From:
To: City Council
Subject: Agenda Item 11--Commercial BBQ Smokers
Date: Sunday, October 4, 2026 9:28:43 PM
Dear Mayor and City Councilmembers,
We are Sebastopol residents who live at Serenity Villa, a residential care and assisted living senior center, that is located one block from A&M BBQ and the two large commercial smokers on their property.
We DO NOT support the City Council changing the existing zoning in order to permit A&M BBQ to continue to operate the smokers. We believe that enforcement of the existing zoning requirements should resume.
This is an important issue for us because we are worried about the health impact on us from breathing woodsmoke on a daily basis. We believe the regular burning of wood so close to our home is a public health matter and should be given priority in the Council’s actions.
We are also concerned for our neighbors who have children, existing respiratory and other health conditions and for other reasons are especially affected by the smoke.
We also emphasize that the smokers have been operating for more than a year now. We have been patient but it is now way past the time that action needs to be taken to protect our health and well being.
We understand that A&M has been exploring smoke-control equipment with a member of the Council. While this may reduce the smoke hazard, it does not resolve the zoning question. At the very least we expect the Council will require A&M to demonstrate that thEe smoke-control equipment is effective rather than simply installing the equipment in the hope it works. This means the equipment must be tested, pass objective performance standards, is monitored and periodic verification is in place to confirm that the system controls emissions effectively.
Thank you for considering our comments.
Best Regards:
Estelle Ogus
Nelly Ake
Nina Reiners
Serenity Villa, Sebastopol, CA 95472