Posted by: thepinetree on 02/09/2010 08:37 AM
Updated by: thepinetree on 02/18/2010 01:20 AM
Expires: 01/01/2015 12:00 AM
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Planning for Angels Camp's Future, David Hanham Addresses ACBA Meeting. ~By John Hamilton
Angels Camp, CA...The future of the Angels Camp area took center stage last night at Camps. The City's planning director David Hanham gave an overview of the upcoming planning and development issues facing the City. It was a good sized crowd on hand for the meeting. One of the items of discussion was the new McDonalds coming to Frog Jump Plaza. Director Hanham hopes that they will be selling Big Macs by October. One of the interesting items to come out of the Q&A portion of the meeting was that in Hanam's view many retailers view McDonalds as a bellwether or an indicator of a markets readiness to sustain additional development....
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So the very fact that Angels Camp is getting an McDonalds will probably spur other retailers to look seriously at our area.
One example he sited was the City of Livingston where he previously served. Once they had a McDonalds enter their market within months they had applications from several additional retail chains.
Also discussed was the fact that Angels Camp and the foothills in general doesn't fit the typical profile for retailers. Our population densities are very low which many of us view as a benefit but we don't have the usual "Rooftops" to count as a steady customer base.
To make operations sustainable retailers have to rely on visitors and tourists to our area to make the numbers work. If you add all of Sonora, Jackson, Angels Camp and Calaveras County as a whole it still comes in well under 100k residents.
Also asked was what steps the City is taking to attract new businesses. This grew into a discussion that the City is already on the radar of many companies as an area of possible expansion. McDonalds will only hasten the maturation of this market as a viable expansion target.
Also discussed was the future sphere of influence for the City and other issues related to general plan discussion. Some attendees also wanted to know if their will be any additional entrances onto Hwy 4. One such instance hoped for by some would be an additional entrance into Frog Jump Plaza from Hwy 4 to augment the entrance on Hwy 49.
Hanham explained that Caltrans has designated Hwy 4 through Angels Camp as an expressway and if additional entrances are granted they will have a tough approval process.
It was an informative and illustrative meeting for many. Below is a clip from the meeting
