Same Plan? Different Plan? How/When Will This Ever End?
With illustrated display panels circling the perimeter of the Altimira Middle School gymnasium, clots of friends in deep conversation, and a crowd cresting at least 100, the scene of a long-anticipated scoping session to gather public comment on a revised Environmental Impact Report for the Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC) felt at first like a convivial community gathering.
It wasn’t.
Called to order an hour after the announced start time (to provide opportunity, the crowd was told, for perusal of the displays) the meeting was led by Andrew Hill, a principal in the Oakland urban planning company Dyett & Bhatia, and an expert (according to the firm’s website) in community engagement and environmental review…