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Posted by: John_Hamilton on 12/14/2011 02:31 PM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 12/16/2011 09:24 AM
Expires: 01/01/2016 12:00 AM
:
"Progress" Made on General Plan Yesterday ~By John Hamilton
San Andreas, CA...The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors gave direction to keep the Water Element and the Economic Component of Calaveras County's General Plan moving forward with some adjustments to both. In what has been a seemingly endless multi-year process with countless hours and untold cost Calaveras County is inching forward with progress on it's general plan. This is a necessary process to make sure that Calaveras County can show the state and other agencies that we have plans in place for a myriad of county functions and eventualities...
Al Segalla Addressing the Board of Supervisors Yesterday
Counties with updated plans tend to fair better when going hat in hand seeking state and federal dollars. In the economic realities of today the "hat in hand" posture is needed to keep local governments functioning.
Many in the county however are unsure if the last 5-6 years spent on the process with the enormous disruption in the orderly functioning of county government has been worth the cost not only to the county but to the many private parties and companies that in some cases saw millions of dollars in valuation and capital wiped off the board by the delays the general plan update process with it's planning moratoriums and disruptions caused.
Some counties have taken an alternative approach of continuously amending their plans instead of starting from scratch as Calaveras has done. Some have argued we could have ended up in much the same place but at a much lower cost in time and precious resources. Existing General Plans can be modified and amended officially once each quarter.
So yes progress is being made on the General Plan update process which was the news from yesterday but the real news story may be that we will never know what the real costs have been to the county in lost jobs and opportunities not only in the private sector but also at the county government center where the costs and associated capital drain have cost jobs and diverted attention from other tasks.
Many in the county watched in horror when in 2006 the Planning and Zoning processes in Calaveras County were in all intents and purposes brought to a screeching halt. Calaveras County's economic downturn was made much more severe by many in county government who are no longer there and no longer even live in the area.
Sorry if this article comes across as a bit harsh on county government but in unguarded moments 3 of the Supervisors who are still on the board and voted for the planning moratoriums that were put in place well before the national economy went into recession would probably agree with me.
The decisions made at the county level made it impossible for many local hard working families to unwind their investments and projects in a timely manner and I personally know of several families who were completely wiped out in easily preventable situations. Calaveras County is a generous, loving and caring community and we need to make sure our local government isn't allowed to needlessly disrupt the dreams, lives and plans of it's citizens again.
Hindsight is 20/20 as they say and we can only see the outcomes of actions in the rear view mirror. Many of these votes and actions were probably made with good intentions but the costs were steep indeed.
Calaveras County is a wonderful place to live and people and businesses should be flocking here with our great schools, caring public and deep community spirit. Instead we have declining enrollments, working aged families leaving in droves and tourism as our one and only economic bright spot. It doesn't need to be the story for our great area.
The sad fact is that many in the county feel that we would be better off if the Board of Supervisors had not even met or taken a vote for the last decade. Sometimes the chant of "We need to do something" is the wrong approach in Government.
Even in local government sometimes doing as little as possible is the very best approach. History is showing us now how much better a minimalistic approach here locally would have been. Doing as little as possible and trying to take care of an accommodate individual constituent needs on a case by case basis would have saved us millions and millions.
Sorry if this news piece drifted more into an opinion piece but sometimes just reporting on what happened at a meeting is dong you the readers a disservice as you have facts without context. What is appalling at times watching things such as the General Plan Update process is that since it has taken sooo long that the initial parties that started the process are in many times already retired or moved on to other projects so even the participants lose a sense of context and continuity.
It becomes Government run on almost auto-pilot of doing wrote tasks just because they need to be done or completed without a real sense of ownership by anyone of the outcome
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