Public Outreach

The public engagement effort for this project greatly exceeded what is required by law. The County used a variety of outreach efforts as described below and conducted approximately 75 public meetings over a two-year period. The first phase of public outreach, following the adoption of the project Resolution of Intentions (ROI’s) to amend the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance, consisted of a series of community meetings in March of 2012. Evening meetings were held in the communities of El Dorado Hills, South Lake Tahoe, Somerset, Cameron Park, Cool, and El Dorado. The meetings provided an opportunity for residents to learn about the various project components, the decision making process, and opportunities for further involvement. These meetings were advertised through the dedicated project website, the County homepage, press releases distributed to local media, flyer postings at community gathering places throughout the County, and direct e-mail by staff to individuals and organizations. Attendance at the meetings ranged from a single person at the Tahoe meeting to more than 60 people in El Dorado Hills.

The second phase of outreach centered on the initial scoping meetings in May and June of 2012. In addition to the daytime Planning Commission meeting and evening Agricultural Commission meetings in Placerville, seven evening scoping meetings were held in the communities of El Dorado, El Dorado Hills, Greenwood, Somerset, Camino, South Lake Tahoe, and Cameron Park. Like the outreach meetings, the scoping meetings were advertised through a press release distributed to local media, on the project and County websites, through direct email by staff, and through the posting of approximately 50 flyers in key community gathering places throughout the County. Many local organizations such as chambers of commerce also helped spread news and information about project related meetings and information.

All project related information has been posted to the dedicated project website including press releases, meeting schedules, Board items, key documents, etc. There are over 1,800 e-mail subscriptions to the project and/or associated websites. All subscribers have been kept notified of any updates to the project website. In addition, dozens of articles have appeared in local media publications as a result of the outreach and meeting opportunities provided during the project process.

Finally, the Community and Economic Development Advisory Committee (CEDAC) also directly notified hundreds of individuals and organizations about project related notifications, meetings and documents through its Constant Contact e-mail announcements.

On May 25, 2012, the first Notice of Preparation (NOP) for the TGPA/ZOU EIR was released for a 45-day public comment period. The NOP and related documents were posted to the project dedicated website and all subscribers to the website were notified. The Board then held a week long workshop on the Zoning Ordinance to review, take public comments and provide staff with direction for revisions to the draft ZOU. Staff revised the draft and returned to the Board during three additional meetings to review revisions and provide authorization to final the draft ZOU.

Based on Board directed changes to the draft Zoning Ordinance, a second NOP was released on October 1, 2012 for a 30-day public comment period, whereby project related information was again posted on the dedicated project website, and all subscribers to the website were notified. Comments received during the review process have been taken into consideration in the proposed TGPA and ZOU.

In January 2014, the third phase of the extensive public outreach began in preparation of the release of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). The dedicated project web page was completely updated and launched on the Long Range Planning (LRP) web page in March 2014.

On March 24, 2014, the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) was released for a 120-day public review period, which was 75 days longer than the minimum 45-day period required by CEQA. Legal Notices were placed in the Mountain Democrat (March 24), Tahoe Tribune (March 26) and Georgetown Gazette (March 27). A press release with the Notice of Availability (NOA) was distributed to the local media, and posted on the dedicated project web page. The NOA and press release was posted on the County’s Home Page under News and Hot Topics and email notices were sent to over 3,000 subscribers to several County subscription lists. The NOA was mailed to a list of about 200 interested parties and agencies, including Native American Tribal contacts within the project area. The NOA was posted at each of the County public libraries, which also received one hard copy of the DEIR document for public viewing. A hard copy of the DEIR was also available at the Planning public counter in Building C.

The following methods were made available to the public to submit their comments on the DEIR:

  1. Online Comment Form posted on the dedicated project web page;
  2. Project email address: TGPA-ZOU@edcgov.us; and
  3. Mailing address to the project manager, Shawna Purvines.

Several reminder notices of the July 23, 2014 deadline to submit comments were sent electronically to the subscriber lists for the County’s News and Hot Topics and LRP News and Updates, as well as to the County’s Twitter and Facebook social media sites.

After the release of the DEIR, staff began planning and preparing for Planning Commission public hearings to be held in July and August 2014. A kick-off meeting was scheduled for July 10 with the Planning Commission, and a public hearing consisting of a series of seven meetings, was scheduled in August 2014, one of the meetings to take place at the Regular Agriculture Commission meeting.

During the week of June 11, 2014, notices of the July 10 Planning Commission public hearing to receive public comments on the DEIR were distributed by the following methods: posted on the County website home page under News and Hot Topics (1,300 subscribers notified), posted on the LRP web page under What’s New (600 subscribers notified), and press release distributed to the local media. On June 26, staff provided a project update to both the Planning Commission and CEDAC and distributed a Project Fact Sheet with the schedule of the July 10 Planning Commission meeting and August public hearing schedule.

On July 1, 2014, the Project Fact Sheet and Planning Commission public hearing schedule was posted on the Long Range Planning web page and notices sent to the News and Hot Topics and LRP subscription lists. After the July 10 Planning Commission public hearing, the Project Fact Sheet and August public hearing schedule were revised to include the topics to be discussed at each of the August meetings. The updated Project Fact Sheet and hearing schedule was posted on the County website on News and Hot Topics, on the project web page, and email notices sent to the subscription lists. Two legal notices were placed in the Mountain Democrat (July 18 and July 25), Tahoe Tribune (July 23 and July 30) and Georgetown Gazette (July 24 and July 31). In addition, a paid ad (7.5” x 5”) was placed in the Mountain Democrat on July 30. Notices of the August public hearing/meetings were also distributed via the County’s Twitter and Facebook social media. Additionally, the Project Fact Sheet/public hearing schedule was direct mailed to the interested parties/agencies list and emailed to the individuals and agencies who submitted DEIR comments by email. The Fact Sheet/Hearing Schedule flyers were also distributed to all the County public libraries, and emailed to numerous local community organizations and agencies.

The documents below are in PDF format and should be viewed with Adobe Reader.

Public Notices

 

Community Presentations

 

Planning Commission Public Hearing August 2014

Beginning on August 4, 2014, the Planning Commission held a public hearing consisting of a series of ongoing public meetings to receive comments on the TGPA-ZOU Project. Listed below are all the meeting dates and start times with the staff reports, presentations and other documents presented to the Commission on these dates. These attachments and the public comments submitted at the hearing meetings are included in Legistar File No.11-0356.  Please note: These agenda items may not reflect the most current information and are subject to change. For the latest information on agenda items related to this project, refer to the County online agenda calendar: https://eldorado.legistar.com.

image of blue checkmark  TGPA-ZOU Project Fact Sheet / Public Hearing Schedule Aug 2014(PDF, 1MB)  (Updated 8-19-2014)

  • August 4 at 5:00 p.m.
    • Staff Report (9C – Staff Report PC 08-04-14)
    • Presentation (9G – PowerPoint Presentation-Background PC 08-04-14)
    • Project Checklist (9F – Project Check List.v6.0 PC 08-04-14)
  • August 6 at 8:00 a.m.
    • Presentation (10A – PowerPoint Presentation-Project Description PC 08-06-14)
  • August 13 at 12:00 p.m.
  • August 13 at 6:30 p.m. (Regular Agricultural Commission Meeting)
    • Presentation (Ag Commission 8-13-2014 Project Components Related to Agricultural and Rural Lands)
    • Attachment A - Ag Commission Staff Report 8-13-2014
    • Attachment B - Ag Promotion Project Checklist
    • Attachment C - Farm Bureau Ltr, Ag Opt in form
  • August 14 at 8:30 a.m. (Regular Planning Commission Meeting)
    • Presentation (12A - PowerPoint Presentation - Components, MUD, Community Design 8-14-2014)
  • August 18 at 8:00 a.m. (Planning Commission confirmed the flagged items and reviewed in detail items 1-5)
  • August 20 at 8:00 a.m. (Planning Commission reviewed in detail items 6-10)
  • August 27 at 8:30 a.m.

 

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