Sutter Creek – The Sutter Creek City Council subcommittee on fiscal impacts discussed mitigations of the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort Monday, talking about fees for “passive parks.” The committee will take recommendations on fiscal impacts and mitigations to the city council at a later meeting. The committee reached a consensus on fees per acre of “passive parks,” and also discussed such parks’ definition. They set the fee at $3,500 per acre, for the 21 acres of passive parks, which Gold Rush developer John Telischak said would not contain irrigation or playing fields. He said “90 percent of that 20-acr park is going to be left in its original state.” Planning Commissioner Mike Kirkley said that would mean 20 acres of weeding, and resident Ed Arata said they would need to put in place a fuel management program. Planning Commissioner Frank Cunha said “passive parks” were placed last week in the “open space” category of the Gold Rush specific plan, because the committee did not know what fee to set, and a recommendation of $12,700 seemed too high. Cunha told Amador County Recreation Agency Executive Director Tracy Towner-Yep that they thought there was a lower number, but the committee could not find one. Cunha said the parks would include fire “fuel management, a few picnic tables and trails.” Towner-Yep said the higher recommendation, ($13,000) assumed that because the park was flat, it would have playing fields. She said “if it’s that passive,” she would recommend $8,000 an acre, because there should be a restroom facility. City Manager and Police Chief Rob Duke said such a remote restroom building would simply be an attractor to drug users and other “extracurricular activity.” Telischak said $8,000 was high and he thought the fee should be a couple of thousand dollars an acre. Duke figured care of 21 acres of passive parks, including daily sanitation, would be about 1 full time employee, or probably 2 part-time employees, at a total cost of $3,500 an acre. Towner-Yep agreed. Councilwoman Sandy Anderson said confusion resulted from naming passive parks. She said “you should have never called it a park.” Resident Sharyn Brown recommended calling it a picnic area. Resident Ed Swift said the city should consider putting in a “dog park.” He said any given morning, about a dozen dogs are being trained in the baseball field at Minnie Provis Park. He said hours later, it’s usually filled with children playing. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.