Sutter Creek – The Sutter Creek City Council reached a 3-2 consensus Monday on keeping the number of housing units the same in the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort, then tabled the issue without a decision, pending the results of a new fiscal impact analysis of the project. Mayor Gary Wooten and councilwomen Linda Rianda and Sandy Anderson all sided with developers on leaving the project with 1,334 units, while Councilman Pat Crosby and Mayor Pro Tem Tim Murphy wanted to find a smaller number of units. The issue is the last area on which to give staff direction for the Gold Rush specific plan. Murphy gave a presentation to the council on reducing the number of units from 1,334 to about 700. He said the council in 1998 withheld approximately 333 acres from the project in an effort to keep it smaller, and he said they identified 10 significant impacts in the Environmental Impact Report, and must reduce the number of units to change that. Murphy said the reduction would lower impact costs from $9 million to $6 million and “will reduce the impacts in proportion to the project’s size.” He said even reduced to 700 units, the size would make it 5 times bigger than the biggest project in city history. He said they need to discuss the “900-pound gorilla in the room,” and talk about having a smaller project. Wooten disagreed, saying “if you cut it in half, you cut the benefits to the city in half and I would not be in favor of this.” Crosby said they should await the fiscal impact study, as previously planned, and in the mean time have a committee work with developers on the issue. Wooten said “if we were waiting on the fiscal impact analysis, then why did we start this?” Crosby said “when it comes to the council, it’s certainly in our power to decide” the size of the project. Wooten said the 1,334 units is “what’s been discussed all along – this is not a surprise.” Murphy said his concern was that “it has never been discussed at the planning commission – or anywhere else – whether it was feasible at that size.” Wooten announced after a break that he had set up an ad hoc committee. After several speakers, Anderson said she saw no need for a committee and would support Gold Rush at its current size. Wooten agreed, as did Rianda. Wooten then tabled the issue, to “continue discussion on the project size,” as they had originally planned, after they receive a fiscal impact update. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.