Amador County – The Sutter Creek-Gold Rush Implementation Committee heard the status of a lawsuit challenging the Environmental Impact Report of the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort on Monday, and staff said it could be a couple of months before the hearing takes place.

City Attorney Derek Cole said both sides of the lawsuit are preparing administrative records, which will probably be completed in the next month or so. Once finished, the parties then will prepare their respective briefs. He expected a hearing to be set for late summer or early fall of this year, and it likely could be heard in about one-half of a day.

Cole said after the hearing, the judge will have 90 days to issue a ruling. In effect, the ruling is not likely to occur until as late as early next year.

Cole said the Gold Rush developers, Bill Bunce and development partner John Telischak, are providing most of the defense, as they are named in the suit. He said the “developers’ attorneys are going to do the lion’s share of the work.” He will look over the documents for the city.

Ken Berry of Martell filed the suit in Feb. 2010 on his own behalf with advice from a San Francisco attorney. The suit was filed and will be heard in Amador County Superior Court.

The committee, made up of Mayor Tim Murphy, and Councilwoman Sandy Anderson, and Planning Commissioners Frank Cunha and Robin Peters, at its first meeting, March 21, asked for a legal update on the status of Gold Rush’s obligations to the city, in light of the lawsuit. Cole and City Manager Sean Rabe reported to Committee Monday that “it is clear that the effect of the litigation on the obligations set forth in the Development Agreement” is that the obligations are “on hold until the litigation is concluded.”

Rabe in a report to the Committee noted that the Development Agreement contained a time extension for the obligations, including building a tertiary wastewater treatment plant. It said: “In the event of a legal challenge to the project or the planning documents this agreement and the dates by which specific steps and actions are to be taken by City Council and/or Developer shall automatically extend by the time necessary to obtain final adjudication of any such challenge.”

The Implementation Committee set its next meeting for June 3.

Story by Jim Reece

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