In a hotly contested issue among board members and public, Calaveras County’s Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 2 Tuesday to form a Mokelumne Hill Design Review Committee.

Originally formed to provide input on the general plans of 1983 and 1988, the committee is tasked with discussing changes to the town’s community plan as well as reviewing new construction and rehabilitation of historic buildings. The board’s vote decommissions the old committee, and authorizes the new committee to submit design guidelines to the county Planning Department. According to Planning Director Rebecca Wills, those guidelines will then be taken to the board for its consideration.

“Right now the action in front of the board would be to authorize a committee that would develop design guidelines. They would develop a document. That’s it,” Willis said, clearing up confusion about the committee’s influence. “They’re not to be granted any powers, to hold up anybody’s project, to have any say-so on anybody’s project. And those design guidelines, my office would review them, and then they would be brought in front of the board.”

However, some supervisors expressed concern that committees like these stifle economic development – merely adding another rung in the bureaucratic ladder.

“There are many historical communities in the Mother Lode that have historical districts and they are not particularly economically vibrant,” Supervisor Tom Tryon said. “… It’s just another level of government intervention that adds cost and time to the process.”

Tryon pointed to Murphys as a town that has prospered by not having the same level of governmental controls as other local historical communities. Tryon said a similar committee existed in Murphys when he was first elected in 1984, and his first action as a board member was to bring it before the board.

“The board abolished the Design and Scenic Review Committee for Murphys,” Tryon said. “The second thing the citizens of Murphys wanted to do was to have a historical district. And that came also before the board, and I was a very strong opponent of forming a historical district, and that also failed to be formed in Murphys. And quite frankly, in my opinion both of those are committees designed to kill economic growth.”

But Supervisor Steve Wilensky, who represents Mokelumne Hill in District 2, said the town is unlike any other – pointing to a few of the town’s quirky characteristics.

“If there is an epicenter of community pride and place-based involvement in this county it is the town of Moke Hill,” Wilensky said. “Something I learned real early is don’t mess with Moke Hill. We have had all kinds of things that are different.”

Wilensky referred to the town’s resistance to widen its streets, its multigenerational families, and the high attendance at community plan meetings as reasons why Mokelumne Hill residents know what’s best for its community.

“It is a town that looks for where it can agree and it’s a town full of people that have more knowledge of their place than any other place I know,” Wilensky said. “That’s why, for those of you that think you know better than Moke Hill, what they ought to do is stand back with some respect, as you would ask them to do if it was your community under discussion. There is no confusion in Moke Hill what needs to happen. … If there is any place that knows who it is and what it wants to do, it is that town.”

Supervisor Merita Callaway echoed Wilensky’s statements that county residents should not be affecting community plans in towns they don’t live in.

“I remember when the Valley Springs drama was going on, and maybe it still is, there was a group of people saying we cannot have people not in Valley Springs deciding the fate of Valley Springs,” Callaway said. “And that’s what I think Steve (Wilensky) is saying about Mokelumne Hill, that they want to control its own destiny.”

After Board Chair Gary Tofanelli announced that he would support the committee, as long as it did not carry sway with new development projects, Supervisor Darren Spellman got so riled up that Tryon advised him to “calm down.”

Appalled by Tofanelli’s suggestion that the committee must “inspire property owners” to garner his support, Spellman said people shouldn’t need a committee to encourage them to improve their house.

“To think that someone we condone or appoint is going to inspire someone?” Spellman rhetorically asked. “My friend that owns property (in Moke Hill) didn’t need a committee to inspire him, he had his neighbors, not some appointed flunkies to tell him what he can and can’t do with his house. I just can’t believe the words I am hearing come out of your mouth, Gary! I can’t believe this!”

“Darren, I don’t believe you understand what’s going on here, that’s my opinion,” Tofanelli retorted. “So I’ll call for a vote.”

Contact Alex George at ageorge@calaverasenterprise.com