Lengthy public hearings took center stage Thursday night at the Plymouth City Council meeting, leading to the continuation of multiple ordinance readings and municipal code amendments until February.

A quick decision was made to extend the boundaries of the Underground Utility District, which was established by city ordinance in 1968 to include all of Main, Landrum and Hay streets, as well as the crossing on the other side of Highway 49. The extension is proposed to eventually replace power poles on the roads for not only aesthetic reasons, but as a requirement for district expansion and improvements.

"This ordinance is already on the books to designate an area for the district boundaries," said Community Development Director Paula Daneluk. "It's a comprehensive project the city may deal with at a later time."

A few questions were raised by council members regarding residents who have recently spent time and money replacing power poles at their own expense and the proposed cost they would now incur with the change. Daneluk told the council that the expansion was not an immediate change and that the cost would be determined at the time of the expansion.

During the second public hearing on the Community Development Block Grant Planning and Technical Assistance closeout, grants administrator Terry Cox briefed the council on the efforts to effectively deal with Plymouth's anticipated growth and meet the legal obligation to provide affordable housing.

The recommendation of authorization to submit the final report to the State Department of Housing and Community Development was approved. While there were no public comments during Cox's presentation, she reminded the public that written comments could still be submitted to city hall.

The city council also heard a third public hearing regarding the conditional use permit the Plymouth Planning Commission approved for the Lubenko self-storage facility and a mitigated negative declaration that the city prepared pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act. Two appeals were filed as a result of the planning commission's decision. One was submitted by owner Mitch Lubenko requesting a review of conditions, and one from resident Carol Emerson basing its appeal on records not supporting necessary legal findings of potential environmental impacts.

The permit for the Bush Street Outdoor Storage was approved Jan. 3 as a part of a settlement agreement with the city and Lubenko, stemming from a pending lawsuit that has been ongoing since May 2007. In the prior settlement hearing, Amador Superior Court Judge Susan Harlan had stipulated that the city needed to state each requirement that needed to be met to obtain approval due to the city changing requirements at each hearing and adding a paving stipulation that the planning commission felt was required due to additional traffic impacts.

A landscaping condition was also appealed by Lubenko as he said he felt it would be a waste of valuable water and preferred a slatted fence. "There are no regulations in the city code regarding landscaping," he said. "The ones that do exist are vague and ambiguous. If you insist on landscaping, then we need to know what exactly you want."

With the council indecisive on the wording of the existing code on landscaping that focused mainly on trees and not shrubbery, a continuance on the matter was approved for a future meeting.