Copperopolis hits snag introducing long-awaited housing growth plan

By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER

Last Updated: May 9, 2005, 05:53:20 AM PDT

COPPEROPOLIS — The fastest-growing area in one of California's fastest-growing counties is doing so without a growth plan. Thirteen years ago, people responding to a survey in this foothill town named managing growth as their top priority. The idea of a growth plan went through fits and starts before officials formed a committee in 1998.

In more than six years since, several hundred homes have sprung up around nearby Lake Tulloch, all without a growth plan and without a single environmental report. And officials have approved 4,000 more.

The surge helped boost Calaveras County to fourth-highest in the state in terms of percentage growth from 2000 to 2004, at 13.3 percent.

Thursday, committee Chairman Russ Thomas — a former Stanislaus County planning commissioner — announced at a meeting that he hoped that day to conclude work on the elusive growth plan. That proved to be wishful thinking.

One of three people attending their first meeting as committee members wanted more time to digest what the committee had been doing for six years. The newcomers were appointed because former members have financial stakes in the committee's proposals.

Meanwhile, Robert Sellman, Calaveras County interim planning director, refused Thursday to provide public copies of materials the committee was using — even after audience members asked that he comply with state law requiring that he share them.

After 2½ hours of trying to follow the committee's discussion with no reference point, a portion of the meeting reserved for public comment was cut short because another group had reserved the meeting hall.

Difficulties in Copperopolis point up just how hard it can be — anywhere — to reach consensus on growth.

In comments unrelated to Copperopolis, Stanislaus County Supervisor Jeff Grover said, "I think everyone agrees that the way we've been doing growth is not good." He recently embarked on a mission that could dramatically alter development patterns by setting rigid urban limits around the nine cities in his county.

All cities by law have some blueprint for growth. Many unincorporated towns develop similar documents called community plans, like the one Copperopolis may be close to getting.

Chairman Thomas and others blame their 13-year wait on turnover in the county Planning Department, which advises the committee.

"It's seemed very much like we take three steps forward and two back," Thomas said in a recent interview.

A growth plan might have saved some headaches around picturesque Lake Tulloch, whose water-skiing, jet-skiing and fishing have drawn valley folks since the reservoir was created in 1958. Though some of the shoreline lies in Tuolumne County, Calaveras is home to most of the houses and potential growth areas.

"I think we could have done better," said Victoria Erickson, the Calaveras County supervisor representing that area, who was elected in 2002. "Instead of planning section by section, we could have looked at the whole lake."

Didn't expect banks of houses

Ralph Servidio, a Realtor and former owner of the biggest grocery store in Copperopolis, said most buildings around the lake when he arrived in 1991 were A-frame cabins or little more than sheds.

"I don't think anyone envisioned this," Servidio said, referring to a bank of multilevel homes resembling a cityscape except for docks on the waterfront.

Order seemed to arrive, Servidio said, with Castle and Cooke Inc., a multinational company that bought nearby Saddle Creek Golf Course in 1999 and is building houses in the area. Some people, though, fear that the firm's plan to bring 2,110 more homes, plus two marinas and a hotel to a barren stretch of the northwest shore would wreck the lake's recreational appeal.

Many remember when water skiers could glide on the lake's northern reaches, where a steep hill protects the surface from prevailing breezes. Speed restrictions now limit travel to 5 mph along much of that stretch, mostly because the lake is crowded with boats in the summer.

Still others are less than crazy about the idea of a new road from Castle and Cooke's project, known as Brunker Ranch, through Knights Ferry to Highway 108-120.

Though the road appears in concept on a 2001 study Thomas' group commissioned, he recently said that publicity on the idea has been blown out of proportion.

"There is nothing to suggest anyone is anxious to develop that," he said. "But, it makes good sense to have it started now because it could likely be an eventual build-out element."

Thomas also blamed news reports for creating pressure that caused three committee members to resign.

One, Bob Brunker, is selling the property that Castle and Cooke wants for its huge project. The wife of another is brokering the sale. A third owns property where developers want to build stores near Copperopolis.

The committee recommends zoning for land throughout the growth plan, among other duties. In other words, all three might have profited from the committee's decisions.

None ever voted on committee work dealing with areas where they owned property, Thomas said.

While that controversy brewed, some homeowners around the lake formed a group whose mission includes checking the committee's work.

Lake Tulloch Alliance Chairwoman Connie Williams said her group brings together representatives from each of the six homeowner associations ringing the lake. They will publicly praise or criticize policies Thomas' committee recommends, she said.

"This area is getting ready to really burst with development," Williams said. "The right controls weren't put in place to begin with. How many more homes can we handle before the whole lake becomes a 5 mph zone?

"If we don't look into this," she continued, "20 years from now the land will be totally raped by developers who do whatever they want."

Supervisor Erickson said she expects the alliance "will end up being very helpful to me."

Media blamed

But Thomas again blamed media for stirring conflict resulting in the group's formation.

"It was a knee-jerk reaction in many ways to those articles," he said. Of the alliance, Thomas said its members "would just as soon that no other houses be built on the lake. They have theirs and can't see any justification for building more."

Thomas confirmed that he plans to challenge Erickson in next year's election.

Sellman, the interim planning director, refused Thursday to release public documents despite pleas from audience members such as Bob Miller and Susan Larson. He said letting people follow the committee's discussion — an impossible task without the documents — would foster controversy, and some committee members agreed.

"We can't make intelligent comments because we don't have the documents," Copperopolis resident Betsy Duncan protested.

After checking with the county's attorney Friday, Sellman reversed course and put the documents on the Internet.

A working version of the Copperopolis Community Plan and several supporting documents can be viewed at http://ccwstor.co.calaveras.ca.us/publish/planning/CopperCommunity/coppercommunity_1.html. The Copperopolis Community Plan Committee is scheduled to meet at 2:30 p.m. May 26 in the meeting hall at Black Creek Park.

Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at 578-2390 or gstapley@modbee.com.

Published: July 28, 2005
By SUNNY LOCKWOOD

A group working to protect Lake Tulloch from over-development is suggesting charging boating fees on the seven-mile long reservoir.

Lake Tulloch Alliance — which includes homeowners, business owners and homeowner associations along Tulloch's shores — has presented six proposals, including the boat fee idea, to District 5 Calaveras County Supervisor Victoria Erickson.

The alliance meets this afternoon to hear her response.

"We'll hear from Supervisor Erickson as to our next step to get our initiatives to the Board of Supervisors," alliance President Connie Williams said.

The alliance is requesting a yearly fee be charged for all boats launched or moored on the lake near Copperopolis.

Williams said it would be up to supervisors, law enforcement and Tri-Dam Project, which manages the lake, to work out specific details of such a fee. She added that alliance members hope funds raised by the fee would go for boating safety education and more law enforcement patrols on the waters.

Erickson said imposing such a fee is complicated, because the lake spans both Calaveras and Tuolumne counties.

"Making each boat pay a yearly fee to use the lake is one way of dealing with the situation," she said. "It is one tool in the tool box, but it won't solve all the problems."

Problems on the 1,260-acre reservoir are significant.

According to a 2003 Calaveras County Sheriff's Department safety report, Tulloch has among the highest rates of boating accidents, boating injuries and fatalities, and boats per square mile compared to other lakes in the county.

Tri-Dam Project manages Tulloch under a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Susan Larson, Tri-Dam Project Lake Tulloch coordinator, said Tri-Dam officials have studied Bass Lake in Madera County, which charges a fee based on watercraft engine size, as a possible model.

"It is something to be considered," she said, pointing out that Bass and Tulloch lakes share some similarities, including private homes and public marinas along the lakes' shores.

"At Bass Lake, the fee supports boating safety programs, boating classes and enhanced law enforcement," she said. "The fee has been successful and popular."

Larson said Tri-Dam and Erickson are working with Tuolumne and Calaveras counties' sheriffs departments and boards of supervisors to see if a fee would make sense for Lake Tulloch.

"But before we moved forward with such a program, we'd hold public meetings where people could ask questions and make suggestions," she said.

Williams emphasized that the alliance is not against growth, but wants to preserve and protect Lake Tulloch and its surrounding shoreline.

"Lake Tulloch is the jewel of Copperopolis," she said. "That's what draws people and developers here. We don't want to stop growth, but we want the county to implement the proper ordinances so that future generations can continue to enjoy this beautiful lake and area."