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Newsletter |
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Newsletter |
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The Calaveras Planning Coalition is a coalition of ad-hoc community groups and non-profits interested in growth and planning issues in Calaveras County. Facilitated by the Community Action Project (CAP), the Coalition was formed in January 2006. Coalition Members
Associate Members
Staff
Newsletter Archive
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Calaveras
Planning Coalition Land Use & May 16, 2008 marked the second anniversary of the Calaveras Planning Coalition's adoption of the Land Use Principles and development principles. 1. Land uses should be consistent with stated community visions or goals. 2. Development should not outpace the ability of local governments to provide adequate services and infrastructure or reduce the level of services provided to existing community residents. 3. Project design should work with the contour of the land, preserve physical features such as rock outcroppings, trees, watercourses, and wetlands, and protect important wildlife habitat. 4. County and city plans should protect key wildlife habitat, visual quality, agricultural lands, and open space resources. 5. Projects should be approved only if there is adequate water to supply them. 6. New residential and commercial development should be concentrated in existing towns and communities where shopping, services, schools, jobs, and infrastructure are available. 7. Infrastructure such as water lines, sewer lines, and roads should not be extended outside existing developed areas unless those areas are contiguous to existing communities and scheduled for development in the near future as part of a general or community plan. 8. Communities should have clear boundaries with separation between them provided by working landscapes, greenbelts, or parks. 9. A range of housing types should be available for people of all income levels. 10. Land uses should not put land-use conversion pressure on agricultural lands or threaten the continued operation of existing industrial and commercial businesses. 11. Environmental mitigation measures should adequately address local and community-wide impacts in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act. ************* |
In this edition It Has Been Quite a Year! It has been quite a year for citizen participation in planning the future of Calaveras County! In an April editorial, Editor Buzz Eggleston of the Calaveras Enterprise wrote (speaking of Supervisor Wilensky and then CDA Director Stephanie Moreno), “More importantly, they believe that decisions affecting growth should be made in public with broad public participation. That is a tidal change in the nature of government in Calaveras County.” The Community Action Project is proud to be part of that tidal change; we are quite certain we have played an important role in making it happen. We’d like to share with you some of the highlights of 2008. January The Planning Commission began to look at its procedures for public hearings. We sent a letter suggesting ways in which the meetings could be more friendly to public participation. We look forward to a statement of the new Policies and Procedures. February
This month was typical of the activity and energy of the Calaveras
Planning Coalition.
Keep It Rural, Calaveras, joined the Coalition and has
CAP and the Planning Coalition submitted a full binder of comments on the Baseline Report for the General Plan Update. We highlighted many places where data and information were missing or inaccurate. A year of focusing on water issues began as several of us journeyed to Sacramento for the Water and Land Use Summit sponsored by the Local Government Commission and the Sierra Nevada Alliance. April 
This month saw the formation of the Greater Valley Springs Advisory
Group, marking a next step in the community planning efforts that have
been initiated and tended by Coalition member MyValleySprings.com.
The county
May
CAP and Coalition members joined a crowd of 90 at the Mokelumne Hill
Town Hall for yet another workshop on water and land use, part of a
June
Members of the Agriculture Coalition presented a draft of their proposed agriculture element at a Planning Coalition Brown Bag discussion. July In the flurry of activity surrounding the release of the Grand Jury Report and a call for the dismissal of Community Development Director Stephanie Moreno by county builders and developers, CAP wrote letters to the editor calling for open, honest, accountable government. August
A very active month! John Taylor was hired as interim Director of the
Community Development Agency (CDA) and charged to bring a recommendation
to the Board of Supervisors about whether to continue the CDA or
September
The efforts of MyValleySprings.com, the Calaveras Council of Governments
and the county resulted in the
October The Water Element Working Group began its meetings with the participation of several CAP and Planning Coalition members. When the county released its responses to the Grand Jury Report concerning the Community Development Agency, several CAP members again voiced concern about the county’s lack of openness and accountability. November CAP co-sponsored “Calaveras Water and Land Use: Today and Tomorrow,” a full-day workshop attended by seventy residents, water agency personnel, and county officials. The Board of Supervisors voted to retain the Community Development Agency. The CAP Board held its annual retreat planning day to create our agenda for 2009. December
We take a breather before starting a new year and send our best wishes for a bright and beautiful 2009 – and a comprehensive general plan that preserves our natural, human, economic, and community resources! ¿ |
Board
of Supervisors: meets Tuesdays, at 9:00 am
in the Supervisors Chambers at Government Center, 891 Mountain Ranch
Road, San Andreas.
Planning
Commission: meets every other Thursday at 9:00 am in the Supervisors
Chambers at Government Center,
891 Mountain Ranch Road, San Andreas. * * * * * 2009 * * * * *
February 7
February 21
April 18 ************* Please send information about events for this calendar to cap@goldrush.com *************
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For more information on how you can get involved in the community planning process in your community, please contact a Coalition member or contact CAP:
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copyright 2008 Community
Action Project
The Community Action
Project is a project of the
Ebbetts
Pass Forest Watch
began
posting the full Board packet of documents for every Board of
Supervisors meeting, a direct result of pressure for this from Coalition
members. Several of us attended the one-day “CEQA and Climate Change”
workshop in Sacramento. CAP and the Coalition hosted informational
booths at both Earth Day and the Home and Garden Show, distributing
questionnaires on the general plan update. 
several-month
land and water use project in Amador and Calaveras counties. The Local
Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) formed a Municipal Service Review
committee for county water and wastewater agencies; several Coalition
members serve on this. Lynn O’Connor resigned as the county’s General
Plan Coordinator, leaving that position vacant permanently. CAP sent a
letter to 1,500 second-homeowners to provide them the opportunity to be
included in the community visioning process for the general plan update.
The
Planning Coalition completed an impressive mission, goals, and policies
document to guide its work well into the future. See it 
separate
it again into the Departments of Planning and Building. On the very
same day, the Board approved the development of a stand-alone water
element for the general plan, to be financed by CCWD. Again, on that
day, the general plan consultants presented the draft Vision Statement
and Issues and Opportunities Report for the General Plan update. We
gave these documents a “thumbs up” as accurate representations of
community input. This was also the month that saw the release of the
revised Draft Environmental Impact Report on the Ridge at Trinitas,
sending Coalition members back to their computers to draft public
comment on the document. 
award
of a CalTrans Community Planning Grant for the community plan process in
Valley Springs. The grant award was $204,648 with a match from COG of
$51,162 for a total of $255,810. 
