The artificial boundaries that prohibit the organic development of the new communities that the people moving here need to live in are wisely being examined by local leadership who are apparently beginning to understand that it is important to maintain a balance between open space and community where both complement each other rather than restrict each other.
Rural growth on table
Consideration of 20,000 acres of new development alarms environmentalists.
By Mary Lynne Vellinga - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PST Saturday, March 3, 2007
The Board of Supervisors is considering opening vast swaths of land -- more than 20,000 additional acres -- to development in eastern Sacramento County.
Supervisors also are entertaining a request from developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos to shift the line that now defines the permanently rural portion in the eastern county to include 3,400 acres of pasture that Tsakopoulos and his partners own along the El Dorado County border.
The pro-expansion direction of the county's general plan update has alarmed the environmental community. It also runs contrary to the recommendations of county planners, who have focused on redeveloping existing communities while limiting growth on farmland.
The direction also worries retired Supervisor Illa Collin, who served for 28 years and was a voice for reining in sprawl and revitalizing existing neighborhoods.
"I'm flabbergasted," Collin said Friday, when told of the new land the supervisors are contemplating adding to the plan. "That shows me there's been incredible lobbying. You can't keep directing all that growth farther out and still expect to have a healthy core."
Collin's successor, Supervisor Jimmie Yee, said it makes sense to include large parcels of grazing land along Jackson Road and east of Grant Line Road because they are next to areas already planned for growth.
"We're looking at a plan that's for 25 years, so while it may appear to be a large area, it's for the long term," Yee said.
He said the board needs more information before deciding the Tsakopoulos proposal.
"Looking at a Sacramento County map itself, you'd probably say what ... are we even looking at that for," he said. "But from what I hear, there's a bunch of plans being submitted to the County of El Dorado to develop right along the county border. ...
What we're doing on this side should be coordinated with what they're doing."
