Planning Commission News!

All 5 commissioners at Thursday's PC meeting agreed: the proposed Murphys-Minarik RV Storage facility (Hwy. 4 adjacent to Forest Meadows) was NOT a good fit for a Conditional Use Permit in the C-1 zone.  The planning dept. will come back with Findings for a formal Denial at the next PC meeting in January. 

This is a very controversial project--many thought the PC was going to approve.  It's possible the applicant may appeal the denial to the BOS.  Ward now has the video posted on CAP:

https://calaverascap.com/december-12-2013-calaveras-planning-commission/

The continued public hearing included more good testimony from the neighborhood, then a VERY interesting debate by planning commissioners.  If you want to watch just the PC discussion, start at the close of the public hearing, around 1 hr. 48+ minutes in.  Darcy starts answering questions and talking about what the PC needs to decide, then the PC debates, asks questions and lets her know what they think.

 At 2 hrs. 10 min. in--Ted says, "If the people who live near a project don't want it then I think we would be ill-advised to be in favor of it.  In a case like this, the neighborhood matters almost more than the project."  (this just after he talked about how he liked a "good project" and that the PC has to follow the law...).

 After the project hearing, there's a short Study Session on 4 potential code changes (@ 2:18-2:55 min. on video).  It gets interesting again when Michelle asks "policy questions" around 2 hrs. 42 minutes in, Brent H. gets involved...leading to a great discussion about projects/ policy/ code, the previous planning director's decision and discretion, the "privilege" of a Use Permit, and the extra scrutiny a "Planned Development Permit" gets.

 Then BH talks some about the GPU at the end in reports.  There will be a JOINT session on the GPU with the PC and BOS, on January 28th.

Good stuff in this video for anyone who's interested!