News Archive (6192)
Dokken, Caltrans propose $1.3M cost for Pine Grove Corridor
Written by Tom
Amador County – The cost of an environmental document and project approval work for the Pine Grove Corridor Improvement Project was estimated by the state and the lead bidding firm to cost $1.3 million.
Amador County Transportation Commission on Thursday will consider staff and state recommendation to hire Dokken Engineering for a contract not to exceed $1.3 million to carry out “Project Approval & Environmental Document” work for the Highway 88 Pine Grove Corridor Improvement project.
ACTC Planner and Program Manager Neal Peacock in a report to the Commission said staff and Dokken will give a presentation for the Commission’s review on Thursday, because of “the importance of the project to the Commission and the community.” The review will look at “the total amount of the consultant’s cost proposal, and the complexities of the scope of work.”
The presentation will include the Consultant Selection Committee’s process in choosing Dokken, a “task-by-task review” of the scope of work and related Caltrans requirements and “ACTC’s Context Sensitive Solutions” approach to the project. It will also include an evaluation of the proposal by line-item.
Peacock said the funds remaining for the Pine Grove Corridor project total $2.03 million, and staff has a “strategy to advance any savings to the project’s next phase. He recommended keeping $197,000 as contingency funds for the Project Approval & Environmental Document, and reserving $500,000 toward the next phase, which is “Plans, Specifications and Estimates.”
Tasks in the Scope of Work, created by Dokken and Caltrans’ Project Development Team, include project management, survey and base mapping, traffic studies, geotechnical engineering, preliminary engineering, public outreach, environmental approval and 35 percent design, with a project report.
The ACTC will consider the staff recommendation in a special meeting 5 p.m. Thursday, April 12 in the Supervisors’ chamber in the county admin building in Jackson.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Amador County – Ione City Council directed staff to look into options for the future of the city-owned train depot, which faces possible demolition if a lease runs out with Union Pacific.
City Manager Jeff Butzlaff said a lease agreement reached under the former city manger expires May 3, by which time the city must move the building to a different location or mitigate the lead and other contamination on the property and on the building. If it is not moved or mitigated, Union Pacific wants to demolish the building, and will do so and bill the city.
Butzlaff said contaminant mitigation was estimated to cost $50,000, and moving the depot to a nearby city corporate yard would cost $30,000. He wrote to Union Pacific seeking an extension to the deadline, and Union Pacific said they would not be willing to extend the deadline unless the city could provide a specific source for the $50,000 and a specific timeline.
Amador County Historical Society pledged in-kind labor for the project, and found an emergency grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation of $2,000 to $5,000, although “it is one-tenth of what we needed,” Butzlaff said.
Councilman David Plank said a City Engineer’s report on the depot said there is “nothing in this building that is to code already.” Plank said they can demolish the depot on site and carry it to the corporate yard or Howard Park then reassemble it. Plank said the building had “great, tremendous timbers.” Mayor Ron Smylie said they might be able to take it apart in sections and move it.
Thornton Consolo said he is on the “Ione Train Station Salvation Committee” of the Amador Historical Society. He said the Society has benefactors to approach for money, but “we need a plan in place to get money.” He preferred the city corporate yard for a move because it was directly adjacent to the railroad tracks.
Councilwoman Andrea Bonham said “it was never an ideal contract but it was the only way to save it or they were going to tear it down.” Plank and Vice Mayor Daniel Epperson favored moving the depot to the city yard.
Collin Frost of the Amador County Historic Railroad Preservation Society and an Ione native said the Depot is a Centennial building, built in 1876, and by moving it from the original site “you would lose the value of the building.” He urged mitigating the site instead.
Councilman Lloyd Oneto liked saving the old building but was against mitigating the site because he would hate to spend all that money and then still get evicted by Union Pacific in 60 days or two years.
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Amador County – The Amador County Transportation Commission has called a special meeting for 5 p.m. Thursday, April 12, to consider hiring Dokken Engineering to complete a “Project Approval and Environmental Document” for the Highway 88 Pine Grove Corridor Improvement Project, which would work to streamline traffic flow through the unincorporated town.
Planner and Program Manager Neil Peacock in a report for ACTC’s Thursday meeting recommended the Commission “receive the Consultant Selection Committee’s recommendation, review the consultant’s scope of work and cost proposal, and authorize the Chairman to execute a contract with Dokken” for “completion of Project Approval & Environmental Document” on the project.
Peacock said the project status is that it has had “comprehensive preliminary analysis” by the “Project Development Team and public input has been received on a total of 17 different alternatives representing” a “reasonable range of alternatives” to improve the Pine Grove Corridor, as required by state and federal environmental agencies.
Peacock said 15 alternatives were rejected and one remained, besides the “no build alternative.” The one remaining project is “a constrained, Context Sensitive Solutions” alternative “that will implement various safety, operational and congestion-relief design strategies as well as streetscape and aesthetic enhancements throughout the Pine Grove Corridor.”
The final project would “improve the existing facility to the maximum extent feasible, given the constraints that exist throughout the corridor, while minimizing any potential community impacts that might result,” Peacock said. He said: “This alternative is financially feasible, appears acceptable to the majority of stakeholders, and is expected to meet the project’s Purpose and Need through further refinement.”
The Consultant Selection Committee, featuring Commissioner Keith Sweet and staff, identified the highest ranked firm and the firm worked with Caltrans to develop a Scope of Work and Cost Proposal. The Committee unanimously selected Dokken from four firms that submitted statements of qualifications. Peacock said based on consultation with Caltrans, “it is now recommended by the Project Design Team that the Dokken contract include all work” for the environmental document and project approval, instead of phasing the work.
The Project Design Team recommended all work be approved because the Team assumes that design refinements and “analysis for the three-lane alternative will demonstrate that it satisfactorily meets all aspects of the project’s Purpose & Need,” Peacock said. The Team also believes the work can effectively “establish an Area of Potential Affect and determine what environmental studies are required” based on ACTC’s “exhaustive preliminary analysis to-date.”
The Team also urged avoiding delay to biological surveys for various species to be done between April and June, when they are required to occur, so surveys are not delayed a year. Approving all work also benefits by allowing the Commission to better see costs.
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Supervisors say greenhouse gas inventory does not reflect community
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County Board of Supervisors discussed a county-wide greenhouse gas inventory report it received last week, saying it was flawed but the county lacks the money to fix it.
Supervisor Brian Oneto asked why Assembly Bill 811, which encourages energy efficiency, considers small hydroelectric dams as renewable energy, but large hydroelectric dams are not renewable. AB811 helps municipalities meet the “Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006,” which requires the California Air Resources Board to develop regulations and market mechanisms to reduce California greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
Kate Schoenberg, PG&E program manager for Sierra Energy Watch, said utilities have not been able to build large dams because of impacts, but they can build small ones. Supervisor Chairman Louis Boitano said “hydroelectricity is the cleanest energy out there and it’s a crying shame that we can’t build more.” Oneto said: “It’s nothing personal. You are just doing your job. I just don’t like the whole thing. It’s state law.”
Supervisor Ted Novelli said three or four of us in the Upcountry have never seen Caltrans do studies on off-road vehicle emissions, and he wondered if Caltrans went out to the areas to calculate emissions numbers. Sierra Business Council’s Emma Ingebretsen said no visits were made, and the off-road data was taken from a model created by the California Air Resources Board.
Supervisor John Plasse said the inventory was “counting lawn mowers as off-road vehicles but you’re not counting airplanes.” Plasse urged the groups to work with your agencies on the numbers and “if you are going to use numbers, then make them real.”
Oneto asked if the report included casino traffic, and Plasse asked if it included electric generation costs for the Central Amador Water Project’s pumped pipeline to Buckhorn. Ingebretsen said the inventory would include anything that existed in 2005. Plasse said it would be an indicator that they could use to state support for the Gravity Supply Line in CAWP because it would reduce the carbon footprint.
Boitano said: “I would like to see the data more accurate.” Sierra Business Council’s Ken Larson said he agreed, and “it’s your data now. You can update it” to include the number of homes on wood heating, and “crunch the numbers how you see fit.” Boitano said “we don’t have enough money to revise the data.”
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Ione is denied an extension in its sewer Cease and Desist Order timeline
Written by Tom
Amador County – The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board last week denied Ione’s request for an extension on its sewer Cease and Desist Order timeline.
City Attorney James Maynard said the Board denied the extension request by consensus during a prosecution hearing by the Regional Board. In a transcript of the March 30 hearing, Compliance and Enforcement Supervisor Wendy Wyels recommended no extensions, saying “any extension of the Cease and Desist Order timeline will only show the City Council that there are no consequences for its lack of action.”
The city must deliver a “Report of Waste Discharge” by May and complete its new wastewater plant by next October. Wyels said Ione City Council had approved a contract with Winzler & Kelly to complete a Report of Waste Discharge, but “the city has not even sent out a request for proposal for an engineering firm to apply for funding or to design and construct the wastewater treatment plant.” Wyels said: “We don’t know when this will happen, or if the City Council will stop the process again, as they did just last month.”
Compliance and Enforcement Engineer Mary Boyd said Cease & Desist Orders in 2003 and 2011 have been leveled against Ione stemming from 11 years of non-compliance. In 2001, the Regional Board discovered that aeration and storage ponds Number 6 and 7 were built without state permits at the city’s secondary-level treatment plant on Old Stockton Road.
Boyd said the city received a Cease & Desist Order in 2003, for four main reasons, which still exist today. Wastewater seeps into Sutter Creek; groundwater is being polluted; wastewater is surfacing outside the un-permitted storage ponds; and the Regional Board cannot issue a permit for the storage ponds because the city has failed to file a complete Report of Waste Discharge.
The city “submitted four versions of a Report of Waste Discharge. All of these were incomplete because they didn’t address the four outstanding violations, and therefore none of them complied with the Cease & Desist Order.” A 2011 Cease & Desist Order included potential fines the city face could be $10 million to $14 million dollars.
In public comment, Jim Nevin said a transcript of the hearing noted that the city’s Seepage Discharge Compliance Plan might not be sufficient. Also, he said the city must approve a new rate increase for the project to get funding from the State Revolving Fund. Maynard said Winzler & Kelly has set up the State Revolving Fund with a 40-year term, which is a little more good for the rates.
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Supervisors criticize numbers in a county-wide greenhouse gas inventory
Written by Tom
Amador County – Amador County Board of Supervisors was critical of numbers contained in a carbon dioxide and equivalent gasses emissions inventory it received from several organizations last week.
The Amador County Community-Wide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory was written by Sierra Business Council in partnership with PG&E and California Public Utilities Commission. It estimated emissions using various models, which Supervisor John Plasse pointed out that the report itself called “an approximation of reality rather than an exact value.”
The report used data from 2005 and will be used to guide the county to meet 1990 emissions levels, as required by a 2005 state law. Plasse and supervisors questioned how that could be done with such faulty numbers.
Ken Larson of the Sierra Business Council said a 2005 inventory was made because it is the year in which data used in the inventory was most complete, and data will be “extrapolated backward based on population and housing” to estimate 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
Supervisor Brian Oneto said they were encouraged to promote public transportation and bike lanes, but it just ends up with empty busses going around the county, and getting a “10 percent return on our investment” in transportation. Supervisors Chairman Louis Boitano said “this is not great country to ride bicycles around here.”
Plasse said all of Amador County’s power in the report was hydroelectric, but what about generators off the grid. He said the GHG inventory listed only 38 homes in Amador County that use wood to heat their homes, and it listed only five diesel generators in the county. Plasse said “there are 60 diesel generators around Silver Lake, at least. These numbers are just out of thin air.”
Oneto said listing only 38 homes to be heated with wood was off on a scale of hundreds, and there were thousand of homes that use wood for heat.
Lead author of the inventory, SBC’s Scott Legg said the number came from Amador Air District. Plasse said he would like to “inflate the heck out of these numbers now then we can meet the 1990 numbers.”
Oneto said: “What good is Utopia if you can’t survive in it?” Oneto said “so much stuff is flawed I don’t know where to start on it.” He asked about “enteric fermentation,” which in the report accounted for 24,600 metric tons of emissions from livestock. Legg said that was from gas emitted from livestock dung and waste emissions. Ag made up 7 percent of emissions in the inventory, and Transportation made up 63 percent.
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Hundreds celebrate the grand opening of Jackson Grocery Outlet
Written by Tom
Amador County – A packed house of hundreds of family members, friends, business people and local residents gathered Wednesday for the grand opening of Jackson Grocery Outlet Bargain Market.
The parking lot was full to capacity at 9 North Highway 49/88 in Jackson, across the creek from Mel & Faye’s Diner, who catered the event. Amador County Chamber of Commerce President Mark Borchin saluted the new, locally owned store, and Jackson Mayor Pat Crew quoted an old saying by a former city councilman that all Jackson children eventually come back home.
Co-owners of Jackson Grocery Outlet, Rhonda and Jesse Andriessen thanked the overwhelmingly large crowd, which filled the front part of the store, the former home of Safeway. Jesse Andriessen listed thanks for people, and said the crowd was filled with his relatives: brother, sister, cousins, and other family and old friends. He grew up in Jackson, and was a Jackson High School Lion, and a member of the baseball team that went undefeated for three years.
Andriessen also presented a pallet of food to the Interfaith Food Bank, whose new Executive Director Lynn Standard Nightengale accepted the gift, along with a $300 gift card for the store. Andriessen also gave out the door prize to the Chamber invitees who put business cards in a drawing. The winner was the Chamber office manager, Dianne Sherbourne, who was given a gift basket of items purchased from the Jackson Grocery Outlet. In fact, Andriessen said they were the first purchases to be made at the new store.
He and Rhonda cut the ribbon on the store with the help of Amador Community Foundation’s Kathleen Harmon, and Gale Fairbrother holding the ribbon. The Andriessens were flanked by Borchin, Jackson Mayor Pat Crew, Jackson Vice Mayor Connie Gonsalves, Jackson City Councilman Keith Sweet and others.
Jim Tscharner, a board member of the Interfaith Food Bank, said the Andriessens would have three barrels in the back of the store for donations to the Food Bank, and they will regularly call the Food Bank to come and pick up the groceries that are near the end of their expiration dates. He said the grocers are glad Food Bank is here, to use the food and give the business a write-off for donations.
Grocery Outlet is an “opportunistic” buyer, and buys only quality brand-name products, directly from their manufacturers, for pennies on the dollar. The manufacturers call Grocery Outlet when they have a surplus inventory from excess packaging, manufacturing overruns, a wrong forecast, or changes in packaging.
Some of their best buys are in wine, health and beauty care, frozen foods, organics and produce. Grocery Outlet has one-time deals and its inventory will change continually, so shoppers never know what they are going to find. The store offers 40-70 percent savings on average.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Rancho Arroyo Seco delivers new computers to Ione Elementary School classes
Written by Tom
Amador County – Ione Elementary School grades 1-5 have installed a technology package that includes Apple iPad2, as a result of the fifth community fundraiser sponsored by the Rancho Arroyo Seco and held in October at the Big Red Barn on the Ranch property.
With a goal to raise $20,000, more than 350 people attended the dinner with kids activities, silent auction and raffle, said the Ranch’s Sharon Long. When it was all over, the community contributed $10,000 and Rancho Arroyo Seco matched $10,000.
Rancho Arroyo Seco Managing Partner Bill Bunce said the “Ione community is amazing when it comes to supporting education and public safety. Our focus over the past five years has been to partner with the community to fund various specific needs that serve the residents in the greater Ione area. Technology is key to the future for students of all ages, and we are proud to be a part of providing it for the students at Ione Elementary School.”
The School District partnered on this project by providing smart boards and projectors. Equipment for compatibility with the smart boards for all grade levels is part of the iPad2 package offered by Apple Computer. In February, equipment was placed in each classroom and training began with the fourth grade teachers receiving hands on instruction from Plymouth Elementary teachers who have been using the equipment in their classrooms.
Ione fourth grade teacher Lisa Howe said technology in the classroom benefits both the instructor and the student. She said “although we are all on a learning curve, we have already seen a difference in comprehension for our students. They are excited about their lessons and learning.”
Howe said: “Lesson planning and teaching for the instructor is so much more creative and engaging.”
Ione Elementary School also has a 32-workstation computer lab that was opened in 2010. This was made possible through a fundraiser and matching funds sponsored by Rancho Arroyo Seco. They have also managed fundraisers to replace wild land and structural fire fighting gear for the Ione Volunteer Fire Department, funded a K-9 program, volunteer patrol and special gang prevention training for the Ione Police Department.
Long said Rancho Arroyo Seco is proud to be a part of Ione, and looks forward to supporting future activities to benefit the community.
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Sierra Century Bicycle Tour returns to Amador County in June
Written by Tom
Amador County -- The Sacramento Wheelmen Bicycling Club is returning its biggest tour of the year to Amador County in June, after a five-year hiatus, with the 37th riding of the Sierra Century Bicycle Tour.
A route affectionately known as “The Slug,” through “Slug Gulch” in El Dorado County and other “classic Sierra Century” routes had been held beginning and ending in Plymouth at the Amador County Fairgrounds for 31 years, until the last race in 2006.
It’s been held elsewhere since then. In 2007 and 2008, the Sierra Century was based in Murphys in Calaveras County. Between 2009 and 2011, it was based at Whitney High School in Rocklin. But tour co-directors Bud and Jeanne Leland were happy to announce the return to Amador County this year.
Registration opened Jan. 15, and Bud Leland said last week that 717 people have now registered for the 2012 Sierra Century Bicycle Tour, set for June 16 in Plymouth. The field in past years, for many years drew 2,600 riders to Amador County and El Dorado County roads. Leland said the ride will be limited to the first 1,500 riders, because they do not close the roads, and bicycles must share the roads with vehicle traffic.
Leland said up until 2006, they did not have a limit to the number of riders. The 1,500-rider limit started that year, but the tour also had to abandon part of the “classic routes,” including “The Slug.” Leland said with the return to Amador and El Dorado counties, comes the return to The Slug.
The routes differ in length and altitude change. Three challenging and scenic classic routes include the “Metric” route, which is 65 miles with 4,500 feet of climbing. It starts at the Amador County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, and goes to Ione, Sutter Creek, Volcano, up Ram’s Horn Grade, to Fiddletown and back to the Fairgrounds.
The “Century” route is 102 miles long, with 7,400 feet of climbing. It follows the Metric route to Fiddletown, “where things begin to get serious,” Sacramento Wheelmen’s description said. “The famous Slug Gulch will be waiting to test your climbing skills and endurance. A well deserved rest stop and Slug Gulch pin” await riders at the top, before they can enjoy the downhill back to the Fairgrounds.
The “Challenge” route is a double metric, 120 miles long with 10,000 feet of climbing. It follows the Century route as far as the top of Slug Gulch. There’s an extra loop with additional climbing before they get to cruise back to the Fairgrounds.
The Amador County Fairgrounds are reserved Friday, June 15 for tent camping and RV parking and hotels are available nearby.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Amador County – The Save the Kennedy Mine Tailing Wheel campaign has raised nearly $39,000 and counting heading into a sold-out dinner and auction next weekend.
Save the Wheel Committee Chairman, Jackson City Councilman Keith Sweet said on March 29 he had “sent out thank you notes for $35,850,” which “includes the $7,200 from the sold out dinner ticket sales. All expenses are being paid for by the National Hotel so I am considering the ticket sales as a donation. I am hopeful that we will have $60,000-plus after the dinner event is completed.”
A donation announced March 8 was $5,000 from McDonald’s of San Joaquin County owner Craig Schrader, who also owns Martell McDonald’s franchise. Sweet said Schrader kept a promise made several months before that he “would make a donation to a civic project in the community as part of McDonald’s on-going commitment to being a good community partner.”
Amador County Board of Supervisors in February approved $15,000 to be paid over three years for the Save the Wheel project, and Supervisors sought tickets to the dinner and said they would make donations for the auction. Sweet said Jackson City Council put $25,000 in the Save the Wheel fund to get it started, and by March 12 had spent about $1,200 of it.
Sweet said the project needs $77,000 in matching funds for the grants received for the Save the Wheel project.
The historic preservation of Wheel Number 4 in the Kennedy will include construction of a wheelhouse building with a roof and large Plexiglass front wall, for visitors to view the wheel, while protecting it from the elements.
Fundraising efforts included the eighth edition reprinting of “Kennedy Wheels,” a historical booklet written by Evelyn Garbarini as told by Emmet Garbarini. The “booklet describes the role these massive structures played in keeping the Kennedy Mine operating in the early 20th century and includes many historical photos showing the hard rock mine landscape of Jackson.
“Kennedy Wheels” is now for sale for $7.50 per copy at Jackson City Hall, Amador County Chamber of Commerce, Kennedy Mine Gift Shop, Hein & Company Bookstore and Bubble Gum Book Store in Sutter Creek.
Eleven years ago, the City used a $150,000 grant from Caltrans to complete structural repairs and remove decay from Wheel 4, but decay continues in its exposed condition at the top of the hill in Kennedy Tailing Wheel Park on Jackson Gate Road.
All funds generated will go toward this project and serve as matching funds for a $596,000 grant the City is seeking from Caltrans.
The benefit dinner and auction: Wheels of Gold and Tales of Old is 6 p.m. Saturday, April 14 at Thomi’s Banquet Room in Jackson. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
