VILLAGE CAMERON PARK
life
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SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF EL DORADO HILLS AND CAMERON PARK
VOL. 28 ■ ISSUE NO. 40
See Page A7 Experience our cover coDmism unity Th e E n anDd mesektaoto u ifference.r care staff today!
OCTOBER 6, 2021
HIGH-FLYING AND HOT-RODDING
Fee refunds coming soon Eric Jaramishian Staff writer
Photo by Laurie Edwards
Cameron Park recently played host to some spectacular events. Above, Cameron Park pilots Chuck Wahl, Jim Edixon and Julie Clark, from left, fly in a three-aircraft formation over the Cops and Rodders Show and Shine Fly-in crowd at the Cameron Airpark Sept. 25. At right, Bob and Marilyn Clay show off their 1955 Chevy Bel Air — their first date car— at Thunder in the Park at Cameron Park Lake Oct. 2. The couple has been married 63 years. See more event photos on A6.
Those who paid the Public Safety Impact Fee, charged to new development 2007-2016 to help fund a once-planned El Dorado County sheriff’s substation in El Dorado Hills, will get a refund. On a 3-2 vote, El Dorado County supervisors supported returning the approximately $445,000 plus interest collected. El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, Shingle Springs and Rescue homeowners who built a home after the fee’s adoption and paid the fee are eligible for refunds. “We have money that was collected for a substation and it needs to be returned,” said District 4 Supervisor Lori Parlin at the Sept. 28 board meeting. “That’s just how I feel. In general government should not be sitting on people’s money.” The decision behind the refund is two-fold. First, El Dorado County scrapped plans to build a substation after it purchased property off Missouri Flat Road in Placerville and constructed a new sheriff’s headquarters, which opened in fall 2019. The second issue is more complex. The Public Safety Impact fee is one of several fees mentioned in a lawsuit filed in 2015 against the county in which El Dorado Hills residents Thomas and Helen Austin allege the county, El Dorado Hills Fire Department and El Dorado Hills Community Services District violated the California Mitigation Fee Act because the agencies did not complete and submit the act’s required five-year nexus studies justifying their fees but continued collecting them. Those studies must validate the fee amount and outline how money intended to be spent will benefit the public and/or offset impacts resulting from new development. No nexus study was completed for the Public Safety Impact fee after the original study expired in 2012 and county Auditor-Controller Joe Harn said he warned ■
Village Life photo by Thomas Frey
See REFUNDS, page A5
Residents unite to protect open space in Cameron Park Sherri Bergmann Village Life correspondent Land adjoining Rasmussen Park has for years been used as part of residents’ recreational lives, ideal for walking/hiking, fishing, dog walking, horseback riding, bird watching, nature exploration, photography and even mountain biking. The area known to locals as Rasmussen Pond is hidden beyond the baseball field and tall grass. However, a “for sale” sign has brought it out of the shadows and now community members have shared their concerns about the land being razed for development — it’s
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zoned as R1A (1-acre residential) and is designated as HDR (high-density residential – one to five residential units per acre) — and destroying the natural and uncommon beauty they have come to cherish. “We’re building ourselves out of any land,” said Chris Cockrell, owner of Sam’s Town Cyclery in Shingle Springs. “We need to have more natural landscape and recreation area.” The current property owner has been kind enough to keep Rasmussen Pond open for public access. Serious high school mountain bike riders on ■
See POND, page A5
Photo by Sherri Bergmann
The Lady Bruins Mountain Bike Team frequents land near Rasmussen Park for training. Left to right are Willa Fleming, Avery Daubert, Gabriella Worth, Megan Price and Catherine Cambridge.
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