CAP Accomplishments

January – March, 2011

Emblematic of how far the community has come in respectfully and collaboratively addressing threats to resource conservation is the reaction to a recent County Planning Staff recommendation that the Planning Commission approve an amendment to the zoning code to open up over 100,000 acres in the General Agriculture Zone to golf-course centered development under a generic conditional use permit.  This urban invasion threatened to abort the agricultural land protections of the proposed General Plan Update.  Staff also recommended approval of a negative declaration for the zoning code amendment, rather than completing an EIR.

CAP/CPC, and its member group Keep it Rural Calaveras, activated their citizens’ network.  Dozens of people sent letters to the Planning Commission in opposition to the proposal.  Piles of evidence on the significant impacts of golf courses poured into the Planning Department, including useful reports from the state Department of Conservation and CalFire.  Legal opinions on the invalidity of the proposed actions were sent to County officials.  Conditions on golf course developments from other counties demonstrated the inadequacy of the County’s draft proposal.

CAP/CPC staff was integral in gathering, organizing, presenting, and distributing this information to the public for their use.  Action alerts went out by email.  Both useful information and video of the Planning Commission hearing were posted on the CAP/CPC website.  Information shared with the media inspired thorough newspaper coverage of the issue.  Over 20 people, from across the political spectrum, and from every corner of the County, spoke in opposition to the proposal at both the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors hearings.  Ultimately, a majority of the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors rejected the zoning code amendment.  Both the Chair of the Planning Commission and the Chair of the Board of Supervisors commended those who testified on their respectful behavior and fine testimony.  In addition to the victory for resource conservation, people re-learned that they did not have to scream to be heard, and people were comforted by the notion that their government shared their concerns.  These days, a little comfort goes a long way.

Past Accomplishments:

Sept. 2009 through December 2010

September 2009:

• CAP/CPC members attended the Central Sierra Convening of Land Use Groups.

• Members made a presentation to LAFCO on new community plans.

October 2009:

• CAP/CPC facilitator testified before the Board of Supervisors on behalf of the Housing Element in the General Plan and indicated the importance of housing for the county’s economic future.

November 2009:

• CPC member group The Foothill Conservancy gave notice that they will be filing a lawsuit over the decision to raise the level of the Pardee Reservoir.

December 2009:

• Members promoted a Dark Sky Ordinance at the Planning Commission.

January 2010:

• CPC water activists had their first meeting with Amador County water activists to discuss future efforts regarding regional water projects.

• CPC staff sent in a letter to the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors in support of proposals to implement AB811 to help finance residential energy conservation and generation projects.

• In response to inaccurate and heated anti-planning rhetoric in recent weeks, CPC staff and members testified before the Board of Supervisors in support of the community planning process in Valley Springs.

February 2010:

• A CPC delegation met with Planning Director White and GPU Coordinator Gillarde to give them the background on the GPU process that preceded their employment with the County.

March 2010:

• CPC member organizations organized people to participate in the GPU Alternative Workshops. Many CPC participants attended GPU Alternatives Community Workshops and supported reasonably paced and community-centered growth (Alternative B). Over half the tables at the workshops supported this alternative.

• The BOS supported AB811 implementation.

• Progress was made at the Economic Summit II implementation team meeting where the CPC works cooperatively with the Chamber of Commerce and other local business organizations.

• Over 70 people signed letters, and many had their pictures taken, in support of GPU Alternative B at our booth at Green Days in Murphys. These were turned into the Planning Department, the Planning Commission, and the BOS.

• The CPC submitted detailed written comments on the GPU Alternatives Report to the Planning Department, the Planning Commission, and the Board of Supervisors.

April 2010:

• The Community Workshops Report reflected our input and involvement in the GPU Alternatives Workshops.

• We had a good display, good speakers, and good press coverage at the BOS hearing on the GPU Alternatives.

• A unanimous vote of the BOS supported the general plan preferred alternative which will support community-centered growth, and would change over 130,000 acres (200 square miles) of land from Residential -Agriculture (5-acre minimum parcel size) to Agricultural Lands (40-80 acre minimum parcel size)

May 2010:

• Members of the CPC supported CCOG and Valley Springs Community Planning efforts at the May 4, 2010 Board of Supervisor’s meeting.

• Following up on the April 20 BOS decision on the GPU Alternatives, the CPC discouraged Planning from applying the Alternative C Growth Rate to District 2, San Andreas, and Valley Springs.

June 2010:

• On June 1, the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors agreed to include the Valley Springs Community Plan, developed through a year of public stakeholder meetings, as an alternative for analysis in the EIR for the General Plan Update.

July 2010:

• CAP organized a “Passions and Priorities” workshop for CAP/CPC members.

August 2010:

• Members submitted comments on an alternative community plan for Valley Springs.

September 2010:

• CAP/CPC facilitator’s General Plan update opinion piece was printed in the Calaveras Enterprise.

• CAP/CPC facilitator submitted an Alternatives Analysis memo to the Planning Department and Board of Supervisors.

October 2010:

• CAP/CPC facilitator made a General Plan presentation to the Mokelumne Hill Town Hall meeting.

• The transcript of CPC/CAP members testimony against EBMUD’s dam proposal was included in the administrative record for the case.

November 2010:

• The brief for the Save the Mokelumne case against the proposal to raise the level of the Pardee Reservoir was filed.

December 2010:

• CAP/CPC facilitator asked the Planning Department for a General Plan Policy Outline and Scoping meeting. A scoping is mandatory for a planning process with regional implications.

• CAP/CPC facilitator drafted the general CEQA guidance section of the General Plan Update scoping comments.

• CAP/CPC commented before the Board of Supervisors concerning the Water Issues Study Session.

June 2007 through June 2009