Amador County – The Amador County Planning Commission last week took public comment on a heavy equipment engineers’ school, which has applied for a use permit on the 1,600-acre Garibaldi Ranch, west of Amador City, and south of Dry Town, in Amador County.

The Commission hosted a public scoping session to take public comment on the potential environmental impacts to be analyzed in a Draft Environmental Impact Report. Operating Engineers Local Union 3 submitted a Use Permit application on Feb. 1, with a plan to relocate its training facility from Rancho Murieta, in Sacramento County.

The scoping session April 12 “received comment on the potential environmental impacts that the project could have,” said Cara Augustin, lead planner on the project for the Amador County Planning Department. About 25 people attended the meeting, and five people spoke, with concerns about impacts on fire prevention, air quality, water quality, noise, and aesthetics.

Augustin said those would be among impacts evaluated in the Draft EIR, along with impacts of the project on agricultural and forest resources; greenhouse gas emission; biological & cultural resources; geology & soils; hazards and wildland fires; hydrology; land use; traffic and transportation; utilities & public services; and cumulative impacts.

The EIR will also look at alternatives for the site or the projects, Augustin said. That includes looking at a different kind of project, changing the project, or alternative sites, such as elsewhere in county or out of the county.

An initial study of impacts showed only three areas considered to have less than significant impact. Those areas are minerals, population & housing, and recreation, and will not be evaluated.

The public has until 5 p.m. Monday, April 25 to submit comments on the project, and list anything they want to see addressed in the EIR. Planning Partners, a consultant hired by the applicant, expects to have the Draft EIR released for public review by September or October.

When the Planning Commission gets a Draft EIR, they will release a public notice and announce a meeting for review and comment by the Commission and the public. When released, a minimum 45-day comment period ensues, to take public input on the Draft EIR, and any comments on the Draft EIR would have to be addressed in the Final EIR. The time frame estimated for release of the Final EIR is December.

Following that is certification that the EIR adequately addresses all impacts. After that, the decision can be made for approval or disapproval of the project based on the project’s merits.

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Amador County – Columbia College this week announced a certificate awards ceremony for 14 fire technology participants, among them a Sutter Creek resident.

Coni Chavez of the college president’s office announced a graduation ceremony and presentation of Certification of Completion to the 14 successful students of the Fire Technology Program at the Columbia College Fire Academy. The students include Amador High School graduate Oliverr Tremelling of Sutter Creek. The event is 7 p.m. Monday, April 25 in the Dogwood Forum at the college in Sonora.

Chavez said the certificates will be awarded based on the student’s successful completion of the academic and manipulative training as mandated for a California Firefighter Level One. Students must still complete six months of full-time or one year of part-time field experience before applying to the state for Firefighter I Certification.

Joe Doherty, college fire technology instructor, said “some of the graduates have obtained paying positions at local fire departments since entering the academy. In addition, most will continue their studies at Columbia College to pursue associate degrees.”

Along with the “routine” classes in Vehicle Extrication, Basic Wildland Fire Fighting, and Indoor Live Fire Activities, “this semester’s academy was invited to participate in a regional Western Propane Gas Association live fire drill in Calaveras County,” Doherty said. “This multi-station night time drill was intended to prepare all participants to safely mitigate propane gas emergencies within our response areas.”

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Amador County – A heavy equipment school at the former Garibaldi Ranch would be allowed in county zoning, according to county code.

Operating Engineers Local Union 3, and representative Kris Morgan have applied for a use permit to move an existing training school to the Garibaldi Ranch, owned by Ethel Cecchettini, of Placerville. The applicant is in escrow on the property.

Amador County lead planner on the project, Cara Augustin said some people have wondered how the application could come about on the property, zoned R1A, for single family residential and agriculture, with a General Plan designation of Ag General. Augustin said county code allows several additional uses, subject to an approved use permit. It allows for a private or public school with accredited curricula “in any zoned district.” Churches are among other uses allowed.

The permit application proposes “classes offering accredited curricula in heavy equipment use, job site safety procedures, mechanics, and construction fundamentals.” It proposes about 76,000 square feet of campus buildings on 12 acres, with up to 45 employees and accommodations for up to 120 students. It proposes the “construction and ongoing operation of three separate 100-acre training areas to use for training students in the operation of heavy construction equipment.”

Facility plans include a two-story dormitory, offices, cafeteria, main repair shop, teamster module building, recreation center, auditorium and classrooms for welding, engine, transportation and electrical studies.

The proposal included “some grading” for campus buildings and parking, “however, the 100-acre training areas would involve substantial grading and the re-contouring of existing features, such as slopes and hillsides.” It said the “impacts are not expected to be visible from surrounding residences, from vehicles driving” on Varia Ranch or Tonzi Roads, or from recreational users in the area. It said “existing vegetation, proposed landscaping, and elevation changes are expected to minimize views into the site.”

The ranch is located at 9455 Tonzi Road, west of Highway 49, east of Highway 124, and north of Tonzi road near the 124/Tonzi intersection.

Supervisor Brian Oneto said he and Supervisor Chairman John Plasse toured the ranch with the applicant. Oneto said he thought it was fairly remote as far as impacts, though the height of cranes may impact views from further distances. Oneto said the school is now located in Rancho Murieta, on property that has been sold recently, and the new owners have given the school a 10-year notice to move.

Oneto said the move to Amador would bring more people to the county. He said the county might also benefit if it can get some school entry allowances for local Amador County students. He said enrollment to such training programs are often difficult to attain.

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Amador County – A man wielding a pistol robbed a Cameron Park bank in El Dorado County early Monday afternoon and then fled into a nearby wooded area on foot.

El Dorado County Sheriff’s public information officer Bryan Golmitz released details of the incident Tuesday. He said at about 12:45 p.m. Monday, April 18, deputies responded to a reported bank robbery at Umpqua Bank at 4080 Goldorado Plaza in Cameron Park, about 30 miles from Jackson.

Deputies arrived and located the bank employees who were not hurt but were very distraught. Golmitz said: “According to the teller,” the suspect entered the bank and told her “you’re being robbed” and passed her a note. “The suspect told the teller he had a gun and then brandished a small black semi-automatic handgun, which he tucked back into his waistband.”

“The teller followed the suspect’s demands for money,” Golmitz said. “The suspect then walked out of the bank at a quick pace and through the parking lot toward a wooded area. No employees or customers were injured during the robbery.”

The suspect was described as a white male, 55-65 years old, standing 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8 in height, and weighing 165-180 pounds. He has gray hair and crooked teeth and was last seen wearing khaki pants, a white short sleeve shirt with blue bands on the sleeve, a blue baseball cap with red writing and tinted sunglasses.

No vehicle is associated with the robbery, and the investigation is ongoing. People with any information are asked to contact the El Dorado Sheriff at (530) 621-6600.

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WASHINGTON – USDA Farm Service Agency Acting Administrator Val Dolcini on Wednesday announced the deadline for project area proposals for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program. To be considered, proposals must be submitted to the applicable state office by close of business, May 27.

Dolcini said the country “that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will be” the country to lead the 21st century. She said the program “can help rural communities save money, create jobs and improve air quality while reducing the demand for fossil fuels,” and encourages “all those interested in participating in this program to contact their Farm Service Agency state office for details.”

The Biomass Crop Assistance Program was authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill and provides incentives to eligible farmers, ranchers and forest landowners for the establishment and production of biomass crops for heat, power, bio-based products and biofuels. The program’s “project areas are specific geographic areas where producers grow eligible biomass crops. Producers then receive annual payments for growing those crops.”

The Biomass Crop Assistance Program “provides financial assistance to owners and operators of agricultural and non-industrial private forest land who wish to establish, produce, and deliver biomass feedstocks.” It provides two categories of assistance. One of these is matching payments, which “may be available for the delivery of eligible material to qualified biomass conversion facilities by eligible material owners. Qualified biomass conversion facilities produce heat, power, bio-based products, or advanced bio-fuels from biomass feedstocks.”

Another assistance area of note is that “annual payments may be available to certain producers who enter into contracts with the Commodity Credit Corporation to produce eligible biomass crops on contract acres” within the program’s project areas.

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Amador County – The Amador County declaration of a state of emergency for its road conditions was fortified at the gubernatorial level last week with a declaration of a state of emergency by Gov. Jerry Brown for 19 California Counties, based on winter storm damage in the counties.

Bay Area counties were included in the declaration of a state of emergency, as was Amador County, Butte, Del Norte, Humboldt, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Sierra, Stanislaus, Sutter, Trinity, Tuolumne and Ventura counties.

Amador County Undersheriff Jim Wegner made the initial declaration April 1st, after the Amador County Sheriff’s Office began to receive reports from around the county of increased peril to the public due to road damages. The Amador County Board of Supervisors in a special meeting April 5 ratified the declaration.

Wegner made the initial designation while acting as Deputy Director of Emergency Services due to the amount of damage to county roads, and the resulting “conditions of extreme peril.” The storm hit March 16 and dropped several inches of rain in a short period and caused damage in multiple counties.

Wegner told Supervisors that Amador County roads suffered up to $1.6 million in damage.

The ratification by Supervisors included a request through the California Emergency Management Association for the Governor to make a request for a Presidential declaration. The Governor’s declaration enables seeking federal relief funds, to reconstruct highways and county roads. Wegner said the state threshold is $44 million to be able to get federal funding.

Dana Owens, of the California Emergency Management Agency said Santa Cruz had the most damage, with about $17 million in estimated costs.

Wegner gave supervisors a list of 26 county roads with damage and repair cost estimates. The County list included an estimated $280,000 in damage to Stony Creek Road, with “clay pumping up through paved surface” and shoulders washed out in various locations.

The full extent of the damage was believed to be unknown at the time. Plymouth listed seven roads damaged in the storm, with a repair cost estimated at $51,000, the biggest $25,000 in damage to Old Sacramento Road, where an “overflowing creek degraded and undermined road base.” Road damage assessments from Jackson, Amador City, Sutter Creek and Ione were unknown at the time.

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Amador County – The Kirkwood Mountain Ski Resort announced plans for a low-rate “Locals Day” set for Friday, with a day pass for skiing or boarding for $20.

Kirkwood announced that “Friday April 22nd is Locals Day at Kirkwood because we love our locals.” The deal offers $20 lift tickets for all locals from Lake Tahoe, The Carson Valley, Jackson or any of the surrounding areas. Just bring local IDs and people can purchase a full day, all mountain lift ticket for $20. Those without a driver’s license can show a local school or college ID. A bill with their address on it with a matching photo ID will work too. Kirkwood invited locals to come and “enjoy the tail end of the greatest season in years.”

The Locals Day ticket sales will also benefit the “Bicycle Coalition.” Kirkwood officials said $5 of every lift ticket sold to local residents on Friday will go toward making Lake Tahoe “a more bicycle and foot traffic-friendly region.”

The Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition’s mission is to promote livable and sustainable communities by encouraging more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly facilities and promoting educational programs in which residents and visitors can safely and conveniently ride and walk on a more frequent basis.

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