Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors today will discuss fire suppression fees for new homes, and also will get a presentation on the use of a special tax for its Gravity Supply Line and the infrastructure of the Amador Water System.

The AWA has a regular meeting scheduled for today to discuss a staff recommendation by General Manager Gene Mancebo to direct staff “to charge residential fire suppression system water service connections based on a standard 5/8ths-inch participation fee and monthly service charge.” In a report for today’s meeting, Mancebo also recommended staff be directed to “review water use in accordance” with “water code for water used based on fees paid,” and work on “standard backflow prevention requirements” and public policy for fire suppression systems.

Mancebo in the report said California Building Code effective Jan. 1 requires “automatic sprinkler systems in all new construction of one- and two-family dwellings,” excluding townhouses. He said staff determined that flow of 30 gallons a minute would be needed for sprinklers in new homes, along with 5 gallons a minute flow for domestic use. He said the city of Ione has already enacted code that requires new homes to have the systems, and the AWA now has requests from Ione for the sprinkler service.

The report said staff determined that the flow needed would be a 5/8ths-inch line, and that the new home participation fees for a 5/8ths-inch line would be $11,000, based on the Amador Water System fee structure, compared to a 1-inch line participation fee of $27,500. He said AWS also has a service charge that would apply, of $25 a month for the smaller line, and $49 a month for the larger line.

Also today, the AWA board is scheduled to get a presentation from legal counsel on the use of “Special Tax Fees.” In particular, the presentation would discuss the use of a special tax for the AWA’s proposed Gravity Supply Line project, and for the infrastructure of the Amador Water System.

The board today is also scheduled to get a report from Human Resources Director Karen Gish on new job classifications based on the agency reorganization plan, approved at the last meeting. The AWA’s regular board meeting was to start at 9 a.m. today.

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

Amador County – More than 110 people attended the first General Plan Update meeting of 2011, with a nearly capacity supervisors chamber. The first meeting of the year of the Joint Panel of Amador County’s Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission was also the panel’s 13th meeting on the topic overall.

The Joint Panel began meeting in 2008, and last met in 2009, then staff went to work preparing the Preliminary Draft General Plan, which County Planner Susan Grijalva and her staff brought back Wednesday for more preliminary work. She said the changes that would come from changing words and the like was not enough to cause the re-circulating of the Environmental Impact Report for comment.

She said the meeting was intended to confirm that the preliminary drafts of the general plan document, glossary and implementation plan “contain the direction previously given to staff” in the dozen previous meetings, and to “identify any item that, if incorporated into the document later in the process, would be of such significance so as to substantially change the project description, thereby necessitating recirculation of the Draft Environmental Impact Report.” She said word changes “aren’t significant enough in the scope of environmental analysis” and that discussion should be held until the Draft General Plan and EIR are released.

Supervisor Chairman John Plasse read a list of minutes from the 10-member Joint Panel’s last 12 meetings, and said: “Who says we’re not transparent?” Grijalva said there were 27 General Plan Advisory Committee meetings held over 2 years, along with workshops in the community. The dozen Joint Panel meetings were held over 2-and-a-half years, and “correspondence was received during all phases.”

Several people spoke during “public matters not on the agenda,” and started to address the General Plan Update, but were asked to refrain from doing so until later. A public speaker’s sign-in sheet was indicated by Grijalva, who also asked that anyone reading from prepared statements could submit their document to Planner Cara Augustin, so that it could more easily be placed into the record of the proceedings.

Eight documents of correspondence were packaged for the Panel, and Grijalva started the meeting by bringing up four areas of concern that staff had found things in the final land use map which needed the panel’s further direction. She said staff had identified “four areas that don’t appear to be consistent with policies that we’ve applied to the rest of the General Plan.”

The meeting, attended by more than 100 people, included many in red signifying membership of the Mother Lode Tea Party Patriots, many of whom signed up for the public comment period. The meeting was scheduled to be continued to today if needed.

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

Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 5-26-11 - TSPN's Tom Slivick speask with Assistant Superintendent Anthony Lucero about the last open house, and closing ceremony for the Preston Correctional Youth Facility.

Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 5-26-11

·       Amador County Joint Panel kicked off its 13^th meeting of its General Plan Update, with the first of 2011.

·       The Amador Water Agency today will discuss fire suppression system participation fees for new homes.

·       The Amador County Joint Plan panel works toward a Draft General Plan, and related documents

·       AWA votes to oppose Senate Bill 34, California Water Resources Investment Act of 2011.

Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 5-26-11

·       Amador County Joint Panel kicked off its 13^th meeting of its General Plan Update, with the first of 2011.

·       The Amador Water Agency today will discuss fire suppression system participation fees for new homes.

·       The Amador County Joint Plan panel works toward a Draft General Plan, and related documents

·       AWA votes to oppose Senate Bill 34, California Water Resources Investment Act of 2011.

Amador County News, TSPN TV News Video, 5-26-11 - TSPN's Tom Slivick speask with Assistant Superintendent Anthony Lucero about the last open house, and closing ceremony for the Preston Correctional Youth Facility.

Amador County – More than 110 people attended the first General Plan Update meeting of 2011, with a nearly capacity supervisors chamber. The first meeting of the year of the Joint Panel of Amador County’s Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission was also the panel’s 13th meeting on the topic overall.

The Joint Panel began meeting in 2008, and last met in 2009, then staff went to work preparing the Preliminary Draft General Plan, which County Planner Susan Grijalva and her staff brought back Wednesday for more preliminary work. She said the changes that would come from changing words and the like was not enough to cause the re-circulating of the Environmental Impact Report for comment.

She said the meeting was intended to confirm that the preliminary drafts of the general plan document, glossary and implementation plan “contain the direction previously given to staff” in the dozen previous meetings, and to “identify any item that, if incorporated into the document later in the process, would be of such significance so as to substantially change the project description, thereby necessitating recirculation of the Draft Environmental Impact Report.” She said word changes “aren’t significant enough in the scope of environmental analysis” and that discussion should be held until the Draft General Plan and EIR are released.

Supervisor Chairman John Plasse read a list of minutes from the 10-member Joint Panel’s last 12 meetings, and said: “Who says we’re not transparent?” Grijalva said there were 27 General Plan Advisory Committee meetings held over 2 years, along with workshops in the community. The dozen Joint Panel meetings were held over 2-and-a-half years, and “correspondence was received during all phases.”

Several people spoke during “public matters not on the agenda,” and started to address the General Plan Update, but were asked to refrain from doing so until later. A public speaker’s sign-in sheet was indicated by Grijalva, who also asked that anyone reading from prepared statements could submit their document to Planner Cara Augustin, so that it could more easily be placed into the record of the proceedings.

Eight documents of correspondence were packaged for the Panel, and Grijalva started the meeting by bringing up four areas of concern that staff had found things in the final land use map which needed the panel’s further direction. She said staff had identified “four areas that don’t appear to be consistent with policies that we’ve applied to the rest of the General Plan.”

The meeting, attended by more than 100 people, included many in red signifying membership of the Mother Lode Tea Party Patriots, many of whom signed up for the public comment period. The meeting was scheduled to be continued to today if needed.

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

Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors today will discuss fire suppression fees for new homes, and also will get a presentation on the use of a special tax for its Gravity Supply Line and the infrastructure of the Amador Water System.

The AWA has a regular meeting scheduled for today to discuss a staff recommendation by General Manager Gene Mancebo to direct staff “to charge residential fire suppression system water service connections based on a standard 5/8ths-inch participation fee and monthly service charge.” In a report for today’s meeting, Mancebo also recommended staff be directed to “review water use in accordance” with “water code for water used based on fees paid,” and work on “standard backflow prevention requirements” and public policy for fire suppression systems.

Mancebo in the report said California Building Code effective Jan. 1 requires “automatic sprinkler systems in all new construction of one- and two-family dwellings,” excluding townhouses. He said staff determined that flow of 30 gallons a minute would be needed for sprinklers in new homes, along with 5 gallons a minute flow for domestic use. He said the city of Ione has already enacted code that requires new homes to have the systems, and the AWA now has requests from Ione for the sprinkler service.

The report said staff determined that the flow needed would be a 5/8ths-inch line, and that the new home participation fees for a 5/8ths-inch line would be $11,000, based on the Amador Water System fee structure, compared to a 1-inch line participation fee of $27,500. He said AWS also has a service charge that would apply, of $25 a month for the smaller line, and $49 a month for the larger line.

Also today, the AWA board is scheduled to get a presentation from legal counsel on the use of “Special Tax Fees.” In particular, the presentation would discuss the use of a special tax for the AWA’s proposed Gravity Supply Line project, and for the infrastructure of the Amador Water System.

The board today is also scheduled to get a report from Human Resources Director Karen Gish on new job classifications based on the agency reorganization plan, approved at the last meeting. The AWA’s regular board meeting was to start at 9 a.m. today.

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

Amador County – Among the more than 100 people who attended the Amador County Joint Panel meeting Wednesday were many wearing the red of the Mother Lode Tea Party. All were invited to speak later in the meeting. During public matters not on the agenda, a few people still spoke about the matters that were on the agenda: The General Plan.

Kathy Allen said her group, Amador Citizens for Smart Growth, was unduly criticized for costing the county for making Freedom of Information Act requests, but she said her comment letters of 7 and 13 pages “were in no way monstrous.” She said Amador Business Council “submitted a much larger document.”

Terry Nielsen of Pine Grove said “we moved here to be in the open country” and are strongly against being crammed into clustered, controlled communities. He cited Senate Bill 375 as the bible for the California Environmental Quality Act, and Greenhouse Gas reduction, and said “the law is so revolutionary that California has been going through a real boom in the planning industry.”

Supervisor Ted Novelli pointed out that SB375, the “metropolitan planning” law, is specific to 7 counties, but not Amador County. But he said “certain segments of it could pertain to Amador County.”

Supervisor Chairman John Plasse read a statement from county legal counsel about a recent greenhouse gas ruling, which went against the state in San Francisco. He said AB32 created CEQA, but SB97 amended CEQA to add greeghouse gas emission, which was the basis on which then Attorney General Jerry Brown required the monitoring of greenhouse gasses to be in county General Plans. Plasse said the ruling in San Francisco was against “Cap & Trade,” and the State Resources Board will appeal, which stays the ruling on Cap & Trade, and “unfortunately, we will not be able to address the issue.”

The Panel then turned to several issues that still needed to be rectified. Among those was land use designation on a few properties around the Amador County Airport, which Planner Susan Grijalva said had inconsistencies. One of those was property purchased by the Amador Water Agency to expand its water storage. The land designation was changed to Public Service, as was a 3.26-acre parcel near West Point Bridge on Highway 26. Similarly, the Pine Grove community leach field was designated a Public Service area.

Other land near the airport was discussed, including a 20-acre ranch, whose owners had not been notified of possible designation changes. It was agreed to make a notification of all lands affected by the airport, due to “federally adopted over-flight zones.” Supervisors Louis Boitano and Novelli said they thought the family owned the property before the airport was built.

After taking public comment, the Joint Panel meeting was adjourned to resume at 1 p.m. today.

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

Amador County – In late April, the Amador Water Agency board of directors voted to oppose the California Water Resources Investment Act, in part because it was an “unfunded mandate.”

AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo at the late April meeting said the directors “voted to join other water agency coalition groups” in opposing California Senate Bill 34, which would enact the California Water Resources Investment Act of 2011. Mancebo told the board that the act would be an unfunded mandate, and it “would impose an assessment on each acre-foot of water sold for residential and agricultural use.”

He said the “bill initially proposed an assessment of $110 per acre-foot of residential use and for each acre of agricultural irrigation,” with the funds generated to be used “to finance a water resources investment program.”

Mancebo said the “dollar amount has been removed from the current version of the bill, but Directors discussed the negative impact of any assessment on Agency water rates, and voted 5-0 to send a letter in opposition.”

Also in the late April meeting, the AWA board of directors declared eight of its trucks as surplus and will sell the trucks through the Agency’s surplus property process. The used vehicles, dating from 1996 to 2001, will be offered for sale first to other government agencies and then to the general public, per a new agency policy approved by the new board. Any trucks not sold at that point will be offered for sale to Agency employees.

A list of the surplus vehicles is available by contacting Cris Thompson or Barry Birge at the Amador Water Agency, at (209) 223-3018.

The AWA board of directors today has two special meetings that will occur before the regular meeting. One, which was announced yesterday, is to discuss Proposition 84 grant implementation, relative to the Urban Water Management Plan, that would be created in conjunction with the East Bay Municipal Utility District. The special meeting is set for 1:30 p.m. today.

The board also was to have a special budget meeting starting at 8 a.m. today to talk about the 2011-2012 fiscal year budget, and the fiscal year capital improvement projects. They also were to discuss fixed asset review, and receive a cash flow projections report.

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