Purple petition made it!
Post date: Oct 23, 2014 9:15:59 PM
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Subject: From Save Our County: More good news! The Retain El Dorado County's Current Zoning and Rural Assets - purple petition has been certified!
Dear El Dorado County Rural Lifestyle Supporters,
Save Our County (SOC) and Residents Involved in Positive Planning (RIPP), received the call that we gathered enough valid signatures to CERTIFY - "To Retain El Dorado County's Current Zoning and Rural Assets" (purple of the 1-2-3 petitions) initiative!!
This is our initiative to qualify for the ballot and will be on the Board of Supervisors agenda, Tuesday, October 28.
We turned in 9,858 signatures of which 8,289 where determined to be valid. This is the best we did out of the three! On this one we had help from the community in South Lake Tahoe in order to reach our goal. So it is appropriate that our initiative happens to land on the one day the Board of Supervisors has scheduled to meet in Tahoe.
We have been told to be at the meeting at 9:00 a.m. since this will be the second item on the agenda and the one before us should only take a few minutes. The Meeting will be held at 1901 Airport Blvd by the Tahoe airport.
The Board will decide whether to adopt the initiative, put it on the ballot, or order a 30-day report.
We had expected that the Board would place our second (yellow) initiative on the ballot in July, but instead they ordered a report which pushed that initiative out until the 2016 election.
For that reason and with the constant lobbying by the El Dorado County Chamber (of which Sierra Pacific Industries and Parker Development are Board President and member respectively) to undermine our 2004 General Plan, we are going to ask the Board of Supervisors to adopt this initiative. This initiative has 6 basic points which coincide with our existing 2004 General Plan:
1. If the zoning on our property does not match the land designation, then the county will change the land designation to match. If a person wants to change their zoning they need to follow the compatibility chart so that not to impact their neighbor. (This takes the cronyism out of the equation and stops the Millions of dollars being spend on overhauling our General Plan being pushed by the EDC Chamber.)
2. The Ag buffers are restored to the 2004 standards from being removed and altered by the Board of Supervisors in 2006-2008.
3. The Mixed Use policy will be restored to the 2004 standards from what was altered by the Board of Supervisors in 2009.
4. The Cultural and Historical Resource policies in the 2004 General Plan, less the part about removing Highway 49 from Coloma, shall be implemented prior to any more discretionary land use changes can take place.
5. The water supply and demand policies in the 2004 General Plan, with some clean up to protect existing uses, shall be implemented prior to any more discretionary land use changes can take place. (The County has yet to do a Water Supply and Demand Management Plan).
6. The Scenic Corridor and Vista Point regulations promised in the 2004 General Plan shall be put in place before any more discretionary land use changes can take place. (Doing this would have prevented that over-sized billboard that was planted on our most significant scenic vista point in Shingle Springs.)
(Discretionary means that the project is not allowed by right and would either need the Planning Commission or Board of Supervisors to pass legislation in order to allow the project. This ordinance does nothing to remove a property owner's right to request a rezone or change, nor does it take water away from senior citizens or farmers.)
The proposed ordinance and back up information: http://www.lvc-edc.org/about/retain-current-zoning
After watching the Board of Supervisors spending years with special interests to manipulate our General Plan we are asking them to adopt this carefully written initiative in order to stop the lobbying and cronyism that has taken place over the last 30 years. This is telling them to implement the protections to our resources that they promised us in 2004.... The one the developers keep telling us is a wonderful plan even while driving the Board of Supervisors to spend millions to overhaul it.
Please attend:
Board of Supervisors Meeting - 1901 Airport Blvd. South Lake Tahoe
Tuesday, October 28, 2014, 8:00 am
Please use sample email below to send a message to the Board of Supervisors:
Contact info for Board of Supervisors:
(Please reference the Board meeting date and mention Ballot measure in your email to expedite a response and subsequent addition to the agenda item)
1. Ron Mikulaco, Supervisor District I, (530) 621-5650, bosone@edcgov.us
2. Shiva Frentzen, Supervisor District II, (530) 621-5651, bostwo@edcgov.us
3. Brian Veerkamp, Supervisor District III, (530) 621-5652, bosthree@edcgov.us
4. Ron Briggs, Supervisor District IV, (530) 621-6513, bosfour@edcgov.us
5. Norma Santiago, Supervisor District V, (530) 621-6577, bosfive@edcgov.us
Board of Supervisors' Agenda Item Comments, Clerk of the Board: edc.cob@edcgov.us
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Sample email:
To: <bosone@edcgov.us>, <bostwo@edcgov.us>, <bosthree@edcgov.us>, <bosfour@edcgov.us>, <bosfive@edcgov.us>, <edc.cob@edcgov.us>
Subject: Comment on 10-28-14 BOS Agenda Item, Ballot Measure
Dear Board of Supervisors,
I request that you adopt the grassroots "Initiative Measure Relating to El Dorado County Land Use Policies and Zoning" in order to Retain El Dorado County's Current Historical Zoning Rights and Rural Assets.
Thank you,
[Your Name]
[Your town or address]
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Thank you,
Sue Taylor for:
Save Our County
The grassroots team of signature gatherers reminds us of this quote:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret Mead
HISTORY:
SOC, RIPP, Shingle Springs Community Alliance, No San Stino, and Stop Tilton Park along with many other organizations came together and formed Local Voters Control in El Dorado County (LVC-EDC). LVC-EDC sponsored 3 initiatives. The first (green petition), after qualifying, has become Measure O which is on the November 2014 Ballot. Measure O simply takes away the urban boundary line that abuts next to the Apple Farms in Camino and the forests of Pollock Pines and reduces that line to 3 rural centers. It also reduces and changes the urban boundary line in Shingle Springs to a rural center and reduces the line along a small strip of ranch properties in Green Valley Road. It retains the zoning that was expected in these areas in the 2004 General Plan.
Without much funding and with only volunteers for gathering signatures we knew this would be a huge task to get our measures on the ballot.
What we did not know is how much the opposition would come against us with lies and money to confuse the public against our Measure O and Measure M's initiatives. (Measure M was put on the ballot from another grassroots organization, Rural Communities United, to stop Marble Valley and the Lime Rock Projects being proposed by Parker Development and Gallo.)
From the Green Valley Alliance:
According to the FPPC forms, filed with the El Dorado County Election’s Dept., money has come from 13 donations, and 10 of those donations have come from outside El Dorado County. Of the top 6 donors, 5 are outside the County. Big developers have now spent nearly $400,000 to fight Measures M and O – they even have TV ads now.
§ $249,500 Parker Development; Affiliated Entities (El Dorado Hills)
§ $49,500 Sierra Pacific Industries (Lincoln)
§ $15,000 Premier United Communities, LP (Granite Bay)
§ $25,000 G3 Enterprises (Gallo - Modesto)
§ $15,000 North State Building Industry Association (Sacramento)
§ $10,000 R.E.Y. Engineers, Inc. (Folsom)
These special interest groups are lying about what Measure M and Measure O will do.
They have also thrown Measure M & O in with Measure N, which came from a Builders group in Sacramento that it telling us what to do with our local road funds in order for them to reduce the mitigation they would be required to pay on their impact to our roads.
Remember to VOTE NO on N!