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Volume 171 • Issue 13 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
Monday, January 31, 2022
Housing El Dorado gets more resources n City of Placerville grants use
of Main Street building; county considering funding Andrew Vonderschmitt Staff writer Housing El Dorado could receive up to $115,000 in funding from El Dorado County and has the use of a building owned by the city of Placerville for its Pathways Winter Lodging Program. The group has its sights set on a fully functioning winter shelter program, offering beds and respite from the elements seven nights a week to those in need. In late December, just before a big storm was predicted to bring snow to elevations as low as 1,800 feet, City Manager Cleve Morris reached out to Housing El Dorado’s Board President Maureen Dion-Perry to ascertain what services the nonprofit had available to homeless individuals. “I told him that we didn’t have anything,”
Dion-Perry said. And then she said she told the city manager, “I was just going to contact you about potential city building use.” Morris gave her query some thought and got back to Dion-Perry to propose a pilot program that would offer an emergency shelter in a city-owned building to help get vulnerable individuals off the streets, at least through the winter storm. Housing El Dorado had been working with the Foothill Interfaith Collaboration, a group of pastors, faith leaders and faith community members, to provide shelter for as many nights a week as possible. Four churches had stepped up to offer space one evening a week — Discovery Hills Evangelical Free Church, Green Valley Community Church, Faith Episcopal Church and Foothills United Methodist Church. Churches and collaborators who were unable Mountain Democrat photo by Andrew Vonderschmitt to provide space for the shelter program offered The old U.S. Post Office annex building at 525 Main St. in Placerville is now volunteers, donations and resources. The Food three nights a week a temporary facility for the Pathways Winter Lodging Bank of El Dorado County provided snacks, Program run by Housing El Dorado. The amenities can only be utilized by n See Housing el dorado, page A7 contacting Housing El Dorado and taking a bus to the location.
EID’s water outlook improves Michael Raffety Mountain Democrat correspondent A report on current water supplies noted that El Dorado Irrigation District water customers saved 18% during December compared to “12% by our neighbors down the hill,” according to a Jan. 24 report from EID Operations Manager Dan Corcoran. While district officials said they expected Jenkinson Lake to be at 15,800 acre-feet by Jan. 1, the reservoir hit about 26,700 acrefeet on New Year’s Day. As of last week Jenkinson had exceeded 29,700 acre-feet and is seeing 100 acrefeet daily of snow-melt inflow from the Camp Creek watershed. Jenkinson holds a maximum of about 41,000 acre-feet. Folsom Lake, which supplies El Dorado Hills, was at 549,886 acre-feet Jan. 1. That figure was on the decline as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation lets water out of the dam to hold space for the spring runoff and avoid flooding the lower Sacramento River. Folsom holds a maximum of 977,000 acrefeet of water and last week was around 533,700 acre-feet. Following Corcoran was Radenko Odzakovic, drinking water operations manager. Odzakovic updated the EID Board of Directors on the issue of disinfectant byproducts in treated water. Part of the cause for the byproducts was a result of heavy storms in October and early November with debris flowing into Jenkinson Lake from the Caldor Fire burn scar. Low system demand resulted in long residence time of drinking water in the distribution system. The high rainfall resulted in suspended solids from the fire-scarred landscape. n
PLACE ADDRESS LABEL HERE
See water, page A3
Mountain Democrat photo by Sel Richard
El Dorado Hills residents Daniel and Kendyl Carley, back left to right, enjoy the Browns Ravine Trail with daughters Carrington, front left, and Reagan. A proposal in the works could lead to pedestrians legally sharing the trail with mountain bikers.
Browns Ravine Trail under multi-use evaluation
Sel Richard Staff writer
T
rail users are once again butting heads regarding the allowance of bicyclists on Browns Ravine Trail, an unpaved, 11-mile track connecting Browns Ravine to the Old Salmon Falls trailhead. Although changes-in-use have been requested on nearly all trails within the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area where bike
use is currently not allowed, the Browns Ravine Trail CIU is being evaluated as a separate project due to its relatively gentle terrain, good sight lines and connection to other multi-use trails. Efforts to allow bikes on the trail date back to 2000. El Dorado Hills resident Mike Finta has fought bike use on this stretch for almost as long as he has lived on his property, 1,200 feet of which butts up against the
Browns Ravine Trail. “I have witnessed speeding, illegal mountain bikers spook horses by zooming up behind them, in one case causing a horse to almost throw its rider onto a barbed wire fence,” Finta said. “I have watched startled hikers stumble into the weeds or fall down the drop-off next to the trail and the mountain bikers rode by laughing at them.” n
See Browns Ravine Trail, page A6
Grant to assist COVID-impacted nonprofits News release American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds have been allocated to El Dorado County and the Board of Supervisors has directed staff to launch a nonprofit grant program with the intent to assist nonprofit organizations. The grant is designed to provide financial relief to nonprofit organizations in the county that have suffered revenue loss or increased expenditures attributed to COVID-19, which resulted in a reduction in net income in 2020. Nonprofits normally rely on fundraising activities to provide the support needed not only to assist to the community but also
to cover administrative costs. To control the spread of COVID-19, social distancing guidelines were implemented in March 2020 that caused the cancellation of the vast majority of those events, resulting in decreased fundraising revenue. The El Dorado County Nonprofit Organization COVID-19 Economic Impact Grant will provide funds nonprofits can use as a replacement for net income losses in 2020 based on 2018 and 2019 revenue as reported on organizational tax returns. Who is eligible to apply? • The applicant must have tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)3 of the IRS Code and be in a valid secretary of state status.
• The applicant must be physically located in El Dorado County and providing the majority of their services to El Dorado County residents. • The applicant must demonstrate business interruption due to COVID-19, including reduced revenue of at least 10% from the average of 2018 and 2019 organizational tax returns. Applications including documentation of eligibility must be submitted by Feb. 11. For more information visit edcgov. us/Government/building/Pages/Nonprofit-ARPA-Grant-Program.aspx, email economic.development@edcgov.us or call Kyle Zimbelman, economic and business relations manager, at (530) 621-5595.
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