(Cris Alarcon, InEDC)

PLACERVILLE, Calif. — I was asked if I read that a candidate just said he was not an expert in the County’s General Plan for growth? I said,

“No, I will have to go look. Anyone who tells you they have read it all carefully is probably lying! LOL

I was one of those people that Sue Taylor and other called the “Monday Night Mafia.” I was in a Working Group that met weekly for about three years forming that formed the General Plan as we know it today. I was a Marketing/messaging expert but most were building Industry experts, Like Gene Thorn as a commercial development expert [that is where we meet in what is now known as the Walgreens Center in Cameron Park near the entrance to many county health building] Transportation experts, land use experts, and so on. [That is where I learned things like speed bumps, stop lights, and traffic circles are “Traffic Calming” devices and that land use is divided from rural farmland to high density heavy industry use by about 8 different kinds of density as buffers to the next higher density use. Never houses next to heavy industry.

It was some serious education from seasoned industry experts in related fields. It took about 3 years, or 500 hours!

The General Plan and its supporting documents are about 1,200 pages including the Addendums [that spell out the conditions and rationals to many items within the numbered sections of the Voter Approved General Plan.]

Few if ANY County Planners are fully familiar with the details. Often I would have to point out details and to get those things done that I wanted [as an consultant.] There are even “poison pills” that were built in!

Density Bonus…. In this county hardly any land is Flat. There are some areas that are so steep as to be ‘Unbuildable. [A term I learned from land developers] So we made a “Density Bonus that allowed the density of some sections of a project to be Denser if other areas were dedicated to “Green Belts” or “Parks.” This was a seemingly fair thing, unless you realize those set-aside areas could not be built on anyways so setting them aside as Green areas for added density somewhere else is really a bonus for nothing…

If anyone says they understand all the General Plan they are ignorant or disingenuous! Including County Planners and especially non-building experts like our County Supervisors!

It sounds like you are saying that Ken has stated his ignorance in parts of our General Plan, how rare and refreshing display of real political courage!

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It took a couple of years at a round-table with experts hashing out the [if we do this we lose this – but if we do this also we get it back – but if we don’t do that and then do this -we get…] to understand things like – if we put a stop sign here instead of a traffic circle we get the same needed speed reduction and still have more buildable land…

Each expert in their own field was expert in a special field, but at a round table of different fields experts debating the pros and cons of alternative methods, and me to use terms like “Green” areas rather than “Unbuildable” areas, we cobbled together a General Plan and presented it to the voters. The General Plan is only PART as the Addendums have additional information that is PART of the General Plan. That makes it over a 1,200 page document.

It fundamentally spells out how we are going to keep the rural areas areas rural by focusing the growth in the areas that already have supporting infrastructure like main roads, powerlines and such. Based on this Voter approved document the State Dept of Education decided to build Union Mine H.S. where it is and much larger than the current student body – because the large developments in Diamond Springs are already part of the General Plan…

THOSE developments are in part of the Addendums. Those Addendums are inherently part of the General Plan.

So to understand the General Plan one must be familiar with ALL 1,200 pages of the Plan. No Supervisor is that knowledgeable! But I doubt they would admit it. LOL But ask them specific details of obscure parts and their ignorance becomes apparent.

Being part of that Working Group was an education like none other. Without being there, no one could duplicate that learning environment about OUR General Plan of technical jargon that is interactive with many other parts.

So I conclude with, any Supervisor that claims to be fully knowledgeable of our County General Plan is either ignorant or disingenuous.

Cris Alarcon.

[BTW, The State decide EVERYTHING about public schools including where they are built and how big. Right now Union Mine High School is so big and underutilized that we Bus kids in from El Dorado Hills! The State is reluctant to build a High School to increase capacity in El Dorado Hills until the over capacity at Union Mine is fully utilized. It will be this way until those two developments in Diamonds Springs are built thereby adding more kids to that local community. Those Diamond Springs developments are ALREADY approved and we are now in the “details” stages of approval. The Infrastructure improvements like replacing water mains is nearly done, the new Post Office as well as the High School were done long ago, road realignment of the main road accessing those developments that will likely go through Deb’s is in the final detail stage. There is no stopping that train! It is only a matter of altering its path.]