Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Nothing helps identify fall more than the homecoming celebrations on the nation’s college campuses. The weather is crisp and the leaves are golden — and football rivalries abound. Here’s a video about the homecoming weekend at Iowa State in Ames on Saturday, with a football game against Texas A&M on ABC (regional).

We have some native Iowans in our neck of the woods — one of them is David Wood, founder and president of Ensemble Designs in Nevada City. Ensemble makes video equipment used to telecast sports on TV.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Here’s a highlight of Tuesday’s Grass Valley City Council agenda:

“Agreements with Greg Zitney, Jeff Harvey, and GEI consultants to provide staff assistance in processing the Idaho-Maryland Mine project applications.
RECOMMENDATION: Approve agreements with: 1) Greg Zitney to provide consulting services related to the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act; 2) Jeff Harvey to provide consulting services to assist City staff in processing the project applications; and 3) GEI Consultants to provide consulting services related to the technical aspects of the proposed mining operations.”

The background is here.

Next month the City Council will consider approval of a consultant to prepare the revised draft EIR report. Emgold will be responsible for paying the costs associated with these consultants.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Editor’s notes: Here’s the salient topics for next Wednesday’s Nevada City Council meeting:

• Consider Proposed Affordable Housing Plan for Nevada City Tech Center, LLC, 12.9 Acres on 210 Providence Mine Road.
Recommendation: Accept the Affordable Housing Plan as Recommended by the Planning Commission with any Modifications.

• Consideration of Terminating Raw Water Supply Contract with Nevada Irrigation District (NID)
Recommendation: Approve Sending a Letter Notifying NID of the City’s Intent to Terminate the Raw Water Supply Agreement

For the tech center, the recommendation to support affordable housing is that the R3 site shall accommodate 32 dwelling units. The base, 18 size-restricted units, must be located within the R3 zone.

For the raw water contract, the city confirms that it has had discussions on “topics related to the purchase of treated water in lieu of raw water.”

Negotiating a new agreement with NID may lead to significant savings for the water fund.

I expect both topics will lead to a robust discussion at the meeting, with public input.

More background is here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »