A consultant will suggest preservation strategies for El Dorado County groves.
By Cathy Locke - Bee Staff Writer
A $346,981 study that will help determine how El Dorado County balances development and oak woodland protection is scheduled for completion within six months.
The Board of Supervisors last week approved an agreement with the consulting firm EN2 Resources of Placerville to develop an oak woodland management plan.
The Planning Commission also is scheduled today to approve interim guidelines for dealing with oak woodland protection until the management plan and an ordinance are in place.
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Development Services Director Greg Fuz said the consulting firm also will prepare a fee schedule needed to implement a provision of the county general plan allowing landowners to compensate for tree removal from a development site by paying into a fund to preserve oak woodlands elsewhere.
Fuz said the public will have an opportunity to participate in preparing the management plan through six workshops that will be scheduled with the planning and agricultural commissions.
Some people requested that representatives of business groups and the taxpayers association be included on a technical advisory committee for the project. But Fuz said the committee was to be made up of county staff members assigned to help guide the consultant.
Board Chairman Jack Sweeney said the six workshops should offer adequate opportunity for public input.
He requested, however, that staff members provide the board with a progress report every two weeks.
"If there is some hold-up," he told Fuz, "you can explain what the hold-up is."
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