Appendix C Excerpts PRMD November 27, 2006 from Jennifer Barrett to Jack Petranka of Ratna Ling.

(proposal signatory) obtained from Sonoma County Permit and Resource Management Department files. [Ratna Ling Retreat Center presented a proposal to PRMD for a General Plan Amendment for a 95,000 square-foot expansion of its printing and book storage operations. The public was not allowed to view that proposal, but following are excerpts of the responses made by Jennifer Barrett, Deputy Director of Planning at PRMD. Some of the statements made by Deputy Director Barrett strongly support the case we making about the printing expansion.] As we discussed in our meeting, we believe that your proposal is not consistent with the land use policies in our adopted General Plan or zoning for this site. The proposal is much too large to permit as accessory to the retreat use that was recently permitted, nor would it be consistent with the use permit which allowed the printing press only as an accessory to the retreat. Your use permit allows the printing press and 18,000 sf of storage space which we consider to be about the limit of what is reasonable for an accessory use. An accessory use must be incidental to the primary use and must not significantly change the character, appearance, or operation of the principle use of the property. So we have a dilemma with your new proposal. The 95,000 square ft building is about the size of a "big box" or large department store and would appear to make the printing and warehouse the predominant use. Alternatives would include printing only the number of books that can be distributed in the near term, or seeking another warehouse site with appropriate zoning to store the books for an indefinite period. There are many sites with appropriate zoning that are well suited to this type of facility. I would ask that you please consider the County's land use policies and evaluate these alternatives before you pursue a General Plan Amendment. signed: Jennifer Barrett 11/27/2006 Deputy Director of Planning

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Coastal Hills Rural Preservation

Master Issue Statement 10/2/13

NOTE: In 2008 the applicant ignored Deputy Director Barrett's advice and submitted plans to PRMD for a General Plan Amendment for expansion to include the following: A Special Area Policy and Use Permit to allow: two underground caves for a total of 87,000 square feet of book storage including 12,000 square feet of tunnels an Exhibition /Assembly Hall comprising 12,000 square feet with an occupancy of 800 people with two floors below grade and two stories above grade. This project was to extend over nine acres, called for the removal of 250,000 cubic yards of earth, and take approximately eight years to build. The total square footage of the project was 99,000 square feet. When our local community heard about this proposal, a petition was submitted with 175 signatures opposing it. With PRMD's unfavorable position towards this General Plan Amendment proposal and strong community opposition, Ratna Ling withdrew that proposal and agreed to meet with the community to discuss options. Yet in 2012, Jennifer Barrett ignored her earlier opinion by recommending to the Board of Zoning Adjustment that Dharma Press be allowed to expand to 60,000 square feet with unlimited book production. The pdf of the original document can be accessed in the next link.

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Coastal Hills Rural Preservation

Master Issue Statement 10/2/13