Jackson council members and planning commissioners discussed their concerns over a proposed subdivision development in Martell Monday night.

Photo by: Jerry Budrick

Wicklow Way is the name of the road to Wal-Mart. If the revised draft environmental impact report for an eponymous subdivision is approved, Wicklow Way may also become the road to more than 700 new dwellings.

At Monday night's joint meeting of the Jackson Planning Commission and City Council, City Planner Susan Peters requested direction on the adequacy of the Wicklow subdivision DEIR. A May 13 public hearing is also scheduled at the Amador County Administration Center in Jackson at 7 p.m.

Nearly a year ago, the city of Jackson reviewed the original DEIR for the Wicklow subdivision with a stated intention of collaborating with the county on issues with the subdivision application. Peters sent a letter to Susan Grijalva at the Amador County Planning Department, summarizing the comments from the Jackson City Council.

Given the fact that this project is in the county, not the city of Jackson, the city has no authority over decisions made regarding conditions or mitigations on the subdivision. "Legally, all we can do right now is deal with the adequacy of the document," Peters said.

In her brief introduction, Peters indicated that the new version of the Wicklow DEIR contains few changes from the DEIR submitted last year. The new version was reviewed by city staff, which has concerns with the document's adequacy in police and fire protection, water service, affordable housing and traffic/circulation impacts to the city of Jackson.

With the location of Wicklow on land immediately adjacent to the city and with at least one through road connecting Wicklow to Stoney Creek Road and Hoffman Street, Jackson recognizes potential impact on its police and fire services. The city's position is that the DEIR should have analyzed the police impact and should include mitigations providing additional fire protection.

Water service is a major issue. Jackson believes that Wicklow is in its water service area, while the DEIR claims that the project is within the service area of the Amador Water Agency. This could prove costly to the city. The city's contention is based, in part, upon the fact that it already supplies water to Wal-Mart, which is on the other side of the project from Jackson.

The city's planning staff believes that affordable housing has not been adequately addressed in the DEIR. Peters said that a subdivision of 10 or more units must contain 10 percent affordable housing units and Wicklow has not provided for these.

Planning Commissioner Terri Works told of a discussion she had with county planner Grijalva. "Susan Grijalva told me that there are never any projects that qualify for affordable housing," Works recalled. "They are always just one house or a few, never large enough to qualify." Works wondered aloud about how this project failed to qualify.

Lengthy discussion ensued concerning traffic and circulation, centering on the question of whether to recommend that the Wicklow project tie directly into Westview Drive, in addition to the Stoney Creek connection. Of major concern were fire and police safety issues. After asking city officials for guidance on this question, Peters was answered with "more nods in favor of connecting."

The city is also interested in extending Sutter Street to Hoffman/Stoney Creek Road and would like the developer to enter into a development agreement to construct this extension.

On the question of school mitigations, the city is expecting a position statement from the Amador County school board and will likely go along with it. Jackson resident Judy Jebian informed city officials that the state recommendation for an elementary school size is 17 acres, but Wicklow has offered 8.5. Justification for the reduced size is based upon the contiguity of the school site with existing school grounds.

The other major agenda item for Monday night's meeting was the general plan land use element update.

The No. 1 issue remains zoning in the area south of Jackson that New Faze Development wanted to make into Jackson Hills Golf Course and Residential Community. "The zoning in the area we are talking about is undefined," said City Manager Mike Daly. "We would not be changing it."

Jackson residents have submitted petitions to the county elections department to place a referendum on the November ballot, putting the city's approval of the EIR for the land use element to a vote of the residents. Negotiations between the city and the opposition group have not proved fruitful enough.

The general tone at Monday's meeting seemed to be conciliatory. Though no final decision was made, officials appeared to be opting for a new designation on the affected area, which could be called "urban reserve."