Amador County – The Ione City Council and Planning Commission opened the Q Ranch land designation to an additional 350 housing units on Tuesday, to be included in the city’s new General Plan. Any project on the 432-acre site is still forthcoming, but its developers said the project would only be feasible with a designation allowing 850 units, instead of the 500 discussed in January, under a “Rural Residential” designation, with 1/2-acre lots. Kevin Walker of Q Ranch said an engineer did an exhaustive study of the site’s 80 square miles, finding that its watershed and “flow of water could be contained in a much smaller area.” He said the project would try to preserve the “viewshed” with “treescaping,” and with a 3-2 vote, the council included that wording in the land designation. Walker said project would include trails for bicycles, horseback riding and pedestrians. Housing would be “Medium Density” (7 to 15 units per acre) and “Low Density” (7 units and under, per acre). City Planner Christopher Jordan said that density would resemble Castle Oaks. Walker said 850 homes in “clustering” designs would allow preservation of more open space than the previous designation. The rough map included 23 acres for parks, 202 acres of “open space,” and 26.5 acres of agriculture land. Walker said they would “restore Dry Creek to its natural state.” One man said it was a “huge change” late in the process of the General Plan update. Commission Vice Chair Joe Wylie said “it is unfortunate and difficult to have something thrown at you in the last minute,” but it was a good idea. He said he would like to see publicly accessible trails connect Highways 104 and 124. Commissioner Stewart Wilkerson asked if the wastewater treatment plant would accommodate the 850 units. City Planner Christopher Jordan said it would, and the “open space” designation in the General Plan policy is defined as public areas. Mayor Lee Ard said the map and density resembled what he was told was in the future for Q Ranch, when he first moved to town. Ard said the designation gives the developers “the opportunity to come forward with a proposal on what they want to do with their land.” Attorney Kristen Castanos said changing the land designation density would only change the map in the city General Plan. It would allow for zoning overlays without a General Plan amendment. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Thursday, 21 May 2009 00:40
Ione City Council
Amador County – The Ione City Council and Planning Commission opened the Q Ranch land designation to an additional 350 housing units on Tuesday, to be included in the city’s new General Plan. Any project on the 432-acre site is still forthcoming, but its developers said the project would only be feasible with a designation allowing 850 units, instead of the 500 discussed in January, under a “Rural Residential” designation, with 1/2-acre lots. Kevin Walker of Q Ranch said an engineer did an exhaustive study of the site’s 80 square miles, finding that its watershed and “flow of water could be contained in a much smaller area.” He said the project would try to preserve the “viewshed” with “treescaping,” and with a 3-2 vote, the council included that wording in the land designation. Walker said project would include trails for bicycles, horseback riding and pedestrians. Housing would be “Medium Density” (7 to 15 units per acre) and “Low Density” (7 units and under, per acre). City Planner Christopher Jordan said that density would resemble Castle Oaks. Walker said 850 homes in “clustering” designs would allow preservation of more open space than the previous designation. The rough map included 23 acres for parks, 202 acres of “open space,” and 26.5 acres of agriculture land. Walker said they would “restore Dry Creek to its natural state.” One man said it was a “huge change” late in the process of the General Plan update. Commission Vice Chair Joe Wylie said “it is unfortunate and difficult to have something thrown at you in the last minute,” but it was a good idea. He said he would like to see publicly accessible trails connect Highways 104 and 124. Commissioner Stewart Wilkerson asked if the wastewater treatment plant would accommodate the 850 units. City Planner Christopher Jordan said it would, and the “open space” designation in the General Plan policy is defined as public areas. Mayor Lee Ard said the map and density resembled what he was told was in the future for Q Ranch, when he first moved to town. Ard said the designation gives the developers “the opportunity to come forward with a proposal on what they want to do with their land.” Attorney Kristen Castanos said changing the land designation density would only change the map in the city General Plan. It would allow for zoning overlays without a General Plan amendment. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
