El Dorado County Land Use & Development Digest

The Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe has a time-limited opportunity to purchase 232 acres on a Nisenan Village site called Yulića—the tribe’s best opportunity to re-establish a homeland in more than half a century.

The latest conversation in improving El Dorado County’s Planning and Building Department and its processes resulted in both approved and conceptual organization changes.

Escrow has closed on the El Dorado Hills Community Services District’s purchase of 55 acres of the old Executive Golf Course and the donation of 11 acres abutting the archery range along El Dorado Hills Boulevard.

U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared to be divided after hearing arguments Jan. 9 from legal counsel representing Placerville resident George Sheetz and El Dorado County regarding Sheetz' permitting fees challenge.

Raging storms brought major damage to California’s coastline last winter. But in Half Moon Bay, a different kind of coastal upheaval is gaining momentum—one that could decide the fate of billions of dollars of property and affect hundreds of public beaches.

The El Dorado and Georgetown Divide resource conservation districts will host their annual Local Work Group meeting to allow private landowners in El Dorado County to provide specific requests on local program needs to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The Nevada County Board of Supervisors will meet Feb. 15 to hold a noticed public hearing and take final action on the proposed Idaho Maryland Mine – Rise Grass Valley Project.

Tahoe National Forest has acquired 982 acres within Perazzo Meadows, donated by the Truckee Donner Land Trust. The acreage includes 16 adjoining parcels of an old subdivision previously planned for high-end residential development.

The Hoopa Valley Tribe announced it is acquiring about 10,000 acres of land in Northern California for $14.1 million. As part of this, the tribe will remove dams along the Klamath River and restore salmon runs.

The El Dorado Hills Community Services District has opted to use cash funds to purchase 55 acres of the old Executive Golf Course from Serrano Associates.

The Judicial Council of California will investigate possible sites within Nevada City to be used for the construction of a six-courtroom facility with future expansion capacity.

The Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust recently paid almost $10 million for a 1.86-acre site formerly used for oil drilling. It could be converted into a community center, park and affordable housing.

California energy regulators are considering requiring homeowners to replace broken air-conditioning systems with heat pumps or HVAC systems that are more energy efficient. The change would go into effect in 2026.

The Fort Independence Indian Community is getting the Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife at no cost in 2024. Native Americans had lived on this land for centuries before the hatchery’s construction.

A 2021 state law has radically changed the housing equation in San Diego. Advocates, developers, and policymakers are split on whether it should be exported to other jurisdictions.

After years of negotiations, meetings and revisions, the El Dorado Hills Community Services District has reached a deal with Serrano Associates LLC to acquire 66 acres from the developer for $10 million.

A shrubby Palmer oak tree in Riverside County is around 13,000 years old, making it California’s oldest tree and one of the longest-lived organisms on earth. Some people are concerned that a proposed development could threaten the tree.

Massive ocean wind farms off Morro Bay and Santa Barbara County—which could transform these quiet coastal towns and affect marine life—face a turbulent path.

Placerville’s skyline will be a bit less cluttered soon, as the City Council approved resolutions directing city staff to remove three pole signs that have fallen into disuse.

Work on a new annex, visitors center and underground parking garage can legally begin after the state issued a final, court-ordered review of the project. Plans have been on hold since early 2021.

El Dorado County’s 2022-23 Grand Jury Report covered several issues, but only one became a topic discussed among the Board of Supervisors and Planning and Building Department staff last Tuesday — the permit process and its delays.

Locals for Affordable Housing aims to place a voter initiative on the November 2024 ballot modeled after Berkeley’s vacancy tax, which requires owners of homes that sit vacant more than six months to pay $3,000 for the first year and $6,000 every year after.

The irrigation bill, which aims to force businesses and institutions to remove their lawns, now goes to the governor.

El Dorado County could receive a total of $25 million for defensible space clearing and home hardening work in the Weber Creek area of Placerville.

A June budget deal required community colleges to raise their own money to build affordable student housing. Some campuses said that plan prevented them from building the dorms, even with help from the state to pay the debt.

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks proposed legislation to help get around a court's rejection of a UC Berkeley housing plan. But even if the law is approved, its fate is in the hands of the state Supreme Court.

The Forest Service may need to close parts or the entire trailhead to help ensure public safety while construction work is occurring.

Barton Health is moving forward with its regional expansion project, relocating the acute care hospital to Stateline, Nev., while broadening outpatient services at its California campus.

University of California, Davis’ Tahoe Environmental Research Center has been analyzing the Lake Tahoe region overall and the impact that human development has had on the Lake Tahoe basin in the past five decades.

Barton Health is moving forward with its Regional Expansion project, relocating the acute care hospital to Stateline, Nevada, while broadening outpatient services at its California campus.

Management of the Zephyr Shoals Beach at Lake Tahoe, which made world news for the amount of trash found after the July Fourth holiday, will be included with the Zephyr Cove Resort concession.

Affordable housing and impacts to schools became the hot topic during the El Dorado Hills Area Planning Advisory Committee's meeting while discussing the modification of the Montano de El Dorado Master Plan Phase 2.