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As 2017 comes to a close, I wanted to update everyone on progress El Dorado County has made over the past year. The Board of Supervisors began the year by defining our Strategic Plan. The five elements were identified as Public Safety, Infrastructure, Healthy Communities, Economic Development and Good Governance. Throughout the year, our Board used the Strategic Plan to define and develop the top priorities for our communities. A key to that progress was to forward the idea of Community Plans. In District V, that meant the conceptual approval of the Meyers Area Plan.
Meyers Area Plan Moves Forward
On Tuesday, December 12th, the Board of Supervisors conceptually approved the Meyers Area Plan (MAP). The MAP is intended to realize the Meyers Community Vision, assist in achieving and maintaining TRPA’s Environmental Threshold Carrying Capacities, and implement the policy direction of both the TRPA Regional Plan and El Dorado County General Plan. This plan updates 20-year old policies to streamline permitting, improve consistency between El Dorado County and TRPA policies and standards, conserve land around the Upper Truckee River, formalize a local citizen’s advisory council, and integrate design standards and guidelines. The update to the Meyers Community Plan was initiated in early 2012 and since that time, hundreds of community members have contributed to the update of the existing Meyers Community Plan (a plan developed over 20 years ago in which I was a proud member). The plan maintains the maximum building height established in the existing Community Plan at 42 feet for the mixed-use Town Center rather than allowing the 56 feet possible under the Regional Plan while retaining the existing building height regulations in other plan areas. It encourages a series of capital improvements to improve bicycle and pedestrian access, safety, and traffic flow and revises design standards and guidelines to promote improvements such as better access to existing multi-use trails, pedestrian kiosks, benches, and other streetscape features. It also includes several new environmental protections including protection to sensitive areas such as Tahoe Paradise Park, Lake Baron, and the Upper Truckee River corridor. The next steps towards the adoption of the MAP will be review and adoption by the TRPA then back to the Board of Supervisors for final approval. Listed below is the tentative schedule:
- Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Advisory Planning Commission Recommendation – January 2018
- Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Regional Plan Implementation Committee Recommendation – February 2018
- Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board Approval – March 2018
- Final El Dorado County Board of Supervisors Adoption Hearing – April 2018
Cannabis Emergency Ban Approved by Board of Supervisors
On Tuesday, December 12, the Board of Supervisors approved Urgency Ordinance 5071, which creates a temporary (45 day) ban on commercial licenses for both medical and recreational (adult) cannabis (with the exception of the medical cannabis dispensaries currently allowed to operate); and created a new ad hoc Cannabis Advisory Committee to study and create ballot measures for different cannabis commercial uses tied to taxation for a local election.
I have been serving on of the Board of Supervisors’ ad hoc Medical Cannabis subcommittee for nearly 1 1/2 years. Together, along with fellow Supervisor Michael Ranalli, we have researched 20 other jurisdictions and met with staff members (including our Sheriff’s Dept., Environmental Health, Air Quality Control, Food and Ag, County Counsel and the CAO’s office), stakeholders and the public to discuss issues surrounding medical marijuana and the cannabis industry as a whole. We have researched past, current and future developments inside and outside our state, including the use and licensing of medical marijuana and, most recently, voter-approved Prop 64 (recreational usage).
The new ad hoc Cannabis Advisory Committee, which I will be again serving on along with Supervisor Ranalli, will be tasked with looking at state legislation and regulation issues that take effect in January. If necessary, the Board could decide to extend the temporary ban on commercial licenses for another 1½ years while the committee continues its work on creating recommendations to the full board. No doubt, this is an interesting and ever-changing platform for our state and its citizens.
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VACATION HOME RENTALS – Keeping the Peace in our Neighborhoods
As vacation rentals (VHRs) have taken center stage inside our residential communities the last few years, local government entities across the nation have been grappling with the idea of whether to crack down on enforcement or totally ban the activity. As your El Dorado County representative to the most impacted VHR area (Lake Tahoe) in our area, and in response to neighborhood complaints and the call for action, I recently requested and was granted the organization of an ad hoc VHR Committee. Our plan is simple: study what is working; what isn’t working; what other jurisdictions are doing (or not doing); document successes and the data behind them; and report back to the Board of Supervisors with recommendations and ideas so that we can again experience peace in our neighborhoods. It seems simple – but as with most issues that are vital to our communities, nothing is quite as simple as it seems…
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As we celebrate the holidays and come to an end of 2017, I want to thank all our citizens who have taken the time to become (or continue) to be involved in the County. Your volunteerism and activism is key to a healthy government and I commend you for your work! I would also like to thank our amazing County staff, who has made our County strong and truly the “Gold Standard of Public Service”– thank you and Happy Holidays to all!
County of El Dorado, Board of Supervisors
Sue Novasel, Supervisor District V
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