Saturday, August 9, 2008

Gold Rush Ranch - a matter of scale

The Gold Rush Ranch Resort project is being reviewed this summer by the Sutter Creek Planning Commission and City Council. The developers have sold this project to many local residents in their multi-year PR campaign.

Many Sutter Creek residents even think the project has been scaled back from what was proposed years ago. But that's simply not true. Consider that Gold Rush will
  • Have than 1,300 homes, most of which are arranged on the landscape in a typical, large-lot suburban design
  • More than double the city's current population in as few as 10 years, per the EIR
  • Remove more than 13,000 trees over 400 acres, mostly oaks, including nearly 50 percent of the heritage oaks on the site
  • Add more than 13,000 car trips a day to local roads, in an area with some of the worst congestion in the county
  • Mass-grade more than 500 acres
Meetings and public hearings on the project are being held this summer, nearly every week. After years of slowly moving this project along, the developers apparently want to push it through before the November election.

The sheer size of this project in relation to the existing town should give everyone pause.

See a meeting schedule and links to Gold Rush documents here.

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