PACIFICA — This sleepy seaside city is one big step closer to building the Bay Area's first biodiesel production plant coupled with a wastewater treatment plant thanks the California Coastal Commission, but not everyone is rejoicing.

In a unanimous vote last Friday, the Coastal Commission gave its blessing to a plan to build a biodiesel refinery at the current site of Pacifica's Calera Creek Water Recycling Plant. Construction could begin as early as September on the facility, which is designed to help the neighboring wastewater treatment plant reduce its energy consumption while producing up to three million gallons of biodiesel per year from recycled restaurant grease.

City officials have long described the project as a "win-win" situation for the city, the environment, and Pacifica residents who drive biodiesel-powered cars. But at least one Pacifica resident has vowed to appeal the decision and possibly even mount a class-action lawsuit to derail it based on concerns about the biodiesel plant's safety and concerns about how the smell of refined fryer oil could impact property values.

Julia Boyle, a resident of Pacifica's Vallemar neighborhood, supports the idea of a biodiesel facility — anywhere but near her house. Her two children go to Vallemar Elementary School, less than a mile from where the current wastewater plant is situated. She worries about the noxious chemicals the biodiesel refinery would use, such as methanol

"There's only one way out of that neighborhood. If there's an emergency, they're stuck there. I can't get to my kids unless I'm walking," she said.

Echoing the chief complaint of a small group of citizens who have opposed the project, Boyle said she felt the city had not given her enough opportunity to review the plans before approving it last January. All that remains now is for the city to issue a building permit.

"Part of the problem is I feel like the city just snuck that through. The parents at Vallemar had no idea what it was, what would happen to the school," said Boyle, who will exercise her right to appeal the Coastal Commission decision back to the commission itself next week. If the appeal is rejected, she plans to recruit some neighbors in a class-action lawsuit against the city.

Responding to charges of secrecy, the Coastal Commission has required the city to make public all reports pertaining to the biodiesel plant before construction can begin. The city also has to submit a "spill response plan" in the event of an earthquake or tsunami to the Coastal Commission, in addition to the emergency plans already developed by Pacifica's police and fire departments in case of an accident at the biodiesel plant.

Mayor Jim Vreeland rejects the notion that the city acted behind the backs of its citizens. "This issue was before the City Council five separate times during the process," he said.

Furthermore, he said, the biodiesel plant was carefully designed with double-walled tanks and automatic alarms to signal any kind of trouble. Its base, a cement slab next to the water treatment plant, will have walls to prevent any leaks from reaching nearby Calera Creek, the Pacific Ocean, or even the nearest roadway.

"No one in a position of official responsibility has any concerns about this facility," insisted Vreeland. "The police chief told me there are more concerns about the gas station on the corner than there are for this facility."

Proponents of the plant, to be built by Bellingham, Washington-based biodiesel wholesaler Whole Energy, spend most of their time exulting in the plant's unique environmental benefits. The biggest one: enough biodiesel to power a portion of Pacifica's fleet of maintenance vehicles, the Samtrans buses that roll through town, and the construction machines at Devil's Slide. Whole Energy also hopes to interest a retailer in making some of the biodiesel available to local drivers.

Not only will the biofuel help run the plant's turbines and pumps without resorting to buying electricity from PG&E, but the biodiesel refinery will make use of recycled water from the neighboring plant while disposing of its leftover waste materials through the water treatment plant. Carbon dioxide emissions and fryer oil smells would be contained that way, too.

This pioneering concept, which can be traced back to an idea developed four years ago by Pacifica environmentalist Nancy Hall, has proven so popular that other cities are already getting into the act. In May, San Francisco announced that it had received a $1 million grant to develop a similar grease-to-biodiesel production facility at its Oceanside Sewage Treatment Plant. Officials plan to recycle "brown grease," the pan-scrapings that get trapped in city pipes.

The East Bay Municipal Advisory District recently asked for proposals to build a 20-million gallon biodiesel plant in the Port of Oakland that would replace noxious fuel emissions in diesel trucks while generating glycerin, a waste byproduct that would provide an alternative source of power to its main wastewater treatment plant.

Whole Energy is rumored to have bid on the Oakland project, but Martin Wahl, the company's director of business development, would not confirm it.

"We need to keep our options open, given the situation. It's possible the fringe groups in Pacifica could disrupt this, and we don't want to abandon the Bay Area," said Wahl.

For more details on the biodiesel project in Pacifica, visit www.pacificabiodiesel.com.

Staff writer Julia Scott can be reached at 650-348-4340 or at julia.scott@bayareanewsgroup.com.