On a 3-2 vote, the Amador County Board of Supervisors recently approved the 90-unit Jackson Valley Estates subdivision, proposed for 115 acres at the intersection of Jackson Valley and Buena Vista roads. The project is the same one rejected by the Board on a 3-2 vote in 1996. The proponent's representative, Fred Wilke of Jackson, openly stated that the project was resurrected because the new supervisors seem much more pro-development.

Local opposition, poor environmental review

Opposition to Jackson Valley Estates, led by neighbors and agricultural interests, centered on its presence in what is essentially an agricultural area. The project is bordered by a working cattle operation, the Phillips Ranch, which may be adversely affected by the dogs and children the project will bring. The land is suitable for agriculture and irrigation water is available.

The subdivision site is also near a pyrotechnics plant, a rock quarry, a cogeneration plant that may soon burn oil waste and tires, and the county landfill, all of which pose potential health and safety risks to children who would live in the subdivision. The supervisors voting for the project expressed no concern for this as a planning issue, stating instead that caring for children was the "responsibility of parents."

There were other problems with the project approval. The county, continuing its chronic lack of compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), failed to revisit the environmental impact report prepared for the original project application. The resurrected EIR therefore did not take into account new and deteriorating environmental conditions nearby, including the changes in cogeneration plant fuels, increased truck traffic to and from the plant, the proposed expansion of the pyrotechnics facility, more traffic deaths at nearby intersections, a cease and desist order on the landfill septage pond, and increased overcrowding of Ione's schools. In failing to revise the earlier EIR, the county also failed to fulfill a critical aspect of CEQA - full public disclosure and review of project impacts. The public was effectively shut out of participation in the environmental review.

Inadequate funds for schools and roads

David Wheeler, county superintendent of schools, told the Board that the project's impact fees, the maximum allowed by law, will pay for only one-half of the school facilities needed for the 90 children expected to live in the subdivision. In their findings issued on approval of the project, the supervisors said the schools "will adjust to the project's presence."

County public works director Rod Schuler estimated the project's fair share of road improvements and maintenance, including regional projects, as more than $7,000 per parcel. The supervisors, however, approved a road impact fee of only $1,750 per house, leaving the remainder of the improvements undone for now, possibly to be paid for later with other tax dollars.

General plan inconsistencies

The supervisors appeared to base their support for the project on the fact that it was consistent with the general plan land use designation and zoning for the site. However, as clearly spelled out in the supervisors' 1996 project denial, Jackson Valley Estates is in conflict with other aspects of the county general plan (see previous article). The project is inconsistent with policies intended to protect agriculture and existing industrial facilities; with the circulation element -which requires projects to pay their fair share of road construction and maintenance; and with policies that direct growth to areas where services and jobs are available. In addition, our plan specifically warns developers that a land use designation should not be considered a guarantee of project approval.

Supervisors' vote

In 1996 the supervisors termed Jackson Valley Estates a "premature, leapfrog development," and so it remains today. Nonetheless, supervisor Mario Biagi of Shenandoah Valley, a self-described supporter of agriculture, quickly moved to approve the project and refused to modify his motion when supervisors Tom Bamert and Louis Boitano attempted to provide an agricultural buffer for the adjoining ranch. Biagi was joined by Rich Escamilla and Richard Vinson in supporting the project. Bamert and Boitano voted against the subdivision, as they had in 1996.