Opponents of a proposed asphalt plant near Petaluma have challenged the project’s approval in state appellate court.

The Petaluma City Council decision to spend about $10,000 trying to prevent an asphalt plant from opening on its outskirts commits it to a legal battle that may cost many times that, although it won’t bear the cost alone.

Petaluma’s City Council voted 6-1 on Monday night to continue its legal fight against the Dutra Materials asphalt plant after two local groups pledged $10,000 to help fund the battle. The money should cover about half the city’s costs to appeal a ruling by Superior Court Judge Rene Chouteau, who dismissed a lawsuit challenging the asphalt plant. Did the City Council make the right decision to appeal the ruling?

A Sonoma County judge has dismissed the lawsuit challenging approval of the Dutra Materials asphalt plant, the controversial land use project slated for 38 acres south of Petaluma. Judge Rene Chouteau dismissed all claims brought against the county, Dutra and its business partners by the City of Petaluma, a group of five nonprofit groups and several individuals.

UPDATE 5:45 PM: Lowe’s has dropped out of a Petaluma development that would have given the city its only home improvement warehouse store and perhaps captured millions of dollars in sales tax spent in other cities. “Essentially the clock ran out on a project that could have broken ground in 2010,” said Marko Mlikotin, a spokesman for the project’s developer. But it also reopens the door for a Friedman’s Home Improvement store to return to Petaluma.

Flooding, traffic relief and the effects of development will be major issues as Petaluma begins a report on a long-planned Rainier Avenue cross-town connector.

A redesign of the Petaluma Boulevard South interchange at Highway 101 has some Petalumans asking for a U-turn from Caltrans and the county transportation authority. The Petaluma City Council agrees the design could be improved, but doesn’t want to jeopardize the project.

A Petaluma neighborhood group that took $150,000 last year from developers to drop its opposition to a Target shopping center is now challenging the legality of the environmental impact report of another, similar-sized proposal anchored by Lowe’s.

More than 50 people attended a hearing Wednesday in Sacramento on a state proposal to protect endangered fish by controlling the amount of water grapegrowers divert from the Russian River watershed for springtime frost protection. Some questioned whether the regulations were needed. Members of the Water Resources Control Board defended the proposal, but agreed that key details need to be defined more precisely.

State water regulators are pushing a proposal to strictly limit and monitor the diversion of water from the Russian River during spring, a move with key ramifications for grape growers. The issue will take center stage Wednesday at a workshop in Sacramento. It comes two months after Sonoma County set up its own less-stringent program to oversee frost operations in the Russian River watershed.