On Monday night the AWA Council’s appointments to the Jackson Planning Commission were made. On June 30th the seats Warren Carlton, David Butow and Wayne Garibaldi all expire. While Garibaldi and Butow reapplied Carlton chose not to. The City advertised for interested persons and received applications from: Walter Hoeser, Steve McLean, and Katy Pridy. Also an application from Keith Sweet was received after the June 20th deadline. 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released its Sierra Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement (RMP/EIS). The plan provides direction and guidance for more than 230,000 acres of public land located primarily in nine central California counties including Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Tuolumne and Yuba counties.

On the Sutter Creek City Council’s agenda Monday was the Amador County Recreation Agency’s request for an increase in their member contributions. ACRA Executive Director Tracey Towner-Yep was present and explained that ACRA has been a very viable organization over the past few years putting on such events as summer camps, Shakespeare in the park, park upgrades at Bryson Park, etc. ACRA is quickly growing into a full fledged agency, and in turn asked Sutter Creek to incorporate a $5 per person membership fee for the next 3 years. In 2006-07 Sutter Creek contributed $9,025 and if they approve the request their contribution would be $14,720 for the next 3 years.

Ongoing discussions over the Sutter Hill Transit Center Project continue in Sutter Creek. Minor revisions to the project outline have recently been made, and this week, the incorporation of new civil engineer Aaron Busatori and funding realities were looked at more closely to be ensure consistency with the original project plan. The Transit Center is a project proposed by the Amador Regional Transit System, or ARTS, in conjunction with the Amador County Transportation Commission. Included in the original project components are a transportation center building, a 1.2 acre plot of land to be dedicated to the city as a public park, and a 50-75 space park-n-ride lot with a solar electric shade structure. An agreement is currently being proposed between the center and the Amador Tourism Council to possibly staff the facility.

The center will be under continuous video surveillance, funded through Homeland Security. The original cost estimate for the project was approximately $2.5 million, but with the increasing costs for all things associated with construction, modifications were necessary. During the presentation of the project Charles Field of ACTC stated that the necessary funds needed for phase 1 of the project were not fully raised, so the city will be receiving a combined sum of approximately $1 million from Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, a federally funded program that allocates money for projects which specifically reduce air pollution. Because of the struggles with the various funding outlets “we had to be realistic with phase 1” stated Field. When asked the likelihood that phase 2 will ever be completed, he responded that “We are committed to it” and that ACTC and the City are “working like hell to get it built.”

The Mokelumne Bluffs Final Environmental Impact Report, or Final EIR, came before the Amador County Planning Commission Tuesday night. Several citizens made requests to have the document recirculated due to changes they felt were significant enough to warrant further review by the public.  Charlie Simpson, of Insight Environmental in Stockton, says that recirculation would be a “set back of several months.”

After many public concerns and comments on the Erickson Ranch Annexation at Tuesday’s Sutter Creek City Council meeting, one Sutter Creek man summed it all up by stating, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” 187 acres that have been acquired by the city from CalTrans are now slotted to be annexed into the city of Sutter Creek and made into a public open park.  Even though the council has already signed off on the Cooperative Agreement and the Habitat Mitigation and Monitoring Report, citizens are still concerned about the impact this property will have on Sutter Creek. Public comments centered around two issues –the potential future taxpayer costs of maintaining this property, and protecting the area’s natural habitat and Native American plants and cultural areas.

Tuesday night’s Joint Sutter Creek City Council and Planning Commission Workshop is 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. It consists of the 833-acre Noble Ranch parcel and the 112-acre Allen Ranch parcel. About 612 acres are within Sutter Creek’s city limits and 333 are in the county unincorporated area.

The Jackson City Council met Monday night in front of a large audience, many of whom came for the first discussion item on the agenda, the approval of documents for Jackson Hills Golf Course and Residential Community.

Before the Jackson Planning Commission tonight will be several projects proposed for the city including one project to expand senior care facility options in the county. Ron Regan, owner of the Oak Manor home, and several other adult facilities, is proposing to build an independent-living senior facility adjacent to the current Oak Manor facility. The meeting is tonight at 6pm at the Jackson Civic Center.

The Sutter Creek Planning Commission met Monday night despite the fact that the Community Center was without power. The agenda items were cut short as two public hearings were removed at the request of the applicants, leaving the Tentative Parcel Map No. 2639 for Les Brusatori the sole action item. Commissioner Robin Peters stated he had a confliction of interest and stepped outside during this agenda item.