Amador County – A Sutter Creek citizens’ group announced Monday it had “officially launched a referendum campaign” aimed at stopping the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort. The group wants to overturn related Sutter Creek City Council actions passed last week in conjunction with approval of the project. Sutter Creek resident and Gold Rush opponent Bart Weatherly in a release Monday said his group, Preserve Historic Sutter Creek “launched a referendum campaign to reverse legislative actions taken by” the city council. He said “reversing these actions will make null and void the approval of Gold Rush Ranch housing development.” The 1,334-unit project, including a golf course, resort, hotel and housing, was approved January 4th. Weatherly said opponents need 160 signatures to get a referendum on the ballot, and the simple majority vote would target not approval of Gold Rush, but rather amendments to a zoning ordinance and the General Plan. Weatherly said door-to-door signature gathering would start Saturday, January 16th, after the city provides updated amendments. Weatherly said: “We cannot do a referendum on the approval of Gold Rush because that is not a legislative act. We are doing referenda on the ordinances.” He said Preserve Historic Sutter Creek is made up of 20-30 members that meet regularly. Weatherly said: “Our goal is to stop Gold Rush as it is now presented.” He said repealing the ordinances would effectively stop Gold Rush and “force a 1-year time out,” meaning developers “have to go away for a year” and come back to the city with “a whole different project.” The group opposes the size and impacts of Gold Rush, but likes the project, Weatherly said, adding that it was originally proposed at 1/5th the size it is now, with a golf course, clubhouse, restaurant, 60-room hotel, 300 timeshares, and more than 600 acres of open space. Weatherly said he was “very optimistic about our chance.” He said 300 people signed the Vote “No on gold rush petitions, of which 200 were actual Sutter Creek residents.” Only registered Sutter Creek voters can sign the referendum petitions. Weatherly said his core group is not “no-growth” and “ultra-left”, but conservative supporters of “slow growth” and “controlled growth.” Weatherly said: “If we don’t prevail, our only thing we can do is make sure the developer is held to his promises.” Amador County Elections said the referendum needs 10 percent of the last registration total to make a ballot. Sutter Creek had 1,584 registered voters January 5th, meaning petitioners need 159 valid signatures to place a referendum on the ballot. 2010 regular elections include a June 8th primary and a November 2nd general election. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.