Amador County – The Ione City Council received a report this week of the Ione Preservation Project workshop, which several attended in March, before Monday’s second related workshop, on the Main Street Project. The projects are all to be funded by two Community Development Block Grants form 1982 and 1983, which were discontinued. City Manager Kim Kerr in a report to the council said: “As indicated in the 7 Month Status Report on March 3rd, the city has $284,775 dollars from two closed CDBG grants.” The grants were closed and pursuant to a 1990 letter from the state CDBG department, “when there is no open CDBG grant the funds are considered miscellaneous revenue” and the funds are “not subject to the requirements of Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended, and can be used as the city sees fit.” Kerr said based on the letter, staff reviewed options to use the funds and proposed spending it on the “Main Street Program,” including $25,000 dollars this year and $50,000 next fiscal year. Staff also proposed putting $25,000 into a Façade Program over the next 2 years; $120,000 for a Redevelopment Plan study; $60,000 for an “Economic Study”; and $4,775 to set up the Main Street Program. The City Council authorized the City to join the Main Street Program and the membership cost $250. Staff completed the application and obtained material from Main Street Program to help set up the project. Staff presented this item originally to the City Council on March 17th, but no decisions were made and a Town Hall meeting was recommended. Based on the meetings to date, staff is recommending that the Ione Community Preservation Project be broken down into three parts. The first is the Main Street Façade Grant Program, the second would be the Main Street Program and its organization along with the Economic Study, and the final piece would be the Redevelopment Plan. At its meeting on April 21st, the council approved the Main Street Façade Improvement Program. Kerr said: “The City Council could elect not to fund one or more of these projects or allocate the funds differently,” but added that “this is a great opportunity to lead the way in revitalizing the City and specifically Main Street.” Monday’s meeting was strictly informational on the Main Street Program. The council could consider the funding of the other programs at its meeting next Monday. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Ione City Council ended years of work by a Castle Oaks Subdivision resident to settle an ownership issue, with a July 7th decision to give ownership of 2,737 square feet of land to a property owner who has maintained the property for 10 years. The council voted 2-1, with 2 recused members sitting outside the hearing room. Councilman Jim Ulm voted against it, and Councilwoman Andrea Bonham and Vice Mayor Skip Schaufel in favor. Real estate attorney Ken Smith, speaking for the landowner, Charles Hambaugh and his property on Fairway Drive, said “the property has little or no value to the city, and it cannot be valued the same as property with street access, because it has no street access.” The city owned the property, but he said they should not worry about this setting a “precedent.” He also reminded the council that the Planning Commission did approve Hambaugh’s application, will “increase the size of the lot by 2,737 square feet to a total of 11,381 square feet.” City Planner Christopher Jordan said the “adjustment would resolve an issue regarding how the property was represented upon initial sale compared to the recorded property boundaries.” Part of the property was also owned by JTS Communities, and offered for dedication to the city by JTS. Dominic Atlan, Castle Oaks PGA golf pro, said the house stood alone by itself, fully landscaped, and the contention of who owns the property has been going on for 10 years. Atlan found out in 2002 that it was not golf course property, and was glad because he did not have to cut weeds. He said he did not think it was the “buyer’s responsibility to check lot lines when they make a purchase.” In public comment, Greg Murphy said “it will set a precedent” and Hambaugh spending money to tend the property could not be justification “for a gift of public funds.” City Attorney Kristen Castanos said the opposite was true, and the money spent by Hambaugh, calculated at $14,000 dollars over 10 years to keep up the lawn, would offset the value of the property and the city would “not be giving away property.” Jordan said the land value was not formally appraised, but it was calculated using the most recent assessor’s land value figures. Its value was estimated at $11,618 dollars. Hambaugh’s costs included $6,000 dollars in 1-time landscaping projects, and maintenance costs of $8,247 dollars. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors Thursday will consider taking ownership of 3 acres near Gayla Manor in order to build a new leachfield for wastewater treatment. The expansion would add 4,000 gallons a day of capacity to the Gayla Manor Wastewater System and bring it into full compliance with state law. AWA Engineering and Planning Manager Gene Mancebo in a report to the board said the improvement would add about “3,000 feet of leachfield disposal trenches on the 3 acre parcel,” located in an “existing Gayla Manor common area adjacent to the old highway alignment.” Mancebo said new trenches would “provide about 24 to 40 percent of the needed disposal capacity,” and would enable the system to meet a 100-year-occurrence “wet season” and satisfy the requirements of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board. The regional board has approved the project “in concept.” The project could also lift a “Cease and Desist Order” the regional board placed on the system in 2003, followed by a “Requirement Order.” Mancebo said construction of the leachfield was estimated at $275,000 dollars, with a total project cost of $310,000 dollars. The agency has been invited by the Department of Water Resources to “submit a full application with the intent of funding this project” with a “100 percent grant,” Mancebo said, through the latest federal “Stimulus Bill, now operating as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.” The Gayla Manor Homeowners Association, which owns the property, is willing to provide the property at no purchase cost, if the AWA makes “some minor improvements, such as placing some road base on an easement and walking trail that goes through the northern portion of the property. He said the estimated cost of construction is included the improvements. Mancebo said the Gayla Manor association “was concerned with an indemnification paragraph which would have required the (association) to defend the agency regarding hazardous wastes on the property, if any exists.” He said there are “no apparent signs of hazardous waste” on the property, and none were observed during design testing at 20 sites on the property, and on a neighboring property. Mancebo said the indemnification was “not included in proposed documents executed by the Gayla Manor Association. He recommended not requiring the “indemnification paragraph as there appears to be little risk of hazardous wastes on the property.” The board will consider authorizing Board President Terence Moore and General Manager Jim Abercrombie to enter into purchase and sale agreements to acquire property for construction of a leachfield. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Vicini family of Amador County last week announced the opening of their sons’ green material recycling operation on Willow Creek Road, and a regional specialist called it the first facility of this kind in Amador County. Merv Vicini said the facility will grind the natural products it gets and eventually be able to have a big enough store of materials to sell mulch, base material and wood chips to the public. The company takes natural clippings wood waste, and will also use its product to sell as fuel to a biofuel project at the former Co-Gen plant in the Buena Vista, Ione area, which burns materials for electrical generation. Merv said he and his sons were development graders by trade, but the projects lately had been slowed by the economy. He said their company, Amador Mechanical Incorporated, has done all of the projects of Bob Reeder’s Reeder Sutherland development company. The developers has 2 projects in the works around the city of Plymouth, that could build out to as many as 500 luxury homes on ¼ to 1 acre sized lots. In the meantime, the Vicini's developed a brush and tree clearing surpluses of material, which they can now turn into usable byproducts at their facility on Willow Creek Road. Merv, and sons Tony and Rick, own some machinery and they hosted the company Rayco, of Wooster, Ohio, on Tuesday (July 14th). The company showed its grinder and a tree trimmer and brush cutter. Merv said he had already purchased a grinder, and they opened 2 weeks ago as the Vicini Brothers Green Waste Recycling facility. Jill Firsh, specialist with the California Integrated Waste Management Board, attended the demonstration and was pleased with the new facility. She said Vicini Brothers’ recycling was “the first facility of this kind in Amador County.” Firsh said it will assist the county in meeting requirements of Assembly Bill 939, which says counties must divert more than 50 percent of its waste from landfills, with diversion and recycling. She said “Amador is very proactive already,” and under Jim McHargue, the Amador County Waste Department is already diverting more than 50 percent of its waste from landfills. Firch AB939 requires annual reporting by September 1st, and this year starts a new process. Vicini Brothers currently gets green waste from ACES Waste Service of Pine Grove, CALTRANS and Waste Connections of Ione. The facility, at 15850 Willow Creek Road, will also accept loads from the public. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.