Vallejo council ‘punting’ decision on mill
A battle over Vallejo’s waterfront, and competing visions of the city’s future, had been expected to come to a head Thursday night with a City Council decision on a plan to build a large cement mill and shipping terminal on the city’s south side.
But the City Council, on a split vote, put off the decision, approving a resolution to have the applicant come up with a better description of the project in six weeks, finish a final environmental impact report then reconsider the issue by January 2018.
“We’re basically punting it down the line a bit,” said City Attorney Claudia Quintana, describing Councilwoman Rozzana Verder-Aliga’s resolution. It passed on a 4-3 vote with council members Jess Malgapo, Pippin Dew-Costa and Hermie Sunga joining VerderAliga. Mayor Bob Sampayan and council members Robert McConnell and Katy Miessner were opposed.
It’s been roughly four years since cement maker Orcem Americas and Vallejo Marine Terminal proposed building a massive mill that will grind and mix materials into cement at a plant that used to house a flour mill, most recently operated by General Mills. It’s located on the city’s waterfront across from Mare Island in an area known as Sandy Beach.
The plan advanced through the planning process relatively quietly until October 2015 when hundreds of residents packed hearings on a draft environmental study.
Critics said the project would choke the air with dust, pollute the Napa River where it meets the bay and flood local roads with hundreds of trucks a day. They called it an environmental nightmare. Backers said the project would create jobs — how many, from 20 to nearly 200, is disputed — and bring economic vitality to a once-mighty industrial and port city that’s suffered since the Navy left the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in 1996.
Then, in March, the city’s Planning Commission rejected the project, halting environmental studies, citing concerns about the project’s impact on the neighborhood, including water and air pollution and the look of the waterfront. Orcem appealed the decision.
Hundreds of people showed up Tuesday, some lining up an hour early, for a public hearing that lasted 7 ½ hours. Similar crowds showed up Thursday to listen for four more hours as the council peppered its staff, consultants and the proponents with questions before Verder-Aliga presented her resolution.
She said there were too many unanswered questions and that the council needed more information.
“We have to cross our T’s and dot our I’s,” she said.
McConnell argued against putting off the vote, saying the issue was dividing the city.
“We’ve got to bring this to a close,” he said. “It’s not healthy to any of us to continue this.”
Verder-Aliga’s resolution was approved, greeted with loud boos and hoots, and a line of police officers moved in front of the council dais.
After the meeting, Peter Brooks, of cement-mill opponents Fresh Air Vallejo, said people were angry that the council didn’t kill the project.
“It’s a shame that those four council members are putting politics ahead of pollution,” he said.
Orcem officials couldn’t be reached for comment but on their Facebook page quickly posted a thank you to their four supporters on the council “for seeking facts over fear to make an informed decision.”