Calaveras Enterprise - August 25, 2006
 
This week Castle & Cook has "re-announced" its' plans for a massive development on the shoreline of Lake Tulloch that would be the largest single development project ever impacting the lake. The company first revealed these plans in February 2005 in an article in the Calaveras Enterprise.
 
The company has submitted zoning requests for Copper Valley Ranch and Sawmill Lake --- two new communities that together would add 2,100 new homes plus commercial development. The company’s  Vice President Dave Haley says he feels the projects "
will tie the whole community together”.
 
Central Sierra real estate brokered the land for the project from long time rancher. Dave Brunker. The project will be named Copper Valley . This development would reportedly include its own marina, hotel/conference center, lake club/restaurant,neighborhood shopping center, fitness center, community parks and trails plus a mix of 1,500 homes ranging from condominiums to 20-acre ranchettes. The ranchettes are planned to be off the lake shore.

Despite Haley's pronouncements that the Copper Valley project would bring the community together, it would  seriously damage Lake Tulloch 's natural environment and current way of life rather than enhance it. The shoreline on the west side of the lake is in the shadow of the large Table Top mountain covered with oak trees which would be replaced by condominiums which the developer calls “Villas.” But if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck – it’s a duck. They are condos!
 
If the project is approved, along with the proposed Tuscany Hills Project, the natural shoreline of this large portion of the lake would be gone forever and the now legendary high boat traffic on the lake would grow even more dramatically. The current Tuscany Hills EIR has already noted that their development would add many more boats using the lake. The authors of the EIR are yet to figure out how to mitigate the damage and have even asked to meet with the Lake Tulloch Alliance and the Calaveras Planning Coalition to figure how to reduce the negative environmental impact of the project. Copper Valley would make it even worse!
 
Castle & Cook want yet another general plan amendment that would permit such a massive project. For the record, right now Copperopolis has projects either approved or built that would permit the construction of more than 5,000 new homes! Enough already!
 
Their proposal makes it clear that what we need is to halt approval of any more new projects on the Lake Tulloch and thoughout the county until there is a new Copperopolis Community Plan and Calaveras County General Plan. The current general plan is totally out of date. Just consider transportation issues. If the county was to approve all of the projects sought by developers in the Copperopolis area,  traffic would grow exponentially on all area roads including State Highway 4 and 108. Castle & Cook have suggested building a road to Knights Ferry into Stanislaus County . Knights Ferry residents are against this idea.
 
The impact of this and all of the other projects being dreamed up by developers for the lake will basically create a lake with either a mandated five mile per hour speed or, as Supervisor Tryon has suggested, a non-motorized lake. What will that do the area property values? Those realtors that have objected to LTA's work to protect the community ought to think long and hard about their ability to sell million dollar plus houses with $70,000 boats that can travel only at 5 mph.
 
The Lake Tulloch Alliance has met with Castle & Cook. We have urged the company to join with the community in supporting various measures including new zoning that would restrict any future zoning of home sites on the remaining undeveloped lake shore to 20 acre minimums. Tuolumne County now has a limitation of 35 acres. At the same time, the Alliance has encouraged the company to designate this last open space as park land which would provide greater amenities for residents of it's new communities and new recreational opportunities for the region.. 

This is a perfect time for Dave Haley of Castle and Cook, who is also a member of our local park's board, to act and not just talk about improving the community. Castle & Cook is a fine company that builds high quality projects like the Lake Sherwood development in the Santa Monica Mountains . The company could provide desperately needed leadership from the business community and champion both a new county wide general plan and support at least a 20 acre minimum parcel size on the lake along with other initiatives while building a first class project that is enhances the environmental and the rural life style instead of destroying it!
 
If the company chooses the course to build this massive development, it will loose this great opportunity to enhance the natural environment of the lake and lakeshore. It is essential that all of us in the community support elective and appointed officials who will act in the best interests of the long term future of Lake Tulloch and the entire county.
 
The impact of this project is being repeated throughout the county and the time has come for the Board of Supervisors to act. A new general plan process is now in the works which hopefully will shelve any new pipe dreams from developers regardless of how beautiful they have created graphic renderings of their latest new project.
  
Write your supervisor about these issues. To learn more about these and other issues log on to www.laketulloch.org.

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Note: Jack Cox is the former Chief of Staff to United States Congressman Barry Goldwater , Jr. and a news reporter covering land use issues. He is now president of The Communications Institute, a national educational institution for policy makers and leaders in the public and private sectors on critical public issues.