Sutter Creek – The Sutter Creek City Council recovered from nearly stalling on the Gold Rush Ranch project Wednesday by unfurling a massive mitigation list. It included building a new public safety building and schoolhouse, and a guarantee on the completion of the golf course within 10 years. Mayor Gary Wooten moved to have a condition of approval that the ownership of the golf course property revert back to the city – at the developers’ expense – if the golf course is not built after 10 years. Wooten said the property, Noble Ranch, was originally purchase for effluent disposal, and “if it isn’t a golf course in 10 years, it probably never will be.” Councilman Pat Crosby said: “That’s a good point, Mr. Mayor,” but later asked if the council should be fitted for flak jackets. The council voted 5-0 to direct staff to draft a golf course guarantee, ending a similar string of votes for draft conditions of mitigation. Earlier, they agreed with the Planning Commission that the golf course should be built by the time the 300th housing unit it built, unlike Gold Rush developers’ wish to build it with the 500th unit. Wooten also suggested requiring the developer to build a public safety building, in addition to donating of 2.5 acres for a firehouse site. The building would house fire, police and safety personnel. The motion included a plan for the city to reimburse the cost of building it “with fees generated out of fire and police assessments.” The council voted 5-0 to draft those conditions, and did so on Wooten’s motion for developers to build a schoolhouse, in addition to donating 17 acres of property to the school district. Crosby said “a developer can build a school better than a school district.” Wooten said the school would not have to be built on the 17 acres, adjacent to the Gold Rush property, but could be built anywhere in the city. Wooten said a new school could house kindergarten through 8th grades, and “move the junior high back to Sutter Creek.” The council also agreed to create a table of impact mitigations for recreation, with the purpose to actively build parks and trails. They also formed council subcommittees to look at traffic mitigation fees, fiscal impacts and regional traffic fees. Wooten said all of the subcommittee meetings would be open to the public and public comment. The results and staff directed draft agreement and condition changes will be prepared for the council’s next Gold Rush meeting, October 19th. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.