Ledger-Dispatch

By Jerry Budrick (jbudrick@ledger-dispatch.com= )=20

Allen Warren, president of New Faze = Development,=20 left, and Jackson resident Ken Berry look rather friendly after = hours of=20 tense statements at the Jackson City Council meeting = Monday.

Photo by: Jerry=20 Budrick
The Jackson City Council voted = Monday night=20 to rescind their own resolutions that some city residents believed meant = official approval of the Jackson Hills Golf Course and Residential=20 Community.

Hours of heated discussion between advocates and = opponents=20 ended with the council's approval of a new resolution that erases the=20 controversial old ones, thus removing them from the June = ballot.

In the=20 six years since its introduction, the Jackson Hills project has stirred = many=20 emotions among the residents of Jackson and thosewho might be affected = by its=20 impacts. After a process of public hearings and California Environmental = Quality=20 Act requirements, the Jackson City Council on Sept. 10, 2007 voted to = adopt two=20 resolutions that would allow Jackson Hills to continue on its path to=20 completion. In doing so, the city council overrode recommendations from = the=20 Jackson Planning Commission and Amador County Transportation Commission = for=20 disapproval.

Shortly thereafter, a group of residents began to = gather=20 signatures to place referenda on the ballot for the next election. The = 752=20 signatures turned in to the Amador County Registrar of Voters readily = yielded=20 the 234 valid signatures necessary to qualify for the June ballot. On = March 5,=20 New Faze requested that the city council rescind the resolutions at = issue,=20 thereby removing them from the ballot.

Having done all the = legwork=20 involved in gathering the signatures, a number of both the Friends of = Jackson=20 and Concerned Citizens of Jackson, among others, appeared before the = city=20 council to request that the measures be left on the ballot.

"The = decision=20 should be left to the people!" said Judy Jebian.

New Faze = president Allen=20 Warren spoke of being "perplexed" by the residents' opposition, saying, = "Mr.=20 Berry (Ken Berry, Friends of Jackson) started this process toward = rescinding the=20 resolutions. I thought this was going to be a happy meeting, with people = cheering."

Rather than cheers, project advocate Tom Blackman = wondered why=20 "people throw stones at me. Bartleson tore out the oak trees and = elderberry=20 bushes. Then he went bankrupt and the property was sold."

In the = midst of=20 it all, Frank Busi rose twice to the mike, eliciting applause for his = statement,=20 "People complain that folks who live outside the city limits are not = entitled to=20 speak about the city's issues because they are not impacted by those = decisions.=20 Like hell they're not!" Busi later added that "the real attraction of = this=20 county is in the open countryside, not big box stores and fast food=20 operations."

Discussion centered around the absence of a = development=20 agreement between the city and the developer. Proponents and opponents = alike=20 agreed that any future attempt to revive Jackson Hills would have to = include=20 ironclad commitments from both sides in a development = agreement.

At the=20 end of public comment, city council members stated their positions. = Councilman=20 Andy Rodriguez, who had opposed the resolutions last year, said, "I have = continued to think these resolutions were a bad idea. We have an = opportunity=20 tonight to toss out these bad resolutions."

Councilman Wayne = Garibaldi=20 felt that the developer's obligation to pay the $10,000 cost of the = election=20 should be weighed against "the time and effort of the residents who got = this=20 onto the ballot."

"This is like being in a battle with someone = who is=20 waving a white flag," added Mayor RosaLee Pryor-Escamilla, "but shooting = them=20 anyway." With a change in wording, the new resolutions rescinding the = old passed=20 unanimously.

Asked later about New Faze Development's plans for = the=20 future of their 516 acres of real estate, Warren said, "We're probably = going to=20 just sit tight for a while. We like the property and think there'll be a = beautiful project on that site someday." About the situation in Jackson = and the=20 possibility of working with those who had been in opposition, he said, = "Jackson=20 has an aging infrastructure and they need to be proactive for the = future. If=20 that group would like to meet with us, we'd certainly be open to it. I'm = willing=20 to do it again."

Jerry = Budrick