By Jim Reece -
An over-capacity crowd filled the seats and aisles of the Amador County Board of Supervisors chambers Tuesday in the first of a 3-day serial meeting to hash through Land Use for the county’s new General Plan. County Planner Susan Grijalva introduced staff, county department heads and consultants who in turn presented the status of updates for land use at staff level. At nearly 2-and-a-half years old, the General Plan update might still see another year of discussion before supervisors take action. Grijalva said one public hearing is the minimum requirement for a general plan update, but the county will have a minimum of two, possibly more. She said the General Plan is not zoning, as the two are distinct layers in law. Amador County Geographic Information Coordinator, Keith Johnson, introduced a digital mapping system, the U-Plan, which builds models and helps show current and prospective new land uses around the county. “U-Plan does not decide where development goes,” he said, and it does not develop policy. But it will show areas, such as federal lands, water bodies, and high-fire-risk areas, where development cannot occur. Grijalva told supervisors and planning commissioners in the joint meeting that the object was to find out what is desired, pinpoint areas of the county that need more information, identify what options need to be explored, and bring back the findings after the first of the year. County Attorney Martha Shaver talked about conflicts of interest and said she could talk individually with supervisors and commissioners if needed. Amador County Transportation Commission Executive Director Charles Field talked about modeling. “We’re not going to be looking at the parcel level.” He said “Our traffic infrastructure is not keeping up with growth,” but the ability to remedy problems was made difficult with the high cost of highway bypasses and the lack of federal funding, which the state has done little to supplement. Field said that even if the funds were there, the Amador communities are so drenched in historic value that expansion of roads would be difficult. Public input will be taken today, Thursday, 1 to 5 p.m. at the Supervisors Chambers.
