Amador County – After a few months’ break, the serial meeting of the Amador County General Plan Update resumed Tuesday with scores of people in attendance. Amador County Transportation Commission Executive Director Charles Field gave a presentation on the “U-Plan” computer program that will eventually read traffic in the county. Katherine Evatt, of the Foothill Conservancy, asked about omission of smaller roads in U-Plan modeling, and several members of the panel of Amador County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission agreed. Planner Andy Byrne asked about the constraints, the so-called “minor road.” County Planner Susan Grijalva said “minor roads are construction standards. If they do not meet minor roads standards, they are not in (the U-Plan).” In the panel’s concern, Field said he saw the need to add small local roads to U-Plan. Upcountry Community Council Traffic Safety Committee Chair Sherry Curtis asked if there is “any modeling available for mountainous communities and regions.” She said the Upcountry could be a model community for such a plan. Field said “there are a lot of models out there, but U-Plan is the best one. It’s the easiest to use.” He said there is a “good set of examples or guidelines” for mountainous area development of roads, but the U-Plan system is “more transparent.” Curtis said she has been in land-use planning for over 30 years, and has seen the designs drawn up, but they don’t apply to the terrain in the Sierras, and “planners only have what they can use.” Field said the “constraints can be defined by land use type,” and U-Plan models can “notch up the slopes by 5-degree increments.” He said taking a 40-acrea area, there must be an area technically flat enough to build on, if there is enough money and allowable zoning to do so. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The front lawn of Castle Oaks Golf Course on Highway 104 in Ione could be the new home to 70,000- square feet of retail, and 153 single-family homes, the Ione City Council learned Wednesday. A special joint session of the council and Planning Commission heard a very preliminary plan from JTS Communities and new partners, Studio 81. Rob Aragon of JTS said this is the 20th year of the incarnation of the development that is Castle Oaks, which was started as a 10-year build-out project. The hotel or motel is removed from that site, near the existing office building, and may be placed elsewhere. He said the market climate has changed drastically since 2005, and it is a bad market. He said he was at the special workshop Wednesday to find out city leaders’ reaction to the new project, with 153 single-family homes, 70,000 square feet of retail space, and 7 buildings to house 9 units each, for a total of 63 multi-family housing units. He was there, he said, to see if the city council and the planning commission of Ione “would be offended” by those proposals. Aragon said JTS got involved with the Castle Oaks project in 2004, and “millions of dollars have been invested to fix that (Community Facilities District) bond drama.” In 2 years, they have sold more than 100 homes in Castle Oaks, or about 50 a year. This year they have “pulled about 30 building permits,” and now he was before them, with Studio 81’s Bill Crump and Karen West. He said “we are very much at the conceptual stage of this project.” He was there to get input from city leaders, in order to “deliver the best project for the city.” He said the project would likely begin with buildings for potential medical offices, next to the existing building at the corner of Castle Oaks Drive and Fairway Drive. The 70,000 square feet of retail could house such things as outdoor dining, a deli, dry cleaning, and retail, “depending on what demand is for each of those services.” About 24,000 square feet would be for medical offices, and he had spoken with Mule Creek Prison medical staff, who do not have office space of their own. Story by Jim Reece.

Amador County – Developer Marc Bowman addressed the Upcountry Community Council Thursday. His Aqueduct housing development is in design mode only, as Amador County has a building moratorium. Once the moratorium is lifted, he can file his application. Aqueduct would have 85 homes, and “keep local traffic local” by offering “high quality commercial and retail space,” such as medical, dental, pharmacy and assisted care, with grocers, retail shops and restaurants. Bowman said he wants to work with ACTC and Caltrans on its Highway 88 project and he would encourage seeking the potential $40 million dollars in funding for it. He didn’t think a 5-lane expansion through Pine Grove would be the solution. Bowman thought it would be better to identify organizations that have traffic issues and move them, such as Pine Grove Elementary School. He said former School Superintendent Mike Carey approached him about his development, east of Highway 88 at Tabeaud Road. “Traffic congestion and safety was their Number 1 issue” at the school, Bowman said. Number 2 was lack of space for 7th and 8th graders at the school. Junior high students are now bused daily from Upcountry to Jackson Junior High. The school district looked at a 15-acrea area in Aqueduct – a big, flat meadow – and they liked it: “It appeared at the time that they were going to buy it because they were pursuing us.” Now he pursues the school district to donate the land for a school “because he feels that it is the appropriate thing to do.” The school would be about 100 yards from Highway 88, Bowman said, and it could help to lift the congestion during school drop-offs and pick-ups. He said if they relocated the school to successfully reduce and redirect traffic flow, the state and ACTC might make it a “model program.” For funding, Bowman said “if we don’t get close to 100 percent to build that facility, that school will basically stay where it is.” He said “once we donate the land, we will still have our school impact fees to pay as a developer.” He said he found out last year the school district’s problem on getting a new school for Pine Grove Elementary was the lack of funding. Story by Jim Reece

Amador County – The Amador County Transportation Commission board on Wednesday postponed a decision on the status of the Sutter Hill Transportation Center, to see more information. ACTC Executive Director Charles Field said the board had seen numbers and details of the Transportation Center, which would house the Sutter Hill Visitors Center, but board member, Supervisor Richard Forster said they had seen the project in “Committee,” but “the full board has not been able to look at this in quite some time.” Consultant Matt Boyer of Dokken Engineering said they would seek final approval on the project from the board in about 4-and-a-half months. Field said all but $200,000 of the project is funded with money the agency already has available or that will be reimbursed, but it is on a “use it or lose it” basis. He said they do not have months, but instead, as far as staff is concerned, they have days. Costs in a contract amendment for which Boyer and Field were seeking approval apparently had risen from $194,000 to $344,000, but Boyer said the costs had another amount added - $149,000 in work by ANOVA Architecture, as sub-consultants to Dokken. Boyer introduced the Transportation Center including its Telecommuting Facility, which Field said would allow people to drive to the Center and use the audio and video teleconference rooms to have meetings. Forster said people had asked: “Is it the responsibility of ACTC to have meeting spaces like that?” Field said federal funding grants were awarded because of the telecommunications center, which has as its objective to reduce traffic and vehicle trips. Forster wanted to look at the project and costs because of the economic downturn, and had he known the downturn was coming, the County Administrative Building in which they were meeting might have been smaller by about one-fourth. Field said if that was the case, they might need a special meeting in the next couple of weeks. Forster said there was time to see the project at the next regular meeting. Field acknowledged and Forster agreed that what the board wanted was full power over the girth of the project and its design and budget at that next meeting. Story by Jim Reece

Amador County – The Ione City Council Tuesday approved 16 segments of its Land Use Element toward a new city general plan, sending the lot to the drawing board for an Environmental Impact Report. Consultant Daniel Hamilton and City Planner Christopher Jordan walked the city council through the process, giving first a rough outline of the multiple meetings thus far, including a city wide workshop series, 230 public input samples and the planning commission’s two meetings. A public hearing took input as well, including the “future growth area” of “Q” Ranch, for which Matt Toma spoke, saying that the owner was unhappy with more than half of the property being tabbed with an Open Space designation. The rest of the Q Ranch, to the north of Mule Creek State Prison, was designated as Rural Residential, limited to no smaller than 2 acres each, which Toma said developers were also not happy about. Jordan said “the ultimate decision was to include Rural Residential without any additional limitations to the zoning, on either side of the flood plain.” That designation would allow 10-acre to 1/2-acre lots. No development would be allowed in the flood plain, which was about half of the property. Other property owners submitted specific requests for designation changes. Several people, including former councilman and current Amador Water Agency board member Gary Thomas, pointed out that potential High Density Residential areas were not ideal for the Wildflower property or on a section of Highway 124 near the prison gate. The latter was 1-and-a-half miles from downtown, though new development would be preferred to have walking access to town. Jordan and Hamilton noted that in past meetings, two areas, Waterman Road, behind the fire station; and the Ringer Ranch were two potential areas for High Density Residential. The city needs to designate 7 acres as High Density Residential to meet state standards, even if that type of housing is never built. Jordan said the council directed staff to remove the HDR designation from Ringer Ranch, and it was left as a Special Planning designation. The council also added acreage to the Waterman Road site as High Density Residential, adding 7 acres to it, for total acreage of just under 16 acres. Story by Jim Reece

Amador County - The Upcountry Community Council, or UCC, met Thursday evening primarily to set forth an upcountry community consensus input letter regarding the General Plan for presentation at the Amador County Planning Commission meeting on December 16, 2008. Bob Curral, Co-chair of UCC and Amador Regional Planning Committee representative will present the input letter. Ted Novelli, District 3 Supervisor addressed the group, comprising of UCC council member Debbie Dunn, representatives from five upcountry homeowner associations, and area business owners, regarding four possible Land Service Centers or Town Centers for development under the General Plan. The group discussion encompassed topics ranging from Regional Plan Mitigation, unfunded mandates, traffic concerns, agricultural designations, water supply, fire safety, finally focusing on the area of highway 88 known as Buckhorn. Alternative C in the General Plan currently proposes a town center sphere centered at Highway 88 and Pioneer Creek Rd, adding an additional 1,000 housing units and approximately 40,000 feet of commercial square footage. The group defined the Buckhorn sphere as beginning at King James Orchard, ending at Silver Drive and extending 1,000 feet on either side of highway 88. The group will initiate a community poll to discern the types of commercial sites to be recommended for the Buckhorn sphere, i.e., medical facilities, eateries, retailers, etc. The group would also like an architectural design plan, giving the sphere a consistent, possibly alpine appearance. As the meeting drew to a close the discussion moved to the proposed Pine Grove sphere beginning at the intersection of Ridge Road and highway 88 ending at Tabeau. The General Plan would increase the number of residential units from 30 to 900 within the town center. The plan also calls for an increase in commercial square footage from 36,000 to 75,000. The group disputed the figures used in the plan, recommending increasing the additional commercial square footage to 175,000. Story by Debi Brodie

Amador County – The Amador General Plan Update ended last week with direction to staff to look at a Water Element and also to Solar Power requirements on new projects with 6 or more units. The process took a 2-week break, directing staff to research those and other areas and report back in February. Among those was looking into having a water element in the plan. District 3 Supervisor Ted Novelli requested the matter be looked at because of funding from the state and federal governments that might be available if the county adds a water element. He said the state and feds might be “willing to give us 2 Million Dollars if we add a water element.” He suggested asking the Foothill Conservancy if they knew of the funding. He suggested working with Calaveras and Alpine counties on a watershed overlay with regional involvement that could help qualify for the funding. Planning Director Susan Grijalva said her department would see if there was money available and if the county would need to make a water element part of the general plan. Planning Commissioner Ray Ryan said he would “like to see what’s on the other end of that carrot.” Katherine Evatt of the Foothill Conservancy said “one of the best sources of new water is conservation” and she said that if governments don’t implement a water conservation program, they will not get state money. More study was also sought for Greenhouse Gas emissions policy, which required that “new residential building permits for more than 6 units provide solar power generation on 50 percent of units.” District 2 Supervisor and Board Chairman Richard Forster thought they should require 100 percent of units have solar power in projects of 6 units or more. District 5 Supervisor Brian Oneto said he thought the requirement would be expensive and suggested the county wait to see what the state requires. Forster said he thought the county would be “taking a big step backward because standards are coming down and the standards are coming down hard.” District 4 Supervisor Louis Boitano suggested and the panel agreed to leave the policy as it was for now, with planning staff research brought back in meetings February 17th, 18th and 19th. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Amador County – The Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort’s implementation measures could be part of discussions tonight at the Sutter Creek Planning Commission meeting. The Gold Rush project, to be located southwest of the Sutter Creek on 19 individual parcels, has been subject of more than a dozen planning commission sessions. Tonight, they could look at some implementation measures, added by commission comments in past meetings, discussion with developers and public comment. Rural roads in the measures could include “a 4-foot wide concrete, decomposed granite, or asphalt walkway…on either side of the street…separated from the roadway with a 6-foot wide landscaped buffer.” Another measure calls for Gold Rush to be “linked by a system of trails,” for “transportation, passive recreation and active recreation.” The Planning Commission directed responsibility in the chapter by noting that “the project will fund the development and maintenance of the trail system.” Draft measures include having Gold Rush comply with General Plan policy “that new development involving annexation of new land into the city” shall not have a negative fiscal impact on the city, by requiring dwelling unit fees for a “Community Facilities District based on estimated city operation and maintenance costs and corresponding revenues.” It could also require Gold Rush to “fund and install improvements or modifications to the existing sewage … needed to serve the project,” and installation of new sewage needed. And it would require “construction of a tertiary wastewater treatment facility prior to issuing grading or building permits within the Gold Rush Ranch Specific Plan Area.” A measure also requires Gold Rush to fund development of a reclaimed water system for golf course irrigation, and provide or fund the purchase of a site adequate for a fire station. Modifications to the Specific Plan’s housing implementation measures were made in response to Planning Commission direction. These would require a minimum of 70 homes that are “affordable by design,” or “smaller homes on smaller lots.” Those lots would be a minimum of 3,500 square feet. The section would also require “payment of a fee per house to create a housing trust fund to support affordable housing programs in Sutter Creek,” which the city would administer. It would also create a “transfer tax on future home sales” in Gold Rush, “in an amount to be determined by mutual agreement between applicants and the city, to provide a permanent revenue source for affordable housing programs.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Amador County Planning Department staff adjourned the General Plan Update serial meeting last Thursday to gather more information on various items. The meeting will resume April 8th and possibly the 9th. Amador County’s Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission still must go through 44 separate requests that have come in since the General Plan update and land use classifications were announced last year. The panel also will get further information on the “Urban Reserve” land use designation, after stalling out the stream of information. County Planner Susan Grijalva said “we have to go back and meet with the cities, and (the Local Agency Formation Commission) possibly, then bring back more information for discussion.” She said it could work to help dispel some misinformation and misconceptions about “Urban Reserve.” She said discussion by the panel brought up some good questions that planning staff had discussed before but not resolved. The “Urban Reserve” designation would limit properties to 40 acres, if they are within the “Sphere of Influence” of a city. Commissioner Andy Byrne said the property could still subdivide, but “they would just have to go through the city,” and annex into the city. Supervisor John Plasse was worried that “ranchette style zoning” would be phased out in counties and cities. He urged using an “Urban-Agriculture” interface area as a buffer between cities and ag lands. Grijalva said when Spheres of Influence are proposed, the county gets with the city and LAFCO; and General Plans in cities can allow for buffers. She said properties inside of Spheres of Influence “have the reasonable expectation that they can annex that land, and plan for it.” Plasse said as a county resident, you have no “say-so” over spheres. Grijalva said “in most cases, people who don’t want to be in a sphere are left out. But if the majority around them wants to be in,” they are out of luck. She said LAFCO law will not allow an “island” inside a Sphere of Influence. The meeting resumes 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 8th in the Supervisors’ chambers. If needed, the panel will meet again, from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday, April 9th. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador County General Plan Update panel discuss the economic and governance elements of the draft this week, looking at ways to minimize liability, while promoting the economy and also the communications of political entities. Jeff Henderson, consultant for the company EDAW, presented both elements, saying the economic element was the most common one allowed under state general plan law. He said some noted that it may have policies that conflict with other elements of the draft general plan. Supervisor Richard Forster warned not to get too specific on details, and Supervisor John Plasse echoed that. Plasse said “we can’t call out specific industries.” He said in recent court cases, “policies have been ruled on as being enforceable and litigate-able.” Plasse said the county needs to “keep policies general enough so that they are not litigate-able.” Supervisor Brian Oneto said he like the idea of “streamlining the permitting process,” through policy changes, so that county department staffs can serve the public more speedily. Oneto also said he would like to see some agricultural areas get infrastructure for potable water. Commissioner Ray Ryan agreed, saying if the county was going to promote agri-business, it needed water services. Commissioner Andy Byrne said he would like to see a balance of tertiary water service extensions, with language to protect natural beauty. Henderson noted the comments and said he thought direction would be to have wording that supports improvement of infrastructure to support economic development and agri-business. The draft economic element’s support included “communications infrastructure, in areas designated for commercial or industrial development.” Kathy Allen of Citizens For Smart Growth recommended the panel look at comments gathered by the county 2 years ago. She said the comments would likely impact all elements of the General Plan. She said Wednesday she “reread those comments, and I am concerned that some of the things that the public put down are not being addressed.” On the economic element, Allen said removing the work “protect” was against the nature of those comments, which commonly used the word. She recommended the panel “look at those comments again. Many people can’t be here because they are working.” Allen said: “Tourism has a huge impact on peoples’ businesses that can’t be here today, but their desires expressed in those meetings should be considered.” Story by Jim Reece. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.