Posted March 27, 2008
SPEAK UP ABOUT WASTEWATER DISCHARGE IN ALEXANDER VALLEY - Public Hearing April 3rd
WHAT: Public Hearing on Santa Rosa’s Discharge Compliance Project Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR)
WHEN: Thursday, April 3, 5:00 pm
WHERE: City Council Chamber, Santa Rosa City Hall, 100 Santa Rosa Ave.
WHY: Make sure the City Council and Board of Public Utilities hear why Alexander Valley opposes dumping wastewater into the Russian River.
After 18 months of study, Santa Rosa has finally released the DEIR for their Discharge Compliance Project. All six volumes of reports are available online:
http://ci.santarosa.ca.us/departments/
utilities/
irwp/discharge/Pages/
schedule.aspx
First, the good news:
Now, the bad news:
The Alexander Valley site is still on the table. If the other sites prove infeasible for technical or political reasons, pump stations, cooling towers, and treatment plants could be located in Alexander Valley near the discharge site. This would require 4 miles of new high voltage power lines along Alexander Valley Road to West Soda Rock Lane.
Impacts to specific non-municipal wells have not been adequately studied. Only a generic and superficial analysis has been done.
Despite lots of recent press about pharmaceuticals in wastewater, the DEIR claims that “effluent from the Laguna plan does not contain significant amounts of estrogenic chemicals.” “Available information regarding non-regulated chemical contaminants is therefore considered too speculative to determine the significance of impacts.” There could be serious threats to the safety of our water supply and to wildlife habitat in the river.
Neighbors of the other sites will likely be out in force at the public hearing. It’s important that we turn out and voice our concerns directly to the decisionmakers.
Questions about the project or the DEIR? Ask Dave Ring, dhring@gmail.com.
Want to rideshare on April 3? Contact Stu Harrison, stu.harrison@gmail.com. If there’s enough interest, he’ll arrange for a bus.
DRY CREEK RANCHERIA AND THE AVA ABC LIQUOR LICENSE NEGOTIATIONS
Website Post
Posted: March 27, 2008
Over the last year, the Alexander Valley Association (“AVA”) and the Dry Creek Rancheria of Pomo Indians (“Tribe”) have engaged in extensive settlement negotiations regarding the Tribe’s application to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (“ABC”) for a license to serve liquor at the River Rock Casino.
The AVA began these discussions with the assumption that, in the end, the Tribe was likely to prevail before the ABC and to be granted a liquor license. Accordingly, the AVA sought to obtain meaningful concessions from the Tribe that would substantially mitigate the harmful effects of the service of alcohol at the Casino.
As a result of these negotiations—which included three days of in-person mediation before a retired federal judge—the Tribe has agreed to conditions that the AVA believes will limit some of these harmful effects. The conditions include (1) limiting the hours of sale; (2) prohibiting the sale of hard alcohol during the hours when school buses are most likely to be on the roads; (3) barring the sale or service of alcohol outside of the Casino’s bars and restaurant; and (4) restricting Casino customers to purchasing one drink at a time. On March 12, 2008, the AVA Board of Directors formally approved these conditions. A link to the complete set of agreed upon conditions is below.
On March 18, 2008, the County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors approved a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with the Tribe that incorporates these conditions on the service of liquor at the Casino. The MOU makes the license conditions enforceable against the Tribe in court. A link to the MOU is below.
As a result of these agreements, the AVA Board of Directors has decided to withdraw its protest of the Tribe’s application for a liquor license at the Casino. The AVA will soon notify the ABC of its intent to withdraw its protest and will request that the ABC incorporate the conditions that the AVA and the Tribe have agreed upon into the Tribe’s license. There is no guarantee that the ABC will incorporate every one of these conditions into the Tribe’s license. However, all of the conditions will remain enforceable through the MOU between the Tribe and the County.
If you are an individual protestant in the ABC proceeding, you will soon be receiving a letter from Keker & Van Nest LLP, the law firm that represents the AVA in this matter. Having reviewed the agreed upon conditions and the MOU, if you would like to withdraw your protest, please fill out the enclosed form and return it to Keker & Van Nest, before April 4, 2008. Keker & Van Nest will then notify the ABC of your decision to withdraw your protest. A link to the withdrawal form is below.
Please note that Keker & Van Nest LLP does not represent you in this matter and does not provide any advice to you about whether you should withdraw your protest. You should make your own decision about whether to withdraw your protest. If you withdraw your protest, you will give up your right to appear at any further ABC hearings on this matter.
Documents attached:
AVA & Tribe Agreement
County MOU
Withdrawal of Protest
You will need Acrobat to open these PDF documents. If you need any assistance, please contact us at: info@ava.com
Please send your Withdrawal of Protest form to:
Keker & Van Nest LLP
710 Sansome Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 391-5400
