Tom

Sunday, 23 May 2010 18:00

A-Pal Kitten Foster Program

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Tuesday, 25 May 2010 07:32

Ione Developer Criticizes AWA's Draft Will-Serve Policy Changes

Amador County – Long-time Ione developer Rob Aragon delivered a letter to the Amador Water Agency last week criticizing the legality of proposed fee changes for the agency’s will-serves commitments to potential water customers. Aragon, representing Ione Villages 1 LLC and the Building Industry Association, delivered the board a letter from attorneys saying “the agency may not adopt” an ordinance changing its will-serve fee payment because the ordinance violates state law. Attorney Paul C. Anderson in the letter said: “Fees imposed on residential development, such as the Castle Oaks project, may not be collected ‘until the date of the final inspection, or the date the certificate of occupancy is issued, whichever occurs first.’ ” Anderson said early payment of fees is not necessary to “reimburse the local agency for expenditures previously made.” AWA Vice President Debbie Dunn asked what was in the letter, and if the board should make an answer. General Manager Gene Mancebo said the board should let legal staff answer the letter. The board’s suggested ordinance and amendments would change policy on will serve commitments and payment of participation fee. It would require a 10 percent fee payment at the “Conditional Will-Serve phase.” It also included a 25 percent payment “when a final map is recorded,” with credit for the previous payment. Additional 25 percent payments would follow over the next 3 years. Under current AWA will-serve policy, fees are typically not due until the owner applies for a building permit, sells the lot or requests service. The fees are meant to “buy into an existing water system and cover costs for capacity impacts,” Mancebo said. The changes are meant to “cover agency costs of reserving water supply and infrastructure for property owners who hold will-serve commitments indefinitely,” as “there is no time limit to a will-serve commitment.” Aragon and Plymouth developer Bob Reeder, said at the May 13th meeting that the proposed schedule for paying fees was “unrealistic based on typical development/financing scenarios,” and the “initial 10 percent payment was arbitrary and did not represent actual AWA costs for providing a will serve commitment.” A public workshop on the ordinance was scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday (May 26th) at the AWA office. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in News Archive

Tuesday, 25 May 2010 07:33

AWA Deadlocks On Will-Serve Fee Action

Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors deadlocked 2-2 last week on peripheral action on a proposed ordinance that would change “will-serve” fees. The board in its meeting 2 weeks ago had discussed an ordinance that would change the will-serve policy, and agreed to “memorialize” a flawed draft ordinance at that meeting by reading it into the record, while also setting a workshop on the ordinance for this week. The vote last Thursday would have made all pending will-serve applications subject to the new policy, if and when a new policy ordinance was approved by the board. Agency attorney Steve Kronick reportedly left the earlier meeting without knowing the board’s ability to pass the peripheral action. Later, he recommended wording for a motion, which would “apply to any application for a conditional will-serve commitment pending as of the date of the motion or thereafter and any new application for such a commitment submitted on or after such date.” Director Terence Moore said Kronick found flaws in the draft ordinance, and making the peripheral action would “just be compounding our errors.” Moore said: “I think we need to have a workshop before we make any changes to the ordinance.” The board on May 13th discussed ordinance changes and agreed to set a will-serve ordinance workshop this Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to noon. Director Gary Thomas said after changes were discussed, the topic was exhausted and the workshop was set, then people interested in the subject left. Thomas said the board later resumed discussion on the ordinance, leading to reading the draft changes into record, which he called an “injustice” to people who were interested in the issue. One was Rob Aragon of Ione Villages 1 LLC. He said during public comment last week that the board appeared to have stopped talking about the will-serve issue at the May 13th meeting, then discussion ensued on the topic after a break. He said “maybe it meets the legal test but it doesn’t meet the moral test,” and he said it was not an example of “transparency” in government. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in News Archive

Tuesday, 25 May 2010 07:35

Ione CDBG Grants Include Business Study For Downtown

Amador County – The Ione City Council last week started this year’s Community Development Block Grant application process. City Manager Kim Kerr said Tuesday the city could apply for $100,000 to work on Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility requirements. Work could include streets around town and improvements to the Ione police station in City Hall, which needs both interior and exterior work. Councilman Lee Ard said Kerr and City Planner Christopher Jordan will be putting together a grant application package, to be submitted in the fall. The grants could include one toward economic development of Main Street and ADA compliance. Ard said the 2 or 3 different CDBG grants have maximums potential values of $40,000 going up to $250,000. Ard said the council doesn’t know which grants it will apply for, and the Tuesday public workshop was not well attended. He said: “We usually don’t get a lot of input.” Kerr and Jordan will work on the ADA grant “for a few months so it’s a quality project,” and it will be submitted in August or September. He said they have to do the City Hall upgrade to make further repairs which should have been made in a 2003 remodel. The project “didn’t bother to make it ADA compliant,” Ard said. The second phase will put in ramps on the back side of City Hall, and finish the bathrooms, which are “sort of ADA compliant.” Ard said Ione applied for another grant with the help of Caltrans, “and we are in the 1st or 2nd position.” Another grant would “start an economic analysis for downtown to see what kind of businesses people in town will shop at,” and gather information, so the city can “make sure we go out and recruit the right kind of businesses.” A “heavy duty economic analysis” will track credit card usage by Ione cardholders, using no names, only resident locations, to see where local people spend their money. “They will actually tell us what businesses will do really well, based on the spending habits of citizens,” Ard said, adding that “Livermore, Pleasanton and Davis are 3 cities that used this type of study to revitalize their downtown.” He said “it’s a $60,000 analysis, so it’s not cheap, but definitely a quality product will be the end result.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in News Archive

Tuesday, 25 May 2010 07:37

ACTC Brainstorms Mental Health Transit Issues

Amador County - The Amador County Transportation Commission brainstormed public transportation issues last Wednesday during a report on transportation needs from Nina Machado, Chairperson for the Social Services Transportation Advisory Counsel. During public comment, Machado said she gathered input on transportation issues during a recent Behavioral Health meeting. She said much of the feedback complimented the way ARTS has improved in working with the public, but there is still a need for “alternative ways to help people with transportation.” She said “evenings and Saturdays continue to be a challenge for transit dependent individuals.” She said many low-income clients are excited about a recently approved $3 ticket for all day travel, but were wondering if they could exchange these in route for $1 and $2 bus vouchers issued to clients of Social Services. Machado said they “don’t want to give out cash” to their clients and a simple voucher exchange would be the best alternative. Supervisor and board member John Plasse said it would be a good way to increase ridership. The board unanimously approved a motion by Plasse to have bus drivers accept the exchange. Machado said other suggestions included a stop at the Jackson Public Library, which was removed a while back during route reductions due to budget cuts. She said the route from Lake Camanche to Ione that serves the family learning center is working very well for participants and they wanted to thank the commission. She said a discontinued route that ran from the Shenandoah Valley to Ione learning center is “still greatly missed.” In general, she said, routes from Ione are “really limited.” Machado said the Amador Learning Center currently has to borrow vans from the Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency to compensate for limited ARTS routes, but these vans only hold seven individuals, which requires “multiple trips or staggering participation on different days.” She suggested using additional vans purchased through Behavioral Health with Mental Health Services Act money for the Sierra Wind Wellness & Recovery Center, but the company which runs the center cannot afford the $6 million liability insurance requirement. She said we have vans that “aren’t being used because we can’t get insured for a $10,000 policy per year.” Plasse said the County previously donated use of those vans on the agreement that the Center find its own insurance policy. The commission approved a motion to have staff research the issue and add the item to the next regular agenda. Machado said she will gather more input on transportation needs at a Behavioral Health Steering Committee meeting on June 8. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in News Archive

Tuesday, 25 May 2010 07:42