The Ione City Council directed staff on Tuesday to look at a restroom project at the city horse arena and also at a environmental analysis of the 12-year-old Howard Park Master Plan. The latter direction had the intent of getting the project up to par with the California Environmental Quality Act. The council directed City Manager Kim Kerr to look at getting funding from the Amador County Recreation Agency for recreation and also seeing if those funds can be applied to the CEQA analysis of the Howard Park Master Plan, which was created in 1996. Kerr said that ACRA has 100,000 dollars in state proposition money for use in parks and recreation. She said the city at first wanted to use the funding to make upgrades and remodel the Evalynn Bishop Hall, but they saw that the costs in doing so were more than could be covered by the 100,000 dollars. Kerr instead urged the city council to direct her in looking at the costs of various projects at Howard Park, and finally to look at getting the ACRA funding for the total environmental study of the Howard Park Master Plan. She will talk with ACRA Executive Director Tracey Towner-Yep to see if the funds can be used in that way. Kerr said it was the best approach “because a CEQA analysis would give us the whole park.” She said CEQA is “always the first piece…” and is the “whole basis of everything now.” The council discussed putting a permanent restroom facility at the horse arena in Howard Park. Kerr said the priority should be the bathrooms at the arena, which she said also needed storage. Mayor Andrea Bonham said the bathrooms were needed, noting that “the nicer we make the arena, the nicer it will be for us to rent it out.” Kerr requested and the council directed her to get costs and specifications then bring back the options for a council decision. She said Howard Park Issues such as parking, drainage and Manzanita trees would be among the issues analyzed in the CEQA study. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Amador County – Sutter Creek Planning reviewed a revised traffic impact study Monday for the Gold Rush Ranch & Gold Resort, looking at mitigation expectations. Commissioner Frank Cunha suggested including the Allen Ranch Road connection to Highway 49 as part of the EIR. Commissioner Mike Kirkley said a “lot of traffic comes into the older parts of town, and the only park in the development will be out here too.” He suggested making those part of the traffic EIR, in a study of old Highway 49. Consultant Bob Delk said he met with city staff, Caltrans and ACTC and he didn’t “believe they had any comments to look at traffic on old Highway 49.” Kirkley said most mitigations are “fair share” percentages, and asked about keeping track of those payments and also about “statements of overriding concern.” Consultant Anders Hague said “statements of overriding concerns likely will be done by staff and the city attorney.” He said the commission is being asked to determine adequacy of the EIR and make recommendations. “If there are overriding conditions, you can offer them with the recommendation.” Kirkley said he cannot make a recommendation without that information on old Highway 49. Hague said “there are going to be projects built to satisfy” impact mitigations. Commissioner Frank Cunha said “the fair share portion of this bothers me,” asking if “the city keep track of the (developer’s fair share) or does the money go into the regional transit fund?” Cunha said “if the developer is keeping track of them, are they ever really going to be done?” Delk said “different tiers of improvements are identified in the Regional Traffic Mitigation Fee Program.” He said ACTC is developing a CMX, or Circulation Mapping Exercise to determine fair share fees. ACTC Executive Director Charles Field said the CMX tool is “stalled in committee” and it was too soon to be able to rely on it for mitigation. Cunha said he has a “hard time calling it a mitigation if you know it’s never going to be built.” Assistant City Manager Sean Rabe said by law, the city “can only require development to pay their fair share.” The commission’s next meeting is 7 p.m. Monday, May 11th, when they go through errata sheets and individual commission comments. Peters said “the unresolved issues are all that we have left – the hard stuff.” Cunha asked if they could get the next meeting’s documents sooner, as they will be “basically going through all of this.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – After reaching a consensus on a designation called the “Special Planning Area-Interim,” the Amador County General Plan Update panel chose a new name for the designation last week. Planning Commission Chairwoman Denise Tober suggested the term “Restricted Planning Area,” and the panel of commissioners and Amador Supervisors chose it as a new, tentative designation, to replace SPA-I. “Restricted Planning Area” is tentative, like the entire General Plan Update, and still needs an EIR, analysis and review, said County Planner Susan Grijalva. Bill Bunce’, owner of Ranch Arroyo Seco requested panel review of the designation criteria to see what was acceptable to the county, what needed more change or what needed to be omitted. Last week’s meeting focused on that request, and Grijalva said the request would “not allow anything to happen without a General Plan amendment.” Besides changing the name from SPA-I to Restricted Planning Area, the board also agreed to change the language in the designation to make the criteria mandatory. Grijalva said the land has no proposed project. The panel discussed parts of the criteria, and Supervisor Richard Forster asked if they could encourage development at Arroyo Seco to “happen near Ione, where infrastructure is in place.” Commissioner Andy Byrne agreed, and he was worried about the Mineral Resource Zone, which the Rancho “wraps around.” Forster said future land development there was clear, and the more control they had, the better. Supervisor Louis Boitano said they could keep the current General Plan designation, and have 400 parcels of 40 acres each, “and you can’t do much mining on those.” Supervisor John Plasse asked if they should add criteria that it be economically viable for mining. Boitano said it would have to be because people are “not going to be mining on a 1-acre parcel.” Supervisor Chairman Ted Novelli said draft criteria that required new plans to “demonstrate” adequate transportation systems or public utilities, seemed loose and vague. Novelli said they “could probably get 100 different definitions for (the word Demonstrate) here tonight.” Grijalva said there is some “prime” farmland on Rancho Arroyo Seco, and prime farmland is defined in the Williamson Act by production and dollar output levels. But she had “never heard of dry-land pasture being referred to as prime (farmland).” Staff will work on minor changes to the criteria for the panel’s later approval. It meets again in a week or 2, to revisit the “Economic Element” and the “Urban Reserve” land designation. No date has been set for the next meeting. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Sutter Creek Planning Commission wrapped up its review of the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort specific plan last Monday, though more commission meetings lie ahead. The commission went through the last several attachments to the Gold Rush specific plan, omitting the last, the “School Facilities Mitigation Agreement.” Assistant City Manager Sean Rabe said the commission “wanted it taken out of the General Plan because the city cannot do anything about it.” The agreement is between the developers and the Amador County Unified School District, and he said it likely would not become a part of the conditions of approval. Rabe said: “I don’t think that we can legally condition that.” The agreement for a school site is an area likely to be annexed outside of the project area, which School Board President Mary Walser confirmed was in the works earlier this year. The planning commission kept the attachment for the “Golf Course Best Management Practices,” saying it was not a task for the commission. The completion of the specific plan review sets up the next meeting, April 27th, when the planning commission will host a public hearing on the Revised Draft Environmental Impact Report for Gold Rush, for the revised section relating to the revised traffic impact study. The schedule also includes the commission’s first meeting in May, which Rabe said will “finish up loose ends,” look at the errata sheet and the conditions of approval. The commission could get to the point of making a recommendation to the city council, at the end of June. The Sutter Creek City Council will look at the recommendation, possibly in special meetings on Wednesdays in July, though dates are not yet set. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.