Hearing on controversial Sonoma hotel postponed at last minute

A hearing on a controversial hotel proposal in Sonoma was postponed at the last minute Thursday because of a potentially significant flaw in the traffic analysis.

Planning Director David Goodison said he was alerted Thursday morning the analysis of the projected left turns into the hotel may have underreported the number of trips associated with the project site.

The 62-room hotel, ?80-seat restaurant and six-room spa proposed by Kenwood Investments is proposed off West Napa Street, a half block from the Sonoma Plaza. Most of the parking would be in an underground garage.

It is the latest version of a project that has divided the town and stoked an ongoing debate over whether too many tourists and too much traffic are overwhelming Sonoma.

“It’s possible the left-turn analysis doesn’t account for all the turning movements associated with the site and it needs to do that,” Goodison said. “We need to investigate it and verify whether or not there is a problem.”

As a result he canceled the Planning Commission meeting in which the environmental impact report and associated traffic study were recommended for certification along with use permit approval for the hotel. He said it shouldn’t take long to determine if the traffic analysis by consultant W-Trans is accurate, or whether it needs to be updated.

“Until we look into this further I can’t say how long it will take to come back to the Planning Commission,” he said.