Plans for what would’ve been the last gas station ever built in Santa Rosa — and potentially countywide — were tossed by city planning officials who argued it would pose a health and safety hazard to the surrounding community.

After a three-hour hearing, the Santa Rosa Planning Commission voted 6-0 Thursday to deny a conditional use permit for the project on a vacant lot south of Highway 12 on North Wright Road.

Commissioners said the project was inconsistent with city land-use policies and climate action goals that call for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The project had been in the works for nearly two decades and included six gas pumps and four electric charging stations.

The latest iteration was submitted to the city in late 2021 and was exempt from the city’s ban on new gas stations, which took effect a year later.

Commissioners said that while the exemption allowed them to consider the project, it didn’t require them to approve it.

Approving it would undermine the city’s climate emergency and the ban, which is based on a number of public health and environmental dangers associated with gas stations, they said.

“When I look at (the ban) and I look at the findings we have to make tonight, particularly making a finding that this use would not be injurious to the public, I can’t do that,” Commissioner Patti Cisco said. “It flies in the face of all the evidence to the contrary that we’ve been collecting.” In addition to the fuel pumps and electric vehicle chargers, plans for Elm Tree Station, as the North Wright Road proposal is known, included a 3,448-square-foot neighborhood market and a one-bedroom apartment above the market.

A smaller retail space and a grassy area with benches and picnic tables were planned south of the market.

Property owners also proposed adding two connections from the property to the Joe Rodota Trail, which runs along the northern property line.

Harmon Dhillon, the property owner’s son, said Thursday the project would benefit the southwest Santa Rosa neighborhood by adding a community market that sells fresh food. Developing the site also would help clean up and maintain the trail and surrounding area, he said.

The project has fierce opposition from a broad cross section of community members.

Among their concerns, community members said leaks from underground storage tanks can harm soil and groundwater, a particular issue at the site because it’s prone to flooding.

Distributed by Tribune News Service.