Next meeting:
Thursday, March 15th, 7:00 p.m.
EDHCA volunteers collectively are on personal overload this month, we need to skip the February meeting.
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Urgent for public input on growth:
Planning Commission Public Hearing on General Plan FAR Amendment Draft EIR
Thursday, February 8th, 9 a.m. in Placerville
This Amendment authorizes increased Floor Area Ratios for commercial,
industrial, and R&D land uses. Its Draft EIR forecasts that El
Dorado Hills will host up to
81,501 jobs at buildout, with consequent traffic and no plan to compensate for the traffic. Countywide traffic is forecast to reach
53.03 Vehicle Hours Delay per day per capita,
and EDH would see the worst of the traffic: 1/3 of the total
County employment growth due to the Floor Area Ratio amendment is
forecast to occur in El Dorado Hills.
We understand from experience in the community and from discussion at
our January meeting that our citizens strongly prefer less growth than
already provided for by the County General Plan. Thursday's public
hearing will be an important opportunity to communicate our views on
this aspect of community growth to the County, we encourage everyone to
attend the meeting if you can.
Some additional information is in the
Citizens Alliance position paper
for this amendment. The Citizens Alliance will present a verbal
statement substantially similar to this position paper's message.
Update on 2007 EIR reviews:
SACOG Metropolitan Transportation Plan:
Public comment period for Notice of Preparation of Draft EIR closes
February 11th.
See
SACOG NOP document The Citizens Alliance has submitted brief comments, not posted on our web site.
El Dorado County General Plan Floor Area Ratios amendment:
Draft Supplementary EIR public comment period ends
February 15th (Public hearing
February 8th)
See
County documents and
Citizens Alliance position paper, being submitted as the main portion of our comments.
El Dorado Hills Water Treatment Plant and Water Mains:
Draft EIR public comment period closes
March 5th.
See
EID EIR information. The Citizens Alliance has not adopted a position and has not submitted comments.
Miwok casino:
Should the Citizens Alliance become involved with the Indian casino planned for Shingle Springs?
Citizens Alliance contributer Ray Myers is concerned about negative
social impacts and consequent economic impacts of gambling, with a
casino's "sphere of influence" spreading over a radius of 50
miles. He recommends these two references on the web to study the
issues:
Problems examined in these studies include rates of suicide, theft,
divorce, gaming addiction, and many others. On the other side of casino
business the Miwoks have agreed to pay $63 million into a special
County fund. The Citizens Alliance has not yet taken up even
examiining issues associated with a casino, but it looks like a very
appropriate topic to study and the references that Ray gave look like
they're well stocked with good information.