From:
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2026 12:05 PM
To: City Council <[email protected]>
Subject: October 6 Council Meeting Agenda Item Comments My name is Douglas Yule, and I have lived on Petaluma Ave. in Sebastopol for the past ten years. The rear of my home is directly exposed to the smoke from A&M BBQ’s wood-fired, commercial BBQ smokers which now sit across Walker Ave. from my home and the other homes and live-work units immediately south of Walker Ave. between South Main St and Petaluma Ave.
I urge the Council not to make any zoning changes to accommodate A&M BBQ’s continued violation of the zoning restrictions for their current location at 495 S.
Main St. and to resume enforcement of the current zoning restrictions.
For well over a year the neighboring properties have endured noxious wood smoke from A&M BBQ’s smokers which often, demonstrably, have become a health hazard. Sebastopol’s current administration’s decision to suspend enforcement of the zoning restrictions for A&M BBQ has put their neighbors health at risk and violates their neighbors’ right to enjoy the full use of their properties. Due to A&M BBQ’s smoke, during our warm weather months I have been unable to cool my home by opening my windows in the early mornings, and I have been unable to utilize my back patio much at all.
Unlike the property currently occupied by A&M BBQ which is zoned Office Commercial (CO), my home and the adjacent homes and live-work units within the “501 South Main Street Subdivision” are zoned Planned Community (PC) (2018 Zoning Map attached). The CC&R’s for the Subdivision which were approved by the Sebastopol Planning Commission in 2005 define the restrictions for the Subdivision’s PC zoning include the following section (emphasis added):
Section 5.4. Prohibition of Noxious Activities. No illegal, noxious or offensive activities
shall be carried out or conducted on a Lot nor shall anything be done within or near the
Properties which is or could become an unreasonable annoyance or nuisance to neighboring
property Owners. Without limiting the foregoing, no Owner shall permit noise including, but not
limited to, barking dogs, audio amplifier systems, television systems, motor vehicles, power
tools, or the operation of excessively noisy air conditioners, to emanate from an Owner's Lot
which would unreasonably disturb any other Owner's or Tenant's enjoyment of his or her Lot.
Consequently, A&M BBQ is currently not only in violation of the CO zoning restrictions for its current location, it is also in violation of the current PC zoning restrictions for the 501 South Main Street Subdivision.
Please, before you consider making any zoning changes to accommodate A&M BBQ’s violations, think about what you would do if your home were located where mine is.
Thank you for your attention,
Doug Yule