Amador County – A group of supporters voiced their backing of the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort last week, commending the Sutter Creek Planning Commission on its work and urging a quick end to the process. Ron Floyd said he was a 12-year resident and saw improvement in the commission’s work, and urged them “to get this project passed through.” John Motto-Ros said was “hearing cries” about Gold Rush potentially doubling the size of Sutter Creek. But he said you would need to fly over Sutter Creek in a helicopter to get a visual impact from the project. He said the biggest impact would likely be seeing more people grocery shopping and “half of the audience is retired,” so they can shop at different times. Motto-Ros said “most of us won’t live there,” so the “new development doesn’t have to look like Sutter Creek. You have to have the developer build them and sell them that day.” Another, a resident since 1969, said he liked the idea of Gold Rush being built on the other side of Highway 49. He said his son wanted to live in Sutter Creek, but could not afford it, “so he moved to Oroville and bought 3 houses, for the same price.” He said it’s a good development and the developer has been working on it for 8 years with the commission and the city. He said “take your time, but it also has to reach a point where it moves forward.” The Sutter Creek Planning Commission takes u the Gold Rush Specific Plan at its next meeting, 7 p.m. Monday, March 23rd. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County - The Upcountry Community Council celebrated its two year anniversary Thursday night by finishing up its recommendations for upcountry residential land use designation in the Amador County General Plan. The recommendations were the end product of a series of meetings based mainly on topics raised during a Q & A with County Planning Director Susan Grijalva four months ago. “This was a chance for over 12,000 upcountry people to finally be heard. We’re finally getting a voice,” said UCC Co-Chair Bob Currall. Topics were addressed as they pertain to each community. Buckhorn, Mace Meadows, Volcano, Pioneer, Pine Grove and Rabb Park all had separate visions for community designation. Amador Pines agreed upon recommending a redesignation as agricultural transition. This would keep current 5 to 20 acre parcels from being divided into smaller 1 to 2 acre parcels, thus limiting development. “We’d like to keep things more rural and in larger units,” said Currall. There are approximately 800 home sites in the Amador Pines area, including tracts. Attendees from the Rabb Park/Sierra Highlands area decided to recommend a non-agricultural designation for there smaller parcels to eliminate livestock. According to Currall, at least 90 percent of the 75 or so attendees wanted to keep their local service centers in Pine Grove. Local service centers are part of a statewide mandate that requires different areas within counties to create town centers in an attempt to keep communities from travelling far for goods and services. These “town centers” include commercial business, medium to high density residential, and other services like food markets and school. Although different communities differed on their own specific designations, they all agreed that keeping things rural was to their benefit. Currall, an ex-fire fighter, said he was also “concerned with overdeveloping the upcountry because if there is a major fire we wouldn’t be able to egress quickly enough.” Currall said fire response in the upcountry area is limited and can sometimes take 30 minutes or more. The UCC Council was the brainchild of Supervisor Ted Novelli. Curall and Chair Debbie Dunn plan on presenting their recommendations to the planning department and Board of Supervisors within the month. Last night was a great conclusion to a lot of ground work, said Currall, adding, “we have an idea of what we need for the next 20 years.” Story by Alex Lane (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

By Holly Boitano -

The City of Sutter Creek last week granted a request from Ridge Business Park to place a lien on the property as security for payment in lieu of $50,000 in permitting and processing fees. The project developer, Tara Hassidy, pled the case for the lien request before the City Council Monday night. Hassidy said that she and her family are into the project for $2.2 million, and have suffered some unfortunate circumstances with their contractor as well as with their bank. The developer is currently seeking to file a final map for a condominium type business park on Ridge Road, consisting of 9 condo units. Two of those units are currently in escrow, which the developer will use the part of the lien money to settle. The developer will then pay the $50,000 in fees with revenue generated from the settlement.

Amador County – The Amador County Business Council is the latest group to endorse the giant Gold Rush Ranch and Golf Resort set for development in Sutter Creek. “The Amador County Business Council supports projects that create jobs, invest in new local business opportunities and stand behind our community values - Gold Rush Ranch does all three," said Jim Conklin, Executive Director of the Amador County Business Council, in a statement submitted to the local newspaper. The council is comprised of individuals representing the interests of businesses from throughout the county. This endorsement adds to the list of support from organizations with a business interest in Amador County. These include the Sutter Creek Business and Professional Association, the Amador Association of Realtors, the Amador Chamber of Commerce, and the Amador Council of Tourism. Some are questioning the motives of the business council and theses other entities. In reaction to Conklin’s statement, one resident named Chris Seybolt asked Conklin to “please explain what the council defines as community value.” One Jackson resident said there is a “delicious irony in that those who work to build these homes would never be afforded the opportunity to live in them.” According to Troy Claveran, a partner in the Gold Rush Ranch Development, "We're delighted and honored to have the support of the Amador County Business Council-one of the premier business organizations here in Amador County.” Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Getting both praise and criticism, Rancho Arroyo Seco’s future was the topic of the latest meeting of the Amador General Plan Update, Tuesday in Jackson. Owner Bill Bunce was called worthy of sainthood and also a model land manager by a couple of local activists, while others criticized the county for handling the land designation. Jim Scully of Ione said they should call the historic areas of Rancho Arroyo Seco “a definite zone where you cannot develop, so that Bill Bunce can design his project and not infringe on these sensitive areas.” Art Marinaccio of Amador Citizens For Responsible Government, said the real question should be: “Do we have enough water for a project of that size?” Speculation said a project at the site could increase the county population by 40,000 people. Marinaccio said there was “no way” a 40,000-person population boom “will be developed in this 20-year General Plan’s” lifetime. He urged that the panel “apply a designation to it that allows something to come forward.” Local farmer and activist Susan Bragstad voiced support, saying “Bill Bunce should be declared a saint.” Casino opponent and Ione area resident, Jerry Cassesi agreed, but said he was not lobbying for Bunce’s sainthood. Cassesi said he has worked for the Arroyo Seco Ranch for about 15 years, and now works for new owner, Bunce, who “lets the chips fall where they may.” Cassesi said Bunce allowed him to take all the Indian groups and archeologist “out to every site they wanted to see and every site that I knew about.” Bunce “had no idea what they would find – 1 site or 100,” In the end the panel of supervisors and planning commissioners decided to rename the “Special Planning Area-Interim” designation, calling it a “Restricted Planning Area” designation. Planner Susan Grijalva said Bunce has no project proposal for Arroyo Seco, but only sought to have criteria for the designation clarified and approved or discarded by the panel. The panel will meet again in 2 or 3 weeks, to revisit the “economic element” and also the “Urban Reserve” land designation. No date has been set for the next meeting. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Sutter Creek Planning Commission worked several sections of the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort Specific Plan Monday, finding items to change and some that needed more work. Consultant Anders Hague said items that were part of the development agreement included details of the “Wildlife Management Plan.” Hague said the city must approve the wildlife habitat, so they “must be comfortable with it.” Commission Chairman Robin Peters asked about a stipulation where a developer “must provide a qualified wildlife management” biologist for designation of habitats. Peters asked if the master developer would handle that or if it broke down to individual developers. Hague said “it is layered” and City Attorney Dennis Crabb is working on language to clarify that. Hague said most habitat designations have to do with approval of the final large lot map. Peters thought that “construction and installation should be done by the Master Developer.” He said “small-lot developers should not have to do it, so the master developer should either build it or fund it.” Commissioner Mike Kirkley said he disliked the concept of allowing a biologist to make the determinations because they are not a licensed profession. The “tombstone rocks” of the region came up during discussion of cultural resources, and Hague said the rocks are not cultural resources. Commissioner Frank Cunha disagreed, saying “this is a recommendation: So if people think they are important historically, geologically or aesthetically, then we should be talking about this now.” In public comment, Kathy Allen said the rocks got their name from settlers who used them to build tombstones, and the rocks’ ready availability helped settlers determine were to build towns. Allen said that made tombstone rocks cultural resources. Cunha said they should “insert some language to retain tombstone rocks, where feasible, to at least make a mention of it.” Kirkley said “any time you say ‘where feasible’ – you are pretty much making it unenforceable.” Hague said tombstone rocks were addressed in the conditions of approval. In a section discussing grading, Cunha recommended that “all grading sites shall be contoured and shaped.” Commissioner Bob Olson said that it should include Kirkley’s favorite phrase, “to the extent feasible.” Kirkley asked: “Is there a way to search and kill all of these” portions of the Specific Plan that say “to the extent feasible?” Hague said it could be done. Cunha said the grading section should also exclude the word “mass” in reference to grading. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador County Transportation Commission board of directors approved an agreement with Sutter Creek and the Petrovich Development Company on Wednesday that should open the door for the building of Walgreens on Ridge Road in Sutter Creek. ACTC Executive Director Charles Field said the agreement was being drafted by the commission’s legal staff and it would be based on an e-mail agreement draft he sent to Sutter Creek and the Petrovich Company’s Wanda Doscher. The board approved Field to sign the written agreement, pending legal completion. Field said Petrovich hopes to go to work at the site and begin building a Walgreens there. Sutter Creek Assistant City Manager Sean Rabe (RuhhBay) said Petrovich is “hoping to pull a grading permit (this) week and start moving dirt.” He told the board it could delay the prokject if it disapproved of the agreement. Supervisor and ACTC Board Chairman Louis Boitano said it is also “putting people to work.” Rabe said the city is supportive of the project and excited to get the Walgreens built. The agreement allows Petrovich to pay a Regional Traffic Mitigation Fee of $1,200 to ACTC. Rabe said the total reduction of fees is $88,000 dollars. The agreement includes right-of-way, frontage improvements and fee credits, as discussed by the ad hoc Transportation Policy Advisory Task force. The right-of-way is required for the highway and intersection expansions which were determined to be needed by a Traffic Impact Study of the Crossroads Shopping Center. Credits will be given to Petrovich for the right-of-way property, and supplant the Regional Traffic Mitigation Fee payments. The ACTC board unanimously voted to have Field sign the document when the legal team finishes drafting it. Sutter Creek approved the Crossroads Shopping Center in 2004. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Sutter Creek Planning Commission discussed wastewater obligations in the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort’s Specific Plan Monday, while staff and the developer acknowledged negotiations continue. Gold Rush Project Manager Jim Harnish said “I know you, like the rest of us, would like to get to a conclusion and move on with the project.” Consultant Anders Hauge said the word “treatment” should not be in the specific plan because it is in the development agreement. He said funding and financing of the treatment system are being negotiated. Commissioner Mike Kirkley said the specific plan does not talk about treatment. Commissioner Frank Cunha said “personally, I’d like to see it included in the conditions of approval.” Commission Chairman Robin Peters agreed, saying “the lack of discussion of treatment capacity stood out like a sore thumb.” Cunha said they should “make sure … that we are going to have a discussion on a wastewater treatment plant facility,” now or in the future. Gold Rush attorney Diane Kindermann Henderson said the city wastewater committee includes 2 City Council members, who will give a presentation about the negotiations. She said talks intend to “make this document consistent with the EIR” and other documents. Cunha said he didn’t think the council was supposed to “recommend to the planning commission what they think is good planning.” He saw the commission’s job as looking at planning questions and making recommendations. Cunha said “to do the exact opposite with the biggest issue of the project is wrong.” Hauge said a number of state laws determine when the wastewater plant comes on-line. And he noted that Gold Rush is paying for a “fair share” of the facility, “not the whole thing.” Assistant City Manager Sean Rabe (Ruh-Bay) said the presentation would not be ready for the next meeting and negotiations are “constantly in flux.” Hauge said it was a “policy level” issue and Peters agreed, noting that the term “fair share” belonged in the development agreement. Kirkley said the city has adequate water treatment and “the only reason we need to go to the tertiary (treatment) level is to water the golf course.” Cunha said “there has to be a timing” element to the wastewater facility agreement. He said his “biggest fear” is that the “golf course doesn’t get built,” and the city gets 500 new houses but cannot spray tertiary water there. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Sutter Creek Planning Commission sought a revision to the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort “Specific Plan” Wednesday night, looking to “fold in” its preferences to make the plan adhere to the city General Plan. Consultant for Gold Rush, Greg Bardini, gave details of the specific plan, which he acknowledged was written before the planning commission had poured through the project to determine its general plan consistency. Commissioner Frank Cunha said he thought the “document should be updated to reflect everything that (they had) done in the last 5 meetings.” But he noted that the landscaping element was very extensive and something the city needed to do itself. City consultant Anders Hauge said he had not thought of going through and making updating the specific plan, but doing so could not be done before Monday’s scheduled next meeting on Gold Rush. Cunha said the commission had spent a lot of time on the subject and had “discussed 90 percent of the things in this document.” Commissioner Mike Kirkley agreed, saying a meeting Monday would “not be very productive.” Commission Chairman Robin Peters agreed, saying he thought “someone should take the general plan recommendations and fold it into this document.” He did “not want to submit a document that isn’t something the planning commission completed.” Cunha said even through the consistency analysis, they saw how the applicant disagreed with some recommendations, including the fact that in the General Plan, there is not “General Grading” category, though Bardini’s presentation included that type of grading. Bardini said the “intent of the specific plan is that it matches the mitigations.” The commissioners canceled the Monday meeting and asked for the document’s revision to be brought to the next regular Planning Commission meeting, Tuesday, January 12th. 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 panel chose to designate land inside city Spheres of Influence as “Urban Reserves,” as they wrapped up a rehashing of the draft General Plan. The panel broke for the holiday season and a 3-month hiatus on a month-long serial meeting Thursday with staff directions to the planning department. County Planner Susan Grijalva said she thinks she knows what was agreed upon by supervisors and county planning commissioners and what was rejected over the 5 days of the meeting, which began in mid October and was reconvened 4 times. The meeting will resume in February. Grijalva and her staff will make further review on some items, including affordable housing, and on the topic of “Town Centers.” The latter will be subject of community input to determine which areas do or do not want to be designated as Town Centers. Among some items discussed Thursday, Planning Commissioners reported on their Tuesday meeting that had representatives from 4 of the 5 cities in Amador County. Commissioner Ray Ryan said they got a lot of input from developers and city planners, with the “Urban Reserve” designation getting the nod as a fit for designating unincorporated areas of Amador County that fall inside city Spheres of Influence. Ryan said he thought it was “in unison with the cities as well.” He said the planning commission agreed. Supervisor Richard Escamilla said he would still prefer to leave it alone and handle each designation individually. Commissioner Andy Byrne said he was in favor of designating all areas in Spheres of Influence of the cities, noting that addressing it with the blanket action “rather than an ad-hoc basis allows for better planning in the long run.” They identify what land is for, its development potential and its future within city boundaries. She said LAFCO looks at whether a vacant lot with cows on it will be there in 5 years. Board Chairman Richard Forster voted against the Urban Reserve designation, saying that it was “asking agriculture people to make a justification to stay agriculture.” The planning commission will return with revisions and further study information when the serial meeting resumes, February 17th, 18th and 19, from noon to 4 p.m. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).