Amador County’s Technical Advisory Committee met on Wednesday to review the newest updates to a requested Master Plan amendment concerning the Martell area. The applicant, a development partnership, has applied to change the land uses in the area just west of the existing Amador Ridge shopping center. But the real issue was presented by the Amador County Historical Society, who expressed their concerns on the cultural significance of the railroad in that area. Eugene Buckley asked that an environmental impact report, or EIR, be completed in order to identify the potential impacts of removing the railways. Buckley noted that the developer filed for an abandonment of the railway in 2004, and per the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, an EIR should have been done at that time due to the significant cultural changes that may occur.

Buckley also argued that the dismantling of the railways in Martell is of cultural and historical significance, and therefore should be investigated and documented. Dave Brown and Gary Blanc, representatives of the developer, countered that the railways were documented and recorded in 2004 as part of the abandonment process. Brown noted that the sections of road that crossed the existing railways were constructed so that the original rails could be replaced if the abandonment is rejected by the Surface Transportation Board, or STB, which is the sole agency that can make a decision on the use of the railways. 

Buckley argued that some of the rails have already been torn up and provided pictures of bent rails that had been removed in the Martell area. The committee agreed that further research was needed on the potential impacts of removing the railways, but noted that the decision was ultimately up to the STB, and it was agreed that an EIR would not be completed on the railways. Traffic congestion was one of the potential items identified in the proposed amendment. The committee agreed to conduct a focused EIR on traffic issues. At their next meeting, the committee will discuss the hiring of a consultant to prepare that EIR.