Amador County – The 2011 Mokelumne River volunteer cleanup day is Saturday, Sept. 17 at six sites from Pioneer to Clements.

Coordinator Randy Berg of Foothill Conservancy said “cleanup participants will work along the river’s banks, in the river, and on Pardee and Camanche Reservoirs removing trash accumulated through the summer months. Previous cleanups have cumulatively removed tons of trash and recyclables.”

He said participants “always have a great time while they do something good for our local river.” The cleanup “benefits wildlife and water quality” while keeping the river beautiful for visitors.

Six staging locations are: the Highway 26/North Fork Mokelumne crossing, Electra Road, the Middle Bar area, Pardee Reservoir, Camanche Reservoir, and the lower Mokelumne from the Mokelumne Day Use area downstream to Stillman McGee Park.

Flotation devices are recommended for those working close to the water. Properly equipped paddlers are welcome to help from the river at the Electra, Middle Bar, and possibly other sites. Those under 18 are welcome if accompanied by adults.

Participants must register in advance by calling the Foothill Conservancy, or visiting its website, or the East Bay Municipal Utility District website.

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Amador County – Amador County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday discussed a draft design review guidelines and ordinance, noting a criticism for its exempting wineries and vineyards.

Supervisor Chairman John Plasse said critics thought it was ironic to exempt wineries when they are the biggest draw to county tourism. Supervisor Richard Forster said “some wineries get more traffic than commercial businesses.

Deputy County Counsel said “you can build in exemptions, but it needs criteria if you want to have staff rule on the variance.

Jackson Vice Mayor Keith Sweet urged approval, saying “if you don’t have a plan then you don’t know where you are going.”

Forster said it “has flexibility that you absolutely have to have when you work with businesses.”

Plasse wondered about the ability for guidelines to be appealed by a third party, as is happening in Jackson. Gillott said “almost any decision or interpretation by staff can be appealed” by the applicant, staff or the public because it exists in the county statutory scheme for discretionary acts.

Susan Bragstadd spoke on behalf of Foothill Conservancy, saying they supported the design guidelines ordinance, and adding wineries.

Supervisor Ted Novelli read a letter by Planning Commissioner Denise Tober, who could not attend. Tober also said wineries and tasting rooms should be covered.

Supervisor Brian Oneto said wineries in the Shenandoah Valley have real entrepreneurs with vision, and he did not want to take away from their vision. But he said the exemption may mean “you risk having something ugly.”

Supervisor Vice Chairman Louis Boitano said no guidelines were in place when the historic buildings were built. He said “Gold Rush architecture was practical and cheap.”

Forster said he would like to see wineries covered by design guidelines, because some of the new buildings in the Shenandoah Valley “are not very handsome.” He said it could have been fixed with a couple of trees and minimal landscaping.

Oneto said one is “a little stark,” but “the guy has spent a lot of money, and he’s got a business plan.” Boitano asked if they would include wineries, tasting rooms or vintners. Forster said he would include all of them.

Boitano said Napa Valley is doing it right, with architecture and not allowing residential use. But he said in Amador, they “can’t leave it up to the wineries to come up with a solution on their own.”

Planner Nathan Lishman said they wanted to have flexibility, and “every one of those wineries would be acceptable under this plan.” He said “none of those buildings are cheap.”

Plasse said they would have been OK with the Planning Commission, “but what about the appeal process?”

Supervisor Ted Novelli said “everything we have going on in the Shenandoah Valley is just as good as what we have down in Napa Valley.”

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Amador County – Ione city staff gave a presentation last week to a large crowd at Ione Junior High Auditorium on the city’s wastewater treatment plant issues, and pending decisions, including the next major fork in the road, which occurs next month.

Interim City Manager Jeff Butzlaff said new plant operator Art O’Brien gave a presentation which “was well received by a large number of the people who attended.”

O’Brien talked about “city wastewater issues, challenges, opportunities, strategy and potential rate payer implications of its development” of a new sewer plant to meet the requirements of the state.

Butzlaff said hiring O’Brien of Robertson-Bryan Incorporated, and financier Scott Smith, will help the city as it tries to determine what options will best meet city needs in the most cost effective manner, and do so in time to meet requirements of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. Most importantly they want to do so with the “least impact on ratepayers.”

He said city staff will be exploring all avenues of cost sharing, from designing it then bidding, to the preferred method of getting one bidder to design, build, operate and finance the project.

Butzlaff said a low-end facility is going to be several million dollars, and they expect to spend $10 million to $15 million at the most. He said they will try to work with the public to broaden understanding of state requirements.

The city is in a position where it really has little choice but to go forward, Butzlaff said: “The question is how we do it,” the methodology and the most cost-effective approach.

Butzlaff said the final full project over a 30-year period could cost tens of millions of dollars. He said the best plan in the end “could determine several million dollars to the bad or to the good.”

The wastewater team is now discussing how it is all going to unfold. They need to know by mid-October if they will stay with PERC Water and work on the design-build-operate-finance approach, or if they want to take a broader look, and go in another direction.

He said getting one company to design, build, operate and finance the project was still preferred based on previous council direction, but the council and community want to see analysis to see if it is the best deal for the city and the best deal for ratepayers.

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Amador County – A consensus majority of the Amador County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday leaned toward having design review guidelines by district, instead of trying to have county-wide guidelines.

The consensus without a vote also had each Supervisor submit comments to send to the Planning Commission to direct further work. Planner Nathan Lishman presented the draft ordinance for the design review guidelines, which the Planning Commission worked on and recommended. He said it drew criticism for not including wineries and vineyards, and quoted a business official as saying that “Dunkin Donuts has never been hurt by following design guidelines.”

Supervisor Brian Oneto said: “What may be good for Dunkin Donuts may not be good for a commercial project.” He said it would not make sense to have landscaping between the curb and sidewalk in commercial developments in Carbondale. Supervisor Chairman John Plasse said they should look at “applicability” and said Carbondale is a good example, because landscaping would not really apply there between railroad tracks, a couple of aggregate mining operations and an industrial manufacturer.

Lishman said the design guidelines include flexibility with the “industrial and public institutional use.” He said “scorecards” can help determine design applicability, but sometimes in the process of developing the guidelines, “we scratched our heads” wondering “what’s the trigger? The fact of the matter is, these things cross lines.”

Oneto said Martell’s needs may not be the same needs in the clay pits,” and Lishman said the “idiosyncrasies here are really hard to navigate around.”

Plasse noted one portion of the ordinance where the language seemed to give staff too much room for interpretation for approval or denial. Deputy County Counsel Greg Gillott said it was a “catchall provision” but could be change if needed. Plasse said with that, “you don’t have predictability” and any development under 10,000 square feet is subject to the planner or her designee. He said it was an “unpredictable review and oversight process.”

Supervisor Vice Chairman Louis Boitano said industrial areas are different than historical areas, but areas like the Knight’s Foundry neighborhood in Sutter Creek should be both.

Boitano said all cities have design review guidelines, and he suggested the county think about having defined historic areas and then designate design review guidelines for those areas. Plasse agreed, saying he did not know if other jurisdictions do it, but they could consider having districts, and not a county-wide designation.

Lishman said the “Town Centers” in the draft General Plan could help to make the district designations. He said districts were the original concept when Supervisors directed planning staff in 2007 to delve into design review guidelines and ordinance.

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