Sutter Creek – A Sutter Creek City Council ad hoc committee on traffic impacts looked over a few key issues of the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort project on Tuesday, looking for recommendations to take to the full council. About 15 people attended, and hashed out some issues. Some of the recommendations merely identified issues that the city council might ultimately have to settle in the development agreement. One of those was whether to have Gold Rush pay locked-in fees, as they wanted, or to have another method to determine those. Amador County Transportation Commission Executive Director Charles Field said the Community Mapping Exercise tool, or CMX could be used, but he has said it will not be finished until 2010 or later. But with flexibility in the Gold Rush agreements with Sutter Creek, the CMX could be used to determine Gold Rush fees. Gold Rush’s Greg Bardini said Gold Rush will pay regional and local fees, but if the CMX is approved by Jackson and Sutter Creek, Gold Rush would not be required to pay local fees. He said the city requiring that “would be unfair to hold Gold Rush to different standards than anyone else in the county.” Field said there was one member of the ACTC board that did not want sidewalks on a 45 or 30 mph roadside without curbs and barriers between the sidewalks and the road. That would be a part of the CMX. Thomas Infusino of the Foothill Conservancy suggested that they “condition the project on CMX approval,” so that if there was no CMX, there would be no Gold Rush. Bardini said if Gold Rush joined the CMX plan, “we would not be required to pay local traffic fees.” Sutter Creek Mayor Pro Tem Tim Murphy told Bardini he did not know what the CMX would say and require, and the city must give input on that verbiage. But Murphy said he did “not see the city giving up local fees,” which could be wording in the final CMX. The CMX would generate the fees owed in participating properties, and Field said if they could get the Martell business area to agree to adhere to the CMX tool, the entire area would be paying the same impact fees. But he said Amador County Supervisors did not require sufficient fees there. The committee agreed to leave the decision on fee amounts to the development agreement, for the city council and Gold Rush to settle. They also agreed not to change the Planning Commission’s recommended wording. The next council meeting on the subject is October 19th. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.