A lengthy and heated dispute over the ongoing Amador County General Plan tied up debate at the Board of Supervisor’s meeting for nearly two hours Tuesday morning. Vince DeStigter, President of local watchdog group Amador Citizens for Responsible Government, reiterated his group’s insistency on having more public forums before the plan progresses into its final stages. Of particular concern to his group seems to be personal property rights, particularly for residents in the upcountry region. “The great majority (in our survey) agreed with our concern that the proposed General Plan could result in “Down Zoning” properties,” said DeStigter. “I think the County goes out of their way to screw property owners,” said one Pioneer resident in the survey conducted through DeStigter’s group.

Jim Conklin, Executive Director of the newly formed Amador Business Council, agreed with DeStigter’s request. “Spending extra time and going through the elements prior to CEQA is going to save you more time and money than it would in reverse,” said Conklin. The debate over the General Plan has been a lengthy and complicated process. Skeptics have placed a particular emphasis on property rights and zoning during past workshops and public forums, often drawing battle lines between themselves and GPAC Planning Commissioners who have overseen the development process. During comment, Planning Director Susan Grijalva faced the Board to try and clarify many areas of the plan that seemed to be leading to public confusion. She noted that the Draft Environmental Impact Report, or EIR, and the proposed General Plan will both be released concurrently for public comment, and that the Planning Commission has every intention of getting full public input before recommending a final plan to the Supervisors.

The EIR will determine or develop some of the draft implementation measures that will influence the General Plan. But, as Supervisor Ted Novelli pointed out, “The general plan doesn’t just address planning, but zoning is totally different that the general plan.” During her turn at the podium, upcountry resident Debbie Dunn came to the defense of Grijalva and the Planning Commissioners. “The GPAC commissioners are members of the public who have endured 18 months of volunteer work…I would encourage the public to hold their own meeting, or have the Amador Citizens (for Responsible Government) hold their own meeting,” she said. In the end, the Supervisors agreed upon a motion to hold a set of public forums on October 14th, 15th and 16th. Said Grijalva, “We’re not in a rush to get this done. We’re trying to get it done right.”

The City of Jackson has prevailed in court to invalidate a referendum challenging certification of the Environmental Impact Report, or EIR, for the City’s General Plan Land Use Element, Circulation Element and a revised Development Zoning Code.  The City Council approved the EIR in March, 2008, however, before the City could complete the approval of the three projects subject to the EIR, a referendum petition was circulated to require the City Council to either repeal its approval of the EIR or place it on the ballot for voter consideration. California law specifies a process for challenging certain actions of the City Council by referendum. 

It is the City Council’s position that approval of a complex document written to assess the environmental impacts of a project under the California Environmental Quality Act is not one of the actions that can properly be challenged by referendum and that other requirements of the referendum process had not been met. After careful consideration, the Jackson City Council authorized the City Attorney to file an action with the courts to invalidate the referendum.  In a ruling dated July 18, Judge Harlan ruled that the referendum is invalid and the City’s writ to invalidate the referendum was granted. With the EIR certification issue resolved with the courts, the City Council will be reviewing a schedule for adoption of two General Plan Elements and the Development Code at its meeting this coming Monday.