Gas prices got you down? How about a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle, or NEV? At Wednesday’s board meeting for the Amador County Recreation Agency, or ACRA, the Amador Transit Project gave a presentation on the benefits of the NEV, a small, completely electric vehicle that comes in a variety of models.  NEVs can travel up to 25 miles per hour on roadways with speed limits of 35 miles per hour or less.  Additionally, they can cross major highways and can travel on special roadways called Quiet Alternative Transit Lanes, or QATLs, that would also accommodate pedestrian, bike, and Segway traffic. According to Bob Devlin and Sharon Hewitt of the Amador Transit Project, Amador County is perfect for QATLs because we already have a large amount of accessible open land. Amador Road and the Old Sutter Creek-Amador City Highway were brought up as possible QATL routes.

The project also refers to 155 acres of Oro De Amador open space that was just deeded to the City of Jackson – land that ties together commercial and residential areas, and would be perfect for a QATL network.  In fact, the project, with help from a 25,000-dollar grant from the Amador Air Resources Board, is in the process of mapping out areas that could be used for these alternative transit lanes.  The project also claims that the use of NEVs will reduce traffic on our roads, lessen air pollution, and decrease our dependence on foreign oil. Also, these vehicles will be significantly less expensive to purchase.  Devlin cites several disadvantages to the use of NEVs, including the transfer of some transportation funds to the Instruction of alternative transit lanes, and the need to change existing transportation planning to incorporate NEVs and QATLs.  The Amador Transit Project plans to have a website up and running soon.

For now, you can obtain more information by emailing them at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Plymouth City Council met Thursday evening to discuss several water related issues on the agenda. The night began with a special meeting to discuss changes in the Plymouth Pipeline Project and the elimination of Segment 3, the Swift Tank. The elimination of the Swift Tank, which was officially agreed upon by the water Agency at its own Thursday meeting, will reduce the Pipeline Projects overall cost by an estimate of approximately 785 thousand dollars to 915 thousand dollars. Although the cost reduction is welcome by the city, costs will be incurred in the future associated with the need for additional storage capacity.

Terry Moore of the AWA was present at the meeting to answer questions from council and to present some additional information. One board member stated that the total cost reduction of the project would not be finalized until the bids come in. Members of the public voiced their opinion, questioning the numbers in cost reduction and in storage space. Vice Mayor Pat Fordyce felt that in regards to water, the City is constantly taking “1 step forward and 2 steps back,” and that the City “needs a good reliable source of water.”

We’d also like to let you know that beginning tomorrow we’ll be conducting a series of  interviews with the candidates for Board of Supervisors District One. The District one seat is the most contested, with a total of four candidates vying for the position. This is an opportunity to educate you on the candidates, their positions, and their experience. Your absentee ballots will be coming in three weeks, and our exclusive live interviews are the best way to get to know your candidates. Tune in to TSPN Tuesday the 15th through Friday the 18th at the news hour for this special series.

Also at the Plymouth meeting, the council discussed whether or not the City could take eminent domain actions on a 20 foot wide permanent pipeline easement and a 25 foot temporary construction easement across from the AT&T property in Sutter Creek. The public hearing opened up with the opportunity for the property owner or a representative of the owner to voice their objection, none were voiced and the statutory hearing was closed. Public comment was opened with questions arising on who would actually own and operate the pipeline in question. The Pipeline Project would be fully owned and operated by the AWA. To adopt the Resolution of Necessity, an authorization to file eminent domain action for the easements in a 4/5 vote was necessary from council. Council passed the Resolution 4-1 with Councilman Baldwin opposing.

Sutter Creek has become a model of economic development for another foothill town hoping to revitalize downtown business. Angels Camp in Calaveras County recently hosted a presentation on Retail Economic Development to a packed house on Tuesday afternoon at the Angels Camp Fire House. The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors and local business representatives discussed revitalization and engaged in a lively debate on the direction of retail and commerce in the area. Calaveras Supervisor Steve Wilensky led several minutes of discussion on what the affects of growth in Amador County have been and how to plan for successes and learn from the mistakes. Sutter Creek was used as a model with a good identity strategy and core business group.

This was contrasted with some of the problems downtown Jackson has encountered in dealing with the shift in retail center of gravity to the Martell developments. Sutter Creek has faired much better even though Sutter Creek and Jackson are very similar in distance from the large format retailers. One participant believed that while Sutter Creek was planning, the Jackson retailers were squabbling over parking meters and other issues that in hindsight had no significant impact on the long term future of the shopping core. Most Angels Camp citizens believed they could strike a balance between promoting and protecting historic downtown and allowing traditional businesses growth.

In a special meeting at the Amador Water Agency on Thursday, the Board of Directors voted to eliminate the 1.5 million-gallon water storage tank that was planned for the Plymouth Pipeline project. Gene Mancebo provided the board with a detailed explanation of the research that brought about staff’s recommendation to possibly eliminate the tank. Through this research, the agency determined that the tank could not be filled during peak water usage periods.  This realization prompted the agency to look at alternatives, including pumping water hydraulically to the tank, lowering the tank location, pipe improvements to reduce head loss, or elimination of the tank. All of the proposed alternatives did not improve the situation. The tank was to be located on Ed Swift’s property, a project he has been involved with since the agency first approached him in 1992. 

Surprisingly, Swift’s response to the possible elimination of the tank was mild.  He expressed his satisfaction in working with the Amador Water Agency and thanked everyone for their hard work. Swift’s concerns centered on fire protection issues, citing a devastating fire that occurred in Sutter Creek in 1962 that burned somewhat out of control.  Additionally, he had concerns about the Sutter Creek fire hydrants and whether they were up to code. In response to these concerns, Jim Abercrombie, General Manager for the agency, explained that eliminating the tank would have no impact on local fire response outcomes, saying that “we don’t have the tank now, so not having the tank is no different than what we have now.”

The board was generally in agreement with the agency’s recommendation of eliminating the tank altogether, and did mention possibly reimbursing Swift for any expenses he had incurred related to the tank project. Besides Swift, the only other public response was from Stephanie McNair, one of the developers for Plymouth’s Cottage Hill development project.  McNair had questions for the agency related to Plymouth’s water usage numbers.  After hearing all comments, the board unanimously voted to eliminate the water storage tank. At their next meeting on April 24th, Abercrombie will have more information on the Plymouth Pipeline Project.

It has to get worse before it gets better. In less than two months, thousands of people who use a popular stretch of I-5 will experience a major inconvenience. That's when a resurfacing project begins, closing down sections of the freeway for weeks at a time. In Rocklin, some major roadway construction will cause problems for several weeks. Caltrans is closing the Westbound Interstate 80 on and off ramps beginning today until April 14th. Then on the 15th, the entire interchange and overpass will be closed for another 10 days. Amador residents who commute or have any reason to travel to Sacramento are advised to avoid the area whenever possible. "We bid the I-5 project for 27 million dollars for 114 days.

Currently we're discussing a compressed schedule which will limit the traffic interfering work to 40 days, 24 hours a day seven days a week," says Caltrans Manager Ken Solak. That was the good news for last Monday's packed house at the Sacramento library galleria. The I-5 construction project through downtown Sacramento will now take only 40 days instead of four months. The bad news: expect delays, and look for traffic signals at ramps to determine if they're open or closed. Based on Caltrans maps, construction on I-5 will be done from R Street to Richards Boulevard. Caltrans says 190,000 drivers use this route every day. Businesses downtown and in Old Sacramento will remain open. Caltrans will release a list of alternate routes on their project website in the coming days. The project kicks off May 30th at eight at night. If you don't have alternate plans in place for that Monday, June 2nd, you're in for a long wait.

You've probably heard of drug-sniffing dogs. But now the Department of Fish and Game has trained a team of quagga mussel-sniffing dogs. Fish and Game's new K-9 team deployed in the past month has been trained to detect quagga and zebra mussels, as well as ammunition. The biggest threats that California's lakes have ever faced are no larger than a small thumbnail. Tiny quagga and zebra mussels are an invasive species that represent an environmental disaster for California's reservoirs and waterways. The mussels threaten aquatic food chains in lakes, access for fishing and boating, recreation-based economies and the state and federal government's ability to send water to Central Valley farmers and beyond.

Last month, the East Bay municipal Utility District, or EBMUD, considered closing Camanche Reservoir here in Amador County, as well as two reservoirs in the east bay. EBMUD opted instead for rigorous checks for all trailered boats and to ban boats from Santa Clara County, San Benito County and Southern California. Once quagga mussels arrive in a water system, they float downstream. Since being found in Lake Mead in 2007, they have drifted downstream and been verified in 16 lakes and rivers on the Colorado River chain. According to Fish And Game, a trained search dog can detect a single quagga mussel on a boat. The first six K-9 teams are working in 23 Northern California counties.

An Amador County farm established more than a century ago by the Winter family has been preserved in agriculture by the state and the Sacramento Valley Conservancy. The conservancy used some 680,000 dollars awarded by the state Department of Conservation to buy the 180-acre Winterport farm near Ione. Money for the purchase came from Proposition 40, the $2.6 billion open space and farmland preservation bond passed by voters in 2002.

 

Although Ione is 30 miles from Sacramento, development pressure in the scenic hills surrounding the tiny town has been building. A developer has purchased 16,000 acres near the Winterport farm. "We're in the path of development, and we're trying to encourage them to go the other way," Winterport farm owner Dan Port said in the release. He said he and his wife expect their grown children to eventually come back and take over the farm, which currently grows hay but has produced melons, pumpkins and Christmas trees. (end) am McClatchy-Tribune contributed.

Despite some strong public comment opposing the project, the Amador County Planning Commission, or ACPC, approved the Environmental Impact Report for the Mokelumne Bluffs Subdivision. The EIR was first submitted to the agency in 2003 and has since gone through numerous changes in response to opposing forces who believe the project will have a detrimental environmental impact. Commission members were also doubtful about specific aspects of the document at Tuesday night’s meeting and asked for clarification from Charlie Simpson, the consultant who drafted the EIR. “What we’re doing in the EIR is responding to all elements and requirements of the (California Environmental Quality Act),” said Simpson.

Simpson also took the moment to respond to earlier public comment asking for more research on environmental impact. “We identified, as guidelines required, comparative environmental alternatives. It’s a no brainer, 50 lots instead of 100 would obviously be less of an impact. I think we gave a reasonable range of alternatives,” said Simpson. He went on to say that the current project, as opposed to the project reviewed in the draft EIR in 2005, is substantially more refined now, including a wildlife and oak tree mitigation plan. “If you run down the list of changes and think to your self ‘is this a plus or a minus?’ in terms of the environment, these are all pluses,” said Simpson.

Earlier in the evening, Pine Grove citizens who will be living near the project voiced their opinions. John Carlson of Pine Grove believes the project will add to global warming because of its location and its future residents perceived commute. Indeed, much of Tuesday night’s debate wavered off track into discussions about global warming in general. The commissioners expressed their concerns over some of the vague language in the EIR, but were happy overall with the document. The document was approved in a vote of 4-1, on a condition that any further changes will need to be introduced later as findings. Chair Andy Byrne voted to oppose the approval, stating that he believed the document still needed some revision.