Amador County – With municipal concerns about its Regional Traffic Plan update, the Amador County Transportation Commission on Monday set 2 of its District 2 members to work with staff on wording of land-usage issues. The ACTC board of directors received a letter of complaint from Ione City Manager Kim Kerr that questioned cities’ representation on a 24-member roundtable of stakeholders that will guide community input in the Regional Traffic Plan update. Kerr told the commission that a community meeting in Ione raised the city’s interest in making sure its new land-usage maps in its all-new General Plan would qualify the city for state funding, or if the county’s new plan would affect that eligibility. ACTC Executive Director Charles Field said he thinks “Ione made a mountain out of a mole hill,” and ACTC knows “how to work with cities.” He wanted to help remove some of the “paranoia” being put forth by Ione. Forster said he did not want to rely on an ACTC consultant to pick members of the roundtable committee. Forster said a community roundtable was tried when he was on the Amador Water Agency board of directors. The roundtable was supposed to look at how to have the Amador Transmission Pipeline and minimize its affects on the Amador Canal. Forster said instead, the committee had its own preferences and came back with a plan to have both the pipeline and the ditch, “which defeats the whole purpose of the pipeline.” He said that roundtable set back the AWA 10 years on the project. Kerr said she did not believe the city made a mountain out of a mole hill. She said the Regional Traffic Plan is tied to funding, and ACTC told Ione that the funding will start with the 2004 Regional Traffic Plan. And she said the plans must coordinate with airport boards, though neither the Eagles Nest or Amador County Airports had given input. ACTC Chairman, Supervisor Louis Boitano asked for volunteers to work on the issue with the RTP program coordinator, Neil Peacock, and Forster. Ione Councilman David Plank volunteered to help. Field said he did not think the plan is going to have an alternate land use plan. He said “ACTC has no land-use authority,” but it does pass funds for roadway improvements to the cities. Field said “ACTC did not have a chance to work with Plymouth and Ione” on their general plans, due to staffing. Instead, they chose Amador County’s General Plan. But he wanted to “alleviate some of these fears that ACTC is trying to do something without concern for cities.” He said the objective was to have a Regional Traffic Plan, and land usage would fall to cities and the county. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.