Amador County – A consensus majority of the Amador County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday leaned toward having design review guidelines by district, instead of trying to have county-wide guidelines.

The consensus without a vote also had each Supervisor submit comments to send to the Planning Commission to direct further work. Planner Nathan Lishman presented the draft ordinance for the design review guidelines, which the Planning Commission worked on and recommended. He said it drew criticism for not including wineries and vineyards, and quoted a business official as saying that “Dunkin Donuts has never been hurt by following design guidelines.”

Supervisor Brian Oneto said: “What may be good for Dunkin Donuts may not be good for a commercial project.” He said it would not make sense to have landscaping between the curb and sidewalk in commercial developments in Carbondale. Supervisor Chairman John Plasse said they should look at “applicability” and said Carbondale is a good example, because landscaping would not really apply there between railroad tracks, a couple of aggregate mining operations and an industrial manufacturer.

Lishman said the design guidelines include flexibility with the “industrial and public institutional use.” He said “scorecards” can help determine design applicability, but sometimes in the process of developing the guidelines, “we scratched our heads” wondering “what’s the trigger? The fact of the matter is, these things cross lines.”

Oneto said Martell’s needs may not be the same needs in the clay pits,” and Lishman said the “idiosyncrasies here are really hard to navigate around.”

Plasse noted one portion of the ordinance where the language seemed to give staff too much room for interpretation for approval or denial. Deputy County Counsel Greg Gillott said it was a “catchall provision” but could be change if needed. Plasse said with that, “you don’t have predictability” and any development under 10,000 square feet is subject to the planner or her designee. He said it was an “unpredictable review and oversight process.”

Supervisor Vice Chairman Louis Boitano said industrial areas are different than historical areas, but areas like the Knight’s Foundry neighborhood in Sutter Creek should be both.

Boitano said all cities have design review guidelines, and he suggested the county think about having defined historic areas and then designate design review guidelines for those areas. Plasse agreed, saying he did not know if other jurisdictions do it, but they could consider having districts, and not a county-wide designation.

Lishman said the “Town Centers” in the draft General Plan could help to make the district designations. He said districts were the original concept when Supervisors directed planning staff in 2007 to delve into design review guidelines and ordinance.

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