By Jim Reece -

Some of the 40 properties requested for Land Use changes were subject of appeal statements by their owners Wednesday in the second day of the Amador County General Plan update meeting. Eddie Oneto spoke for the Oneto Group’s power plant on Coal Mine Road, near Ione, which the group plans to operate as a biomass incineration power plant. He said the area was designated mining production, despite having been depleted of minerals. Among reasons given, he said, were that the area was not served by water or sewer, which he said was not a problem. Also, the plant might be offensive to casino patrons. Oneto said: “Who do you support, us or the casinos?” Edward Quinn, attorney for Howard Properties, which was denied a land use request, said “We’re not really sure why this has to be done so hastily?” He said the 17,000-acre development received less than a page of analysis. Quinn said it was not very encouraging getting a 24-hour notice to respond to a one-page response saying no to Howard Properties. Quinn said he thought it was too short a time for supervisors to “make a 30-year decision on a day’s notice.” Bill Bunce of Amador Ranch Associates said his company’s 16,000-acre property also received a negative response to a use change, at Rancho Arroyo Seco. Bunce’s company requested a Special Planning Area designation, but he said the response was inappropriate for the non-descriptive initial letter of the request. Amador County Transportation Commission Executive Director Charles Field said computer model “Blueprints” were used to develop the Land Use element for Amador County. He said as supervisors take input and appeals from parcel owners, as they exceed the time limit – 5 minutes each – or when questions become too technical, ACTC is willing to have a public workshop on the Blueprint modeling system. Field said the Blueprint term is a misnomer in that it is not telling people what to do, but rather, it shows which uses best fit each area.