Sutter Creek – The Amador Water Agency board on Tuesday discussed the water needs of the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort, and learned that Sutter Creek is still negotiating its “conditions of approval” on the project. District 1 Director Bill Condrashoff said raw water for the golf course should be in a new analysis of the Water Supply Assessment done by the AWA staff. And he wondered if the plan was “to use up all the water in the first 10 years.” Chairman Terence Moore said it was not the plan, but the board was trying to ease his concerns. AWA attorney Steve Kronick said the state gives water agencies “guidelines on how to document future demands,” but these are “not necessarily what the cities” plan or do. Condrashoff said the WSA should look at other cities’ future needs, but Abercrombie said they “must include planned projects, but not unplanned or speculative ones.” Sutter Creek’s Bart Weatherly asked who would pay for a new raw water line to serve Gold Rush. Abercrombie said there were “a lot of developers here today,” and he will work with them and “have them pay as much as they can.” Developers in attendance included Cirro Toma, Rob Aragon, Bill Bunce, Greg Bardini, Stefan Horstsradter and Bob Reeder. Sutter Creek Assistant City Administrator Sean Rabe said the “conditions of approval” agreement with Gold Rush was still a working document, but so far says the developer shall build a new tertiary-level water treatment plant for the city and the developer’s needs, within 3 years. It also says the project will accept wastewater from Sutter Creek. He said “within 36 months, the project has to construct the tertiary plant.” That could be extended to 5 years, at the developer’s request. Rabe said “they will need raw water for the golf course,” and “it’s your job to tell us how long it will be.” He said “before the first certificate of occupancy is issued, the tertiary plant has to be built.” That is for the first phase, and subsequent phases require other treatment plant upgrades. Rabe said the “whole point of the golf course is to dispose of water,” and the “golf course won’t be able to take all of the water that the city can produce.” It will also be sent to Ione, or to the Amador Regional Sanitation Authority’s storage. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.