At Ione's General Plan Workshop Tuesday, project manager Daniel Hamilton spelled out ingredients for taking the city deep into the 21st century. Photo by: Roger Phelps

A peek at Ione's future Tuesday revealed about what one would expect for a classic northern California edge-of-the-foothills small town in the late 2000s.

Ione General Plan considerations occupied city council and planning commission members during a preview of a draft update of the central civic document.

Staying ahead of state mandates was thematic. The state of California must sign off on particular elements, such as housing, in a city's general plan.

"One key policy is development of an affordable-housing trust," consultant Daniel Hamilton told city officials.

Such trusts can aid developers in choosing to build affordable housing in a city, he said.

City Manager Kim Kerr said Ione has started an affordable-housing trust.

Cities also must plan around the linked issues of resource conservation and open space. As Hamilton put it, Ione needs to work to ensure that growth won't adversely affect the beauty or the usefulness of Ione's undeveloped territory. That responsibility raises the issue of private-property rights, he said.

"Endangered species live here," Hamilton said. "And, you need to limit the impacts of development on water, in respect both of supply and of quality."

A policy is needed to preserve migration corridors for wildlife, whereby even if contiguous parcels are built on, any known, regular travel path for significant numbers of wild animals would be protected, Hamilton said. Another policy should protect trees three feet or greater in diameter from cutting, he said.

Cities also are tasked to plan around the issues of safety and noise.

"The state will change from a 100-year to a 200-year flood plain (rule)," Hamilton said.

Planning Commissioner Mike McDermed said, "That could be a huge one for us."

The tricky issue of noise regulation brought discussion from planning commissioners. The city needs a regulation of daytime noise that keeps noise down to around 60 decibels, the level of traffic sound on a two-lane road, Hamilton said.

"What's a lawn mower - 80 or 90?" asked Commissioner David Jenkins.

A noise rule regulates levels only for continuous and typical sounds, Hamilton said.

Ione incorporates economic development into its General Plan. That is not required by the state.

The city's growth rate is 3.6 percent per year, much higher than the state average, and growth is creating a job shortage, Hamilton said. Economic development can be aided by seeking grants for rehabilitating facades of Gold Rush-era businesses downtown, and by establishing an entertainment district, Hamilton said.

"Ione needs more things for people to do," he said.

Around the issue of public facilities, Councilwoman Andrea Bonham brought up the need to reestablish a local high school. Hamilton noted some desire exists to bring a community college campus to Ione.

Joyce Stone of the Amador Child Care Council said the town needs to deal with child-care provision in the General Plan.

"It's an economic-development issue," Stone said. "It employs people in the field, and it allows (parents) to work in other industries."

It is expected that elements of the updated Ione General Plan will be adopted in council sessions during July and August.