Amador County – Six work crews converged on Broad Street in Sutter Creek last week to move utilities for an upcoming storm drain diversion pipeline project to be built by the city.

Pacific Gas & Electric had two crews, one working on moving power lines and poles, and another moving gas lines buried under the asphalt on Broad Street. PG&E moved two power poles at the corner of Broad and Eureka streets and also had to replace some bad lines further down Broad Street.

Amador Water Agency had a crew digging up a main on Friday in the middle of the intersection of Randolph and Broad streets, and was preparing to make a connection for a main crossing below Broad Street that they installed on Thursday, April 5.

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo said the crews were all at the site together earlier in the week as they moved utilities so the contractor for Sutter Creek can carry out its installation of a new sewer drain, main and pipelines.

Mancebo said AWA knew about the project. The planned and budgeted relocation of the facilities had a $100,000 budget for the work. They are relocating service connections and fire hydrants to clear out an area for the storm drain to go. They have to dig down about 8 feet in some places to make room for the drain, and there are lots of utility lines to dig around. Mancebo said they have a deadline to be done by the beginning of May and in the next 30 days, AWA’s crew will be pretty busy to meet deadline.

Mancebo said they are going to be pushing to make the deadline and may be pulling people off construction to do the work. They have a lot of pipes to dig around and cannot dig with backhoe. He said it’s very slow going, and telephone poles are right up next to where they are digging.

AWA crews built crossings at several intersections, and had to dig about 8 feet deep to make the crossings, while their main was relatively shallow.

AWA and PG&E both have the goal to complete their gas and water line moves by May 1, so the city can do its work during summer school break. The project sits down the road from Sutter Creek Elementary.

Sutter Creek City Council in March approved a contract with Vinciguerra Construction for $658,000 for the Broad Street Storm Drain Diversion Project. The project includes 1,050 linear feet of 42-inch diameter storm drainage pipes, and 1,750 cubic yards of earth estimated to be moved in trenching. Sutter Creek received a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the project. Mancebo said AWA did not receive any FEMA or Cal-EMA funding for moving their utilities.

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Amador County – Ione City Council last week considered the loss of the 132-year-old Ione train depot building when a city lease runs out with Union Pacific on May 3.

Collin Frost, founder, president and CEO of the Amador County Historic Railroad Preservation Society said he has emotional ties to the Depot and a goal to acquire the adjacent 3-mile spur of tracks to build a railroad park and education center.

Frost grew up playing in the depot, where his father worked, and he learned in Sacramento that the Depot is a Centennial building, built in 1876, and moving it from the original site would hurt the value of the building. He urged the Council to mitigate lead and asbestos contamination at the site instead of moving the Depot to the city corporate yard.

City Manager Jeff Butzlaff said Union Pacific’s “intention remains to demolish the building.” Thornton Consolo said the Amador County Historical Society is “here to save the structure,” and he and Frost both pledged to donate in-kind work from their organizations.

Butzlaff said estimates were $30,000 for site abatement of lead outside; $5,000 for asbestos; and $7,800 for lead on the building. Councilman David Plank said moving the building would require stabilizing the structure, and still required mitigating the land. The move was estimated at $40,000.

Frost said he had received a lower, “solid” estimate of $3,875 for asbestos removal from a traveling environmental specialist who is on retainer with Union Pacific. He said the technician “is ready to go right now.” He said the lead paint could be “encapsulated” by painting it with a rubbery paint.

Councilwoman Andrea Bonham said she was familiar with the “elastomeric paint” because she used it on Clark’s Corner, but the problem with old buildings is that anything underneath the paint starts to deteriorate.

Plank asked if Frost could fund the work because the city had no money. Frost said getting a plan in place would help encourage donations. Councilman Lloyd Oneto suggested getting a 60-day extension on the abatement.

City Attorney James Maynard said Union Pacific won’t give an extension on the abatement without a plan and funding source in place, but the city can say to Union Pacific that it has two groups interested in assisting with abatement.

Plank asked the groups for letters of interest and a basic plan to give to Union Pacific.

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Amador County – A recent court order will close 42 off-road routes for wheeled motorized vehicle use in the El Dorado National Forest. ¶ Frank Mosbacher of El Dorado Forest public affairs officer said “portions of 42 off-highway-vehicle routes that cross meadows in the El Dorado Forest may be closed to motor vehicle travel this recreation season while the Forest Service completes an environmental analysis.”

El Dorado Forest Supervisor Kathy Hardy said prohibiting travel on the routes will disappoint forest visitors, “but we have to be responsive to the court order.” She has a team “lined up to complete a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement” scheduled to begin in April or May and be completed by April 2013.

A map and a complete list of the routes affected by the court order was posted on the El Dorado Forest website, and will be modified to reflect the final court order.

Hardy will close routes where it makes sense to do so if the final order prohibits travel on the routes that cross meadows. A “route may be closed near a meadow or some distance away depending on how difficult it is to turn around a vehicle.” Some routes will also be closed indirectly because they branch off closed routes and won’t be accessible.

Potential travel prohibitions are the result of a February 2012 court order by U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton, who ruled the Forest Service failed to comply with the National Forest Management Act in 2008 when it designated that portions of 42 routes that cross meadows were “open for public motor vehicle use.” Karlton ordered the Forest Service to “set aside” and reconsider the designation.

Karlton ordered the 42 routes to remain closed to public wheeled motorized use pending the final court order, which will identify specifically where travel will be prohibited until a new environmental decision is made.

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Amador County – Amador County Board of Supervisors last week adopted an $85 fee for processing exempted grading permits in part to keep tabs on inadequately graded soils that lately have affected construction.

Community Development Director Aaron Brusatori asked for the fee of $85 for establishing files and processing exempted grading, which can be any project that will move between 50 and 500 cubic yards of soil. Exempt grading must occur between April 15 and Oct. 15, and erosion control measures must be in place in disturbed areas prior to Oct. 15.

A “grading acknowledgement form” was used by the county for the exempt grading, and that was the only way for keeping track of grading on lands, some of which became used for trying to build a structure, but were found to not have the required compaction of the soil to allow a structure.

The county building department reported three or four projects in the last year were found to be built on undocumented fills, which had no compaction report, and concrete was ready to pour. Then the building department came to inspect, and said they have to remove all of the forms and check the fill compaction.

Supervisor Brian Oneto said “I have natural dirt on my property that was probably moved all over by the ’49ers.”

Brusatori said the change in the ordinance would give the county a documentation of the exempted fills. He said the present ordinance “puts the Building Department in a little bit of an awkward position.” He said all you have is an acknowledgement form, with a sketch of what you plan to do.

Supervisor Ted Novelli said some property owners may have cleared a 100x100 foot pad for parking a fifth wheel, then three owners later, “now part of that might be his house foundation.” With one option before the board, “for $11 you can have a record of that.”

Supervisor John Plasse said it’s not the fee it’s the clouding of the title he was worried about. If they could save the information electronically by APN number, maybe it could be searchable. One developer said now, if you disturb 500 acres or one acre, you would still need a grading permit after Oct. 15.

Brusatori noted that after Oct. 15, a grading permit is required. Supervisors also approved revising the current code to allow activity in the rainy season, after Oct. 15, if developers have a notice of intent registered with the Regional Water Quality Control Board, if they have a storm-water pollution prevention plan, or if they have a grading permit.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.