A judge on Wednesday refused to block construction of three new storage silos at a Santa Rosa asphalt plant. Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Elliot Daum denied a request by neighbors to halt construction of the 82-foot-high silos at the BoDean asphalt plant north of Railroad Square.

Santa Rosa recently declined to pay for the printing of a neighborhood newsletter that named council members who voted in favor of allowing the BoDean asphalt plant to expand.

A Santa Rosa asphalt plant’s controversial plan to add three new 82-foot high silos was rejected Thursday night by the city’s Design Review Board.
On a 3-3 vote, the board denied the Bodean Company’s request for an exemption from the city’s typical height limit of 55 feet.
The company will appeal the decision to the City Council, general manager Bill Williams said.

Santa Rosa is being sued for allowing an asphalt plant to add three massive storage silos without requiring a report analyzing the environmental impacts. Citizens for Safe Neighborhoods filed its suit in Sonoma County Superior Court last month challenging the City Council’s approval June 19 of a permit for the Bodean Company project. The group, made up mostly of residents who live in the West End neighborhood near the Maxwell Drive plant, claims the city twisted local zoning and environmental rules to approve the project.

A Santa Rosa asphalt plant will be allowed to add three huge new storage silos without the additional environmental study demanded by neighbors worried about air quality and other impacts. Dozens of neighbors appealed Tuesday night to the City Council to require the additional study, but many also supported the Bodean Company’s application for upgrades it says will lessen the impact of plant operations on the neighborhood just northwest of downtown.

Neighbors of a Santa Rosa asphalt plant are hoping the City Council will clear the air Tuesday over concerns raised about a major plant upgrade.

Many residents of Santa Rosa’s West End neighborhood wish Bodean Co.’s asphalt plant was somewhere else. So the company’s plans to erect three, 82-foot-tall storage silos have neighbors fretting about air quality and urging the city not to allow a more intense industrial use so close to a residential area.