Posted by: Kim_Hamilton on 04/08/2010 04:10 PM
Updated by: thepinetree on 04/13/2010 08:54 AM
Expires: 01/01/2015 12:00 AM
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Letter to the Editor....Re: Calaveras County Chamber of Commerce Support of Trinitas~By Calaveras Chamber of Commerce
Re: Calaveras County Chamber of Commerce Support of Trinitas..."The Calaveras County Chamber of Commerce is a force for good, providing our membership, county government and community with many positive promotions. We have sponsored, and continue to sponsor, Candidates’ Nights, the Economic Summit, Bridal Faire, Home & Garden Show, Night of the American Cowboy, Leadership Training, Frogtoberfest and many other events. When contacted about business relocation into this county, we are quick to respond positively and offer any assistance we can to help our new neighbors move in. When contacted by visitors looking for specific ......
.businesses, we recommend the ones in Calaveras County. Member businesses host the monthly Chamber mixers, which are robustly attended and provide important social networking.
When we have a business like Trinitas, and members like the Nemees, that are being deliberately and unfairly targeted for destruction, we must support them. For too long, our business community has stood idol on important economic issues. This time, the ambivalence has ended. People are fed up with being pushed around by special interests. Our support doesn’t come from an “elite group called the executive committee” as the Enterprise calls it. The decision came from a regular meeting of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors with the backing of the Chamber Membership. Those who have attended the public hearings on Trinitas understand the county is partly responsible for this project getting out of control and they have witnessed the overwhelming support for this premiere development.
Our membership is much more closely involved with the Calaveras County planning process than any other group in our county. Many of our members have risked time and money on investments in Calaveras County. We understand as only someone who has been through the process, the path for success has been ambiguous at best. We are standing in support of rights and due process. We still believe the best path for our County to take is one of negotiation to try to find a way for Trinitas to work.
We on the Chamber Board are disappointed in the Enterprise clearly anti-growth, anti-Chamber editorial. The 4-6-10 editorial in the Calaveras Enterprise was a perfectly acceptable venue to express one person’s vehement opposition of Trinitas and the Chamber of Commerce. It is far different from the ethical responsibility to report the news in a fair and impartial manner, which we don’t believe has been done. It is equally contemptible that the county allowed misconceptions to be spewed as truth by remaining silent while the accusations flew. We believe it prejudiced the public and placed a permanent stain on Trinitas.
The editorial veers from Trinitas to condemn building on flood plains, building inadequate roads, not providing reliable water sources, failing septic systems and no public access to sewers, like it is somehow the Chamber’s fault or applies to Trinitas. It also implies the Chamber is responsible for the neglect and backlog of repairs to infrastructure and blames development as the cause. In reality, it’s the lack of business, the lack of development, the lack of a tax base, the lack of a cohesive planning system and poor decisions by our representatives that have created the dire straits our county now faces. Developers don’t make the rules for building projects. They pay school fees, traffic mitigation fees, sewer & water connection charges, gas and electricity connection charges, building permit fees, plan check fees, etc., and when the project is complete, taxes are raised to reflect the increase in value. In short, businesses are the revenue generators for the county.
We believe that most of those who oppose Trinitas do support the Nemees rights to due process. Certainly, they have the right to their opinion and they may ultimately prevail. In our assessment, Trinitas was prematurely tried and convicted by a partisan press, a handful of activist neighbors and a personal agenda by a county employee. It’s wrong to destroy a business without putting it in front of a fair and impartial entity to make the call.
Legal wrangling aside, it’s the merits of the project that were our initial basis of support for Trinitas. The project is a good one. It provides a beautiful setting that is a permanent preservation of land. Trinitas is a challenging upscale course that will bring visitors from other counties to spend their money here. Residents of Saddle Creek will attest there is very little traffic impact from their course. At its peak, Saddle Creek was hosting 18,000 member rounds and 22,000 non-member rounds of golf per year with negligible impact. The county is already benefiting from the Nemees paying taxes on the course. Is it another revenue source we want to lose?
Yes, the Chamber of Commerce supports Trinitas. We support business, the constitution of the United States and the due process of law. We urge you to join us in that support."
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