Draft EIR

‏Thursday, February 25, beginning at 6:30, Sonoma’s Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Report IR created for the Hotel Project Sonoma (formerly known as Chateau Sonoma Hotel) proposed for the 100 block of West Napa Street.

‏The document examines a variety of environmentally-related issues, including water use, sewer use, air quality, traffic generation of greenhouse gasses, noise generation and other matters. Comments from the public will be heard by the commission and representatives from the consulting company which prepared the Draft EIR. Comments may also be submitted via email or regular mail to City Hall. Once submitted, all comments from the public will be addressed in a future iteration of the Draft EIR.

The meeting will be broadcast on SVTV 27 and svtv.org

‏The hotel proposal has generated considerable controversy and opinion in the Sonoma community, but the EIR process is a highly-focused activity and does not consider matters which will come before the commission later in its deliberative process. Thus for example, matters of size, scale, design, landscaping, and other non-environmental considerations are not relevant to Thursday night’s proceedings.

What the heck is an EIR?

‏The Draft EIR is available for download on the City of Sonoma website, at www.sonomacity.org.