Amador County – Jackson City Planner Susan Peters on Monday gave an update of a planning workshop held last week, telling the Jackson City Council that the city should determine Jackson’s design “identity.” Peters told the council of a sparsely attended workshop held last Monday that drew three public comments and also a letter from local developer and Jackson resident Ron Regan. Peters said the Sutter Creek Planning Commission Chairman Robin Peters attended the meeting and spoke about Sutter Creek’s work on the subject. Susan Peters said Sutter Creek’s “ultimate goal is to have standards instead of guidelines,” so that new construction and buildings are compatible with surrounding buildings in any particular area. Sutter Creek started with a large committee of various interested and it now has an Architectural Review Committee, with professional members appointed by the Sutter Creek City Council. They include two architects, a contractor, and two members of the public, and their overview currently is the review of commercial structures only. Peters said “this will change when the standards are completed for all portions of the city.” Regan in his letter to Susan Peters and the Jackson Planning Commission, said “Architectural standards that are restricted to downtown to maintain its appeal are fine” and he believed “that the downtown area has a historical appeal that warrants protection.” But he said “making such standards city wide runs the risk of being misused by certain pressure groups and are not warranted.” He said “unfortunately some architectural standards are subjective, where a particular design is in vogue today, but not tomorrow.” Regan said “certain groups will use their own subjective opinion to demonize a proposed development.” And he warned that “restrictive and subjective standards that are narrowly focused on contemporary thought or concepts that relate to restricting growth will result in the loss of future tax revenues to the city.” Peters said Jackson could look at the city’s identity by neighborhood, and find a “connectivity design-wise,” and make areas separate. She said Jackson has identified 12 different neighborhoods in the city. Mayor Connie Gonsalves and the council directed staff to form a professional committee, and City Manager Mike Daly said staff would return to the city council with a description of the committee composition and would request council direction. Councilwoman Marilyn Louis said she thought historian Larry Cenotto should be on the committee. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).