NEVADA COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION NEVADA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

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1 NEVADA COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION NEVADA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA MINUTES of the meeting of January 26, 2017, 1:30 PM, Board Chambers, Eric Rood Administration Center, 950 Maidu Avenue, Nevada City, California MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Aguilar, Commissioners Heck, Duncan, James & Jensen MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Tyler Barrington, Principal Planner & Jessica Hankins, Senior Planner. PUBLIC HEARINGS: 1. Dollar General Public Comments; EIR Page 1, Line 41 STANDING ORDERS: Salute to the Flag - Roll Call - Corrections to Agenda. CALL MEETING TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 1:30 p.m. Roll call was taken. CHANGES TO AGENDA: None. PUBLIC COMMENT: Members of the public shall be allowed to address the Commission on items not appearing on the agenda which are of interest to the public and are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Planning Commission, provided that no action shall be taken unless otherwise authorized by Subdivision (6) of Section of the Government Code. None. COMMISSION BUSINESS: None. CONSENT ITEMS: 1. Acceptance of Hearing Minutes Motion to accept the Planning Commission Hearing Minutes by Commissioner Jensen; second by Commissioner Duncan, Commissioner Heck abstained. Motion carried on a voice vote. PUBLIC HEARING: EIR15-001: Public hearing to accept comments on the adequacy of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR15-001) prepared for three proposed Dollar General Store projects in Alta Sierra, Rough and Ready Highway and Penn Valley. The Dollar General Store projects consist of three projects, each at a different location in western Nevada County. Each project is requesting approvals necessary to develop and operate a 9,100 square foot Dollar General Store with associated improvements, including landscaping, parking, lighting and other site improvements. No action will be taken on the EIR or any of the three projects at this meeting. LOCATION/APN: Alta Sierra site: Alta Sierra Drive, APN (retail store and parking); APN (pipeline to leach field); APN (leach field), Grass Valley, CA Rough and Ready Highway site: Rough and Ready Highway, APN , Draft PC Meeting Minutes -1-

2 Grass Valley, CA Penn Valley site: Penn Valley Drive, APN , Penn Valley, CA PLANNERS: Tyler Barrington, Principal Planner & Jessica Hankins, Senior Planner Chair Aguilar Our first public hearing and our only public hearing for today is EIR And this is a public hearing to accept comments, we re not accepting the EIR at this point, but to accept comments on the adequacy of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), prepared for the three Dollar General stores in Alta Sierra, Rough & Ready and the Penn Valley area. So, I would just like to start with- we re going to start with the Staff Report, and the Staff s consultant who was hired to do this is going to do a nice slideshow and go over this DEIR and then we are going to open it up for public comment. So, in public comment, and the reason I am telling you I this now is because I want you to start thinking about it. It is comments that have to do with this report. Is this report, this DEIR, is it adequately prepared? Does it describe the projects and their potential impacts to the environment? Now, with that said, that is not, that is not saying Hey, I don t like the way Dollar General does their corporate business. Right? That has nothing to do with the DEIR, unless you tie that in and you say, Well look it, I don t like the way Dollar General does - and I m just, this is just a- this is not an opinion, this is an example, Dollar General hires part time employees and so I think your traffic study is inadequate because I think there is more traffic than what the traffic study is allowing for. So, those are the ways to tie it back into the DEIR. The other thing I would like to point out is that the consultant is going to take down, you ll notice the consultant will be writing arduously, your comments. Now, if you have comment A, B and C and everybody else has the same one, it is important for you to say yes I agree with that A, B, C comment, but it is also important because you only get three minutes, to not have to restate the whole problem, because we get it and the Staff, the consultant gets it t0o. So the consultant will say there seems to be an overriding concern for A, B and C mitigation measure, whatever that is. So please, if you agree with what s been said, then you can say I agree with A, B and C, or I ditto it, or I second it, or whatever, but we don t need to hear it again, just like I m telling you twice. With that, let s go ahead and open it up to the Staff. Senior Planner Hankins - Thank you Chair Aguilar, thank you Commissioners. For the record, my name is Jessica Hankins, I m a Senior Planner in the Nevada County Planning Department. I would like to start with just a couple introductions. Also here today is Tyler Barrington, Principal Planner, sitting up on the dais. Tyler and I are the project Planners working on this project. To my left is Patrick Hindmarsh. He s the lead project manager on the EIR. Patrick works for Michael Baker International. Michael Baker is our EIR consultant and they do have a contract directly with the County for this EIR. Planner Hankins- I would like to start the presentation by discussing the purpose of this meeting, which Chair Aguilar has already done a good job of doing that, but I ll reiterate some of those points as well, and then giving a broad overview of the project descriptions so that we all understand the projects that are at issue today and what we are actually talking about. I ll then turn it over to Patrick so that he can discuss the CEQA process and the major impacts that were identified in the EIR and then we will wrap that up with some next steps, some opportunities to comment followed by opening of the hearing for public comment. So, the purpose of today s public comment meeting which Chair Aguilar, again, has already indicated is to solicit public comments on the physical impacts of the project and the adequacy of the DEIR, or EIR. We are currently in the middle of the CEQA process on this project. The DEIR is, of course, out for public review right now. We are not deliberating on or considering the projects themselves today Draft PC Meeting Minutes -2-

3 but are focusing on the adequacy of the DEIR, which has been mentioned. I also wanted to make clear that if the comments that we receive today aren t relevant to the EIR or to the physical impacts of the project then those typically are not addressed in the Final EIR (FEIR). They are however, part of the public record and will be considered by the decision makers in their deliberations on the project at a later time, after certification of the EIR. Another point of clarification. I wanted to make before giving an overview of the project is that this meeting is not necessarily intended as a Q&A type of session. What we are really trying to do today is to spend as much time as possible listening to the public, listening to the concerns about the project s physical impacts and making sure that we keep track of all of those and are able to address those so that any physical impacts of the project are mitigated to the extent possible. Having said that I would be happy to answer any clarifying questions on the project itself or the EIR process as needed. So, I ll jump now into an overview of the project. This is actually consists of three different projects. Each one of the projects is a 9,100 square foot retail store, Dollar General, with associated landscaping, parking, lighting and other site improvements. Entitlements requested for the first site, at Alta Sierra, are a Development Permit, and an Oak Management Plan. At the Penn Valley site, the entitlements requested are a Development Permit, an Aquatic Resources Management Plan, a Lot Line Adjustment and a Certificate of Compliance. And at the Rough & Ready site it is a Development Permit that s being requested. Objectives as identified by the developer and these are included in the DEIR, are to expand and provide new retail options in close proximity to local consumers, by providing shopping opportunities in a safe and secure environment. Enhance the commercial retail offerings in Nevada County. Develop each commercial development in a way that is compatible in design with the surrounding neighborhood and provide commercial developments that serve the local market area for each development in Nevada County. This map shows the three project locations. The first that I ll be discussing is in Alta Sierra. This is at Alta Sierra Drive and is located between Alta Sierra Drive and Little Valley Road. I ll show a close up of each of these in a moment as well. The second site that I ll be discussing is in Penn Valley, this is within the Penn Valley Village Center at Penn Valley Drive and the third site is on Rough & Ready Highway at Rough & Ready Highway. That site is in the Grass Valley Community Region about two miles east of Rough & Ready, the Rough & Ready Rural Center, and 1.5 miles west of the city limit line of Grass Valley. The Alta Sierra site consists of three different parcels. The southernmost parcel that you see up on this aerial overview is where the retail store and parking are proposed. And, the, the sewage from this parcel would run via tight line across the immediately adjacent parcel to the north and the sewage would be conveyed to a leach field on the northernmost parcel. All three of these sites are zoned C1, or Neighborhood Commercial. The store site itself is vacant. It s covered entirely with montane hardwood conifer forest. This site does have an associated Management Plan, as I ve previously mentioned, for Landmark Oak Groves. Some of the surrounding uses include the Alta Sierra Market immediately adjacent to the south, that s on the corner of Alta Sierra and Little Valley. Immediately to the north and the northwest are commercially developed properties that include a gas station, a bike shop, a pizza parlor, a wine shop. West of Alta Sierra Drive are two undeveloped parcels zoned Neighborhood Commercial and to the east is the Alta Sierra residential neighborhood which is developed with rural residential uses Draft PC Meeting Minutes -3-

4 This is the proposed site plan for Alta Sierra. Again, there is a 9,100 square foot building proposed here, there are two concrete block screening and retaining walls along the eastern and southern boundaries of the building and parking lot that would vary in height from 6 to 12 feet. The standard parking requirement of 46 stalls which is required for each of these projects is being requested to be reduced to 34 stalls [at the Alta Sierra site]. There is public water available at the site from NID for potable water needs. And, again, I mentioned the private septic system, and this is shown, the septic system design is shown in this figure. The leach line, again, or the, sorry the tightline would run across here to a leach field, on this property, two parcels to the north. This is the proposed design for the Alta Sierra store. It is 27 feet high at its tallest point with some architectural relief including awnings, low stone veneer columns and a gabled pop-out entrance. Moving on to the Penn Valley site- I should mention that each of these sites is around one acre as well. The first site was one acre. The Penn Valley site is 1.2 acres. This acreage would be created from a larger five acre parcel through a lot line adjustment and certificate of compliance. This site is in the Penn Valley Village Center and it s zoned C2, or Community Commercial. Surrounding uses at this site include vacant land directly to the north followed by Creekside Village Mobilehome Park north of that. To the south, the Penn Valley Seventh Day Adventist Church and the Penn Valley Gardens residential subdivision; Post Office is immediately adjacent to the east and beyond that is the Penn Valley Shopping Center; to the west is the Penn Valley Mini-storage. This site is vegetated with annual grassland and a scattering of riparian vegetation including Valley Oak, Oregon Ash, White Alter and Arroyo Willow along the perimeter of the site. There are also some wetlands on the site which the project development would impact a portion of. This site does have an associated Wetlands Management Plan and there has been a wetland delineation conducted for this site for fill of wetlands and disturbance within the wetland buffer. A 9,100 square foot building, again, is proposed on this site. There is no parking reduction requested on this site. This one would provide the full 46 stalls and it would be connected to public water and sewage services. The Penn Valley building design, all three designs actually differ from one another. The Penn Valley design is, again, 27 tall at its tallest point, but this one incorporates more of a Gold Rush era western motif with an old west façade and awnings. The Rough & Ready Highway site is at the southwest corner of Rough & Ready Highway and West Drive in the Sunset neighborhood. It is zoned C1, Neighborhood Commercial. This site has an existing commercial building that would be demolished as part of the project development. The site contains mostly non-native plants with the exception of one Ponderosa Pine and three Gray Pines. And all surrounding uses essentially are rural residential. Again, 9,100 square foot building. Parking is requested to be reduced to 29 stalls on this site. Water would be provided by NID and sewage would be provided by a private septic system on site. The Rough & Ready Highway building design incorporates a western, more agricultural motif with a gabled entrance, awnings and Gold Rush era facades. And at this point I am going to go ahead and turn it over to Patrick Hindmarsh. He is going to give us an overview of the CEQA process and the DEIR Draft PC Meeting Minutes -4-

5 Patrick Hindmarsh Good afternoon. With regard to the CEQA process, its, it can be quite a lengthy process. We are in our 45 day review public period as noted on the slide. We have had a, several scoping meetings following the Notice of Preparation. We ve received comments on what the public would like to see analyzed in the DEIR. We have prepared the DEIR. Steps following this will be to respond to all written comments on the DEIR as well as comments on the environmental document from today. And, again, to reiterate what Jessica and the Chairman said, we will not be responding to comments on the merits of the project. There will be an opportunity for people to publicly comment on the project itself on Step 7 of the slide, when the Planning Commission considers the projects and the EIR together. For the overview of the DEIR; it includes a project description for each of the projects and the project objectives for all of those and we covered all of the topics in the CEQA checklist for each of the projects. It includes an analysis for each project site separately and mitigation measures that are specific to each of the projects. It includes project specific and cumulative projects to the extent that the three projects together would result in a cumulative impact or just cumulative impacts in general with other development in the County. It also includes project alternatives and again, that includes project alternatives for each of the sites. There were a number of technical studies prepared by the project applicant and those were submitted to the County, those were reviewed by Michael Baker for adequacy for use in the EIR. We used information from those technical studies where applicable. Not, again to, although they were prepared by the project applicant team, it did not- Michael Baker s analysis was independent of any conclusions that might have been included in there. It was Michael Baker s and the County s determination on those impacts that were in the DEIR. There were significant impacts identified, potentially significant impacts identified for each of the project sites. In the case of Penn Valley all of the impacts could be reduced to less than significant. All of the impacts from the Penn Valley site were able to be reduced to less than significant with mitigation measures identified in the DEIR, but there was one significant unavoidable impact on the Alta Sierra site and that was related to visual quality and two significant unavoidable impacts for Rough & Ready and those were visual quality and land use compatibility and I ll get into some more details on those right now. The Alta Sierra site identified a significant unavoidable impact related to visual quality, and it had to do with the bulk of the building and changing the visual character on the residential properties to the east. There was a mitigation measure included in there and that is, and that is compliance with the Western Nevada County Design guidelines, making some modifications to the exterior of the building and providing some additional screening but again, that impact was determined to remain significant and unavoidable because of the change in character. [Unintelligible from the audience.] Mr. Hindmarsh If we could get through the- [Unintelligible from the audience.] Chair Aguilar Sir? Sorry, it is not public comment yet. [Unintelligible from the audience.] Draft PC Meeting Minutes -5-

6 Chair Aguilar Well that s something that you can bring up in public comment Mr. Hindmarsh And, if I can, if I may add, the purpose of the review of the contents of the DEIR was not to be, provide a comprehensive summary of everything in the DEIR, as you can tell it is quite a large document, this is just a courtesy. That we have been 40 days into the public review period and it is the assumption that people here providing comments on the DEIR have read most of it, or, or the parts that they determine relevant to them. Chair Aguilar And, with that said, there s obviously enough interest so I would like you to go over each bullet point if you could please. Mr. Hindmarsh OK. Chair Aguilar Now, with this said, also I think it s important, unless you re going to talk about what significant and unavoidable impacts mean, and what that means to the Planning Commission is a project does have a significant and unavoidable impact, then the Planning Commission must find that there is a public need for a project. And so, if there is a public need for the project then we can override that significant and unavoidable impact. And so, part of the issues that we want to hear, as a Planning Commission, is that, what we need to determine, is there, if this is unavoidable, these impacts, is there a public need or is there not a public need. So that is where the public input comes in. So I don t know if that s clear because I know some of this stuff gets really technical. Anyway, please, proceed. Mr. Hindmarsh OK, thank you. Regarding the protected trees, some of the trees would remain on the site, although some would be removed. The visual impact discussion assumes the change from the current condition of the site which contains trees to the developed nature of the site afterwards which contains the building. So, the purpose of that bullet is to say that some of the trees would be remain on the site. And, regarding trees, biological resources considered the loss of the trees and there was a mitigation measure to protect some of the trees in designated areas. The project applicant would be required to prepare a Habitat Management Plan and provide funding to the Nevada County Tree Preservation Fund which would be used to create 2:1 habitat areas with the funds. They would be required to pay $42,000 to the Bear Yuba Land Trust for preservation of other property. And, with those mitigation measures that was determined to be less than significant. Regarding traffic. The proposed project site, given its location on the curve, there was a potential impact identified with the line of site from the driveway so there was a Mitigation Measure that requires the applicant to only provide landscaping that s up to 18 tall and to maintain it so that a clear line of site is provided. And again, that would be reduced to less than significant with that mitigation measure. Another impact was related to the size of the trucks. The project site is accessed via 49 which does allow STAA trucks, which are trucks up to approximately 78 in length, but Alta Sierra Drive does not. So, the mitigation measure in the EIR prohibits the use of trucks of that size to the project site and there is also a, a measure that requires, again, improvements at the entrance, landscaping, and, to assure the clear line of site and access to trucks to the site. And, again, with that mitigation measure that is reduced to less than significant Draft PC Meeting Minutes -6-

7 Regarding the Penn Valley site; the proximity to residential uses was identified as a potentially significant impact due to the potential for spill-over light. So, a mitigation measure required lower wattage light fixtures, and general compliance with the County standards and providing a lighting plan that demonstrates that there will not be spill-over light onto those residential properties. And, that would reduce that impact to less than significant. As Jessica mentioned in her presentation there is a wetland on the site which could include habitat for species such as the western pond turtle. So, the mitigation measure requires preconstruction surveys to ensure that those, that any protected species are not present. And, there are avoidance measures if any species are found. They will be required to obtain all the permits for the filling of the wetlands and they will be implementing Best Management Practices during construction. And, with that, the impact would be less than significant. Like the Alta Sierra site, the Penn Valley site does not allow STAA trucks on Penn Valley Drive, so, again, those were prohibited and similar mitigation regarding the maintaining, the inclusion of landscaping over 18 high and maintaining that to ensure a line of site on the project frontage. And, with that, that impact was determined to be less than significant. On to the Rough & Ready. The EIR identified a potential land use compatibility impact due to the area of the Rough & Ready Highway site being largely residential. Although the project site is zoned and designated for commercial, the area surrounding it is largely residential. And, given the size of the building it was determined that it would result in a significant and unavoidable incompatibility due to the, again, the size and scale of the building in a residential neighborhood. With the, we included aesthetics mitigation for lighting similar to that with Penn Valley and a masonry wall to ensure that the project wouldn t result in noise impacts on adjacent residential and those would be reduced to less than significant. But we still determined that the land use impact was significant and unavoidable. Very similar to the land use impact, this is related to visual character, again, the size and scale of the building is, is generally inconsistent with the, with the residential uses and the change from the site which, which has a relatively small commercial building to a larger and taller one it was determined that the aesthetic impact was significant and unavoidable for this, for the Rough & Ready site. There is, because of the, the water supply on the site wasn t adequate to provide fire flow for the, for fire protection for the project, that was determined to be a potentially significant impact. They, the, they determined, that the, the Fire District determined that providing 48,000 gallon water storage tank and having adequate flow testing; that the storage would provide sufficient water volume and with adequate flow it was determined that the fire hazard could be reduced to less than significant. For traffic impacts; based on existing and future conditions, with project traffic and other traffic at the Rough & Ready Highway and Ridge Road intersection it was determined that signalization would be required. So, the DEIR includes a mitigation measure that a traffic signal must be installed there. And whether the project applicant, can either construct that improvement, pay the County for the improvement, or if the County, they would pay fair share toward that improvement if the County were to provide it. But the DEIR requires that that signal be in place prior to operation of the project. And, with that improvement it would be reduced to less than significant Draft PC Meeting Minutes -7-

8 Like the other, like the other two sites, the Rough & Ready Highway is not approved for STAA trucks so again, delivery with those trucks was prohibited and similar to the other sites, the landscaping must be below 18 in height and must be maintained to provide that clear line of sight. So, with that improvement, that was determined to be less than significant. Lastly, as I mentioned earlier, the project, the DEIR includes alternatives. The, CEQA requires a no project alternative so the DEIR includes a no project/no development alternative and no project/other commercial alterative for each of the other sites since the, since the sites are designated for commercial. Each of the projects has a reduced project alternative which includes a smaller store on the site and we have a number of offsite alternatives that were considered. And, what s next? As I mentioned previously, we will be preparing- the review period closes next Tuesday, January 31 st. Following that we will be preparing responses to all the comments, the written and oral comments from today. And we will be making a FEIR that will be circulated for public review 10 days prior to, for a minimum of 10 days prior to the Planning Commission taking the action on it. And, again, we will be responding to comments on environmental issues, physical impacts associated with the project and we won t be responding to comments on the merits of the project. Planner Hankins Thank you Patrick. Just to add to that. The EIR certification, just for the benefit of everyone here today, the EIR certification hearing typically occurs first and then the Commission would take action on the projects. Written comments on the DEIR can be mailed, dropped off here at the County office or ed to Tyler Barrington, Principal Planner at the address listed here. This is also on our website as well. You just go onto the mynevadacounty.com page and you can type in Dollar General in the main search bar and the Dollar General project website will come up and his contact information is listed there, but you re welcome to write it down while it is up as well. I did want to note that written comments are the preferred method of comment to ensure that comments are understood and responded to appropriately. We welcome all the verbal comments here today but if people are making verbal comments and haven t provided them in writing we do welcome them in writing as well. Moving on. Staff is recommending now that the Commission open the public hearing to allow comments on the adequacy of the DEIR and 2) after closing the public hearing and public comment period, direct Michael Baker International to respond in writing to all the applicable comments generated through this public hearing and those generated through the required review period. The close of the required public comment period will be on Tuesday January 31 st, 2017at 5:00 pm. Chair Aguilar Thank you Jessica, thank you Patrick. So, first, before we open the public hearing, are there questions from the Commission to either to the consultant Patrick, or Staff Jessica. Commissioner Duncan I have a question. Jessica, all three sites are zoned commercial? They allow for this type of use? Planner Hankins Correct. Commissioner Duncan - Without any special or approval from this Commission? Draft PC Meeting Minutes -8-

9 Planner Hankins - With a Development Permit which is a discretionary permit. Commissioner Duncan Right. But they are zoned commercial. Planner Hankins - They are all zoned commercial. I think I mentioned that Penn Valley is zoned Community Commercial which is a slightly higher intensity level of commercial zoning, and the other two sites, Alta Sierra and Rough & Ready Highway are zoned C1, or Neighborhood Commercial. Commissioner Duncan - To the best of my recollection this is a bit unusual that we are requiring preparation of an EIR at this level for a project, typically we have not in the past. And, so could you elaborate a bit more as to why the applicant is doing this? Planner Hankins Yes. The thinking is that there are three projects proposed. If there were just one project proposed it probably would go through the initial study process and it would probably be certified as a Mitigated Negative Declaration most likely at the levels of impacts that we would be looking at for one site. But, with all three sites we needed to consider the cumulative impacts of those three developments and it did seem that there was a fair argument to be made that there could be significant impacts on some of the sites and so the applicant did agree to prepare this EIR for those reasons. Commissioner Duncan OK. Thank you. Then, so it is the cumulative impact of three projects proposed at one time that triggers the preparation of the EIR. So, going forward it is not going to be the County s practice to require every applicant who wants to do a commercial type development to prepare an EIR. Planner Hankins - Correct. Commissioner Duncan If it is zoned accordingly. Planner Hankins Yes, I mean it depends on the project, it is on a case-by-case basis. But I would say typically for one site that was consistent with all of our site development standards we would typically go through the Neg Dec process for something like that. Commissioner Duncan - Because, the process is an expensive and lengthy procedure both for the community and the applicant to go through and this is a bit unusual as to what we are doing today. Planner Hankins - Yes. Chair Aguilar Thank you Laura. Any other questions, comments? OK. Commissioner Heck Mr. Chairman? I will, I may have some questions of the applicant, or, of I m sorry, the consultants who prepared the DEIR but I would like to wait until we hear all the public comments prior to making my questions, is that permissible? Chair Aguilar - Not only permissible, that is the way we do it. OK, so there again, as I open up public comment, there are two seats there. And I will know when public comment is done when Draft PC Meeting Minutes -9-

10 there is only one person occupying, I mean when one seat is available. So the point is, if we want to continue public comment, both those seats need to be filled please, that will help the process go. There is a sign in sheet, we do ask, it is optional but we do ask that you put name and address for the record for the clerk; that really helps her. And public comment is three minutes, I do have a little timer so we will be fair about that. Cell phones off, beside mine. Let s see what else. Keep in mind, instead of the whole repeating thing, we can consolidate this and try to get through this as quickly as possible. But, your comments, your support either way is important. OK, with that, I m going to go ahead and open this up for public comment. There s two chairs there please. So remember give your name and address for the record please. [The public comment opened at 2:11. Quick discussion ensued about the timer. Chair Aguilar added that suggestions were helpful to the consultant and the applicant. ] [Beth DiVecchio] I don t think you will even need a timer for me because I had a whole lot of really nice things to talk about except for now I know we are only talking about the EIR, I have, I ll just give you one subject and I am going to have to read it, because- Chair Aguilar Do you mind giving us your name and address? Beth DiVecchio Oh, sorry, my name is Beth DiVecchio and, I live at Sunset Avenue. And, we re here because our neighborhood is concerned over the possibility of having this store at the Rough & Ready location. The only thing I ll talk about is the fact that we don t believe that there is a need in our neighborhood to have this. And, let s see, I ll just start right here. We live a very short distance from the existing Dollar General store, we are less than two miles from downtown Grass Valley and all the shops along with the Safeway market. We are only one mile from the A to Z Hardware Store and a short distance from the Simply Country Store. We are also within one mile of the Oak Market on Squirrel Creek Road and Oak Avenue and there is another Mom-and-Pop type grocery store on Ridge Road and Alta. We feel that there is absolutely no need for this big box store in our residential neighborhood and we believe that our existing neighborhood stores would be adversely affected by the addition of the Dollar General store on Rough & Ready Highway and West Avenue. Charisse Lolli Hi, my name is Charisse Lolli. I live on Little Valley Road directly across from the site set for Alta Sierra. I want to thank you for the opportunity to voice my concerns regarding these projects. Our community has written in, we ve shown up for the many meetings dealing with these projects, only to find that many of our concerns were left ignored or diminished. The DEIR does not properly review or mitigate most of the impacts previously mentioned. It lists many of the comments received on the NOP but it fails to address them all. When it does it often diminishes the impact without proper mitigation or resolve. I would like to mention a few of these. The developer has depicted deliveries of all their project sites with a 73 STAA box truck which is noted by the delivery that is illegal to take place on those roads, but it does not preclude the development for beginning without that designation being in place, or any of the major improvements that would be required. The Dollar General has not offered or demonstrated any attempt to comply with those laws at the existing location at Brunswick even though they ve been cited for the violation. The travelers along Alta Sierra Drive know that a fourth driveway along the already dangerous s curves at the project site will be the cause of unavoidable traffic accidents. The limited line of sight and amount of traffic on that roadway that is fed by the continual flow from both the north and southbound traffic of Highway 49 will cause certain danger with no fix available. The purpose of combining these three projects into one EIR Draft PC Meeting Minutes -10-

11 was to review the cumulative impacts of three more stores but the economic impact does not fall within the scope of the EIR. The engineer has designated you, the Planning Commission, with that responsibility. It seems obvious that if there were a need for more than one Dollar General store, the existing store would demonstrate that, but it does not. Although closer than going outside of the County, that store only captures the local sales, impacting other small businesses around it. That is not good economics for Nevada County. Areas of Nevada County attract thousands of tourists for its historic and rural charms, which is why most of us have come here. We need to be careful not to clutter our neighborhoods with big box stores. Developments like that should be restricted to the larger commercial strip malls that already exist. We rely on our County seat to protect our way of life, just as the City seats control what is in their borders. My husband will continue. Thank you. Chair Aguilar So, just a point of order. It just takes time when we clap, I mean I know there is some emotional content to this, just like we would ask you not to boo somebody, just because we re trying to move it along. Thank you. Brian Wallace - Brian Wallace Little Valley Road. The size of the stores do not fit the locations, the Alta Sierra store decimates almost 100 trees but cannot even support its own waste system, impacting two other non-abutting parcels, an act that is not permitted within the California Plumbing Code. This report identifies the surroundings as visually sensitive and this plan is inconsistent with the scale and style of the existing structures, concluding that its impact is significant and unavoidable and does not fit the environment. The project is a 27 foot building, shielded by a 6 brick wall, which will sit upon another 6 foot extension of that brick wall along the back corner, 33 feet total all of this faces the residential areas. The DEIR acknowledges that not even more landscaping can reduce its perceived scale. Attempts within the DEIR to picture the project as it may appear within 15 or more years of tree and plant growth do not address the constant light that will illuminate the skyline for the surrounding residential properties. There is no mitigation that can satisfy an impact that is identified as significant and unavoidable. This plan should be stopped. The plan at Alta Sierra allows for a 26% reduction of parking stalls from the Nevada County parking requirement for any other retail store, and 37% reduction at Rough & Ready. Allowing those restrictions on the properties affect them forever. The eventual change of renters at each store will not likely meet the same restriction on parking needs as Dollar General, but enforcement of that restriction upon future tenants is unlikely. This means the eventual flood of traffic and parking issues is imminent and unavoidable. The construction plan calls for the needless cutting away and rebuilding of a steep slope along Little Valley Road in order to allow for the convenience of the contractor to send more than 450 dump trucks through the residential district causing excessive traffic, noise, vibrations, dust, not to mention the safety to pedestrians. Besides causing instability and wear and tear along that roadway, this is a commercial project and should be restricted to the commercial district only. There are currently exists a sensitive watershed issue along Alta Sierra Drive and Little Valley Road. On the Alta Sierra Drive side, none of the roadside drainage ditches are adequate to control the water flow along the ditch, but instead allow water to run across the roadway all along the s curves, causing very dangerous driving conditions, and black ice. The drainage along Little Valley Road is also barely adequate to keep up with its need to flow unobstructed under the road and down ditches to Rattlesnake Creek. It often requires neighbors intervention to maintain and prevent flooding of the residential properties. The excavation activity and covering of the earth by the building and parking lot will cause increases to the amount of watershed that cannot be mitigated by a fixed holding tank. The obvious resolve of these concerns mentioned should be to prohibit these developments. Our community does not need more of them. Their design and location Draft PC Meeting Minutes -11-

12 choices do not fit within the environment nor has the store demonstrated a need for more presence in our community. Chair Aguilar And, if you would like to give those comments to the Clerk that s great. Tim Feller Mr. Chair Aguilar, members of the Commission, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Tim Feller, I live at Rough & Ready Highway, which is west of the proposed site in Rough & Ready and downhill of the site. First of all, we received the letter of notification of the DEIR and so a couple of our neighbors, Rick Tessman and Lois McClain put a letter together addressing a few of the issues in the EIR and then we walked the streets last week on a work day, Thursday, everything south of the Rough & Ready Highway and received 20 signatures, every house that we knocked on, they all supported our letter so there is definitely a residential no need for Dollar General. Specifically, with regard to the EIR noise, traffic and light, we notice in the DEIR that they didn t do any noise studies in the 7 to 10 hour time frame. This is the problem, we ve got a grandfathered one acre site, which used to be a gas station, Midget Kitchen and then an archery for those of you that have been around long enough. It is in the middle of a residential area. This is unique so, it s a tough unavoidable impact because its residents that are going to be receiving all of these impacts. Whether minor light, noise and traffic or cumulatively, so we think that the grandfathered one acre site shouldn t impose its commercial standards on the neighborhood. Especially during those hours from 7 to 10 pm. Another issue of specific concern to the people west of the proposed site is that currently if you read the land there is infiltration because it s a native surface and some of the raining runoff goes to the south, some goes to the southwest, and then some goes to the northwest corner. What they are proposing to do with the one acre site is make an impervious layer, in their DEIR they propose they retention a filtered system that is capable of handling 1,131 cubic feet of water. In the last rain storm we received 12 inches of water at our house. That s an acre foot. That is 43,560 cubic feet so their retention facility is not capable of mitigating the impact to where the outflow on the northwest corner of their proposal is going to come down into a ditch system that I have a culvert to get off of Rough & Ready Highway, it continues 1,600 feet. There are pictures, I brought more detail with the comments, but the drainage is inadequate. Those were our main concerns on top of just putting a big building like this in a residential area, it just is going to change the character of our neighborhood. And it is an unavoidable impact, just don t build it. Thank you very much. Weldon Travis - Weldon Travis, Rough & Ready. It kind of reminds me of McDonalds, we ve got one McDonalds and all of sudden you want three more. My wife, Irene Travis and I live in Rough & Ready, mid-way between two of the proposed locations, the Penn Valley Drive and Rough & Ready Highway, and strongly object to both. Three additional dollar stores is overkill and negatively impacts the downhome nature of these communities. Specifically and to name a few: traffic, air quality, noise, panhandling, bright lights, thievery, just a few. This is not the way to make America Great Again. Thank you. Sarah Hatten Hi, my name is Sarah Hatten. I live at West Drive. I am three lots to the south of the Rough & Ready proposed site. Just a couple of the notes I ve jotted down. Whereas the Rough & Ready Highway is zoned commercial one, West Drive is not and the traffic should not impede that neighborhood. Increased traffic in general is going to be a problem. For those of us that live on West Drive and do not want to compete with the store to get out onto the highway, we want to go out Sunset and East. Well, to turn left onto East from Rough & Ready Highway there is no turn lane so that is going to be a real big problem. Furthermore, what our last speaker Draft PC Meeting Minutes -12-

13 was saying, the safety issues are definitely on the forefront. There is a bus stop right there both for children and for the community and having a site right there on the corner on Rough & Ready Highway which is a get-away zone for the bad guys is not a good idea. I don t know if the EIR has taken into consideration if this project is to go through, the improvements. Because if they are, if you guys are going to let this happen and this comes into our community, what are they going to do to assist our community? Are they going to help put in bike lanes? Are they going to help pay for that? And the turn lane for East Drive. I mean, I live on the corner of East and Sunset, there s not even a stop sign for Sunset to turn right onto West. I m sorry, I live on West and Sunset. There s not even a stop sign so people take that corner wide. I have to go wide to get into my driveway and it s just, it s a cluster right there so it s a real problem and more traffic on West Drive is not appropriate. Thank you. Jack Johnson My name s Jack Johnson. I live at Alta Sierra Drive - My big protest really is why did you allow them to put this all in one group? It s like, if we don t do one, we re not going to do any of them. I thoroughly object to having all of them put together. Second, they propose to build this building here in Alta Sierra and then they re going to give Yuba Land Trust $42,000 for the trees. How long is it going to take them to recoup $42,000 from that little store on Alta Sierra Drive? The people, 92% of the people in Alta Sierra will not shop there. We already have a store that has everything that they offer. We have a liquor store up there at the filling station, we have restaurants right there. So, how are they going to recoup this $42,000 within five years? I don t think that they need it. You stated a while ago that there was no need for one there. And I think that this is our biggest thing. There is no need for one. Why are they putting it there? And how are they going to recoup their cost? Thank you. Nicholas George - Commissioners, thank you for having this forum. If you see me looking over my right shoulder it s for the time because this clock in front of us is not working. I urge you to reject the DEIR as inadequate. At least for the Rough & Ready site. And there are several technical reasons for that in addition to the community reasons that others have mentioned. I ll start with the technical reasons. These are summarized in the letter that I ve sent to Mr. Barrington, so the details can be captured there. The traffic study is unrealistic; there s a couple of ways, couple of reasons for that. The sample times conveniently miss the times of great congestion on that portion of Rough & Ready Highway. That s 9:30 in the morning and 3:30 in the afternoon. But, they double missed it because the times they sampled weren t on a weekday so one of the times they sampled was on a Sunday while school was not in session, and the other time they sampled it was on a Saturday I think but anyway it was December 30 th so, folks, Nevada County deserves better than this. I mean, we ve got to believe that they re going to try, but Nevada County deserves better than this kind of flawed, cherry picked data. So, the samples were conducted for a ¼ of an hour at those intersections. As we all know the intersections in Grass Valley during the school times leading out on West Main -those intersections reach failure multiple times a day with parents picking up kids and school buses. So, I ll get to the fire implications of this in a minute, but my point is that when you have a traffic study that only samples traffic for a ¼ of an hour at various places, it doesn t account for the bolus of traffic that is released from those school congestion areas once the buses clear and the bells ring and so forth. So, this traffic study is defective, it must not be trusted, it must not be certified. The water and fire pressure. The water issue and- the water pressure and fire issue I addressed back a year ago. Some mitigation measures have been proposed, however, the underground tank proposed to protect this site doesn t have specified volume, it also is not specified to operate when utility power is unavailable. So, when you ve got a wildfire folks, and the store is burning, or the store is on burning and it starts a wildfire, the power goes out because it runs right by there and now Draft PC Meeting Minutes -13-