Feeling Graton by Jennifer Butler - May 2018

Happy beautiful warm weather season to you! I hope the April showers have brought you May flowers. Driving through a residential area?Please slow your roll.Congratulations to all graduating students!

CHA, CHA, CHANGES…IS GRATON THE NEW PARTY TOWN USA?

Graton is experiencing some significant changes. I enjoy my community and want to ensure that as a collective we are looking out for one another and the earth we share. This month, I am going to start coverage on another potentially big change for Graton. I will do my best to give fair reporting as it progresses. I am not a professional, so if I mess up just e-mail me corrections and/or opinions for that matter.

This brings forward the proposal for ‘Knuckle Junction’ on the corner of Ross and Graton Road at Purple Wine. Below is a truncated version of the application for Knuckle Junction submitted by Purple Wine to the Sonoma County Permit and Resource Management Dept. This is a public application so you can request the full application.

File Number: UPE17-0056

Site Address: 9119 Graton Road, Graton

Owner Name: Purple Wine Real Estate LLC www.Purplewine.com

Project Description: Request a Use Permit for the addition of seasonal Crush to an existing Winery and Distillery of up to 10% of the existing Winery Production, and the conversion of an existing 7,394 sft office space into a Brewery, Tap Room and Beer Garden open to the public. Total amount of combined cases produced would not exceed the existing permitted production.

If you have comments regarding this proposal you should send them to attention of: UPE17-0056 traci.tesconi@sonoma-county.org You can send comments at any time during the process.

Please note that I have not talked to a representative from Purple Wine as of yet but I will.It is my understanding that Purple Wine is privately owned and with 3 million cases a year the 2nd largest bottling plant in Sonoma County. It is also a vodka distillery. The application is to:

1. Expand existing wine production activities to include an annual crush of 5000 additional tons.

2. Convert their existing office spaces into brewery production of 70 thousand cases per year and

3. Re-purpose their existing parking lot into a publicly served taproom and beer garden with food and live music. They propose to operate 6 days a week.

Purple Wine is currently zoned as manufacturing. I have heard that they will potentially move their administrative offices out of town. They share the south side of Ross Road with the new Green Valley Village development of 10 homes. They will be eliminating their parking and while Green Valley Village will have residential parking provisions, I can imagine future issues of available parking being a problem. We should also anticipate visitors needing parking for a visit to Graton Green Park. Even today parking in downtown can be a challenge. On busy weekends people park in front of resident’s homes for events at the Community Center and restaurants.

With downtown Graton being less than two blocks long, I have heard a lot of concern about how this project would affect the culture and quality of life in Graton. Graton has changed its identity more than once, but for the last 20 years it’s been a sweet, quiet and primarily a residential little village.

Currently, in our one block we have one bar, two wine tasting rooms, and a fully licensed liquor store. With the restaurants; 5 of the 7 front facing main street businesses are serving alcohol. And of course, an art gallery and antique store, as well as two real estate offices that need parking for their customers. We also have the Community Center which is available to rent for parties. It’s a great thing to have a healthy downtown, but the pros and cons of the proposal need to be weighed carefully and we need the input of the entire community. We should be asking what our vision is for Graton…. today and in 10 years.

If you didn’t know, Graton is unincorporated and it looks like we will be that way for a while because it doesn’t pencil out financially to become incorporated. Therefore the 5th District relies on the General Plan for Sonoma County. Luckily we have a strong plan and the highlight of the General Plan is a restriction on all development. Residents in the 1970’s didn’t want us to become like LA so they put limitations on development in place. The General Plan is reviewed every 10 years. and is up for review again.

There will be many opinions on this proposed project but already the one that I hear most is the objection of intense use that isn’t confined to business hours and days. It will impact the community greatest on nights and weekends when many residents are home to enjoy their downtime, which is already impacted by the existing businesses. Also, of concern is the increase of large tonnage commercial traffic with trucks delivering for the additional 5000 tons in wine production and 70,000 cases of beer.

The hazard of more drinking drivers on the road has some residents up in arms. Some people I’ve interviewed like the idea. They would enjoy having that type of entertainment so close to home and others still are encouraged to see new development and business opportunities come to Graton.

I had intended to rewrite some of the comments that I read on NextDoor Graton, but I’ve run out of room. I highly recommend that you use that forum to hear the opinions of your neighbors and voice your own. It’s also a great way to stay updated. I will continue to write about it as well.

Next steps. The county Planner is taking comments from agencies, tribes and the public. The deadline for agencies to respond with their comments is May 1st.Comments given to the Planner are given to the developer. Eventually, the application will go through a variety of studies. Ultimately a final proposal for the project goes to the Planning Commission for consideration, which will require a public hearing. Lots of opportunities to learn more and to state your either your support or disagreement.

UPDATE ON THE GRATON COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT PUBLIC OUTREACH MEETING

On April 18, Graton Community Services District (GCSD), in collaboration with the Sonoma County Water Agency, hosted a public forum to encourage open communication among community members regarding a proposed plan to utilized GCSD’s facility to treat Occidental’s wastewater.

Occidental is no longer capable of treating the wastewater it’s 100 hookups generate. Jose Ortiz, GCSD General Manager, provided a Powerpoint presentation to clarify the plan. This presentation and the meeting notes are available. Please contact the GCSD to request them.

Attendees asked about the Fiscal state of the district and what this can do for us fiscally. They asked “What happens if we don’t do this?” and the answer is rate increases. It’s important to remember that this project is worth $200K per year, minus operating costs (approx. $40,000 in operating costs). It was discussed that there is approx. $3 million in upgrades and repairs in our GCSD collection system needed in the future and we need to fiscally prepare for that.

After the recent income survey GCSD did qualify for the Disadvantaged status which qualifies us as eligible for forgivable loans if we are fiscally sound.

One objection to the project was the scope of the transfer times because it is very broad. 6:00 AM to midnight, but these hours are not the norm, but rather extreme circumstances. It is important to understand that this is a temporary project of 5 to 10 years resulting in approx. $1.2 million in revenue over 10 years.

The GCSD has not yet presented the project in a proposal as they have been seeking public input before they did. They want ratepayers to know we the people are the GCSD and are welcome and encouraged to participate. Schedule is for 2019 for all the contingencies. IF the GCSD cannot find other revenue streams, it is estimated that by 2019 it will be $30k behind, and because of escalating operating cost by 2022 it will be $70K behind. Chemicals and energy use are the greatest operating costs.

Risks for the project are outlined the CEQA document used for the current project which hauls Occidental’s waste to the Sonoma County airport treatment plant. The route for trucks runs straight through downtown Graton, in case you haven’t seen them yet...about 6 trips a day. If Graton accepts Occidental's sewage, trucks would turn off to our plant before going through downtown, so that’s something to consider. The current transfer station location came up as a concern for neighbors, so it was pointed out that other options are being discussed. Trucks are provided by the Sonoma County Water Agency

It was asked “Forestville sells their treated water, why don’t we?” “Are we using chemicals for disinfection?” “Are there new technologies that can be used instead?” If you want answers, please request a copy of the meeting minutes.

Next step:Stay tuned and keep your eyes open for the next public meeting. REMINDER: all regular GCSD meetings are open to the public and are held every 3rd Monday at 6: PM at the Graton Day Labor Center, 2981 Bowen Street.