Proposed Sonoma hotel clears hurdle

A controversial Sonoma hotel project that underscored the tension between tourism and preserving small town character cleared a significant hurdle Thursday with a preliminary approval by the Planning Commission.

On a 5-1 vote commissioners certified an environmental impact report for the hotel off West Napa Street a half block from the Sonoma Plaza, an initial step before a use permit is considered in two weeks for construction to proceed.

The 62-room hotel, spa, and 80-seat restaurant is the latest version of a project that sparked a narrowly defeated ballot measure to effectively limit the size of new hotels to 25 rooms.

The $40 million project is planned on an L-shaped site behind the Lynch and Sonoma Index-Tribune buildings.

It is being proposed by Kenwood Investments, whose chief executive officer is Darius Anderson, a principal in Sonoma Media Investments, which owns The Press Democrat and the Sonoma Index-Tribune.

Initially, Anderson proposed a project with almost twice the square footage. After the ballot measure failed in 2013, Kenwood Investments did not reduce the number of rooms, but came forward with a new design and scrapped plans for an events center and second restaurant.

But many residents still say the hotel is too big for downtown and should include some affordable housing at a time people are struggling to pay rent or buy a home.

“People need to live in town. They love living in town,” said Sonoma resident Bonnie Brown, who disputed the developers’ assertion that residential units would not be compatible with a hotel.

Housing is “a critical problem facing Sonoma,” said Carol Marquez, acknowledging the project “will create jobs. But where will the employees live?”

Critics say the hotel represents a point of no return, a further impingement on the historic and revered plaza, which they say many residents avoid because of congestion and traffic.

But the project’s supporters say the developers and the architect listened to the community, changed the design and the hotel will be a good neighbor to the Sonoma Plaza.

In its initial five years, the project is projected to generate $9.7 million in occupancy, property and sales tax revenues.

Construction union representatives said the hotel will pay a living wage to construction workers and the 60 hotel employees. Representatives from the hotel and food services union also support the project.

Bill Hooper, president of Kenwood Investments said the “boutique” hotel is needed to accommodate tourists who are already driving to Sonoma, but can’t stay the night because there is no vacancy.

Hooper said the four-star hotel will likely have similar rates to the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, The Lodge at Sonoma Renaissance Resort and MacArthur Place Hotel and Spa.

Among the two dozen people who addressed the commission Thursday, opinion was roughly divided on the project.

The environmental report is seriously flawed and “does not factor in the semi-rural small-town character we live in,” said Vicky Hall, a land use planner, saying the size and scale of the hotel don’t fit in.

Traffic was a key topic.

The public hearing on the West Napa Street hotel was delayed in December after planners were alerted the traffic study was flawed: It accounted only for left turns generated by the hotel and not vehicle trips for adjacent commercial and residential properties.

But after updating the analysis, traffic consultants said the outcome was the same.

It’s estimated the project would result in a net average increase of ?310 daily vehicle trips, 23 of which would occur during the p.m. peak traffic period and 27 during the weekend midday peak hour.

By way of comparison, the current p.m. peak volume on West Napa Street between Second Street West and Broadway is about 1,200 vehicles.

Critics weren’t satisfied. Traffic is at a critical mass in this valley,” said Mary Martinez, adding that there is insufficient parking around the plaza.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 707-521-5214.