Community Councils

EDITOR:

I think a few lines should be given to El Dorado County’s Targeted General Plan Amendment and the new influence the citizens shall have over the development, lifestyle, parks, business, regulations and recreational assets that make up their communities. The committees are called Community Councils and are known as the Council of Economic Development Advisory Committee (CEDAC-EDH) for El Dorado Hills. Our theme is “Better Together.”

Our committee is made up of folks from the History Society, Chamber of Commerce, Tea Party Patriots of El Dorado Hills, Area Plan Advisory Committee, CSD and others.

There are 10 districts in El Dorado County that will be planned by their citizens or planned by a government employed staffer. Take your pick. Personally I prefer being involved and having my neighbors decide what they would like El Dorado Hills to be even if the process becomes somewhat contentious.

If you don’t know who is leading your Community ID group, just call your member of the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors and ask. Each leadership group should have checked in with their respective member and given that member a contact for your group. If there is no one listed for your community then volunteer. It is just not that hard.

Each Community ID will most likely be made up of a board that is in contact with the county and sub-committees that do the work of deciding how your neighborhood should look in 2038AD. Sub-committees will work on residential housing, business including themes, commercial building and employee numbers, parks, recreation, trails, arts, and many other areas that each community deems important to itself.

Please note that there are areas in all communities that are planned, such as the Bass Lake Specific Plan that will not be impacted by the work that we do. Also note, that this process will move the political process from the back room to the front room so that we can be instrumental in the governance of our community.

If you live in El Dorado Hills and would like to attend our first public meeting just send an e-mail to Stephen.ferry@me.com and I will do my best to notify you. If you and your friends would like to serve on a committee start right now by determining your areas of interest. If you have friends that would like to attend please notify them when you have received your notification. Watch the Mountain Democrat or its community papers for notifications also.

STEVE FERRY

El Dorado Hills

Discussion | 17 comments

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• • EldoradoMarch 25, 2013 - 8:39 pm

    • We used to have a general plan made up of several area plans, put together by each community. The Board of Supervisors decided not to update them as required and in the 1980s the Planning Department "cried wolf" and the BOS decided to trash them for a new general plan created by a company from Berkeley. Then the people took over and came up with the 1996 General Plan, which, with help from the county, was overturned. Then, with the help of some anti-growth groups, the BOS created the 2004 General Plan. Go get the area plans, update them community by community and do some real planning.

  • francescaduchamp@att.netMarch 25, 2013 - 8:47 pm

    • Hopefully your meetings will be more "honest" and up front than ours was...maybe I should come to yours in El Dorado--these are "public" meetings right. I could let your community know if the meetings were the same. I have no problem with some of the ideas--its the deceptive way they were brought into Pollock Pines that bother me. Maybe you should have different representation sent our way from the main committee...our identity is "trees" but for some reason-- no one can see them. Im sure you believe in what you are doing. I just find it odd that a person has to go before a committee, so that committee can decide if your request is up to their standards...to even go before the supervisors. Well maybe you have a great group down there--ours is tainted...and it hasnt even been picked out yet.

  • francescaduchamp@att.netMarch 25, 2013 - 8:59 pm

    • Eldorado...do any plans include children? People keep talking about twenty years from now--these groups just asked for 350,000 dollars. If you ask CEDAPP up here in Pollock for their financials--good luck getting them...and now they are being given 5000.00 more dollars--HOW MUCH MONEY DO THEY HAVE? What happened to be accountable to the public? How much does CEDAPP have for Harpers statue of the dancing bears going out on highway 50?

  • EvelynMarch 26, 2013 - 7:17 am

    • Is this an Mt Dem editorial (Patrick Ibarra) or an LTE (Steve Ferry)? Coauthors?

  • EvelynMarch 26, 2013 - 7:21 am

    • GOVERNANCE: The Bypassing of Representative Government - HERE********** Agree or disagree, but at least be informed.

  • Compass2TruthMarch 27, 2013 - 2:33 pm

    • On the surface these community councils & NGOs sound good but are actually laying the groundwork for unaccountable governance. Properly informed citizens are empowered people. Here are a few suggestions on how to defend your Constitutional rights: 1.Create an organization chart of all the government entities and NGOs that make decisions affecting your county. You may be very surprised at the number of NGOs that are already affecting your lives. 2.Challenge the jurisdiction of all existing NGOs. Demand copies of all documents that allegedly give them the powers they have. 3.Find out how the NGOs are financed. Oftentimes, it is from federal and state government grants rather than county taxes. In these cases, the NGO personnel chase government money and mandates to keep their jobs, irrespective of the impacts on the community. That is an inherent conflict of interest. 4.Educate your County Supervisors about this topic and ask for their support. 5.Ask your County Supervisors to explain their role in creating these NGOs. Use Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests as necessary. Study the bylaws that define and limit the powers of your representatives. 6.Keep on the alert for any new NGOs being created.

  • Compass2TruthMarch 27, 2013 - 2:58 pm

    • View how the BOS unanimously gave their blessing upon the stakeholders, unaccountable councils & NGOs by viewing the Special March 25th BOS Workshop: http://eldorado.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=175 **When y cease to defend what is right you'll only become an advocate for what is wrong.**

  • francescaduchamp@att.netMarch 27, 2013 - 3:23 pm

    • 350,000 dollars. 5000.00 to each of eight community...hopefully some of the programs such as senior lunches wont suffer again. I can only speak for Pollock...im sure the people here who work for that program (and have not gotten a raise in several years)are looking forward to the bear statue on highway 50. Mr Perry--you need to come up...introduce yourself at our meeting--which is now on apr.3rd. Less than 1% of the people of Pollock come. Of course there are now more angry people--some of us did not know the meeting of the 25th was cancelled. People from many places. People were very unhappy...dont worry I still welcomed them to our town and apologized for the rudeness--since the hosting group did not. The community center was nice enough to put up a notice of when the next meeting would be. I find it interesting that three CEDAPP people came--hadnt heard. Mr. Perry any idea is only as good as its representatives. "...instrumental in the governance of our community." I invite you to come on up. I will show you the town...explain some of the history...you can meet some of the real people that are being judged by the group that are going to decide what the place will look like. Come up...I will introduce you to people who have a very different look on the place. Cant hurt...Im harmless--but I know the heart of this place--because I watch and I listen to everyone. Fran is my name--the email is correct...my number is 6444072...its a message machine.

  • jonathanMarch 28, 2013 - 12:31 pm

    • Mr Ferry, its such a great idea to plan everything up to 2038. Living in a themed community could be like being in Disney Land 24/7, but maybe a bit more expensive because of all that extra planning. When people want to make changes to their properties probably more departments will be involved and more money for all the permits, but at least we will all be the same. In your next letter won’t you tell us who we should go to to get something done, like to add a room or start a business. Those subcommittees you talk about are important for all of us to get to know about.

  • Compass2TruthMarch 28, 2013 - 8:09 pm

    • Jonathan: Ferry lives on another planet. Briggs, his buddies & the CAO already have given their blessing upon unaccountable committees/councils who plan to turn Coloma & the QUIET ZONE of the American River into a Disneyland on steroids. There is a reason Coloma has been described as the "environmental belly of the beast." Unaccountable NGO's such as the Chamber of Commerce, EDAC, RMAC, ARC, Nature Conservancy, Parks & Recreation Commission are busy behind closed doors making plans to turn Henningson-Lotus & the Marshall Gold Discovery Park into the hub for tourism via a whitewater park like Disneyland. In addition to falsified data, the basic infrastructure simply isn't there to support such plans. These special interest groups dangle their carrots ($$)in front of the BOS. That means residents can kiss goodbye to our RURAL way of life as zombies invade our region and property values plummet. Witness the collapse of America, one county at a time.

  • Phil VeerkampMarch 28, 2013 - 8:44 pm

    • Melody, is your position that EID's board should not have voted to accept the Integrated Water Resources Master Plan on March 25th? I assume you are familiar with the requirements and consequences of "beneficial use". It commes down to "use it or lose it". Melody, as you ponder outside forces do you consider the Delta, the Westlands, the SoCal water planners who covet our thousands of "unused" acre feet of water? The price for "keeping it rural" WILL BE OUR WATER. Are you willing to send our water south, Melody?

  • Phil VeerkampMarch 28, 2013 - 8:52 pm

    • BTW . . . Coloma was "lost" circa 1976 when the Park Service shut down out "Coloma Days Parade" . . . when they wouldn't let Archie, Russ, Telephone Larry, Harvey, Rescue Bob, me and th' Missus and all th' other local yokels line up with E Clampus Vitus, get likkered up and have a parade and a picnic.

  • Phil VeerkampMarch 28, 2013 - 8:57 pm

    • . . . shut down our "Coloma Days Parade"

  • EvelynMarch 29, 2013 - 6:02 am

    • Phil: (1) Does the Water Plan establish some sort of equivalency between units built and water retained? (2) Why was the Coloma parade shut down in 1976?

  • Phil VeerkampMarch 29, 2013 - 8:09 am

    • Evelyn - RE: (1) qualified "NO". I have not read 270 pages of PDF LINK - Integrated Water Resources Master Plan RE: (2) Coloma had already lost its "rural character" State Parks had already "acquired" properties from the old residents - The Gallaghers, the Hitching Rack, The "downtown" residential properties, and tourism was "significantly impacted" by local yokel foolery.

  • EvelynMarch 29, 2013 - 8:24 am

    • Phil: Thanks for the link.

  • EvelynMarch 29, 2013 - 8:37 am

    • Concerning CEDAC’s "Tom Sawyer" Community Council grants, the Board of Supervisors was asked (3/25/2013): a. Who will decide who gets them? b. What will be the criteria for deciding who gets them? c. Is there any way to know how it’s going to be used? d. Will there be any way for the public to know the particulars? ********* The answer: To be determined.