Amador County – Sutter Creek Planning reviewed a revised traffic impact study Monday for the Gold Rush Ranch & Gold Resort, looking at mitigation expectations. Commissioner Frank Cunha suggested including the Allen Ranch Road connection to Highway 49 as part of the EIR. Commissioner Mike Kirkley said a “lot of traffic comes into the older parts of town, and the only park in the development will be out here too.” He suggested making those part of the traffic EIR, in a study of old Highway 49. Consultant Bob Delk said he met with city staff, Caltrans and ACTC and he didn’t “believe they had any comments to look at traffic on old Highway 49.” Kirkley said most mitigations are “fair share” percentages, and asked about keeping track of those payments and also about “statements of overriding concern.” Consultant Anders Hague said “statements of overriding concerns likely will be done by staff and the city attorney.” He said the commission is being asked to determine adequacy of the EIR and make recommendations. “If there are overriding conditions, you can offer them with the recommendation.” Kirkley said he cannot make a recommendation without that information on old Highway 49. Hague said “there are going to be projects built to satisfy” impact mitigations. Commissioner Frank Cunha said “the fair share portion of this bothers me,” asking if “the city keep track of the (developer’s fair share) or does the money go into the regional transit fund?” Cunha said “if the developer is keeping track of them, are they ever really going to be done?” Delk said “different tiers of improvements are identified in the Regional Traffic Mitigation Fee Program.” He said ACTC is developing a CMX, or Circulation Mapping Exercise to determine fair share fees. ACTC Executive Director Charles Field said the CMX tool is “stalled in committee” and it was too soon to be able to rely on it for mitigation. Cunha said he has a “hard time calling it a mitigation if you know it’s never going to be built.” Assistant City Manager Sean Rabe said by law, the city “can only require development to pay their fair share.” The commission’s next meeting is 7 p.m. Monday, May 11th, when they go through errata sheets and individual commission comments. Peters said “the unresolved issues are all that we have left – the hard stuff.” Cunha asked if they could get the next meeting’s documents sooner, as they will be “basically going through all of this.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.