C a l i f o r n i a ’ s O l d e s t N e w s pa p e r – E s t. 18 51
Costco buying EDH land but project stalled
Volume 169 • Issue 70 | 75¢
mtdemocrat.com
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Stands with no fans
Sel Richard Staff writer While many stood in long lines on the off chance of scoring a coveted pack of toilet paper from Costco during the height of the coronavirusinduced shortage, the company has quietly continued to contemplate expansion. Although an application has yet to be filed to build a store in El Dorado Hills, Costco has just entered into a purchase agreement with EDH52 property owners for the west parcel along Silva Valley Parkway and Highway 50. After studying every other Highway 50 interchange in El Dorado County, Costco officials determined the connection at Silva Valley Parkway is the only Class A interchange that would accommodate a warehouse store. With approximately 42,000 people in El Dorado Hills, only 18,000 in Cameron Park and 11,000 in Placerville, the EDH52 location offers an immediately profitable location. Costco has been eyeing the EDH52 parcel since last March when the company initially proposed a store on the east side of Silva Valley Parkway with a fueling station across the street. n
See Costco, page A5
Democrat photo by Kevin Christensen
That’s no practice run, that’s an actual Placerville Speedway race taking place Saturday without spectators filling the track’s grandstands. The speedway got the green flag to begin its racing season minus one not-so-small thing — fans. Due to current social-distancing guidelines to stop the spread of COVID-19, drivers at Placerville’s quarter-mile, like at many tracks across the country, have to race on in absence of their cheering fans. The night’s events, including the limited late models pictured here, were broadcast through Speed Shift TV. Find the results of Saturday’s races on page A6.
New rules could impact Central EDH plans Sel Richard Staff writer Residents hoping for resolution on Parker Development’s Central El Dorado Hills Specific Plan will have to sit on their hands a little longer. The proposal for approximately 1,000 residential units along El Dorado Hills Boulevard was continued to Sept. 24 at the latest El Dorado County Planning Commission meeting. The most contentious portion of Parker’s plan hinges on a county General Plan amendment to redesignate the old executive golf course from recreational facilities, high-intensity to residential zoning. The plan has been through three Planning Commission hearings, including one held at District Church this past January when almost 500 residents turned out to protest various aspects of the development proposal. The hearing to determine the commission’s final recommendation to the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors has been rescheduled multiple times since implementation of coronavirus-induced shelter-inplace orders.
“This project itself may be seriously altered and we’d be almost looking at a brand-new project when it comes around.” — Gary Miller, El Dorado County planning commissioner However, a new wrench in the works comes in the form of a traffic evaluation called VMT or Vehicle Miles Traveled. A calculation to replace Level of Service, VMT thresholds have not yet been established by the supervisors, nor has Parker Development completed traffic studies to fulfill this area of its environmental impact report. Deputy county counsel Breann Moebius explained that VMT was added to state guidelines to take effect in July, potentially putting the project before the board after VMT thresholds are established. “Any project specific analysis we would do for VMT of this project could potentially be inconsistent with the county thresholds that will be adopted likely by the time the board hears this project,” she said. County Director of Transportation Rafael Martinez said he hopes to present the board with
preliminary VMT thresholds by June 30, but adoption would not be final until Aug. 4. He noted that the applicant’s analysis could take one to two months once thresholds are published. With an additional month of staff analysis, it could be a total of three months before VMT analysis could be completed for the project. Serrano Associates land use counsel Mike Cook maintained that without VMT analysis, Parker would not have a defensible document. “For the commission to take action in advance of VMT analysis would be unfair,” he said, explaining that if action is taken prior to the county’s adoption of a VMT policy, it would be sending the board a “halfbaked analysis and telling the board, ‘You finish it.’” Regarding the possibility of taking the project off the docket, El Dorado County Planner Mel Pabalinas indicated it would require a re-noticing of the project, similar to last November. “So that would be an effort to basically starting over,” he said. Serrano Associates Director of Government Relations Kirk Bone also revealed to the n
See Central EDH, page A6
Making a movement matter
Democrat photos by Thomas Frey
Stevante Clark, left photo, walks through a crowd of demonstrators gathered at the Cameron Park for Justice event Sunday outside the Cameron Park Library. Stevante, brother of Stephon Clark, who was killed by Sacramento police in 2018, made the trip up the hill as the featured speaker at the rally organized in part by Ponderosa High School grad Gagan Choongh, right photo, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. View more photos online at mtdemocrat.com.
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