Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT
Cloverdale leaders faced intense criticism Wednesday, April 8, as a swarm of public commenters accused the city council of failing to ensure residents and resources are safeguarded from impacts associated with a proposed mega housing and resort development on the south end of town.
More than a dozen residents demanded the council require a new environmental impact report for the proposed Esmeralda project, slated for 266 acres of vacant former industrial land.
The project, one of the largest in northern Sonoma County in decades, has been inching toward formal consideration by the planning commission and city council. But proponents with the San Francisco-based developer, Esmeralda Land Company, have advanced their vision while relying in large part on an environmental report completed 18 years ago for the Alexander Valley Resort, a different, now defunct development on the same land.
Merely amending and adding to that report is not enough, residents told the five-member council in what made for a chorus of concern Wednesday.