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Time Description 9:14 a.m. The continued meeting from December 12, 2006 was called to order at the Mariposa County Government Center Pledge of Allegiance Adopt a Resolution to: 1) Certify the Mariposa County General Plan Environmental Impact Report; 2) Adopt the Mariposa County General Plan, with Findings of Fact, Mitigation Measures and Statement of Overriding Considerations; and 3) Repeal the 1981 General Plan (Planning Director) BOARD ACTION: Kris Schenk/Planning Director and Andy Hauge/Hauge Brueck Associates, were present. Kris Schenk advised that this is the end of a rather long process of adopting the new General Plan. He advised that some procedural changes to the formal resolution were distributed and they are available to the public, along with about 45 pages of findings of fact and the statement of overriding consideration which are the basis for the Board’s action to certify the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) in its final form for the General Plan and for adoption of the General Plan itself. He advised that the following five actions are included in the formal resolution: 1) certification of the EIR; 2) adoption of the General Plan; 3) direction to staff to file a Notice of Determination with the appropriate State and local entities; 4) designation of the Planning Department as the agency where anyone who needs a copy of the General Plan or related documents can obtain this information; and 5) repealing the 1981 General Plan. Chair Stetson called for input from the public on the formal resolution, and the following was provided. Rita Kidd thanked the Board for the hard work and for listening to the public over this year. She also referred to a letter that Laurie Oberholtzer sent this morning via email relative to the findings and she feels they are very thorough. She has one issue concerning the growth rate assumption of .9 percent which did appear in Table 2-5, but doesn’t appear in the findings of fact. She asked that this be added. She feels that it is recognizing that moderating the growth rate in the County gives us ample time to do many things that need to be done, and some of that is making sure that the infrastructure is sufficient to support the rate of growth. She feels it is possible that without that assumption, that 100 percent of that growth could happen very quickly. She realizes that historically it hasn’t happened, but does not feel that history is on our side with the growth pressures out of the valley and with their experience of watching other mountain counties over the last ten years. Pierce Loberg stated he has a concern about the adoption and certification of the EIR at this time because he feels that a portion of the EIR was unreadable. He noted that this was pointed out at the November 17th Planning Commission hearing, along with a problem with being able to read them on the website. He feels that this does not meet the CEQA requirements. Chair Stetson pointed out that this comment had been made earlier in the process and that they have subsequently been made readable and copies are available. They have been available before the adoption of the Plan. Pierce Loberg stated he could not get the information from the internet and he objects as he feels that the public did not have an opportunity to read the entire document. Kris Schenk advised that the chapter that had the original letters of comment that were submitted in 2005 were originally legible and readable. The problem with legibility was with a version that was distributed before the Planning Commission’s November 17th hearing. Once they became aware of the legibility difficulties, Andy Hauge reformatted MARIPOSA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS CONFORMED AGENDA December 18, 2006 (Meeting Continued from December 12, 2006) ---PAGE BREAK--- 2 12-12-06 them and they have been available for weeks at the Planning office and the corrected versions were placed on the internet. He also advised that several announcements have been made about the availability of that particular chapter. Pierce Loberg asked for clarification of when the internet was updated with the legible version. Chair Stetson provided a reminder that today’s meeting is about the formal resolution and findings only. Supervisor Turpin asked about the process and timeline for filing the Notice of Determination with the State. Andy Hauge advised that the Notice of Determination says that you certified the EIR and based on that environmental document, you adopted the General Plan. So it is just a record that goes to the State and to the (County) Clerk that the actions have been taken; and the new General Plan becomes law at that time. Supervisor Bibby initiated discussion and referred to the findings of fact on page 45 and the sentence that says: “The General Plan allows for growth of UC Merced, a significant regional asset, it embraces policies intended to establish collaborating working relationships with other agencies responsible for managing the land.” She feels this is a strong statement and she referred to page 2-10 and the discussion of the impacts of UC Merced, and noted that it doesn’t say that the General Plan goal is to provide growth for UC Merced. She suggested that there be a statement that we should accommodate the tourism and agricultural economic benefits in addition to meeting the demands of housing versus saying it allows for the growth of UC Merced. Kris Schenk advised that this is part of the statement of overriding considerations and it is pointing out a number of things that are beneficial about the adoption of the Plan in a summary format and this section is pointing out some of the economic factors that in the long run will contribute to the development of the land use and the overall economy of the County. County Counsel advised that this sentence deals with the housing opportunities and stresses protection of community character. He advised that one of the things in the statement of overriding consideration that needs to be considered is the growth of UC Merced as an impact on the County. All this sentence is designed to do is to support the statement of overriding considerations and it also ties back into the already adopted Housing Element. Further discussion was held. Supervisor Bibby asked about adding the .9 percent growth rate assumption. County Counsel advised this would get into population caps, and that is not a direction that the Board has previously given staff and this particular resolution and its findings are not structured in such a manner. He feels that it would be difficult at this point in the process to determine the impacts of trying to put in a firm growth rate and other such modifications to the issues of the County population and the rate of growth. Supervisor Bibby suggested that it say that the General Plan assesses the benefits and impacts of UC Merced Campus which is the actual language on page 2-10. County Counsel noted that the statement relative to UC Merced is not an endorsement or a commitment that the County will embark upon that as a primary or superior approach for housing. It is simply a statement that acknowledges why we have to take into account the existence of UC Merced. Andy Hauge advised that there are locations in the General Plan where UC Merced is discussed, and early on in the process it was recognized that it is a major driving force. This statement is saying that this Plan allows that to continue in Merced County and it does not say that Mariposa is accommodating anything. It is also saying that we are not prohibiting the growth of UC Merced, and there could have been policies that prohibited and limited that growth. He further commented on the purpose of the statement of overriding consideration. Supervisor Pickard referred to the issue of the growth rate that was requested, and he stated he believes that the General Plan identifies and spells that out. Andy Hauge advised that the General Plan talks about the .9 percent only as a statement of fact of what has occurred; and following discussions with the Board and the Planning Commission and the decision was not to establish a cap. So the General Plan is based on build-out, and as Rita Kidd said, you could build out 100 percent tomorrow based on this Plan. There are policies in the Plan that provide protection from impacts of a rate of growth, but the General Plan does not establish a rate of growth, and the impacts are not established based on a rate of growth. He does not feel a rate of growth should go into this finding because it was not a consideration in the EIR or in the development of the Plan or the policies. It is a statement of fact only about what has been occurring in Mariposa County. ---PAGE BREAK--- 3 12-12-06 Supervisor Pickard initiated discussion relative to the comments provided by the public, and he clarified that access to the EIR and corrected versions have been available at the Library branches. Kris Schenk advised that it has been available at the Board office, at the Planning office, and at the library branches. Supervisor Pickard also noted that at the Board’s public hearing on December 6th, he was not aware that there was still a problem or concern with regard to the legibility of the contents of any of the documents that were being discussed. Kris Schenk advised that the only problem was when the Planning Commission was considering the document and they recognized that the one chapter had some issues with the older letters and they were corrected to the best of their ability. Supervisor Bibby noted that there was discussion of pages and page numbering, so she knows that the Board had legible documents for the December 6th hearing. Supervisor Pickard asked for clarification that all outstanding issues have been addressed that were known about. Kris Schenk advised that they have. (M)Pickard, (S)Bibby, Res. 06-575 was adopted certifying the Mariposa County General Plan Environmental Impact Report, approving the Mitigation Monitoring Program, and adopting Findings of Fact attached to the resolution, and adopting the Statement of Overriding Considerations; adopting the Mariposa County General Plan; and repealing the 1981 General Plan/Ayes: Unanimous. 9:44 a.m. Adjournment Respectfully submitted, MARGIE WILLIAMS Clerk of the Board