Amador County – The Sutter Creek Planning Commission pored through three chapters of the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort Specific Plan. With “current economic conditions” thick in the air, about 40 people heard an early discussion on single-family lot sizes. Commissioner Frank Cunha asked whether the City would agree on having a “majority” of single family lots with parcels in the 5,000- to 7,000-square-feet size. Cunha said the single-family lot size limit was 7,000 square feet in the city General Plan. Chairman Robin Peters asked Gold Rush if they had a percentage number in mind for the number of single-family lots they wanted under 7,000 square feet. Consultant Anders Hauge said that was an unknown number. He said part of the problem was that they do not know what the market will allow, and the aim was to allow the developer an ability to maintain flexibility. Commissioner Robert Olson said “majority” meant that most properties would be under 7,000 square feet. Gold Rush’s Jim Harnish pointed out areas in the plan where 10 to 20 percent of the parcels are 10,000 square feet or larger. Cunha said that “to say the range is 5,000 to 7,000, you might as well say all of them will be 5,000.” Peters said “right out of the gate we found an issue that needs much more discussion.” He said “Sutter Creek is not the most progressive city around in regard to planning.” Gold Rush’s Greg Bardini said they did not want to get caught up on the lot sizes, because the project is fixed in its number of units and limited by acreage. He said if they “build all of the homes on 5,000 square foot lots, that would leave a lot more open space.” He said they did not have a number on which lots would be under 7,000. Cunha said if they could come up with a percentage, “I’m willing to talk about this.” Hauge said he thought the planning commission should “keep a unique designation for this specific plan and where it comes to single family lots, work with the applicant on the percentages.” Peters said he could agree with that but he did not want to give Gold Rush “cart blanche” when it came to lot sizes. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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