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171
C ALI FORN IA’S OLDE ST NE W SPAPER
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VOLUME 171 • ISSUE 62 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2022
Residents continue to denounce golf course plan Sel Richard Staff writer El Dorado Hills residents persist in attempts to persuade county officials to reject Parker Development’s Central El Dorado Hills Specific Plan that proposes building 1,000 homes on the old golf course along El Dorado Hills Boulevard. At a special El Dorado Hills Community Services District meeting last Thursday, more than 110 attendees had the pavilion overflowing
while almost 80 more viewed the proceedings virtually. District 1 Supervisor John Hidahl was in attendance. As board member Noelle Mattock explained, “This is just us trying to gain information from the community as to what they really desire to share with the county.” Mattock opened the meeting with a brief history of the project that requires a county General Plan amendment to allow zoning to be changed from recreational
facilities-high intensity to medium- and highdensity residential for the now defunct executive golf course at the El Dorado Hills Boulevard and Serrano Parkway intersection. As Mattock outlined the project’s 10-year trajectory, she touched on the CSD’s attempt at acquiring the golf course parcel, labeling Parker Development as an unwilling seller. “It was never a true negotiation,” she declared, “just another bait and switch on this community.”
“$32 million,” revealed board member Sean Hansen. “That is the price tag if the rezoning passes for highest and best use.” Hansen proclaimed his hope for a denial of the rezone and the CSD’s subsequent return to acquisition negotiations. “We have enough rooftops,” opined board member Ben Paulsen. “We already have traffic issues. But we don’t have any industry. We need to appeal to community needs and not the developer’s wants.”
“During this entire process, there has been no change to the project that is substantive, nothing that recognizes community concerns. We’re struggling to find a benefit.” — John Davey, Area Planning Advisory Committee chair David Tyra, CSD legal counsel, outlined possible actions in the event an ordinance to adopt the development agreement is eventually approved, including challenging the ordinance via a referendum process. A petition protesting
its adoption could be submitted by the public within 30 days of final passage. Any litigation must commence within 90 days after approval of the ordinance. Area Planning Advisory Committee ■
See CENTRAL EDH, page A8
Canal work came in under budget for EID ■ Expenditures to date
almost $13 million
Michael Raffety Mountain Democrat correspondent
Mountain Democrat photo by Eric Jaramishian
El Dorado County Board of Supervisors Chair Lori Parlin delivers the State of the County address to members of the El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, May 18, at the Cameron Park Country Club.
STATE OF THE COUNTY
Supervisor Parlin talks county crises, biomass site plans Eric Jaramishian Staff writer The topic of county emergencies took the lion’s share of El Dorado County Board of Supervisors Chair Lori Parlin’s State of the County address May 18 at Cameron Park Country Club. Parlin identified four recent crises the
county experienced and continues to deal with — the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, the declaration of a countywide homeless crisis allowing the county to take action on a temporary emergency shelter, the “Snowmageddon” storm that caused thousands to live for days without power in December 2021 and the ongoing impacts of the Caldor Fire. “All of these emergencies cause a strain on our county resources, yet we come together as a community and support one another and persevere,” Parlin said. Parlin commended county staff for assisting those impacted by the local emergencies while still performing their regular duties. “We have the hardest working staff I have ever seen in our county,” Parlin said.
“Government at all levels has realized we need to improve our forest management and a piece of that puzzle is having somewhere for the biomass to go.” — Lori Parlin, El Dorado County District 4 supervisor The county is suffering from staff shortages and vacancies just like the rest of the nation, Parlin stated during her speech. To help counter that Parlin announced the county is looking to increase wages to prevent people from looking for work elsewhere. “We’ve almost accomplished that goal, which we’ve been working on for several years, and we recently decided we need to get going faster on that. We are almost there,” Parlin said. Parlin reiterated some of the county’s actions taken to address wildfire threats, including the
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creation of a wildfire resiliency working group, the Wildfire Resiliency Office, which has already applied for a $10 million grant to help residents with home hardening and defensible space. The group was formed in March by the Board of Supervisors. “There is hope that this effort will soon make insurance companies find our county a desirable place to write policies again,” Parlin explained. Parlin talked about the Caldor Fire devastation Grizzly Flat residents had to experience, many ■
Destroyed by the Caldor Fire, replacement of El Dorado Irrigation District’s Flumes 4, 5 and 6 came in under budget. Repairs to Flume 30 required a change order, increasing the cost slightly. Flume 30 and reclaiming 3.5 miles of road plus building 1,900 feet of new road was originally a two-year project bid at $8 million. To build it all in one year to replace a burned-out Flume 30 the project was redesigned from a trapezoidal concrete flume to a U-shaped canal with cellular concrete filling the uphill side of the canal. The U-shaped canal meant it could be placed closer to the hillside and void the expense of building a mechanically stabilized earth wall. Removal of hazardous waste from Flume 30 was included in Siblon Reid’s contract at a cost of $446,985. That included transporting it to a hazardous waste site in Nevada. Total cost of materials and labor for adding the lightweight foaming concrete was $165,000, but the district negotiated a $100,000 deduction for eliminating the mechanically stabilized wall. The original contract was $8,782,400. Change order additions and deductions brought the total bill for Flume 30 and associated roads to $9.055 million. That left $794,000 in contingency. The total contract change orders only increased 3%. Flume 30, which receives its water from the Mill-to-Bull Creek Tunnel, took 37,736 hours of work to flow water. Construction crews on site varied from five to 32 with 130 pieces of equipment. Flume 30 was watered up April 30. It took 170 days to reach that point. Along the way the construction crew dealt with a monsoon-like rainstorm in October and 3-4 feet of snow in December, with 7 inches of snow in April. To access Flume 30 Syblon Reid widened and graveled 3.5 miles of road and constructed 1,900 feet of new road. The El Dorado Irrigation District Board of Directors approved the change orders 4-0 May 23, with Director Pat Dwyer absent. Flume 4 proved to be the most challenging. After finding an old slide and some buried materials left over from PG&E, Syblon Reid crews were forced to dig down 30 feet below the 147-foot wooden flume the EID crew rebuilt. Total hours worked on Flumes 4, 5 and 6 were 45,554. There were 50 workers on site and 75 pieces of equipment. It took 194 days to water up. Additionally, Syblon Reid reclaimed 6 miles of roads. The expenditures to date are $12,859,774
See PARLIN, page A2
■
See CANAL, page A3
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