Amador County – The Amador County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday discussed its return to the county General Plan update, set for May 25-26, in a joint meeting with the Amador County Planning Commission.

Supervisors looked at minutes from 16 separate days of meetings of the Joint Panel, for the General Plan update began October, 2008, and meeting various times through to November 2009. Amador County Planner Susan Grijalva, and Planner Heidi Jacobs prepared the minutes from tape recordings or staff notes.

Supervisor Brian Oneto asked why the minutes only now were coming to the board, and Grijalva said it was a combination of short staff time, and they did not have other joint meetings to go back to. County Counsel Martha Shaver asked if they had gone through all of the recordings of the meetings, and Grijalva said no, but she thought the General Plan fairly well reflected the Board’s direction.

Supervisor Richard Forster said all of the people at the Board’s meeting March 22, who were concerned about getting to comment on the General Plan “they should get these too.” He said they should see that “there was a lot of discussion before we made those decisions.” Grijalva said the draft minutes must also be reviewed by the Planning Commission, and would be available through the county’s website, along with the draft General Plan.

Supervisor Ted Novelli said that the minutes did not include outreach meetings held throughout the county prior to those joint panel sessions. Forster said they also took public comment at all of the 16 meetings.

Supervisor Chairman John Plasse said he wanted people to know that the Board of Supervisors still had work to do to get to the point where they can hold a public hearing on the General Plan. He said he did not want to have a rehashing of issues they had previously addressed, when “work was done, decisions were made and direction was given.”

Plasse said he would ask that Board comments May 25-26 be made in the form of motions, to be voted on by the board. Grijalva said “where you are now, it is probably more appropriate to make motions and start being more specific in the direction, because now you have a document.”

Forster said when comments come, they need to see whether people have done their homework or not, so they can keep it constructive, and keep the meeting moving.

Plasse said he did not want it to turn into a rehashing of an issue that has been discussed 10 times before. He said some groups have approached him and said none of their comments were included in the General Plan. He said people need to read the documents before they make such comments.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.