Amador County - Stakeholders and a familiar lineup of concerned citizens from Amador County and beyond gathered at the County Administration Center last Thursday for the 2009 Housing Element Program Implementation Workshop. The meeting was hosted by Amador County General Plan Consultant Jeff Goldman and focused on streamlining programs decided upon in prior workshops, the latest being six weeks ago. Goldman said the meeting “is part of an ongoing conversation” to assess “current unmet needs and projected future needs” related to housing guidelines outlined in the proposed General Plan. He said “we are seeking to streamline the number of programs in place without sacrificing any of the substantive goals we are trying to achieve.” The county currently has fifty programs in its Housing Element, all of which were summarized, organized into themes and distributed to attendees in a packet titled “Summary of Achievements Since 2005.” The themes included providing adequate sites for housing, removing governmental restraints, creating new affordable units, encouraging special needs housing, providing housing assistance, conservation of existing housing and improving a jobs-housing balance. County Planner Susan Grijalva said “one of the challenges the county has had in obtaining affordable housing is that we’ve never had a developer come in to build that housing.” She said deals with developers often provide much of the affordable housing in a given area. Upcountry resident Sherry Curtis said she would like to see “affordable housing closer to where people can easily get to services like social services.” Curtis also criticized planners for not having more specific and up-to-date information available, like maps of lower income housing in Amador County. Art Marinaccio, a consultant for Amador Citizens for Responsible Government, said “workforce housing is equally important to (social needs housing) in Amador County.” Rancher and Vintner Ken Deaver agreed, and said that “at some point the lack of farm labor housing will create a backlash against the people who hire these workers.” Mel Welsh asked about the possibility expanding the Calaveras-based Habitat for Humanity to Amador County. Goldman said that would be helpful, although the group currently provides a relatively small contribution to Calaveras County housing. Goldman said another big variable in determining future housing possibilities is $50 million made available to California counties through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for energy improvements. In closing, Grijalva said “the duty of a county or city is to serve its citizens, and it’s important to bring the citizens to the table during the planning process.” Input from this meeting will be utilized in future General Plan discussions. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009 00:03
Housing Element Workshop
Amador County - Stakeholders and a familiar lineup of concerned citizens from Amador County and beyond gathered at the County Administration Center last Thursday for the 2009 Housing Element Program Implementation Workshop. The meeting was hosted by Amador County General Plan Consultant Jeff Goldman and focused on streamlining programs decided upon in prior workshops, the latest being six weeks ago. Goldman said the meeting “is part of an ongoing conversation” to assess “current unmet needs and projected future needs” related to housing guidelines outlined in the proposed General Plan. He said “we are seeking to streamline the number of programs in place without sacrificing any of the substantive goals we are trying to achieve.” The county currently has fifty programs in its Housing Element, all of which were summarized, organized into themes and distributed to attendees in a packet titled “Summary of Achievements Since 2005.” The themes included providing adequate sites for housing, removing governmental restraints, creating new affordable units, encouraging special needs housing, providing housing assistance, conservation of existing housing and improving a jobs-housing balance. County Planner Susan Grijalva said “one of the challenges the county has had in obtaining affordable housing is that we’ve never had a developer come in to build that housing.” She said deals with developers often provide much of the affordable housing in a given area. Upcountry resident Sherry Curtis said she would like to see “affordable housing closer to where people can easily get to services like social services.” Curtis also criticized planners for not having more specific and up-to-date information available, like maps of lower income housing in Amador County. Art Marinaccio, a consultant for Amador Citizens for Responsible Government, said “workforce housing is equally important to (social needs housing) in Amador County.” Rancher and Vintner Ken Deaver agreed, and said that “at some point the lack of farm labor housing will create a backlash against the people who hire these workers.” Mel Welsh asked about the possibility expanding the Calaveras-based Habitat for Humanity to Amador County. Goldman said that would be helpful, although the group currently provides a relatively small contribution to Calaveras County housing. Goldman said another big variable in determining future housing possibilities is $50 million made available to California counties through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for energy improvements. In closing, Grijalva said “the duty of a county or city is to serve its citizens, and it’s important to bring the citizens to the table during the planning process.” Input from this meeting will be utilized in future General Plan discussions. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
