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.).

Amador County – Interfaith Food Bank Director Kathleen Harmon has pledged to spend today hosting a turkey drive for Amador County’s less fortunate. She plans to be at the Food Bank all day today to accept donations of turkeys to meet a deficit. The charity is struggling to get Thanksgiving dinners together in a season when needy families have nearly doubled over last year. Harmon said last year they had 500 applications for Thanksgiving dinners. This year the received 940 applications and two weeks ago were still 400 birds short of fulfilling those wishes. The number narrowed to about 300 by last Friday. She said they “don’t want anybody to not have a turkey on their table.” The Turkey Drive will start with Harmon’s appearance at 7 a.m. today on AM Live here on TSPN, then continue throughout the day at the Interfaith Food Bank at 12181 Airport Road on Sutter Hill. Harmon showed a filling warehouse Friday, with donations pouring in and 100 turkeys in cold storage, but all spoken for. They were being held for a local church. The economic downturn has sent people to the food bank who have never had to go there before. Harmon said “what has happened overwhelmingly across the country is that the demand is up and the donations are down.” She said the federal emergency food program normally gives out 15 to 20 items a month in Amador County. This month, it gave out 5 items. She said “As everybody gets that flurry and that fear, jobs start to go away.” Post-Christmas layoffs make January and February the Food Bank’s busiest months. She said the Food Bank is run by a staff of volunteers of all ages, including her parents and many others. And she had faith, saying “when you say something to this community, it gets the word out.” Donate a turkey at the Food Bank,, 12181 Airport Road, Sutter Hill. For information, call (209) 267-9006. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Amador County – Consultants inched the city of Ione closer to a new General Plan with about 50 people attending a workshop on the subject Wednesday night in Evalynn Bishop Hall. Those in attendance used hand-held electronic voting clickers to interact with Rancho Cordova consultant Daniel Hamilton of PMC. Hamilton said 250 people had responded to a survey on the General Plan, and he went through the survey results. More than half of respondents have lived in Ione for less than 10 years and the majority own their homes. Major community concerns were increased traffic, a lack of shopping, the disrepair of the downtown, development pressures and a lack of community resources. Hamilton said “what we heard from surveys is that people want somewhere to shop -- they want more job opportunities and they want more shopping opportunities.” After discussions in small groups, attendees voted on different issues, including picking Alternative 2 as the preferred scheme to work with. It included having housing in the area of Waterman and Highway 124, including low-density residential, plus 10 acres of affordable housing along the eastern edge of town. Commercial growth in Alternative 2 focused on expansion of the downtown district, while Q Ranch remained open space. On separate issues, the people voted to have a future growth area in the “Triangle” formed by Highways 124, 104 and 88. One attendee pointed out seemingly contradictory results in the voting. For Q Ranch, 50 percent voted for Rural Residential or “Ranchette Style” housing, and 43 percent voted for no development at all at Q Ranch. 58 percent voted to have low-density housing at Waterman and Highway 124 and 71 percent voted to have higher-density affordable housing apartments at Highway 124 on the east edge of town. 29 percent voted to have those apartments at the entrance to Mule Creek Prison and Highway 104. 64 percent of attendees voted to expand the downtown to be larger by adding side streets to it. City Planner Christopher Jordan said the Planning Commission will consider the General Plan at its December 9th meeting, and if approved by them, the General Plan would then be brought before the Ione City Council at its January 6th meeting. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Amador County - The still undecided race for Assembly between Republican Jack Sieglock and Democrat Alyson Huber is too-close-to-call, despite over two weeks passage since the November 4th election. As of Wednesday, the two candidates were separated by 1,007 votes. Sieglock maintained his lead and increased it slightly since the last vote count tally on Monday. At that time Sieglock led by 946 votes over Huber, and both had lower overall vote totals. Today, Sieglock has 46.9 percent of the votes over Huber’s 46.3 percent. One voting official said there are still thousands of ballots left to be counted in the District, although no one seems to have an exact number. Progress has been slow - officials appear to have counted only a few hundred votes since Monday. Despite Sieglock’s lead, officials are saying this race is too tight to claim a victor. Many of the remaining votes that are left to be counted are from parts of Sacramento County where Huber held a healthy 12-point lead going into the election. Vote tallies in the other areas indicated margins in favor of Sieglock. Sieglock’s lead was anywhere from 9 percentage points to 25 percentage points in San Joaquin, El Dorado and Amador counties. “Jack Sieglock gained 2,500 votes over his opponent in Amador County alone. Amador County could be the determining factor in all this,” said Jim Rooney, head of the local Republican Central Committee. Amador County voted predominantly for Sieglock, 54.55 percent over 37.50 percent. “I don't think anyone is surprised that it's a close race. Maybe six months ago, people didn't think it would be this close. They thought it would be a safe Republican seat,” said Huber. Sieglock has expressed no concern over the possibility of a Huber win. Assembly District 10 includes four counties, including parts of San Joaquin and Sacramento counties. Story by Alex Lane (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Amador County - Yet another grim statistic shows the dire condition of the local housing market. October marks the first month since April of 2002 that median home prices for new and existing homes combined dropped below 200,000 dollars in the Sacramento region, according to Dataquick statistics released Wednesday. Dataquick is a statistics company focused on real property and land data. Amador County’s median home prices dropped to 250,000, down 27.5 percent from the same month in 2007. Prices have fallen 41.2 percent from a May high of 425,000 dollars. Sacramento, Yuba and Placer County home prices are below 200,000. El Dorado County’s 388,000 median is down 7.1 percent from a year ago. El Dorado county's sales prices have slipped 27 percent from their March 2006 peak of 531,000. DataQuick reported 4,210 homes changed hands in Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties. That was down slightly from 4,369 sales in September. The bright side to the massive decline is that prices fueled another strong month of home sales throughout the region. Bank repos still account for the majority of home purchases. Story by Alex Lane (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Amador County - The U.S. Census Bureau is gearing up for the 2010 Census by recruiting for thousands of temporary and part-time jobs throughout the foothills region. A United States constitutional mandate from 1790 requires a systematic population count every ten years. The information is used by the government to distribute tax dollars, and it determines how many seats are allocated per state in the U.S. House of Representatives. “Amador is one of 11 counties in this region that we are recruiting for,” said Judy Lopez, a regional technician with the Census Bureau. “We are currently conducting pre-employment exams and background checks,” she added. Census jobs last anywhere from 5 to 10 weeks and start at 15 dollars an hour. An exam for a non-supervisor position, which includes enumerators and field crew leaders, takes approximately 30 minutes. Supervisor exams take at least an hour and require some previous supervisor experience. Although the meat of the work will be conducted from February 2009 through May 2010, some job requirements could last up to two years. Every household in the area will receive census forms to fill out for the final tally, which is set for April 1st, 2010. “We will need many workers and we encourage people to take the exam,” said Lopez. She said that so far Amador County has shown a strong turnout. A dry-run of the census taking process was recently conducted in San Joaquin County with good results. Most census jobs require U.S. citizenship, a driver's license and use of a vehicle. Each applicant will undergo a background check before being hired. Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties' residents can call 235-3480 to schedule the test. Merced and Mariposa County residents can call 818-717-6700 for recruiting. Story by Alex Lane (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Amador County – The Ione City Council on Tuesday amended an agreement on the Wildflower Subdivision, which could allow a sale of the development. Doug Goldsmith of Ryland Homes was the only person to talk during a public hearing on the amendment. Goldsmith said it was a “win-win” for the city and his company because “it gives you guys some money and it makes the project more viable.” The amendment allows for a final map on the project. City Manager Kim Kerr introduced the amendment, approved earlier this month by the Ione Planning Commission. Kerr said “the biggest issue is addressing their water entitlement with the Amador Water Agency.” Kerr said Ryland Homes is in negotiations with a company to purchase the Wildflower Project. The project includes a 2-million-gallon potable water storage tank off Brickyard Road. Ryland Homes paid 2.2 million dollars for the tank and also financed the project for another 2 million dollars. JTS Communities paid 360,000 dollars for a pump station that feeds the tank. The amendment to the agreement with Ione allows a 15 percent payment of Facility Impact Fees on Units 1 and 2 in the Wildflower development. That 15 percent is to be paid when the final map is recorded, while the remaining 85 percent of fees are due at the issuance of the first building permit, or 9 months after the recording date. For Units 3, 4 and 5, Ryland must pay 15 percent of Facility Impact Fees, which amounts to 435,794 dollars. That money is due to the city either on February 27, 2009, or within 7 days of close of escrow if Ryland sells Units 3, 4 and 5. Accompanying it was a resolution saying that the amendment is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act. The original agreement was signed with Ryland Homes in 2007 to develop 201 single-family homes on 63 acres. The Wildflower Project is next to Howard Park, between Highway 104 and Brickyard Road, in the east part of Ione. The revision changed the notification period from 60 days to 30 days for Ryland Homes to notify the city of any intent to sell the lots in each of Units 3, 4 and 5. Kerr said that the amendment was needed to get the final map and allow any sale of the units. Story by Jim Reece (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Amador County - A spell of warm, dry weather has forced two Sierra ski resorts to postpone their season openings. Heavenly and Kirkwood resorts had planned to open this week after a wet start to November. But a week of warm and dry weather during the middle part of the month has pushed back their opening dates to at least Thanksgiving weekend. Heavenly, which has Lake Tahoe's most expansive snowmaking operation, announced on its Web site that the resort will open when conditions allow. “The forecast for the next five days calls for a cooling trend that should give us better snowmaking temperatures,” said resort spokesman Russ Pecoraro. Kirkwood said it will open Thanksgiving weekend, conditions permitting. With the recent high temperatures, resorts have been unable to maximize their snowmaking capabilities. Staff Report (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan announced Friday that at the November 13th State Corrections and Standards Authority meeting in Sacramento, Amador County received a conditional award of 22,712 dollars from the state to be used towards the construction of a new county jail facility. The amount represents the state’s 75 percent of the total project cost of 30,282,667 dollars pursuant to Assembly Bill 900, which passed last year. The balance of the project costs are the responsibility of Amador County. Amador County joins its Re-entry facility partners of Calaveras and San Joaquin County in receiving state grant funds for their local jail projects. The Northern California Re-entry Facility, located in San Joaquin County, will help prepare Amador County’s inmates who are within 12 months of their parole date to receive intensive counseling and job training in an effort to reduce the state’s 70 percent recidivism rate. This rate contributes greatly to the state prison overcrowding situation. Sheriff Ryan, who was present for the award announcement, thanked the Amador County Board of Supervisor’s, CAO Teri Daly, GSA Director Jon Hopkins, and Sheriff’s Corrections Division Captain Ron Rockett and his staff for their support and efforts in successfully getting the county through this critical stage of the process. “I know this grant award is somewhat bitter-sweet given the county’s current economic situation, but the need to replace our outdated and overcrowded jail is critical to a secure future for the citizen’s of our county,” said Ryan. The current 24 year old jail is rated for 76 beds and regularly runs 10-15% over capacity in spite of programs to allow lesser offenders to spend time out of the facility. The proposed new facility would meet the county’s year 2010 need of 165 beds as determined by a recent jail needs assessment and would address the safety and security concerns voiced by several past Grand Juries. Staff Report

News of a court ruling in favor of West Point’s Fire District came last Wednesday after more than a year of litigation, ending a lawsuit that forced dramatic cuts in fire department staffing and service. The lawsuit tied up revenues collected by the fire district through a voter-approved tax assessment in April 0f 2007. Judge John Griffin ruled that plaintiffs Concerned Citizens for Responsible Government and William Doherty failed to prove any wrongdoing when the West Point Fire officials began collecting an assessment that was approved by 62 percent of voters. West Point District Board Chairman Al Arieta was reportedly “ecstatic” when asked to comment on the legal victory. The small district was forced to lay off its paid firefighters after the district froze money in an account because of the uncertainty of the lawsuit. Despite the victory last week, the case is far from over. Doherty and his attorney, Bob Reeve of Valley Springs, plan to appeal the case to the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento. Doherty believes the tax is illegal because it taxes the owners of rural land already covered by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Reeve also believes that taxes were not proportionate to the properties being protected. But the fire district’s attorneys say rates were carefully considered and meet all legal requirements for proportionality. Resident reaction to the lawsuit has been overwhelmingly negative- barbeques and fundraisers were held in order to raise money to pay off legal costs. Story by Alex Lane