A theme of urban-rural face-off unified much of discussions March 24 through 26 toward a revised Amador County General Plan.

"When the cities develop out against ag land, we have no addressing of transition density between 40-acre agricultural and a city sphere of influence," said District 1 Supervisor John Plasse.

County planning commissioners attended joint sessions with supervisors and planning staff. Each day, around 50 people attended, the majority with notepad and pencil. Most of those took notes fairly constantly.

The notion of "urban reserve" territory involves the county's predicting the likely consequences of cities, for example Plymouth, annexing ag land for residential or commercial development.

Current county policy states that the county "shall cooperate with cities in order to ensure that future development occurring within Urban Reserve areas proceeds in a manner consistent with adopted city general plans."

Installing a transitional-density policy of 5-acre minimum lots can lead to consequences unwanted by cities, said Susan Grijalva, planning director.

"If people up Highway 88, for example, split into 5-acre parcels under county policy, the city of Jackson is unlikely to annex there, because the cost of service is too high," Grijalva said. "So, they look for other areas to grow - cities need to grow - and wind up in a place it's not best to grow. That has happened."

It might be possible to arrive at a "happy medium between 40- and 5-acre limits," Grijalva said.

"Something that doesn't either limit opportunities of landowners or create a real urban-ag interface," Plasse said.

California's Local Agency Formation Commission authorizes cities to establish spheres of influence they intend ultimately to annex.

"I think if we go to state LAFCO and look at other counties, I'm sure this has been addressed," said District 3 Supervisor Ted Novelli.

Art Marinaccio, a land-use consultant, called Urban Reserve "one of maybe five critical issues this board must decide."

Sean Rabe, assistant city manager of Sutter Creek, said, "City planners and planning commissioners have supported the idea of Urban Reserve." He offered to work with county planning staff to address the board's concerns.

Bob Reeder, a real-estate investment-trust company executive, said he'd seen "indications that cities are looking to expand beyond a sphere of influence."

According to county planning documents, two new designations for mixed-use service centers are proposed for the General Plan Update. They are "town centers" - proposed for Pine Grove, Buckhorn, and River Pines, and a "regional service center" proposed for Martell.

A Town Center is intended to allow land uses including grocery stores, convenience stores, hardware stores, local offices, local industry and health care providers.

The Regional Service Center designation would feature "higher-density and -intensity uses" that draw users from the entire county and from areas outside the county.

"The existing shopping centers in the Martell area offer an example of the types of services which might be expected for an RSC," a county General Plan document states.

Discussion involved the agriculture-and-cities theme.

"It looks like a lot of agricultural area and no buffer to intense residential," said resident Kathy Allen. "Some buffer is needed."

A current General Plan policy calls for buffers between conflicting land uses.