From the Calaveras Enterprise
By Krissi Krob
Posted: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 10:37 AM CDT
The first round of community meetings to gather citizen input into
Calaveras County’s general plan update wound up last week with meetings
in Valley Springs and Rancho Calaveras.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in a county general plan update
where people are more informed, more involved and more vocal about what
they want to see happen to their community,” said Larry Mintier, a
consultant working on the project. “People here are passionate about
these local planning issues.”
While the Valley Springs audience at the elementary school Thursday
night wasn’t the biggest crowd so farnmore than 200 residents attended a
Rail Road Flat meetingnabout 70 people came to talk about what they
like, and dislike, about their community.
Included in the audience were Supervisors Bill Claudino, Merita Callaway
and Russ Thomas, and Jeff Davidson from the Calaveras County Water
District Board of Directors.
After a presentation by Sacramento consultants Mintier & Associates, the
audience participated in a question and answer session, during which
several members of the audience raised concerns about what the status of
their community plan will be under the new general plan. Community plans
are specifically tailored development plans for the various
unincorporated towns in the county.
Mintier, who gave the presentation, explained that the new general plan
will streamline and include the Arnold, Avery-Hathaway Pines, Mokelumne
Hill, Murphys-Douglas Flat, San Andreas and Valley Springs community
plans, the county airport, Ebbetts Pass and Rancho Calaveras special
plans, and will also incorporate the Copperopolis community plan, which
is still a working draft. The general plan update will provide guidance
for developing community plans for West Point, Wilseyville and Rail Road
Flat.
The county Board of Supervisors will hold a study session July 10 to
discuss the role of community plans in the general plan update, said
Stephanie Moreno, director of community development.
“I endorse this process,” Thomas said at Saturday’s Rancho Calaveras
meeting. “I think it’s the only way we’re going to arrive at a general
plan that is representative of the various views across the county.”
“We’re not suggesting we’re going to rescind all the community plans,”
Mintier said. The goal is to keep the parts of the plans that are unique
to their respective communities, and to eliminate redundancies.
A question was also raised as to the existence of a countywide building
moratorium. The moratorium, Moreno said, is only for new development
projects that would involve a general plan or zoning change.
Applications submitted before the moratorium went into effect are still
being processed.
These meetings always involve an interactive project, during which the
audience is asked to identify what they think their community’s biggest
assets are, and it’s biggest problems. They are also asked to do the
same thing for Calaveras as a whole. Valley Springs’ open spaces, lakes,
La Contenta Golf Course, rural lifestyle, recreation and shopping were
named as its biggest assets. The lack of adequate roadsnHighway 26 in
particularnjobs, affordable housing, rising crime, quantity and quality
of water, creek maintenance and loss of oak trees were identified as its
biggest problems.
“The citizens want some input into the county general plan,” said
Cathryn Jackson, who has lived in Valley Springs for seven years, “so
we’re not stuck with urban sprawl and no roads or water left for the
citizens who already live here.”
“We want to see the open spaces and rural nature of the valley
protected,” Jackson added.
Countywide, Valley Springs residents appreciate the natural beauty,
tourism opportunities, historical significance and agriculture of the
foothills. The lack of an adequate general plan, healthcare, traffic and
road maintenance, water rights, corruption of government officials,
public transport and uncontrolled growth are all issues that need to be
improved.
At the Rancho Calaveras meeting, held at Jenny Lind Elementary School
Saturday morning, many of the same issues were raised. Rancho, a
subdivision, doesn’t have a community plan, but instead has a special
plan unique to the subdivision. Several residents were concerned about
what will happen to the special plan under the update.
“It’s like a golden cow,” Ron Parks said of the special plan. Parks wore
a sign on his hat that said the special plan is Rancho Calaveras’
biggest asset. Under the special plan, commercial industries cannot come
in to the subdivision.
The best time to discuss what will happen to the special plans will be
during the next phase of community meetings, Moreno said, which will be
held at the end of the summer. The meetings will be the same basic
format, Mintier said, but will include more specific questions, which
will be more focused on policy.
