MENDOCINO CO., 5/28/26 — On May 19, the Mendocino Board of Supervisors voted to approve the use permit for the construction of a 10-pump Chevron gas station in Redwood Valley alongside U.S. Route 101. The controversial project is contested by groups like the Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council, which advises the board in unincorporated areas of the county, the Grassroots Institute, and the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians. Opponents of the project argue that it will alter Redwood Valley’s character, create traffic and noise pollution, and go against the town’s values. They also worry it may affect the welfare of Redwood Valley residents, citing the station owners’ past consumer and environmental violations.
The applicant, Faizan Corporation, headed by Haji Alam, has been pursuing the gas station’s construction for a decade. Faizan Corporation was first granted a use permit for a smaller, six-pump gas station in 2016. That permit expired in 2018 before any construction had been performed.
Faizan Corporation reapplied in 2021, this time with expanded plans, including four additional pumps and added parking spaces.
The new plans were brought in front of the planning commission in 2023. Caltrans recommended the project be approved only if a median closure was installed across from the station to prevent future customers from crossing the freeway to enter the gas station. The planning commission denied the project on the grounds that the installation of the median closure would negatively affect the community and be a nuisance.
Alam then appealed the planning commission’s decision. The appeal was first brought before the Board of Supervisors in 2024. A series of hearings and pushbacks in the form of applicant’s addendums, which attempted to avoid the median’s construction, finally led to the most recent hearing on May 19. Faizan Corporation conceded to installing a median and altering other parts of the plans to fit with Caltrans recommendations. After that, the Board of Supervisors approved the project.
The gas station has encountered public opposition since 2017, when the Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council first learned of the plans. Controversy around the project heightened in 2023, after Faizan Corporation, which operates gas stations at locations in Sonoma, Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, and Yolo counties, came under investigation by the Sonoma Environmental and Consumer Law division.
Faizan Corporation was ordered to pay a $500,000 settlement for failing to adequately install and operate equipment designed to detect petroleum leaks and failing to comply with laws regulating hazardous wastes and hazardous materials. Additionally, Faizan had falsely advertised the sale of lower-octane gasoline as higher-octane at certain stations.
This was not the Faizan Corporation’s first violation in Mendocino County. In 2019, the North Coast Regional Water Board issued a Cleanup and Abatement Order and investigative order against Alam’s ExpressMart in Ukiah after detecting gasoline in nearby groundwater. However, after pumping out groundwater for testing, the site was found to be uncontaminated, and the case was closed.
The Redwood Valley MAC has been a prominent opponent of the station. In 2022 the group recommended a denial of the project on the grounds that the nearby Coyote Valley Gas Station sufficiently met the fueling demands of the area.
The group has also held multiple meetings to discuss the project. Christine Boyd, a Redwood Valley MAC founding member, estimates dozens of residents have shown up to these discussions, calling it “kind of a big deal” in the small town.
In 2025, the Redwood Valley MAC adopted a resolution recommending the Board of Supervisors enact a five-year moratorium on gas stations in Redwood Valley. The decision was inspired by a 2023 ordinance in Sonoma County that prohibited the development of new retail gas stations in unincorporated areas. Boyd pointed out that Mendocino County has twice the number of gas stations per capita than Sonoma County.
She also noted that the gas station’s peripheral location meant its primary customers would be vehicles traveling through the town on 101, such as long-haul trucks. Residents are concerned about an increase in freeway traffic in the area, especially since the location is a block away from the public school.
“Every time the trucks go rolling down the hill…getting their fuel, stopping, starting… that’s more diesel fumes going into the atmosphere,” Boyd said.
The environment is a top concern to the project’s opponents.
“We have come to the conclusion over and over again that this project is a detriment to the environmental quality of Mendocino County…It would undermine the county and our state’s environmental goals to limit and reduce the negative impacts of global greenhouse gas emissions,” said Peter McNamee, representing the Grassroots Institute’s climate action group at the May 19 board meeting. The group has been present at past Board of Supervisor meetings to speak in opposition to the gas station.
Boyd concurs, arguing that the Board of Supervisors’ decision to allow the gas station was in direct conflict with their past resolutions declaring climate emergencies.
“There’s a climate emergency that gets declared every year by the BOS, but they don’t seem to do a damn thing about it,” she said.
The Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians represents another group opposed to the station’s construction.
Present at the board of supervisors meeting was Melinda Hunter, the vice chairwoman for the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians. She argued that new businesses in Redwood Valley should be ones that would help the community, such as health care-related services, rather than businesses aimed at visitors.
“The Chevron project would mostly benefit a large outside company, not local residents. Redwood Valley already has gas stations. Many people in the community believe there’s not another need for one,” she said.
The tribe, which owns the Coyote Valley Casino Gas station, would be in competition with the new gas station.
Supporters, however, see the gas station as a welcome development for the stagnant town.
“In my lifetime, say the last 50 years, there have only been four new commercial projects that have been constructed in Redwood Valley…In my opinion, Redwood Valley needs some commercial investment, or it’s likely going to decline,” said the applicant’s attorney Steven Johnson at the board meeting. Johnson grew up in Redwood Valley.
Installation of the gas station will clean up a derelict area, which now stands as an empty lot. The gas station is also projected to create 12 jobs.
Supporters point out that Alam’s willingness to build a median closure would fix a traffic circulation issue that Caltrans had not yet solved.
“Everybody with any brains can see that the current traffic situation is not even legal or correct. That anybody could cross the road and cause an accident… I don’t understand how Caltrans could allow this current situation to remain. And for him [Alam] to make a change is going to fix that unhealthy traffic situation,” said Memo Parker, a Ukiah resident who spoke at the board meeting.
Mendo Matters, an employer council that acts as a watchdog for proprietors’ rights, also backs the project, asserting that Alam is entitled to develop his property as he wishes as long as he follows proper regulations and code.
Kerri Vau, director of Mendo Matters, felt that the Redwood Valley MAC was unjustified in its criticisms of Alam’s record.
“Our group’s effort is to protect property rights. If they would have denied this project because of the person who owns this project, or they just don’t want new gas stations, that’s where we draw the line. That’s illegal,” said Vau.
Boyd disagrees with the assessment that Alam’s record should not be taken into consideration, instead arguing that his past violations should be what disqualifies him from receiving a permit.
“The code also says morality is an issue that can be considered. I think that is relevant and I think it applies,” said Boyd, referring to Mendocino County’s zoning code, which states that its purpose “is adopted to protect and promote the public health, safety, morals, peace, comfort, convenience, prosperity and general welfare.”
“To me the morality issue comes from their serial violations,” said Boyd.
She believes these arguments could have held up in court, if the Board of Supervisors let it get to that point. Instead, Boyd speculates the board approved the gas station to avoid a lawsuit and reap the station’s future revenue.
Now that the gas station has been approved, Boyd sees no recourse for the Redwood Valley MAC.
“We have to kind of put up with it now that it’s a reality,” she said.
The organization will continue their work for a gas station moratorium on future projects, though Boyd admits they have minimal sway.
She still disagrees with the board of supervisors’ decision to approve the gas station.
“We’re not feeling represented, that doesn’t feel good,” said Boyd.