Jackson City Manager Mike Daly made a presentation to the Council on Monday regarding the AWA’s proposed rate increase and the impact it will have on the City’s budget. The AWA’s Financial Plan and Water Rate Study proposes an initial 22% increase and then, in addition, an average increase of 12% for the next 3 consecutive years. The City historically has received increases from the AWA ranging between 3-7%. The last time the City passed on some of those increases was a 4 percent increase in September of 2004. An ad-hoc committee consisting of Council members RosaLee Pryor-Escamilla and Al Nunes was formed to discuss the City’s concerns regarding the study.

The Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has announced that they will be conducting construction work on Highway 104 in the City of Ione. The work is scheduled to begin today Monday, June 11 through Friday, June 22, from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 

 

The Sutter Creek Planning Commission this week held a public hearing regarding traffic concerns at the Farmers Market. The hearing was scheduled in order to update the Conditional Use Permit approved in 1995 and to incorporate past changes into a new document. The meat of the discussion concerned the removal of the barricades which are currently placed around the farmers market to restrict vehicular traffic. Some members of the public feel that the barriers are too restrictive of public accessibility to the market, and should be removed. The commission, however, did not feel comfortable opening the market to thru traffic, and recommended that the barricades stay in place as stated in the permit. After some discussion, the conditional use permit was approved unanimously by the commission.

 

Tuesday night’s Joint Sutter Creek City Council and Planning Commission Workshop was the second in a series of discussions on the Gold Rush Ranch and Golf Resort. The Gold Rush Ranch Master-Planned Community is a proposed golf, resort and 12 new residential neighborhoods over approximately 945 acres. Tuesday’s workshop focused on the proposed General Plan and Zoning Ordinance Amendments. The Gold Rush Ranch project proposes 1,334 single family homes,  a  60 room resort hotel, 300 vacation ownership units, and over 300 acres of oak-covered conservation and open space preserve with a publicly accessible trails system. The current joint workshop series offers an opportunity for the public and city decision makers to discuss the many issues and concerns surrounding the largest development ever proposed for Amador County.

As part of the proposed development for the Home Depot in Jackson the State Department of Toxic Substances has issued a clean up plan for the commercial development, which is part of the former Kennedy Mine property. The area of the proposed home improvement store, and separate commercial mall associated with the project, has historical gold mining activities associated with it. These include the Kennedy Mine Tailings property which borders the site to the east and the former Kennedy Gold Mine located approximately a half mile away. In addition, the former Argonaut Gold Mine is located approximately 1000 feet to the north of the site.

The First Scheduled Public Hearing on the Jackson City Council’s agenda was the review of a request from Donna LaVecchia for a Conditional Permit Use to expand her current daycare facility, the Web of Life, located on Jackson Gate Road.

A special joint meeting between the Sutter Creek City Council and the Sutter Creek Planning Commission was held Monday night, at the Sutter Creek Auditorium.

Jackson Planning Commissioner Warren Carlton said his final goodbyes Monday night to the City Council as they honored him with a resolution for his 6 years of service. Mayor Drew Stidger read the resolution out loud and then presented it to Carlton who thanked the citizens of Jackson for their support and continued involvement in City issues he commended them on their involvement. The audience responded with a standing ovation as Carlton took his seat. Also to appear on the agenda was the Councils review of the controversial Jackson Hills Project.

The Amador County Recreation Agency began their meeting with a discussion of vandalism to the lights at Pioneer Park. According to Executive Director Tracey Towner Yep, the lenses of the lights were shot out. Towner Yep had already taken the initiative and authorized an emergency expenditure to hired Upchurch Electric to fix the lights.

The Oro de Amador Property was another hot topic of discussion at last night’s Jackson City Council meeting as City Manager Mike Daly gave an update to the City Council on the next steps to take towards developing the property. In April and May three workshops were held to gather community ideas for the future of the historic parcel. The workshops were well attended by 40 members of the community who offered a wide array of ideas ranging from community gardens, preserving the land as open space, recreational facilities including fields of all sorts and a trail system, wildlife habitat areas, and a wide variety of suggestions for community and cultural centers.