Amador County - The Plymouth City Council and its Planning Commission will hold a joint work session today on two residential projects, Zinfandel and Shenandoah Ridge, proposed by Bob Reeder and his partners.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. today, at Plymouth City Hall. Plymouth engineering consultant Richard Prima is scheduled to make a presentation on the Reeder Sutherland project, with a total of 502 single family lots, which would be constructed in phases over the next decade or so.

In a report for today's meeting, Prima said the "purpose of this meeting is to go over the project details and seek individual comments from Council members, Commissioners" and the public. The public is welcomed and encouraged to comment, but the meeting "is not a noticed public hearing, and therefore staff is not requesting any official deliberations or action by city officials at this time." The agenda noted that a public hearing on the Zinfandel and Shenandoah Ridge projects is to be held May 18th.

Prima said the Zinfandel and Shenandoah Ridge "projects have nearly completed the Environmental Review process and will be brought to the Planning Commission and City Council for final review and consideration of approval" in May or June.

He said: "Many project details, through the course of the lengthy review process which started in 2006 … have been amended based on the General Plan adopted in 2009, the Draft (Environmental Impact Report) and comments received in the 2010, Circulation Plan Update adopted in 2011 and other inputs." Both projects "have a number of documents that would be considered for adoption as part of the project approval process," and the documents were given to the City Council and Commission members in mid-April. The documents are available on the city's website, and today's meeting will focus on the Tentative Map, the Development Plan, Design Guidelines and Conditions of Approval.

Prima noted that "one important part of the project documentation is yet to be completed," the Development Agreement, which gives "an opportunity for the city and the developer to agree upon specific project details that are outside the city's current codes and policies."

He said the Development Agreement contains "various fiscal and other administrative measures, such as provisions for ongoing maintenance of all project improvements by the developer" or homeowners. It is "dependent on the fiscal elements of the project which are, in turn, dependent on the project design elements." He said "it is useful that these design elements be understood beforehand."

He noted that the "fiscal elements also are dependent on a tax-sharing agreement between the city" and Amador County.

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