8/13/2019 CHRP Press Release 3
1/1
For Immediate ReleaseSubject: Residents Appeal Expansion of
Printing Factory in Coastal HillsContact: Michael Singer,
707.847.3368; Sonoma Coastal Hills Rural Preservation
[email protected],
sonomacoastalhillsruralpreservation.orgMany residents in
northwestern Sonoma County are calling for the removal of a
printing factoryin the wooded, rolling hills west of Cazadero. Once
the subject of idyllic Ansel Adamsphotographs, these forested
coastal hills now host the printing factory and publishing
operationsof Dharma Press, previously located for 37 years in a
heavily industrial neighborhood ofBerkeley.Sonoma County Permit and
Resource Management officials originally allowed a
printingoperation in 2004not to exceed one press, 27 workers, and
18,750 square feetas anancillary, or secondary function of a new
religious retreat, Ratna Ling. Designated in the
General Plan as a Resource and Rural Development area, unrelated
industry should not bepermitted here without a General Plan
Amendment, followed up with the required EnvironmentalImpact
Report. Without either, by 2007 Dharma Publishing had relocated its
entiremanufacturing plant and sales distribution operations to the
religious retreat. It has now appliedfor acceptance of those permit
violations and approval of expansion of its printing operations
toover 60,000 square feet, six presses running six days a week,
non-fire codesafe tent storagefor hundreds of thousands of books
and inventory items, and housing for 93 workers in themiddle of a
coastal forest. Rather than being minutes from suppliers and the
Port of Oakland,Dharma Press now trucks all materials and labor to
the remote site and trucks all products backagain to the Bay Area
for shipping.The Sonoma County Board of Zoning Adjustments
recommended the expansion of Dharma
Press operations in 2012 (Sonoma County Use Permit PLP08-0021).
A group of residents andsupporters called Sonoma Coastal Hills
Rural Preservation, now over 300 strong and growing,has appealed
that recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.After repeated
delays by the owner of Dharma Press, Coastal Hills Rural
Preservation wasfinally given a hearing date in August, 2013, which
was cancelled by the request of the sameowners. Coastal Hills Rural
Preservation was busy preparing for the new hearing date,
January28, 2014, when they received notice on December 24, 2013,
that this hearing was alsocancelled. No explanation was given and
no new date has been set.It has now been six years since this use
permit application was filed and subsequentlyappealed. Meanwhile
Ratna Ling and Dharma Press continue to violate their 2004 permit
with
impunity, operating a multi-million dollar commercial industry
from Ratna Ling Retreat.CHRP has summarized its position and
provides photo documentation on its
website:sonomacoastalhillsruralpreservation.org.###
http://sonomacoastalhillsruralpreservation.org/
