Welcome to the Blog section of the Haystack Landing website.
As you look around the website we believe you will rethink the claims of some opponents of the plant. Asphalt is a very necessary part of our everyday lives—the hybrid car we are proud of driving cruises along on asphalt, as does our bikes and strollers. The surfaces our kids play on every day are made with asphalt. On the issue of health, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District performed a health risk assessment on the proposed plant and found no significant health risk. We of course would accept nothing less. And so it goes, so please check it out! Click here to download a PDF of the BAAQMD report.
Dear Supporters,
I hope you and your family are enjoying the start of summer. Before you get too busy planning vacations and weekend barbeques, I wanted to take a few minutes of your time to update you on our Haystack Landing project.
As you may know, we have been working actively with County staff since the continuance of our last Board of Supervisors meeting back in July 2009. It’s hard to believe that it has been almost a whole year since our last public hearing. However, we have worked hard, as we have made major reductions to our proposal and are confident that we have found the right compromise that will finally provide southern Sonoma County with an asphalt resource. Our project team is optimistic that we have a plan to create an asphalt facility that will be remarkably sensitive to its surroundings and provide a vital asset to the community.
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is set to consider the modified proposal for Haystack Landing on Tuesday, August 24th.
Postponement of earlier hearing dates were made to allow for more review by County staff of the project’s significant modifications and reductions.
A discussion and possible decision on a proposed asphalt plant has been set for May 11 after an incomplete application prevented a March 16 meeting.
The Dutra Group, which submitted a revised plan for its asphalt plant along the Petaluma River just south of town on Jan. 29, requested that the meeting be set for May 11 last week after learning that the county’s permit review department needed more information on its proposal. The department sent a letter to the company on March 8 saying that its application lacks certain information and could not be addressed by the county’s Board of Supervisors on March 16.
Dutra plans to share a barge offloading site with Shamrock Materials, which has a plant just north of the Dutra property. An electric conveyor belt would then bring rock material from the Shamrock site about 600 feet south to the Dutra site. Dutra claims the plan eliminates concerns over noise and emissions raised over its previous plan to build a new barge offloading site on the river.
According to the county permit review department’s March 8 letter, Dutra needs to provide more information on operations at the Shamrock site, more details on the Shamrock’s electric crane and the proposed electric conveyor belt, and a signed agreement between Dutra and Shamrock to use Shamrock’s site. The department also said that Dutra must pay about $44,000 for application costs and staff processing time.
- Argus Courier, March 22
I would like to take this opportunity to respond to the inaccurate and malicious statements against our company made by Mr. David Keller in his recent opinion piece in the Argus-Courier.
The fact is that it’s easy to simply oppose anything and everything as Mr. Keller so often does. The most difficult tasks are those that attempt to create something tangible that will benefit Sonoma County and to do so in a manner that is sensitive to the community and the environment. That is our mission with our Haystack Landing proposal.
To further show our commitment to providing southern Sonoma County with a local asphalt resource, The Dutra Group has offered to completely eliminate the construction of a new barge offloading facility at Haystack Landing. Dutra barges will dock at the existing, nearby Landing Way facility and transport materials via electric conveyor belt to the site. The new modification nullifies any potential concerns on the navigability of the river and lessens other project impacts. Read the Argus Courier article about the revised plan here.
Read the Argus Courier editorial here on why it is so important to maintain commercial traffic on the Petaluma River.
Prompted by outside influences, the US Coast Guard notified The Dutra Group that it would like to conduct an additional study of the project’s barge offloading operations to ensure that the Haystack Landing facility does not interfere with recreational activity on the Petaluma River. In order to give its recommendation to the Board, the Coast Guard will have to visit the site to make its decision. Please read the Press Democrat story here.
Much-needed asphalt resource
by Aimi Dutra
My family and I appreciate the opportunity to communicate directly with you regarding our proposed Haystack Landing asphalt facility. We are humbled and grateful for the outpouring of support from countless Petalumans throughout this process.
The Haystack Landing project will provide a much-needed asphalt resource for southern Sonoma County and serve as an economic boost to the greater Petaluma area. The demand for asphalt is best met by local plants distributed around the county. Petaluma is the second-largest city in Sonoma County, and it is vital to have an asphalt plant in the Petaluma area, just as there has always been in the past. If a local source of aggregate and asphalt were not available, importing these resources from more remote locations would dramatically increase greenhouse emissions and costs. (continue reading…)
ARGUS-COURIER
November 27, 2009
A modified proposal to build an asphalt plant at Haystack Landing returns to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 8.
The final board agenda has not been released, but the supervisors will be expected to take a straw vote in the absence of 1st District Supervisor Valerie Brown, who voted against the project in June. (continue reading…)
The following letter was distributed by the CEO of the Petaluma Chamber of Commerce in response to a letter from a member of the Chamber regarding the Haystack Landing project.
Oct 6, 2009 Vol. 23
This is an open letter in response to Mr. Edin Goolan of last week.
Dear Sir:
On behalf of the Board of Directors I want to acknowledge receipt of your letter contending that the Chamber Board cannot take positions on issues without first polling the entire membership.
As a member of the Chamber, you should know that taking advocacy positions on behalf of business is precisely what your Board is elected to do. Since government at all levels has the potential to enact programs and policies that are not in the best interest of a business community as a whole, your Board reviews these issues carefully and takes positions only when potentially adverse decisions may be taken by our elected officials. (continue reading…)
Opponents of the pending request of Dutra for approval of its Haystack asphalt plant application have circulated an article that appeared in a Miami, Florida newspaper on September 7, 2000. While the claims in the article related to Dutra were in relation to dredging Dutra carried out more than 12 years ago, it is necessary to refute them because they are offered by the opponents to suggest the way Dutra conducts its business. As related to Dutra, the article in effect says that the Company improperly dredged sea grass. It also implies that Dutra dumped dredged material in an improper location.
Dutra dredged Miami harbor commencing in 1994. It executed the work relying on the drawings included in its contract. That contract also included sketches of the area to be dredged in a permit issued to the Port of Miami by Miami-Dade’s Department of Resources Management (DERM). The sketches appeared to be consistent with the contract drawings but were much less detailed. Some time after Dutra had dredged the area in question, DERM asserted to the Port that its sketches were intended to exclude from the area in which dredging was authorized a narrow dredged area in which sea grass had been present. At that point, the Port sought an amended DERM permit.
Dutra dumped dredged materials only in approved offshore dump sites. All of its barge loads were towed to the authorized site and dumped. Reports of each of these dumps were made as required by the contract, including verification of the location of dumps both by personnel aboard the barges and by GPS equipment aboard the tugs that towed those barges.
It is unfortunate that a carelessly written article nearly 9 years old must be addressed in this detail. It is a reflection of tactics that have no place in helping to answer the question of whether the County will experience a benefit from approving the pending application.
Thank you to all of our dedicated supporters who took the time to attend the Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday and demonstrate the strong community support for the Haystack Landing project. We also thank the Board of Supervisors for voting to allow us more time to make a great project even better.
Dutra requested the Board of Supervisors approve delaying the final vote on the Haystack Landing project in order for Dutra consultants to submit modifications to the project that address community concerns regarding visual and noise impacts to Shollenberger Park. Dutra requested the continuance to allow the county staff and consultants to evaluate these modifications and the corresponding reductions in environmental impacts. Significant components of the project will be modified including a reduction in the peak hourly production, elimination of the on-site recycling facility and reduction in the silo height. (continue reading…)
The following commentary was published in the North Bay Business Journal on Monday June 15, 2009.
Debate of Dutra Petaluma asphalt plant turns emotional
COMMENTARY: Brad Bollinger, Business Journal Editor in Chief
Business and community leaders are having a hard time recalling a debate that spun out as far and as quickly as the one over The Dutra Group’s proposed asphalt plant in Petaluma.
In a matter of months at the end of a five-year process, opposition has spiked, and support by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors went from 4-to-1 in favor to 3-to-2 against during a testy public hearing Tuesday.
When a supervisor responds to critics with a four-letter word – as one did last week, albeit not with the worst of them – you know things have gotten emotional.
And that’s the problem. Emotions – especially when they descend into vitriol and personal attacks – do not make for sound public decision making.
So, as the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan is reported to have said, “You are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts.” Just what are the facts in the Dutra case?
First, let it be stipulated that the company operated an asphalt plant on the Petaluma River for more than two decades.
The city survived.
The Dutra Group Companies and Aimi Dutra Krause take credibility and integrity very seriously. During the June 9 Board of Supervisor hearing and the debate surrounding the Haystack Project, several opponents made false claims about the Haystack Landing Project, the history of Dutra Material operations in Petaluma for over 23 years and attacked Aimi Dutra Krause’s statements suggesting she lied about Dutra’s record in Petaluma.
Unfortunately, the most serious of the false statements was made by Supervisor Zane at the hearing after public comment was closed which prevented Aimi Dutra Krause from correcting her and the Dutra record.
Dutra’s attorney, Chris Locke, sent County Counsel an email correcting the record after the hearing asking County Counsel to share (continue reading…)
Thank you to everyone who attended and spoke at the Board of Supervisor hearing yesterday demonstrating such strong and passionate support in the room for the project. We appreciate the time and sacrifices you made to be there and express your thoughts on all the benefits a local asphalt plant would bring to the Petaluma area.
We are disappointed in the events at the Board of Supervisor meeting on June 9 but remain committed to working with the County of Sonoma. We are evaluating the next steps in the process and promise to keep you informed as the project moves forward.
Thank you to all who attended the Town Hall meeting on Saturday, May 30. Dutra Haystack Landing project supporters’ strong showing at the meeting continues to demonstrate the community support for the proposed plant which saves taxpayers $2.5 million and takes 21,000 trucks off Highway 101 every year.
Tell the Truth is an organization that tracks public policy debates in an effort to ensure the public is getting accurate and truthful information. Tell the Truth recently investigated the debate around the Haystack Landing Project. Tell the Truth concluded numerous statements by Moms for Clean Air were inaccurate or misleading the public. One of the conclusions Tell the Truth published in their letter to Moms for Clean Air was ”The statements on the Moms for Clean Air website regarding health risks to children are an example of the scare tactics too often found in the debate around the Dutra Asphalt Plant.”
Tell the Truth asked Moms for Clean Air to “…immediately correct the information referred to below so the public will not continue to be misled.” Hopefully, with public pressure, Moms for Clean Air leaders will correct these and other false and misleading statements on their website and in publications. (continue reading…)
Tell the Truth is an organization that promotes truth and accuracy in local public policy debates and publishes results of their investigation into issues.
Tell the Truth recently investigated the debate surrounding the Haystack Landing Project. Tell the Truth sent letters to The Dutra Group and Moms for Clean Air with the results of their investigation. The following is a letter by The Dutra Group responding to Tell the Truth’s letter which follows our response. (continue reading…)
Please join us in keeping the momentum of a strong show of support for the Haystack Landing Project at a Town Hall meeting hosted by Assemblyman Jared Huffman this Saturday, May 30 from 9:00 – 11:00 AM in Petaluma.The format will include 3 panels to discuss the Haystack Landing project featuring a brief presentation from the Dutra Group, followed by a panel of experts from regulatory agencies and a panel of people with various perspectives on the plant. This meeting is open to the public, so we will also have an opportunity to answer questions from residents that have not already been addressed. (continue reading…)
For all who attended the Sonoma County Planning Commission hearing on Thursday, May 21, we are extremely grateful for your contribution to this project. We had an impressive showing of community support, which is a major reason that the Planning Commission decided to recommend approval to the Board of Supervisors of our request to amend the General Plan. (continue reading…)
