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Ione Land Use Designations |
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Thursday, 08 January 2009 |
 Amador County – The Ione City Council Tuesday approved 16 segments of its Land Use Element toward a new city general plan, sending the lot to the drawing board for an Environmental Impact Report. Consultant Daniel Hamilton and City Planner Christopher Jordan walked the city council through the process, giving first a rough outline of the multiple meetings thus far, including a city wide workshop series, 230 public input samples and the planning commission’s two meetings. A public hearing took input as well, including the “future growth area” of “Q” Ranch, for which Matt Toma spoke, saying that the owner was unhappy with more than half of the property being tabbed with an Open Space designation. The rest of the Q Ranch, to the north of Mule Creek State Prison, was designated as Rural Residential, limited to no smaller than 2 acres each, which Toma said developers were also not happy about. Jordan said “the ultimate decision was to include Rural Residential without any additional limitations to the zoning, on either side of the flood plain.” That designation would allow 10-acre to 1/2-acre lots. No development would be allowed in the flood plain, which was about half of the property. Other property owners submitted specific requests for designation changes. Several people, including former councilman and current Amador Water Agency board member Gary Thomas, pointed out that potential High Density Residential areas were not ideal for the Wildflower property or on a section of Highway 124 near the prison gate. The latter was 1-and-a-half miles from downtown, though new development would be preferred to have walking access to town. Jordan and Hamilton noted that in past meetings, two areas, Waterman Road, behind the fire station; and the Ringer Ranch were two potential areas for High Density Residential. The city needs to designate 7 acres as High Density Residential to meet state standards, even if that type of housing is never built. Jordan said the council directed staff to remove the HDR designation from Ringer Ranch, and it was left as a Special Planning designation. The council also added acreage to the Waterman Road site as High Density Residential, adding 7 acres to it, for total acreage of just under 16 acres. Story by Jim Reece
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