Councilman criticizes Plymouth’s General Plan, as the city writes up its traffic plan

Tuesday, 14 September 2010 06:53

Councilman criticizes Plymouth’s General Plan, as the city writes up its traffic plan

Amador County – The Plymouth City Council last week approved more work to finalize a traffic improvement plan for the city, based on what Councilman Jon Colburn called a flawed General Plan. Colburn said the “Sphere of Influence” in the general plan was supposed to contain land the city would annex in the future. City Manager Dixon Flynn said maybe the city “did too much future planning,” but they still need the traffic improvement plan. Flynn said: “If we try to develop a perfect plan, we’ll never have one.” Colburn said “we spent $140,000 on a plan based on flawed information.” Amador County Transportation Commission planner Neil Peacock said “they are both living documents” and “in an ideal world, you change this circulation plan every time you change your general plan.” He said they need one in place first. Peacock said he is “really at a disadvantage to comment” on the city general plan, but city consultant Richard Prima found realistic barriers to annexation in the sphere of influence, such as Williamson Act farmland, and 50-year easements given for agricultural land. He said the city first needs to decide where it needs to develop traffic improvements. He said some “traffic calming” turn lanes in the plan may not be needed in 50 years, but big projects need proper access. That included locating the access for Far Horizons trailer village off of Highway 49. Vice Mayor Greg Baldwin said Far Horizons owner Chuck Hays was aware of that future need, and he was OK with it. Councilman Mike O’Meara said “the plan helps us move faster to get funding from Caltrans,” and he voted with Baldwin and Mayor Pat Fordyce to approve $5,000 left in the project budget to finalize the nexus and ordinance. Peacock said Caltrans District 10, leading the way on Highway 49 development, said the “level of service” grade Caltrans wants on Highway 49 is typically a “C” or a “D.” Caltrans said as long as the city preserves a right-of-way for the future expansion to four lanes on the roadway, the plan would be allowed to move forward. Peacock said that way, the “locals can be in the driver’s seat” and control the design, like they are doing in Pine Grove. The plan recommended roundabouts (or signal controls) at the Zinfandel development entrance; at 49 & Main; and at Empire Street in Plymouth. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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