Santa Rosa studies gas station zoning after 2022 ban; staff to return with metrics, mitigation options

Santa Rosa City Council on Jan. 14 held a study session on the city’s gas station land‑use regulations, reviewing the 2022 ordinance that bans new gas stations and expansions and asking staff to return with more targeted data before any code changes are made.

Jessica Jones, deputy director of planning, and Gabe Osborne, director of planning and economic development, told the council the city currently has an inventory of 44 gas stations. "It shows 44 stations, within the city of Santa Rosa," Osborne said while showing a map overlaid with business‑license data. Staff traced the policy history: a January 2020 climate‑emergency resolution that set carbon‑neutrality goals, a September 2021 recommendation from the Regional Climate Protection Authority to halt new/expanded stations, and a September 2022 zoning ordinance that prohibits new stations and expansions while allowing limited minor modifications for safety and environmental improvements.

Staff presented three policy pathways for the council to consider: keep the status quo; revert to the prior regime that allowed new stations and expansions in some commercial and industrial zones with a Major Conditional Use Permit; or amend the current code to allow narrowly defined relocation or expansion of existing stations paired with mitigation (pump limits, EV charging requirements, in‑lieu mitigation fees and traffic/queuing conditions). Osborne warned any change could require consultant support, environmental review and 6–12 months to complete depending on the scope.

Osborne also reviewed market and mobility data. County electric‑vehicle market share for new vehicle sales climbed from roughly 14% in 2021 to about 24–25% in recent years, a trend staff said is important but does not yet translate into a steep drop in fueling‑station trips citywide. Using mobile analytics (cell‑location data), staff estimated fueling trips in the city were about 11,000 in 2021 and rose to roughly 13,000 in 2022 and held at that level thereafter. Osborne cautioned that mobile analytics are imperfect and that staff would treat the numbers as a tool to detect large deviations rather than precise counts.

Councilmembers pressed staff for additional, specific information. Vice Mayor Okrepkie asked whether there are regulatory "age triggers" for underground tanks and equipment; Paul Oenthal, Division Chief Fire Marshall, said the Fire Department (a Certified Unified Program Agency) oversees underground storage tanks and has completed removal of every non‑compliant single‑wall tank in the city except one generator‑related tank at a hospital that remains an enforcement case. "Santa Rosa has successfully removed every single, non compliant single wall tank in the city with the exception of 1," Oenthal said.

Members also asked staff to return with modeling on queuing and vehicle idling (to estimate localized emissions), comparisons of emissions for pump configurations and tank expansions, and options for mitigation such as on‑site EV chargers or in‑lieu fees that would fund chargers elsewhere. Osborne said mitigation examples used elsewhere include building a set number of EV chargers per gasoline pump or requiring applicants to pay fees directed to EV infrastructure.

Public comment split along predictable lines. Environmental and public‑health advocates urged the council to retain the 2022 ban. "This ordinance protects our community from future toxic sites," Matt Calloway of Sonoma County Conservation Action said. Woody Hastings of the Coalition Opposing New Gas Stations urged planning for station closures and ensuring responsible brownfield remediation. Residents opposing change argued that increased station capacity could worsen greenhouse‑gas emissions and long‑term contamination risks. By contrast, developers and a business representative proposing a Costco relocation said thoughtful relocation and decommissioning of an old site could reduce queuing and allow for EV chargers at the former location. "The proposal... would involve a full decommissioning of the prior site," developer Scott Singer said, describing a plan to remove tanks, remediate and repave the old site and add EV charging.

Councilmembers did not move forward with immediate code changes. Instead the council directed staff to prepare a follow‑up study that includes (at minimum): clearer success metrics tied to greenhouse‑gas and vehicle‑miles‑traveled goals; a queuing and idling analysis to estimate localized emissions from different pump configurations; options and cost estimates for mitigation strategies (on‑site chargers, in‑lieu fees, targeted equity measures); a refined inventory/permit audit to confirm historical approvals; and examples of how other jurisdictions have implemented mitigation or threshold triggers. Staff said they will also expand the jurisdictional scan beyond the Bay Area on request.

The study session produced no formal ordinance change. City staff said they will return to the council in a future study session with the requested data and policy options so the council can weigh climate, public‑health, equity and economic trade‑offs before any amendment is proposed.