August Traffic Articles in THE UNION

Becky Trout, beckyt@theunion.com
September 29, 2005

Western Nevada County's government leaders face a quandary.

Dramatically raising some fees on developers - as recommended by the county's transportation commission last week - could improve traffic flow. But the move would push up the cost of housing and goods, already out of reach for many western county residents.

"I'm not excited about doubling the fees. I need to look at the justification," County Supervisor Sue Horne said.

Last week, the Nevada County Transportation Commission recommended raising the fees per "vehicle trip" generated by new development from $630 to $1,350 in the Grass Valley/Nevada City area. A vehicle trip is a one-way drive, equivalent to a trip to the grocery store.

Recommended increases in outlying areas are less. The cost of a trip created in Penn Valley would jump from $136 to $290, and south county fees would climb from $98 to $209.

But neither the county nor the two western cities - who must approve the fees - have yet discussed the increase, although they plan to in the next month, leaders said this week.

"I'm sure any time you raise fees that high, it kind of raises eyebrows," Grass Valley Mayor Gerard Tassone said. "You just have to look at the justification for it."

The details are critical, Grass Valley City Councilman Dean Williams agreed.

"I'd have to see how (the commission) came up with (the new fees)."

Tassone said he expects the council will be discussing the proposed change soon.

Nevada City also plans to delve into the details behind the numbers soon, Mayor Conley Weaver said.

Weaver said he didn't want to comment on the fees before they are discussed by the council.

City Councilman Kerry Arnett said he hasn't had a chance to study the proposed fees, but that he's supported development fee increases in the past.

The Board of Supervisors have also not considered the development fees yet. The county would be responsible for collecting the fees in areas outside the city.

Nevada County Supervisor Robin Sutherland, also a member of the transportation commission, said she is reluctantly supportive of the increases.

"We have to be responsible," she said, stressing that area roads desperately need improvement.

Andy Cassano, a planner who guides developers through the permitting process, said he believes most builders are interested in resolving traffic issues. They would rather spend money on actual fixes, rather than endless studies, however, Cassano said.

For County Supervisor Ted Owens, the key is ensuring that fees are equally distributed between residential and commercial development.

Owens said the joint meeting with the supervisors and the councils of Nevada City, Grass Valley, and Truckee on Oct. 18 will provide an opportunity to discuss the development fees.

Since the regional fee program was established in 2001, the commission has collected about $1.4 million. It has spent money planning for the intersection of Idaho-Maryland Road and East Main Street and on widening the intersection of Sutton Way and Brunswick Road.

This year, development money will pay for part of the realignment of the area south of Idaho-Maryland Road on the Golden Center Freeway.

Transportation planners would like to have the additional money as soon as possible, of course, the commission's Executive Director Dan Landon said Wednesday.

But no deadline is set. Grass Valley, Nevada City and Nevada County need to pass the fee increases before new fees are collected.

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To contact staff writer Becky Trout, e-mail beckyt@theunion.com or call 477-4234.

City continues drive toward traffic solutions
Gerard Tassone
September 24, 2005

Recent rumblings around the community have postured that traffic in Grass Valley is bad and getting worse, with no relief in sight, and that the City is doing little to help the situation.

I would like to dispel those rumors, as I believe we are making significant headway on addressing traffic challenges.

Increased traffic is closely linked to having a vibrant local economy and the growth that has been occurring throughout Western Nevada County. Road patterns, existing development and terrain restrict City options and increase its costs.

With the expectations of our residents, developing short- and long-term transportation solutions for the community requires time, focused efforts and considerable funding.

Many City streets are connected with the State's Golden Center Freeway and its frontage roads. Any improvements that impact State roadways must be approved by Caltrans and must address Caltrans concerns.This adds additional time.

Traffic from the schools complicates local traffic throughout the school year. Likewise, numerous special events at the fairgrounds and in downtown create additional traffic challenges. And potential traffic improvements in the Historic Downtown area (i.e. West Main, Mill, South Auburn, Neal and Richardson) are sensitive and quite limited.

That being the case, I will explain what the City is doing to address both short- and long-term fixes.

Short term
In August, the City Council approved the Traffic Congestion Relief (TCR) Program, which has been developed to provide quick fixes to traffic trouble spots throughout the City.

This program has already been successful in addressing the lane alignment on East Main in front of the Post Office.

Here are a number of projects that are scheduled or have been completed:

• Westbound Idaho-Maryland at East Main was restriped to extend the left turn lane and shared through right turn lanes to improve traffic flow. We are also evaluating the use of vacant land for parking in the Hills Flat area to eliminate on-street parking to facilitate the installation of additional lanes.

• A dedicated right turn lane will be installed on westbound East Main onto Sierra College Drive.

• A dedicated right turn lane is also being installed from West Berryhill onto East Main.

• Widening on East Main, in front of Maria's Restaurant, is planned to improve the stacking on the westbound lane of the recently installed Bennett/East Main traffic signal. Many other suggested improvements are also being analyzed for implementation.

• Big One Appliance will be installing improvements to the Brunswick Road/Sutton Way intersection

• Weaver Auto has begun design of a traffic signal for the intersection of the northbound freeway ramps/Idaho-Maryland Road.

• Morgan Ranch is designing a traffic signal for Sierra College Drive/Ridge Road.

• Funds have been budgeted to enhance the traffic signal at South Auburn and Main Street to improve its functioning, capacity and appearance.

• The City is finalizing the projects and cost estimates needed to update its local street mitigation fees that are charged to all new development projects.

Longer term
• Constructing the interchange at Dorsey Drive is a crucial project to alleviate congestion, improve traffic flow and access in northern Grass Valley. Lack of State funding and escalating construction costs continue to affect the scope and timing of this project. NCTC and the City are now exploring options for securing the funding to either construct a partial interchange and/or secure the entire funding for the project.

• The City has recently assumed responsibility for guiding the plans and construction of the Grass Valley Corridor Improvement Project (GVCIP) from NCTC.

• Traffic calming continues to be a huge demand. As part of its Traffic Calming Program to maintain neighborhood livability, the City has installed speed humps on many residential streets. Other traffic calming requests are currently under consideration by the Traffic Safety Review Committee.

• Joint meetings with the County Board of Supervisors to address common areas of roadways for short- and long-term fixes.

• The City continues to support and incorporate the use of transit, bicycles and trails as alternatives to vehicles. For example, the City will be expending a $500,000 "Safe Routes to School" grant to improve pedestrian access around Nevada Union.

These are just some of the many traffic projects the City is working on. As I mentioned earlier, traffic is a challenging issue that requires the City's focused efforts. The City is committed to making this happen. The traffic problems that we are facing today did not occur overnight and will not be solved overnight, but we are making progress.

Gerard Tassone is the mayor of Grass Valley.

By Becky Trout, beckyt@theunion.com
September 22, 2005

To unclog Nevada County roadways, planners need more money from developers, the county's transportation chief said Wednesday.

Dan Landon, executive director of the Nevada County Transportation Commission, recommended to the commission that higher fees on builders could help make road improvements needed to keep pace with growth.

The seven-member commission agreed, voting to urge the cities, town and county to nearly double the fees charged per "vehicle trip" added in the central Grass Valley/Nevada City area from $630 to $1,350.

Recommended fee jumps for more rural areas are smaller. The cost of a trip in the Penn Valley area would climb from $136 to $290, and south county trips would rise from $98 to $209.

The fees are charged per vehicle trip generated from 4 to 6 p.m. each day, Landon said. Planners use a standard chart and local observations to figure out how many trips a certain type of new building, such as a dry-cleaning business, would produce.

And then, using a traffic model, they discern how many of those vehicles are headed for Grass Valley, Nevada City, or another area, Landon said.

That system, created five years ago, doesn't work, said Barbara Bashall, executive director of Nevada County Contractors' Association.

Fees for houses in the outlying areas need to be raised, and the community's standards need to be more realistic, Bashall wrote in a letter to the commission.

"We need to change our expectations ..." Bashall wrote. "Until people start changing their driving habits, no amount of money is going to be available to ensure that all intersections operate (efficiently) for 24 hours a day."

The fees could have flaws, several transportation commissioners admitted, but they agreed it was important to raise the fees before launching an investigation.

The fees are administered by the cities, town and county. If the councils and board pass the new fees as anticipated by the transportation commission, the commission plans to probe into the fee structure.

The disparity between Grass Valley/Nevada City and the outlying areas might be too large, Commissioner Tim Brady said. And the use of only two afternoon hours to calculate trips might miss the true traffic generated by a house, Landon pointed out.

Since the regional fee program was established in 2001, the commission has collected about $1.4 million. It has spent money on planning for the intersection of Idaho-Maryland Road and East Main Street and on widening the intersection of Sutton Way and Brunswick Road.

This year, development money will pay for part of the realignment of the area south of Idaho-Maryland Road on the Golden Center Freeway.

The commission's regional fees are not the only traffic fees paid by developers.

Grass Valley, Nevada City, and the county charge traffic fees for development. For example, the local traffic fee for a house in Grass Valley is $336.02. In Nevada City, the local fee is $3,073.98. And in North San Juan, the local fee is $667.

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To contact staff writer Becky Trout, e-mail beckyt@theunion.com or call 477-4234.

By David Bunker
Sierra Sun
August 31, 2005

As summer winds down, the construction on Truckee’s dual roundabouts will crank up.

After Labor Day, Highway 89 traffic will be reduced to a single lane in each direction and left-turn lanes onto and off of Interstate 80 will be closed during intervals to allow heavy construction of the roundabouts at Interstate 80 and Highway 89 south, according to contractor Burdick Excavating.

Left-turn traffic will have to follow detour signs that will lead them to the interstate.

“The traffic is reduced after the vacation season, and we’ve tried to schedule it accordingly,” said Bob Burton, resident engineer with the Town of Truckee.

Construction has gone well so far, and the roundabouts could be completed and operational by the end of October, said Burton.

“Everything is kind of going the way it was expected,” he said.

The $3.5 million roundabout project was approved in December 2004, after the town convinced state transportation gurus that high-capacity roundabouts could handle traffic flowing on and off I-80.

But it was a hard sell, said Tom Brannon, manager of Caltrans projects in Nevada and Sierra counties.

Caltrans first proposed to build a stoplight on the Interstate 80 off-ramps, a solution that the town feared could back traffic up onto the Interstate with heavy winter tourist traffic.

Once the project is complete, Truckee will have the first multi-lane roundabouts in Northern California, said Brannon. The two lanes are needed to accommodate the traffic that will pass through the configuration.

The center portions of the roundabouts will be built after Labor Day, as the peak summer traffic drops off after the holiday weekend. Earlier in the summer, construction crews had been working on the sidewalks and shaving back slopes to accommodate the circular intersection.

The construction schedule assures that the construction delays will have the least impact on North Tahoe tourism as possible, said Steve Teshara, executive director of the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association. Highway 89 is a vital link for visitors headed to Tahoe City, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows.

“Since it is being done at the end of the peak summer season and before winter, we are hoping that the impacts will be minimal,” Teshara said.

He said he is pleased that the Town of Truckee took the initiative to build roundabouts at the intersection rather than a stoplight. “We believe the roundabouts were the right approach to take,” Teshara said.

By Becky Trout, beckyt@theunion.com
August 24, 2005

Dorsey Drive and the contentious Crestview Interchange aren't the only traffic issues screaming for attention.

In a remarkably brief meeting Tuesday, the Grass Valley City Council advanced a plan regarding another traffic trouble many area residents encounter every day - the "weave" on the southbound freeway in central Grass Valley.

The resolution, which has been in the works for months, would eventually untangle the weave by lengthening the space exiting and entering vehicles have to merge, said Tim Kiser, city engineer.

The city claimed control of the project - its price tag has not yet been determined - Tuesday, freeing up Nevada County Transportation Commission officials to focus on Dorsey Drive, Kiser said.

Council members Lisa Swarthout and Patti Ingram agreed to work in conjunction with city staffers to help ensure the project advances smoothly.

Eventually, with money obtained from Caltrans and area developers, southbound Highway 49/20 traffic aimed for Bennett Street or Idaho-Maryland Road will diverge from through traffic a bit earlier, Kiser said.

Idaho-Maryland bound folks will exit soon after they diverge. Then, traffic entering the freeway from Idaho-Maryland Road will need to merge only with Bennett Street exiters, not with all traffic on the freeway.

The entering vehicles will merge with through traffic farther south of the current weave, Kiser said.

In addition, a stoplight or roundabout will also iron out jams at Idaho-Maryland Road and East Main Street.

Work could begin as soon as 2009, Kiser said, although he cautioned that estimate is tentative.

Within months, however, city engineers are hoping to ease the pressure on the troubled intersection by adding an additional lane on westbound Idaho-Maryland Street.

They also plan to investigate the feasibility of using the vacant corner service station as additional parking, freeing up precious on-street space, Kiser said.

In other business, the council agreed to form a partnership with the Nevada County Land Trust to construct trails along Wolf Creek with a connection to Memorial Park.

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To contact staff writer Becky Trout, e-mail beckyt@theunion.com or call 477-4234.

Becky Trout
Staff writer, beckyt@theunion.com
August 20, 2005

Packed with pet projects for congressional districts across the nation, the latest federal transportation bill provided Nevada County with the equivalent of $37 per resident.

That might not sound so bad, until one sees the $989 per capita brought into Kern County, or even the $190 a head for neighboring Placer County.

Nevada County’s slice, put into the bill by U.S. Rep John Doolittle, R-Roseville, starts to look even slimmer If you take out a large project for Truckee, leaving western county residents with a mere $9.84 per person for major transportation funding.

The bulk of the county’s money — $2.8 million — went to Truckee to expand the mousehole, a narrow tunnel tucked under railroad tracks and used by vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians.

The remaining $777,700 for Nevada County will go to construct a bus transfer station in or near Grass Valley, perhaps with restrooms and additional benches, county officials have said.

The location and configuration of the facility remain unknown and the county has several years to figure it out, said Bill Derrick, transit services manager.

Both projects had been requested several years ago and were relayed through Doolittle’s office, said Dan Landon, executive director of the Nevada County Transportation Commission.

Nevada County residents likely will benefit from some of the other projects worked into the bill, such as:

• $71.6 million to widen Interstate 80 near the Sacramento and Placer county borders.
• $3 million for Smartville Road to ease access to Beale Air Force Base.
• $5 million to improve air quality in the Sacramento region.

To contact staff writer Becky Trout, e-mail beckyt@theunion.com or call 477-4234.

Becky Trout
Staff writer, beckyt@theunion.com
August 17, 2005

At first, it was mysterious — a little blue pamphlet that popped up in mailboxes, appeared at public meetings.

“Your public money going to private interests,” it exclaimed. “Taking homes by eminent domain for private projects, using public money needed for existing problems to make it easier for developers to profit at taxpayer expense.”

The issue? The Crestview Drive interchange — a $55 million link-up with Highway 49 proposed south of Grass Valley. The freeway-style crossing is proposed to handle traffic from potential developments such as SouthHill Village and North Star, which together include about 2,500 homes.

Concern that taxpayers would end up footing the bill for the roadwork sent Harold Berliner, a former Nevada County district attorney, scurrying to his computer. There, he penned the little blue pamphlet and sent it off to local officials, the media and many others.

“(The developers) want to take private residences, impact many others and fly in the face of what is truly in the public’s interest: high quality, responsible development that rests within the sphere of our existing infrastructure,” Berliner wrote.

The interchange will send Grass Valley down the path picked by Roseville and foothill communities Sonora and Jackson, the pamphlet claims.

Berliner’s publication found an audience already uneasy with plans for a new interchange on the sometimes congested Highway 49.

But it also contained several errors, said Dan Landon, executive director of the Nevada County Transportation Commission.

Both Sides

The criticism
Harold Berliner says a large Crestview interchange on Highway 49 would support sprawl and divert money from vital projects such as the Dorsey Drive connection to the Golden Center Freeway.

The rebuttal
Developers whose projects would be served by the interchange point out that studying the project is required by the government and that the cost is being picked up by the developers.

Catlin Properties issued a response several weeks after the pamphlet was published, pointing out its SouthHill Village project does not need an interchange with ramps. SouthHill, which plans for a shopping center and 350 residences on 175 acres, needs only an intersection with a stoplight, said Paul O’Sullivan, a vice president with the Sacramento-based company.

The city of Grass Valley has requested that Catlin Properties and nearby developer Sanderson Company finance a $442,000 study of an interchange, an intersection and an east-west roadway south of the city — all of which are included in the city’s governing document, called the General Plan.

Sandy Sanderson — who proposes constructing more than 2,140 residences on 760 acres — points out that North Star, in conjunction with other growth in the area, will create the need for the interchange.

North Star is willing to pay its share of the project, he said.

The city is exercising good planning to require an investigation of the road, Sanderson said.

Despite Berliner’s concerns, the Crestview interchange would not take money away from a Dorsey Drive connection with the Golden Center Freeway, which is currently the transportation commission’s top priority, Landon has said.

Both the pamphlet and Catlin’s response end with a call to action.
“Enlightened public servants should know that their constituents are not responsible for subsidizing developers’ private projects,” Berliner wrote.

Catlin’s O’Sullivan called for area residents to ask their representatives to shrink the other three large developments — North Star, Loma Rica, and Kenny Ranch — to reduce the potential traffic burden. Catlin would also like to see only a stoplight at the road, he said.

Planning of the interchange will continue after the Grass Valley City Council discusses a soon-to-be-released study of the four major housing developments.

To contact staff writer Becky Trout, e-mail beckyt@theunion.com or call 477-4234.

By Becky Trout, beckyt@theunion.com
August 16, 2005

Construction on the long-planned Dorsey Drive interchange won't begin as scheduled in 2008 without an infusion of money, Dan Landon told local leaders at a traffic pow-wow Tuesday evening.

Landon, executive director of the Nevada County Transportation Commission, briefed the Grass Valley City Council, the Nevada County Board of Supervisors, the transportation commission and about 25 members of the public on the status of the much-discussed interchange at the rare joint meeting.

The entire Dorsey Drive project is currently slated to cost more than $27 million, several million more than previously expected and well above the amount of money on hand, Landon said.

A transportation tax or other local funding source could make up the difference, Landon said.

Transportation leaders also updated the public and elected officials on the status of other key roadways, including:

• Loma Rica Drive and Brunswick Road - Eventually, the county intends to move the intersection and add a stoplight, plans that will require purchasing a few residences and taking off a bit of the hillside, said John Rumsey, senior engineer with Nevada County's Department of Transportation.

• Highway 174 and Brunswick Road - A stoplight will be needed soon. Alternative designs are being considered, however, because it is dangerous to add a stoplight on a slope, Rumsey said.

• Grass Valley Post Office and East Main Street - The city plans to remove one parking spot west of the post office and add a turn lane, said Tim Kiser, a Grass Valley engineer.

• Berryhill Drive and East Main Street - Parking will be removed on the south side of Berryhill Drive to create a right turn lane on East Main Street.

• Idaho Maryland Road and East Main Street - For a short-term solution to the regular jams, officials are investigating the possibility of using the old gas station as parking to provide additional roadway space.

• East Main Street and Bennett Street - Plans call for squeezing a left-turn lane onto westbound East Main Street.

• East Main Street and Sierra College Drive - A right-turn lane will be added onto southbound East Main Street.

• Brunswick Road and Sutton Way - An additional lane is planned for southbound Sutton Way north of Brunswick Road.

• LaBarr Meadows Road and Highway 49 - In 2008, construction will start on a realigned intersection with a stoplight and a frontage road system along this accident-prone stretch.

In addition, several members of the public scolded local leaders for focusing solely on automobiles, excluding pedestrians, cyclists and bus riders.

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To contact staff writer Becky Trout, e-mail beckyt@theunion.com or call 477-4234.

George Boardman, georgeb@theunion.com
August 13, 2005

The recently signed federal transportation bill will give Nevada County $777,747 to build a transit hub for the Gold Country Stage bus service.

The obvious location for such a hub is the currently modest facility at Church and Neal streets in Grass Valley, but the city might not be willing to surrender the public parking space needed to expand the site, county transportation officials said Friday.

"We have not settled on a location, but we've done some thinking about it," said Bill Derrick, the county's transportation services manager.

The current hub has two covered benches and a short stretch of parking along Church Street. Transportation officials would like to see more covered benches, possibly a bathroom, and enough parking for three to four buses.

Dan Landon, executive director of the county Transportation Commission, said a larger hub would allow easier transfer between routes, especially for passengers going to Auburn and the Capital Corridor trains.

The federal funds are a grant and will be spread out over four fiscal years, Derrick said. "This is going to be a fairly time-consuming process," he said. "I wouldn't look for anything to happen immediately."

Recent years have seen scaled-back services for Gold Country Stage as revenues fell short of costs. But the new batch of federal funding is reserved only for the bus hub.

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To contact staff writer George Boardman, e-mail georgeb@theunion.com or call 477-4236.

The Union staff
August 12, 2005

A workshop focusing on roads and traffic in western Nevada County will beat 7 p.m. Monday in the Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main St., Grass Valley.

Hosted by the Nevada County Board of Supervisors, the Nevada County Transportation Commission and the Grass Valley City Council, the meeting will focus on resolving current traffic problems.

Representatives from all three entities will present their plans, then the board, council and commission will discuss:

• Dorsey Drive interchange on the Golden Center Freeway.

• Intersection of Nevada City Highway and Brunswick Road.

• Intersection of Idaho-Maryland Road and East Main Street.

• La Barr Meadows Road.

• Dog Bar Road.

The meeting is open to the public.

- Becky Trout

By Becky Trout, beckyt@theunion.com
August 9, 2005

On July 8, 2003, as many county residents were laboring at work or frolicking at the river, the Board of Supervisors met privately, again. The five supervisors had been meeting behind closed doors for several weeks, at the advice of a former county attorney, talking about roads.

That day, unbeknownst to most everyone, the supervisors instructed the county's director of transportation to accept 34 road segments, a total of about 15 miles.

The acceptance - on behalf of the public - placed the roads in a limbo of sorts. Not maintained by the county, yet no longer private, the roads became open to all, yet claimed by none.

And for more a year, hardly anyone, not even the former road owners, knew.

A hot potato

Then, in mid-2004, a resident of the Golden Oaks subdivision announced he no longer intended to pay his portion of road maintenance fees because the roads were public, fellow Golden Oaks resident Bruce Siegalkoff recounted.

The news that the roads were public shocked the south county neighborhood.

"We've all been thrown a hot potato," said Tom Cox, also a Golden Oaks resident.

Like many others across the county, the Golden Oaks folks cherished their private roads, which they describe as quiet and maintained to the residents' satisfaction.

The county's action would open the roads to traffic yet leave them unmaintained, residents protested.

"If you accept those roads, I feel it's your responsibly to maintain them," Lodestar resident Suzanne Ashmead told county officials at a recent public meeting, voicing the views of many of her neighbors.

In addition, the roads' public status cripples the ability of property owners to raise money to care for the roads, some experts believe.

So the neighbors got together, hired an attorney, and began negotiating with the county to return the road segments to private ownership, a prolonged discussion that could culminate for some south county residents this afternoon.

Why it was done

A road, built for a particular purpose, could be useful for other purposes someday, planning officials realized about 50 years ago.

Therefore, they began requiring all subdividers who built a road to offer to dedicate the road to the public, if the public - as represented by the Nevada County Board of Supervisors -chose to accept it.

These offers cannot be taken back, ever, said County Counsel Rob Shulman.

But after 25 years, the property owner can take the issue to court and request a finding that the road is not needed for public purposes. Then, the offer can be terminated, Shulman said.

In 2003, the 25-year-mark was approaching or had passed for a group of area road segments, Shulman said.

To prevent property owners from terminating the offers in court - thus precluding the county from ever claiming the road - a former county counsel believed it wise to strike pre-emptively.

In a series of private meetings, the five supervisors, county administrators, and transportation officials worked to whittle down the list of road segments.

They chose 34 segments based on their attractiveness as an emergency access route or because the roads are mentioned in the county's governing document.

On a 3-2 vote two years ago - with supervisors Sue Horne, Robin Sutherland and Drew Bedwell overriding Peter Van Zant and Barbara Green - the board decided to open the roads to the public.

After hearing from angry property owners, however, some of the supervisors have reconsidered their decision.

"In retrospect, even though it was a legal option, I don't believe it was a proper action to take," Horne said recently.

Property owners along the affected roads should have been given an opportunity to comment, she said.

"I think with hindsight ... even though it's not legally required, it's important to give notice, especially after 25 years," Shulman agreed, although he refrained from critiquing his predecessor.

What happens now

At the request of Horne, the board agreed recently to review the status of the 34 road segments. Nine of those roads, all in the south county, will come before the supervisors today at 1:30 p.m. The others will be examined at a later date.

Today the supervisors have three options, Shulman said.

KNOW & GO

WHAT: Discussion of proposal to make several south county public roads private again

WHEN: 1:30 p.m., today

WHERE: Rood Administrative Center, Maidu Avenue, Nevada City.

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To contact staff writer Becky Trout, e-mail beckyt@theunion.com or call 477-4234.

Becky Trout, beckyt@theunion.com
August 10, 2005

South county property owners rejoiced after hearing the Nevada County Board of Supervisors unanimous decision Tuesday - the private roads taken from them in 2003 were again theirs.

Fears of Brewer Road becoming a Highway 49 bypass, of property values plummeting and of an onslaught of lawsuits were dashed. And, the south county residents even got to keep their gates, albeit with a few modifications for fire access.

The supervisors' vote, delivered after more than three hours of deliberation, reversed the board's action in July 2003, when - heeding the advice of a former county counsel - it met privately and made public 34 segments of private roads totaling about 15 miles. A few of the effected areas include Golden Oaks, Lodestar and East Hacienda Drive.

Supervisors Sue Horne and Robin Sutherland, who served on the board in 2003 and voted for the switch, apologized again Tuesday.

"I feel bad," Horne said. "In retrospect, it was a wrong decision. ... The change in 2003 was not intended to upset the status quo, but it certainly did."

"(I) publicly apologize for the way this happened," Sutherland said.

The decision was not as straightforward for the three new board members, who stressed the need to provide connectivity and allow emergency access.

"I've agonized over this for the last couple of weeks," said Supervisor John Spencer.

He said he felt the 2003 decision to make the roads public was harming people, therefore the board had the obligation to "make up for what we did."

The board learned Tuesday the effects of the 2003 decision had reverberated even farther than previously thought.

A group of south county residents have been working for eight years to bring Nevada Irrigation District water to 150 parcels, an effort that would be quashed if the roads remained public, said Michael Straight, president of the South Nevada County Mutual Water Company.

With the roads private again, Straight said the group is "getting close" to obtaining the water.

The supervisors' Tuesday vote retained emergency and utility access along the affected road segments. It also mandated the residents keep the roads in a satisfactory condition.

The board terminated, however, its right to make the roads public again.

The vote affected only 15 road segments. Other segments altered in 2003 will be addressed in upcoming weeks.

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To contact staff writer Becky Trout, e-mail beckyt@theunion.com or call 477-4234.