Amador County – The Sutter Creek City Council heard from property owners of the Brusatori family Monday, who said the draft fees for a proposed annexation of their Sutter Hill properties would be too costly. The council discussed the Sutter Hill East Annexation’s “Proposed Area Of Benefit Calculation,” prepared by City Planner Bruce Baracco, then directed staff to work with the property owners to come to an agreement that would please the Amador County Local Agency Formation Commission, which would have final approval of the annexation. Aaron Brusatori said he thought they could come to an agreement that all property owners would agree to, then they would not need to come back to the council. The calculations came from the council’s “initial discussion with regard to a method to pay for infrastructure improvements within the annexation area.” Baracco used “an acreage fee which varies depending on the zoning district, with different fees for each type of service. For “streets and intersections,” Baracco’s draft “Area of Benefit Calculations” included Commercial 2 zoning paying $19,000 dollars per acre; Rural 3 paying just under $4,000 per acre; and Industrial 2 paying $954 per acre. Per-acre sanitary sewer would be $10,600 for R-3; $9,700 for C-2; and $6300 for I-2. Baracco’s model had a flat fee applying to all zones of $4,856 dollars per acre for Water line improvements within the annexation area, to be “established by the Amador Water Agency based on a hydraulic model” of the area’s system. A flat fee also was proposed for Storm Drainage, of $3,095 dollars per acre. The model included estimates $380,000 dollars each for street improvements and sewer improvements; $262,000 dollars for water line improvements; and $167,000 dollars for storm drainage. Ray Brusatori said “it seems unreasonable” that he, his father and his uncle between them would have to pay $48,000 dollars in water system fees. He said they all had an existing 6-inch water line running through their property. He said the “storm drain” fee was also unnecessary because of drainage improvements they made on their property. City Manager Rob Duke said Sutter Creek has no say over water fees, which were determined by the AWA. Baracco said the “existing 6-inch line on Old Ridge Road may not meet the needs of the water agency,” so they wanted people to know the possible cost to replace it with a new 6-inch line. Duke said they likely could get credit toward drainage fees for past property improvements, but he wasn’t sure if LAFCO would accept that. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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