Benicia Planning Commission is considering banning large-scale data centers and limiting smaller ones under the industrial zoning code.
Aerial view of a large data center campus in Hutto, Texas, with three massive buildings with 400m square feet of space and 600 MW power capacity. Adobe
As Benicia prepares for waves of development following the closure of the Valero Refinery, city officials will consider banning large-scale data centers and limiting smaller ones.
“Right now, if a data center wanted to come into our industrial park, they would be allowed ‘by right,’” City Manager Mario Giuliani told The Benicia Bridge.
The Benicia Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday and plans to vote that evening on recommended changes to the zoning code to add specific language regulating data centers. The City Council will have final say before any zoning changes are adopted.
Cities across the country – from Coachella to Corpus Christi – are adopting moratoriums or outright bans on large-scale data centers in response to public outcry over centers’ heavy resource use.
Excerpt posted from The Benicia Bridge Excellent reporting from Benicia’s newest award-winning journalism duo, Monica Vaughan and Laura López González. Learn more and subscribe to the newsletter here.
[Editor: Great news! As far back as 2014, I reported on Benicians petitioning the Air Board to share refinery fines with the communities harmed by the toxic violations. The Air District’s $40 million grants go to show the importance of never giving up! Thanks to Mayor Young and the current Air District Board; and thanks to all who raised awareness by organizing to pass Benicia’s Industrial Safety Ordinance; and thanks to former Mayor Elizabeth Patterson and others who saw the future and pressed for this important Air District accountability and sharing. Following are three reports from local news outlets. – R.S.]
The Vallejo Sun: Bay Area Air District announces $40M in funding for city of Benicia, school district
The grant was awarded from a record $82 million fine against the Valero Refining Company in 2024.
Bay Area Air District Executive Officer Phillip M. Fine announces a $40 million grant award to Benicia at the Benicia Community Center. Photo by Gretchen Smail.
BENICIA – The Bay Area Air District announced $40 million in grant funding for the city of Benicia and the Benicia Unified School District at a press conference on Thursday morning at the Benicia Community Center.
The funds were awarded to the city and the school district from an $82 million fine levied on the Valero Refining Company in 2024 for nearly two decades of toxic emissions releases in Benicia that exceeded legal limits. It’s still the largest penalty ever assessed by the air district.
“This is the first award that the air district is making under our groundbreaking policy that ensures that penalty funds from air quality violations go back into the community where they can have a meaningful local benefit,” said Bay Area Air District Executive Officer Philip Fine. “The City of Benicia and Benicia Unified… […continued…]
The Benicia Bridge: City of Benicia awarded ‘groundbreaking’ $30 million in Valero settlement money for just economic transition and clean air projects
(Left to right) Benicia School Superintendent Chris Calabrese, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, and Bay Area Air District Executive Officer Dr. Philip Fine look on as City Manager Mario Giuliani addresses a crowd of residents and journalists at Thursday’s announcement. Monica Vaughan
Benicia Unified School District was awarded $10 million of Valero settlement funds from the Bay Area Air District Wednesday for clean air projects, part of a new grant process to redistribute money from air quality fines to impacted communities. […continued…]
Vallejo Times-Herald: Bay Area Air District invests $40 million in Benicia
Air District reinvests penalties from air quality violations into various projects
Benicia City Manager Mario Giuliani talks about how a 40 million dollar grant from the Bay Area Air District, as a result of Valero air quality penalty funds, will help the City of Benicia and the school district during a press conference at the Benicia Community Center on Thursday. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
The Bay Area Air District announced Thursday it is investing $40 million in Benicia, including $30 million for the city and $10 million for the Benicia Unified School District to support projects aimed at improving air quality, public health and community resilience.
The Benicia Catalyst grants are the first round of awards in the Catalyst grant category of the Local Community Benefits Fund. The Air District adopted the Community Benefits Fund Policy in 2024 to reinvest penalties from air quality violations into impacted communities.
“This is a significant investment by the Air District in the future of Benicia, and it comes at a consequential time in our history as the city prepares for the economic and operational impact associated with the closure of the Valero refinery,” said Benicia Mayor Steve Young. “It’s especially meaningful and appropriate… […continued]
Perhaps you’ve seen the “Hate Has No Home Here” sign outside some Benicia homes. It signals that the household treasures tolerance over bigotry, inclusion over exclusion, and love over hate.
Benicia made a related statement with our Police Department’s August 31 arrest of Vallejo resident Esa Gabriel Makei for the defacement of the inspiring “Together We Rise” mural, which is located on the alley bordering First Street’s NY2CA Gallery. On the night of August 26, Makei allegedly painted over the part of the mural that specifically highlights such sentiments as love, peace, hope, belonging, kindness, diversity and inclusion.
Makei was identified (and found with a spray paint can inside his car) via the use of surveillance video and Flock license plate reader cameras. An NBC Bay Area article reports that he confessed to the act and “faces charges of felony vandalism and a misdemeanor hate crime.” Kudos to the police for catching the likely culprit.
Lots of questions swirl around the crime. For one thing, since that same spot was defaced in July (though in a different manner), was Makei the perpetrator in both incidents?
Regardless, why did he apparently commit the August 26 crime, especially since he reportedly is himself an artist and muralist? Was something hateful or hurtful going on in his head or life? Was it hate generally directed toward love and the mural’s other positive elements? Or was it particularly aimed against the LGBTQ community, since aspects of the targeted section could be interpreted as especially supporting such groups?
The fact that Makei has been charged with a hate crime could reflect that particular focus. As reported by a fine online Benicia Bridge article (published before the suspect was apprehended), the California Department of Justice defines a hate crime as “a crime against a person, group, or property motivated by the victim’s real or perceived protected social group.” You don’t even have to interpret the vandalism that way to see how un-American the act was; it attacked art, certainly, but also free speech and many values we all share.
The incident itself was certainly not good news. But it is profoundly good that many Benicians have rallied around the mural, as well as around artist Wendy Buresh, who designed the defaced section, and NY2CA owner Vickie Marchand, who commissioned and was a moving force behind this moving, beautiful addition to the Benicia scene and spirit.
Speaking of which, Marchand’s admirable comments on the crime reflect the compassion and tolerance the “Together We Rise” mural embodies. As reported by the Benicia Bridge article, she said that “I really would love to have a conversation with this person, to kind of say, ‘How can we help you? What can we do so that you have some hope because it seems like it’s gone.’”
That’s not to say that she or others don’t want to see Makei punished if he’s convicted. I certainly do. But perhaps there’s also a restorative justice angle to pursue – not mutually exclusive with punishment – through which he could give back something positive to the community on which he allegedly unleashed such a hateful act.
For right now, though, we can be thankful that the probable perpetrator was caught, that the great majority of Benicians choose love over hate, and that we have people like Buresh and Marchand to restore the damaged art in the spirit of the rising Phoenix it represents.
As Marchand has observed, “We’re going through an uncertain time in our nation, and this mural was supposed to give hope. It was supposed to be a piece of art that moved you.”
It does give hope and it does move us. Here’s to love triumphing over hate. Here’s to Benicia and America rising to meet our challenges.
“I’m excited to help continue the long tradition of excellence in Benicia schools.”
Press Release, August 5, 2026
Former Benicia City Councilmember and school teacher Dan Smith is running for Benicia School Board (Dan & family c. 2005)
Former Benicia Councilman and schoolteacher Dan Smith is vowing to put students first as he launches his candidacy for Benicia Unified School District board of trustees.
“I’m excited to help continue the long tradition of excellence in Benicia schools,” said Smith, who would represent the city’s Eastside (Zone 1) on the board.
Smith, 69, has lived on the Eastside since 1988 and served on many city boards and commissions including his election to the City Council in 2001.
“I have spent every year since 2012 teaching, and I love helping guide students of Benicia, Vallejo and Contra Costa County,” said the candidate. “During that time I have seen what works for students in the classroom and what doesn’t.”
A 1980 graduate of UC Berkeley, Smith is a credentialed history and social science teacher as well as an author and award-winning journalist. Both his daughters attended Benicia public schools and also graduated UC Berkeley.
Dan and his wife of 38 years, Diana, led Operation Playground to build the Playground of Dreams in City Park. They are now working with the city and a volunteer team to restore and improve the playground.
Smith is chairman and vice-chairman, respectively of the Citizen Advisory Committees for the Solano Open Space agency and Soltrans, the Benicia bus system.
If you have questions for or about Dan Smith, visit danforbenicia.org or call him at 707-747-6706.
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