Amador County – Sierra Hearth & Home is holding a “Remodel Party” this week through Friday at their Jackson shop, with help from friends, neighbors and vendors.

Co-owner Shirley Hampton said the showroom in the Mother Lode Plaza is expanding from 2,000 to 4,000 square feet, and for the “first time in the hearth industry,” six competitive manufacturing representatives are coming together to help a local Jackson business build showcase displays.

Hampton, who owns the shop with her husband, Stan, said Sierra Hearth & Home “would like to be able to send a ray of encouragement and hope to the existing small businesses in our home town.” She said the shop is “bringing warmth and peace into the home.” Warmth comes from their array of hearths, and peace comes from their custom-built ponds.

The koi ponds can be paired with a “rainwater harvest system” that helps homeowners corral and store rain water to be used for irrigation or other needs. A display under construction at the shop will be an “outdoor” area, with a mock home façade, on which rain falls, then is harvested by the system, which will have a waterfall.

Two community members were helping build the display Wednesday, donating labor. One was Jason Forest, a friend from church. The other was Rick DeBoard of Pre-Spect Building Inspection & Analysis.

Stan and Shirley were stripping “lodge pole pine” logs from Tom Hoover of Hoover’s Hideout for the project. The poles will be support beams in the shop, which will have a 49er theme.

Another donation was pledged from nearby neighbors, Brown’s Flooring, whose owners Darcy and Eddy Brown will donate labor and tile to decorate a display in the shop. Vendors making displays include Jotul wood and gas stoves; Pacific Energy wood stoves; and Travis Lopi FPX wood, gas and pellet stoves.

Hampton said they plan to be finished with the remodel by Friday, as they must start work on 30 by 30 foot pond project next week.

Sierra Hearth & Home is at 619-B South Highway 49 in Jackson.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Sierra Hearth & Home is holding a “Remodel Party” this week through Friday at their Jackson shop, with help from friends, neighbors and vendors.

Co-owner Shirley Hampton said the showroom in the Mother Lode Plaza is expanding from 2,000 to 4,000 square feet, and for the “first time in the hearth industry,” six competitive manufacturing representatives are coming together to help a local Jackson business build showcase displays.

Hampton, who owns the shop with her husband, Stan, said Sierra Hearth & Home “would like to be able to send a ray of encouragement and hope to the existing small businesses in our home town.” She said the shop is “bringing warmth and peace into the home.” Warmth comes from their array of hearths, and peace comes from their custom-built ponds.

The koi ponds can be paired with a “rainwater harvest system” that helps homeowners corral and store rain water to be used for irrigation or other needs. A display under construction at the shop will be an “outdoor” area, with a mock home façade, on which rain falls, then is harvested by the system, which will have a waterfall.

Two community members were helping build the display Wednesday, donating labor. One was Jason Forest, a friend from church. The other was Rick DeBoard of Pre-Spect Building Inspection & Analysis.

Stan and Shirley were stripping “lodge pole pine” logs from Tom Hoover of Hoover’s Hideout for the project. The poles will be support beams in the shop, which will have a 49er theme.

Another donation was pledged from nearby neighbors, Brown’s Flooring, whose owners Darcy and Eddy Brown will donate labor and tile to decorate a display in the shop. Vendors making displays include Jotul wood and gas stoves; Pacific Energy wood stoves; and Travis Lopi FPX wood, gas and pellet stoves.

Hampton said they plan to be finished with the remodel by Friday, as they must start work on 30 by 30 foot pond project next week.

Sierra Hearth & Home is at 619-B South Highway 49 in Jackson.

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Amador County – The Jackson Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Monday, April 4, to discuss an application to subdivide the Rollingwood Estates mobile home park, and many of its residents are looking for a chance to have their say.

A majority of the Rollingwood residents reportedly oppose the splitting of the park’s property into smaller lots, including Shirley Dajnowski, who requested Jackson City Council’s support on two pieces of legislation, Senate Bill 444, and Assembly Bill 579 regarding mobile home parks. The council approved its support Monday, seeking to clarify state law regarding the subdividing of mobile home parks into individual lots, which can then be sold to the mobile home unit owners who rent there.

Dajnowski, president of a mobile home owners’ association, said residents “will have their first hearing” on the issue Monday. She said she understands state law to say that park owners need tenant support in order to have their application deemed complete, though the courts have made different rulings around California.

“I’m not an attorney, I’m an 88-year-old woman fighting for the people out here,” Dajnowski said Tuesday. “The ramifications of losing the rent control is what has people so worried out there.” She said “a great deal of people who reside in Rollingwood have severe medical problems” and very little income.

The price range mentioned by the owners to sell the small lots is said to be $85,000 to $100,000, Dajnowski said, and “the elderly can’t go out and get a loan.” And even if they could, she said they would not want to leave the debt to their relatives.

She said: “I’m right in the middle of it as far as finances and age is concerned.”

At the Council meeting Monday, she said that a “Tenant Impact Report” survey conducted at Rollingwood showed 112 people that live there are either widows or widowers. There are 74 couples and 186 homes, and the total of 206 people she assumed made up 7 percent of Jackson registered voters. She said it found that 135 of its respondents were against the individual subdividing of Rollingwood, while 16 responded that they supported it.

Rollingwoood is owned by three partners, with Joe Chirco the primary partner, along with Hing Belila and Richard Farr. The group has offices in Victorville. The application with the city to divide the parcels of Rollingwood was made by C&L Investment Company, represented by Joe Chirco.

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Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors last week received an annual report on the Regional Traffic Mitigation Fee program, discussing the local agency shares of cost.

Amador County Transportation Commission Executive Director Charles Field gave an annual report from fiscal year 2009-2010 for the Regional Traffic Mitigation Fee program, saying it had about $143,000 in revenues countywide in that time, down from more than $1 million in better years. He said it was due to slight activity in new Amador County housing and development.

Supervisor Ted Novelli asked about the years in which Jackson participated as a member of ACTC but did not charge the full impact fees of $304 per “trip fee,” which it did not approved until 2009. Novelli asked “who paid it for them?”

Field said “nobody paid it for them, it was just short” by that amount. Novelli also asked about ACTC staff pay raises, and Field said one administrator had a 2.5 percent raise, and Neil Peacock received a 5 percent raise. Field said the “increase is in next year’s budget.”

Novelli asked how the staff salaries were funded. Field said staff salaries come from ACTC revenues, and “do not come from Regional Traffic Mitigation Fees, which is the subject of this report.”

Supervisor Chairman John Plasse asked why during 2003 to 2010, there were zero fees collected from ACTC member agencies, the Plymouth City Council and the Amador City City Council. Field said different cities came in at different times, mainly because there was so little building there. He said neither city has had a building permit issued since the beginning of ACTC.

Plymouth is still under a building moratorium, which began three decades ago, but is nearing the point of it being lifted, with two housing developments totaling nearly 500 homes in the works there.

Field said ACTC added the three larger cities on its board first to see how it works, with Sutter Creek, Ione and Jackson. Supervisor Richard Forster said “it took time to get everyone into the program and to build trust.” It also took time to put money into the pot to build it up for the “common good, and it’s done a pretty good job over the last five years.” Forster said it has done a lot of good, though it does not have much funding because of the economy.

The latest project, a realignment of Prospect Drive to Bowers Drive in Sutter Creek is on hold due to a delay in state bond funding, as the economy has delayed bond issuance.

The board the accepted and filed the annual report on a 5-0 vote.

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Amador County – The Upcountry Community Council reviewed a report recently on two transportation stakeholder groups.

Gary Reinoehl represents UCC on the two groups and delivered a “Transportation Report” dated March 2011, which said: “Updated maps with the most recent traffic count information were given to the group. The consultant, Amador County Transportation Commission staff and the stakeholders discussed the forecast deficiencies and the roadway classification.”

Reinoehl said stakeholders “are more familiar with the local roads, intersections and roadway conditions and were asked to provide information about roadway classification,” road or intersection deficiencies, “and identifying priority locations for detailed analysis.” They were also asked to look at “assumptions used in the Regional Transportation Plan and consider how these might be updated or reconsidered.”

UCC Chairwoman Lynn Morgan asked UCC members to read the report and “offer Gary what of the RTP assumptions must either change, or whether there are some different ones to consider since these were created many years ago.”

Reinoehl in the report said: “Please be prepared to share information about roadway and/or intersection deficiencies for the arterials and collector roadways.” He said: “Also, please review the assumptions; and consider what should be in the Regional Transportation Plan for current assumptions.”

Reinoehl said the 2004 Regional Transportation Plan assumes population, land use and fuel costs will continue as estimated and the “automobile will continue to be the primary choice for travel by residents,” with “recreation-oriented” travelers remaining major users of county state highways. It also assumes “transportation financing” will “continue to be disproportionate compared to employment and housing causing further increases in inter-regional commuting.”

Regarding the Highway 88 Pine Grove improvement project, led by ACTC, Reinoehl said the “Stakeholders Working Group was provided detailed maps” of two alternatives, including a “southern two way route following the alignment identified in alternate 9,” and the UCC’s “alternative 14,” for which cost projections are “higher than the expected” for the project.

Reinoehl said the Stakeholders “continued to provide local knowledge of areas that could be problems for both of these alternatives.” He said the “next step in the analysis will require information about the local terrain and facilities that might require additional width of right-of-way or additional expense because of existing environmental conditions and facilities.”

He said the “continuing engineering studies necessary for alternatives 1, 3 and 9 cover the same area that is required for the continued consideration of alternative 14.” Reinoehl said “Alternative 14 was not excluded at this point from consideration.”

Alternative 14, proposed by UCC member, would build one-way bypasses in loops north and south of Pine Grove, and preserve the Main Street atmosphere of Pine Grove.

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Amador County – The Amador Water Agency this week announced it has set a series of informal meetings to discuss the future challenges to be faced in the Central Amador Water Project service area.

District 3 AWA Chairman Don Cooper and District 4 Director Robert Manassero will be hosting the meetings, set primarily in coffee shops throughout the Upcountry. Agency staff announced the series of meetings and said Upcountry water customers are invited to attend and meet with their water directors.

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo in a release Monday said “Upcountry water customers will have the opportunity to meet with Amador Water Agency Directors and staff to discuss the challenges facing their water system at a series of informal meetings in April.”

He said Directors Manassero and Cooper “are holding meetings at Upcountry restaurants and coffee shops to get feedback from customers on how to address the most pressing issues on the Upcountry water system.”

He said about 40 times a year, the Upcountry water system breaks down. The service area is known as the Central Amador Water Project, or CAWP. Mancebo said the “aging and failing water system suffers from electrical and mechanical failures, computer and communication problems, and power outages. The pumped system is also subject to ever-increasing electric costs – currently about $300,000 per year.”

Mancebo said Cooper and Manassero “hope customers will take advantage of the drop-in, small group discussions to learn more about the upcountry water system, the current challenges facing it, what options are being considered, and how to participate in decision-making for the system that needs to happen soon.”

Meetings are scheduled for multiple dates and locations, beginning with a 9-11 a.m. meeting at Blue Moon Café in Pine Grove on Tuesday, April 5, then later that day, from 1-3 p.m. at Mace Meadow Restaurant in Pioneer.

A third meeting is 10-11 a.m. Thursday, April 7 at Sue’s Gold Country Coffee in Pine Grove, then later that day, from 1-3 p.m. at Blue Moon Café. Mace Meadow Restaurant hosts another meeting 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 12.

On Tuesday, April 19, Sue’s Gold Country Coffee hosts a meeting from 10-11:30 a.m.; and Blue Moon Café hosts another meeting, from 1-3 p.m.

The last scheduled meeting is from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, April 20 at the Buckhorn Veterans Memorial Hall in Buckhorn.

Additional information on the Central Amador Water Project system will be mailed to customers in their April CAWP water bill and will be available at the agency website at amadorwater.org.

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