Amador County – The Plymouth City Council last Thursday peered at the possibilities of protecting its “viewsheds.” The council resumed a public hearing on its General Plan Final Environmental Impact Report. Plymouth veterinarian Elida Malick said she would like to see a definition of ridgelines, and she also said that a revision of the “Growth Plan” in effect removed the voice of the public from the document. Stephan Horstschraer (Horsetrader), a development partner of Reeder Sutherland, said he agreed with Malick on the definition of ridgelines, and Councilman Mike O’Meara agreed those changes removed the people’s voices. City Planner Paula Daneluk said many of the changes were not yet in the document at the last meeting because of a literally last-minute comment letter from area attorney Tom Infusino. Daneluk said the Final EIR now has those changes, and they will be included in the next meeting’s packet. City Manager Dixon Flynn asked if they wanted a “strikethrough” version, showing edits, with a consensus wanting them. Mayor Jon Colburn said City Building Inspector Jeff Kelley advised that the city needs to include a viewshed study in the EIR. Daneluk said the viewshed study by Reeder Sutherland was done at “project level,” but the city may want to do them at “EIR level” for individual projects. She said she did “not think you are ready to a make citywide viewshed study.” Consultant Richard Prima said 2 parts to that are, where are you looking to, and where are you looking from. Flynn asked if there was a recommendation in the EIR for ridgelines. Daneluk said it was throughout the EIR, and a table listing changes was only meant as a guide to the current draft of the EIR. Daneluk said for the EIR, they could describe basics for the viewsheds, such as views from public roadways and downtown, and at the project level, they can get into more detail. O’Meara said at that level, “you would get down to line-of-sight” issues. Flynn asked if there would be consideration of the visual appearance of the town from anywhere in the area, such as driving through and looking at Plymouth. Daneluk said there are a lot of ways to protect ridgelines. Staff will make recommended changes and give the “strikethrough” edition of the EIR to the city council members by July 31st, giving the council and the public 2 weeks to read the document, before the General Plan EIR public hearing meeting resumes, 5:30 p.m. Thursday, August 13th at city hall. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.