NOTICE OF APPARENT USE-PERMIT NONCOMPLIANCE
Rumiano Cheese Factory, 511 9th Street | September 8, 2026 Speaker: Ardette Esselstrom, Crescent City Resident
Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers.
Tonight I am placing the City on formal notice of apparent violations of the 2014 Use Permit governing Rumiano Cheese Factory at 511 9th Street. I separately submitted the complete zoning- enforcement complaint to the responsible City official, contract planning, City Manager, and City Clerk. The Mayor and Council are copied for notice.
The conflict is contained in the City's own records. Condition 9 in the Conditions of Approval document supplied by the City for UP14-02 and AR14-10 states: "Truck deliveries shall be limited to the hours of 6am to 6pm." (Milk delivery trucks).
Sartori's pending UP26-01 application describes what the facility says it is doing now. It states that milk receiving currently occurs from 5:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., Sunday through Saturday, 365 days per year. On its face, that is current truck-delivery activity beginning one hour before and continuing one hour after the stated 2014 permitted window. The inbound and outbound semi-truck deliveries are supposed to take place between normal business hours, 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday.
The 2014 record also relied on 17 Rumiano employee spaces at Crescent Elk and truck parking or staging at Northcrest. Code section 17.42.090 requires a City Attorney approved recorded agreement when required parking is not on site. The City must produce that agreement, verify the spaces remain available and used, and determine whether the Northcrest staging arrangement remains valid and is actually used.
The new application says truck maneuvering, loading, and unloading occur in designated areas.
Submitted photographs and observations included in the Planning Commission UP-26-01 public comment section concern trucks waiting or maneuvering in the adjoining streets and pedestrian environment. Section 17.42.080 requires adequate on-site loading space to avoid undue interference with public streets or alleys. The City must inspect during actual deliveries and make written findings on street, sidewalk, traffic, and pedestrian interference.
Code section 17.06.040 requires the Planning Director to promptly record this complaint, immediately investigate it, and take action. A pending expansion application cannot retroactively authorize earlier noncompliance.
I am not asking the Council to decide the merits tonight. I ask the responsible official to docket and investigate the complaint; verify the 2014 approval, and amendments if they exist; inspect delivery hours, trucks, parking, loading, staging, and street use; and issue a written determination. If the City claims Condition 9 was superseded or excludes milk deliveries, it must produce the signed controlling authorization.
Please retain this statement and the written complaint in the public record and place the complaint in the UP26-01 administrative record before any decision.
Thank you.
RECEIVED
I Thee Cala SEP 0 8 2026
CITY CLERK