A proposed development in Sutter Creek that would more than double the population of the town was the topic of this week’s Sutter Creek Planning Commission meeting. The Gold Rush Gold Ranch Development and Golf Course would be situated along Lower Ridge Road and the new Highway 49 bypass, and would include 12 new neighborhoods with a total of 1-thousand three hundred and thirty-four new residences, an eighteen-hole golf course, three hundred vacation homes, and a hotel with sixty hotel rooms. The project would also serve to conserve three-hundred-plus acres of open space and facilitate over five miles of hiking and biking trails throughout the property. The city of Sutter Creek is a partner in the project, and could greatly benefit financially. “Money is the issue for me,” said city council member Pat Crosby, who placed poker chips on the table in order to demonstrate the developer and the city’s potential monetary gain from the project. “Sutter Creek cannot continue as a rundown city with pothole streets,” Crosby stated, and further stressed that the city would not take any less than three-hundred million dollars for entitlements. 

However, amid the promises of monetary gain and enriched public facilities, there was still an air of skepticism from other members of the community. The city of Sutter Creek has never in its history seen a development of this size, and the question of whether the project is “just out of scale” with the rest of the town was raised by Foothill Conservancy Executive Director Chris Wright. Another community member, who preferred to remain anonymous, told TSPN that he didn’t see how the development benefited the residents of the town who “just weren’t into golfing.” The meeting was the first in a series of public workshops to focus on the project. The subject of the next meeting will be concerning the zoning of the project, and will take place on October 9th. For more information, you can visit the project’s website at www.goldrushranch.com. Comments or concerns regarding the proposed Gold Rush Ranch Golf Course and Development? Log onto our website and voice your opinion at www.tspntv.com under the “Letters to the Editor” tab.