Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday accepted the Regional Traffic Mitigation Fee annual report and also agreed to shift the next project from Argonaut Lane in Jackson to Bowers Drive in Sutter Creek. Amador County Transportation Commission Executive Director Charles Field presented the 2007-2008 annual report and gave an overview of the 2008-2009 recommendations for programming and funding, which supervisors approved in a 5-0 vote. Field said the Mission Boulevard project in Jackson received an $800,000 dollar matching grant, and ACTC is “still in negotiations with St. Sava” Mission. Recommendations included $250,000 dollars more for that project, bringing total financing to $1 Million dollars. Field said part of the funding will come from “supplemental building fees.” Supervisor Brian Oneto asked what that entailed. Field said members pay into the Regional Traffic Mitigation Fee Program, “which is very constricted on how they can spend the money in the county.” Supplemental fees, or extra building fees, can be used in areas to fund area projects. Such would be the case, he said, for the Ione Bypass, estimated at $50 Million dollars. Field said the recommendation included shifting funding from the Argonaut Lane project in Jackson to the Bowers Drive project in Sutter Creek, for next year. He said Argonaut Lane is partly through development, but it will require acquisition of a home and another piece of property. The homeowner was prepared to fight, when the project stalled and the contractor terminated the contract, leading to the next most feasible project, at Bowers Drive. Field said “with this board’s support, we will go for federal funding” next year, as they did with Mission Boulevard. “The oversight committee recommended Argonaut Lane stay on hold and those funds go to Bowers,” he said. Supervisor Richard Forster, an ACTC member for the supervisors, said it’s really difficult to spread funding on projects “when you have a small pot of money.” The fee recommendations included $211,000 dollars toward the Sutter Creek project, at Bowers, Highway 104 and Prospect Drive. Field said because of the economy, he recommends “no change to traffic mitigation fees at this time.” He also said the oversight committee “recommended that the Regional Traffic Mitigation Fee Program remain under the auspices of the interagency Memorandum of Understanding for the time being with additional language to be drafted for a revision to the MOU that would allow the ACTC to take action on mid-year revisions. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.