Volume I · Dispatch No. 10 One EIR, Side by Side 266 Acres · Asti Road

The Environmental Review

One Environmental Impact Report, certified in 2009. Two addenda since. A third now sought—for a far larger project. Read across.

A note on sources.
Every figure here comes from the City of Cloverdale’s own certified Environmental Impact Report (EIR), the 2016 and 2018 addenda to it, and the draft Esmeralda Specific Plan. Where a document sets a maximum, I’ve said so. I didn’t characterize these projects; I copied what each one permits.

Every change to what can be built on the 266 acres south of Cloverdale has rested on a single environmental review, certified in 2009. Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), that review is the Environmental Impact Report—the EIR. When a project is later revised, the City can update the EIR with an addendum: a short document that adjusts the original study without reopening it for public review. The resort has been revised this way twice, in 2016 and 2018.

A third addendum is now before the City—this time for the Esmeralda plan, which proposes a substantially different and larger development on the same ground. The table sets the four documents side by side, drawn entirely from the City’s filings. Hover or tap any row to follow one measure straight across; hover a column to isolate a single document.

The project, by document

The four CEQA documents for this site, compared on the terms each one sets. The 2009 EIR is the only one of the four that was circulated for public review; the three addenda are not.

hover / tap a row to compare across proposed — not adopted
Read across → Final EIR2009 · certified Addendum2016 · adopted Addendum2018 · adopted Proposed planELC · 2025 not adopted
Environmental review
(CEQA instrument)		 Environmental Impact ReportThe full study — Draft EIR, recirculated, then final. AddendumCEQA Guidelines §15164 — updates the EIR without redoing it. Addendum§15164 Addendum (sought)§15164 — SAME instrument the City used in 2016 and 2018.
Status & date Certified 2009Final EIR April 2009. Draft EIR 2004; recirculated 2008. Adopted Feb 2016 Adopted Nov 13, 2018Reso 085-2018. Initial Study dated Sept 18, 2018 in the Addendum; cover and resolution say October 2018. Draft — not adoptedAddendum drafted 2025; before the City.
Project name Alexander Valley Resort Alexander Valley ResortAmended & Restated Specific Plan. Alexander Valley Resort EsmeraldaEsmeralda Specific Plan.
City of Cloverdale action City Council certified the EIR City adopted the addendum and a Development Agreement City adopted the addendum Requested by the applicant — not yet acted on
Homes
maximum allowed		 up to17040 resort-residential · 105 single-family · 25 estate up to170Unchanged. up to170“No overall increase in the amount… of development.” up to605181 detached · 224 attached · 200 senior living
Non-residential program 100–150-room resort hotel + spaRequired 18-hole golf course (219 ac); 2.4-ac entry commercial. SAME hotel + spa; golf course made optional+12.3 ac “Resort Mixed-Use” (commercial / light-industrial). SAME uses, reconfiguredHotel lowered to ~2 stories; ~60.7 ac shifted from open space to development. 200-room hotel + resort food & beverage, spa, event space21,700 sf retail · 17,500 sf office · 8,000 sf light industrial · 8,000 sf preschool / K–6 · 500-seat amphitheater
Footprint & open space
open space, acres		 219 acCounts the 18-hole golf course, plus open space and recreation. Site 254 ac. 219 acCounts the golf course (now optional), open space and recreation. Site ~268 ac. 158 acCounts golf (optional), open space and recreation — cut ~61 ac from 219, converted to development at the SAME 170 homes. Site 266 ac. 177 acCounts publicly accessible open space and public rights-of-way (the village streets), per the plan; includes 93.4 ac habitat conservation (OSC). No golf course. Site 266 ac.
Open or gated Private resortHotel, golf, fractional-ownership and estate homes; on-site private security. A public recreation trail to the Russian River was contemplated. Not described as “gated.” Private resortA public-access trail easement to the SMART trail and river levee was required (Revised Mitigation 5.10-5). Private resortSAME model; access character unchanged. Open — publicly accessibleStreets, trails, the central Piazza, riverfront and roughly two-thirds of the site open to Cloverdale residents; maintained by the non-profit Esmeralda Conservancy / property-owners’ association. Some interior streets are private.
Environmental finding Significant impacts identified; mitigation measures adopted No subsequent EIR requiredNo new significant impact; §15162 conditions not met. No subsequent EIR requiredNo new significant impact. Asserts no subsequent EIR required — City review pending
Public circulation CirculatedDraft EIR public review 2004; recirculated draft 2008. Not circulated§15164 addenda need not be circulated for public review. Not circulated§15164 Would not be circulated§15164
Basis for an addendum — this is the EIR itself Changes deemed minor; no §15162 conditions triggered Reconfiguration “without increasing the amount or overall type of uses or development” Addendum under §15164 — SAME mechanism as 2016 and 2018; draft prepared 2025, not adopted

The bead count

Two rows of the table, counted out the way a schoolroom counts—in bead material, where a 10×10 square is one hundred, a bar is ten, a bead is one. First the homes each document permits. Then the public comments each one answered.

Homes permitted

2009 EIR170
2016 Addendum170
2018 Addendum170
Esmeralda · proposed605

Public comments answered on the record

2009 EIR380
2016 Addendumnot circulated
2018 Addendumnot circulated
Esmeralda · proposedwould not be circulated

The 380 is the count of numbered comments collected and answered in the 2009 Final EIR across the 2004 and 2008–09 review windows (see The Public Record). Addenda under CEQA Guidelines §15164 are not circulated and carry no comment period; the empty trays are not missing data.

Sources: Final Environmental Impact Report, Alexander Valley Resort Project, April 2009 (State Clearinghouse #2003072142). Addendum to the Final EIR, February 2016. CEQA Addendum & Initial Study, Alexander Valley Resort Project, 2018 (Initial Study dated September 18, 2018; adopted by Resolution 085-2018, November 13, 2018). Draft Esmeralda Specific Plan, Table 2-3 (Maximum Development Program) and Appendix B. The proposed addendum: FirstCarbon Solutions, Draft Esmeralda Alexander Valley Resort Project Addendum, provided to the City May 2025 (per the EKI Water Supply Assessment, July 2025).

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Up to 170 homes, reviewed in 2009. Up to 605 in the plan now before the City—under the same kind of document the City used for the smaller changes.