In Sutter Creek last week, the City Council and Planning Commission held a second public workshop to discuss the provisions of the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Gold Rush Ranch and Golf Resort. The City’s review process for the project’s Draft Environmental documents, which began with the release of the DEIR on the first of July, has been encountering difficulties in keeping officials updated on a constantly changing array of documents. The architects of the DEIR, Hauge Brueck Associates, have updated the project’s documents with city official’s comments, additions, and omissions after each of four lengthy city meetings held on Gold Rush in the past month and a half. Officials are then presented with a new set of altered documents for each meeting, and have found it hard to keep up. The meeting last Wednesday was no exception; council members and commissioners were provided with four extra packets of updated information after receiving their initial agenda packet, and the first part of the meeting was spent straightening out exactly what information belonged where, and making sure everyone was on the same page. “With all due respect, this is very confusing to us. You all live and breathe this project, but we have other stuff going on, and I…am having a hard time keeping track of the details,” said Planning Commissioner Robin Peters in reference to the affect that this (VIDEO) communication overflow is having on city administrators, as well as members of the public. In addition to difficulties with the paper tiger, project administrators also faced a somewhat larger presence of local activist groups at Wednesday’s workshop than at previous meetings on Gold Rush. Kathy Allen, chairwoman for Amador Citizens for Smart Growth, questioned the absence of several Specific Studies in the DEIR that were used to formulate the analysis of biological site conditions. Chris Wright, Executive Director of the Foothill Conservancy, also spoke at the meeting. Wright stated that according to his group’s calculations, the Gold Rush Development will actually diminish the waste water disposal capacity of the site. The primary initial reason for the city’s acquisition of the property was to provide space for the disposal of treated waste water. The next public workshop has been rescheduled for September 2nd, at 6pm. Members of the public are encouraged to attend.
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In Sutter Creek last week, the City Council and Planning Commission held a second public workshop to discuss the provisions of the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Gold Rush Ranch and Golf Resort. The City’s review process for the project’s Draft Environmental documents, which began with the release of the DEIR on the first of July, has been encountering difficulties in keeping officials updated on a constantly changing array of documents. The architects of the DEIR, Hauge Brueck Associates, have updated the project’s documents with city official’s comments, additions, and omissions after each of four lengthy city meetings held on Gold Rush in the past month and a half. Officials are then presented with a new set of altered documents for each meeting, and have found it hard to keep up. The meeting last Wednesday was no exception; council members and commissioners were provided with four extra packets of updated information after receiving their initial agenda packet, and the first part of the meeting was spent straightening out exactly what information belonged where, and making sure everyone was on the same page. “With all due respect, this is very confusing to us. You all live and breathe this project, but we have other stuff going on, and I…am having a hard time keeping track of the details,” said Planning Commissioner Robin Peters in reference to the affect that this (VIDEO) communication overflow is having on city administrators, as well as members of the public. In addition to difficulties with the paper tiger, project administrators also faced a somewhat larger presence of local activist groups at Wednesday’s workshop than at previous meetings on Gold Rush. Kathy Allen, chairwoman for Amador Citizens for Smart Growth, questioned the absence of several Specific Studies in the DEIR that were used to formulate the analysis of biological site conditions. Chris Wright, Executive Director of the Foothill Conservancy, also spoke at the meeting. Wright stated that according to his group’s calculations, the Gold Rush Development will actually diminish the waste water disposal capacity of the site. The primary initial reason for the city’s acquisition of the property was to provide space for the disposal of treated waste water. The next public workshop has been rescheduled for September 2nd, at 6pm. Members of the public are encouraged to attend.
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