the wildfire because we know
that's one of the most likely
events to happen in nevada
county.
Ready, set go is really built
around the wildfire premise to
prepare residents to be ready
before event to move into
the set posture when there's a
red flag or fires near you and
then to go when it's time to go
essentially in its simplest
form it's a three tiered
community emergency
preparedness plan.
I have lived in this house
which we built my husband and I
twenty six years to go now
actually we selected the party
like the concrete siding and
also the metal roof.
Then when we moved up here and
heard about the forty nine year
fire that's when we started to
say wow this really is even
more important than we first
realized for the forty nine
fires, one of the most historic
fires in nevada county's
history, they figured it'd
change the laws of the state of
california.
That said, this is how you have
to protect your home.
That came out of nevada county
.
Steve eubanks came from
the fire safe council and
the main thing we needed to pay
attention to was the ladder
fuels planting has been removed
from the edges of the house so
that it does not touch
the house.
It was an incredible service
from the fire safe council to
come out and spend a couple of
hours going through this
property so already faces when
there's no immediate threat to
you and your family.
This is the time when you
should be doing education and
planning whether that be
training, educating yourself or
accumulating equipment,
hardening your home, creating
defensible space, defensible
space is really all about
creating a buffer zne between
your house and flammable
vegetation.
We really focus on defensible
space around the home that
first one hundred feet but also
around the roadway to another
aspect the ready phase is
hardening the home and really
what that means is making your
home more resilient to a
wildfire that's going to be
putting the fine grained mesh
around the vents of your home
so the embers won't get into
under your house or into
the eaves of your house that's
going to be using
noncombustible materials on
your deck and around your home
so no storm comes through.
It's not going to ignite your
home itself.
I currently live here in grass
valley with my parents all of
us have sleep apnea so we all
have separate machines that
require power in order to run.
I also use a nebulizer and
that's used to disperse
the medication that I need give
myself breathing again when we
have safety shutoffs we have to
hook up our equipment to
batteries that have inverters.
We have a generator that powers
some of the things around
the house but then I obtained a
pretty substantial battery from
friede and it was so easy to go
through the process to obtain a
battery that I would recommend
it to anyone who might have
medical needs that require
power or really anything.
I would highly recommend
contacting friede so whether
it's a snowstorm or a public
safety power shutoff, we really
want folks to be thinking about
ok, what are the things I'll
need on hand to weather
the storm?
Do I need to have candles?
Do I need to have battery
powered radio?
Do I need to have flashlights?
So what are the things that you
will need to shelter in place
or address the disaster at hand
so go back could be anything it
could be a backpack.
It could be a suitcase.
It's going to be something that
you put together to sustain
yourself, your family, your
pets if needed that's going to
have food, water, medication,
clothing, toiletries to get you
buy for seventy two hours you
need to think of your go bag as
the only resource you MAY have
.
Stores MAY be close, the power
MAY be out so you MAY have
literally live out of this
thing for a three day period as
an evacuee if you are someone
with a disability maybe you
have chronic health condition
for me I have type one diabetes
.
I have an insulin pump.
Right.
And so that's a critical piece
that I need to plan for if I'm
going to ever evacuate or be
away from my house.
Frankly for any amount of time
.
right.
What we find often is that if
people don't evacuate with
their c pap machine, with their
oxygen concentrator, with their
wheelchair walker then it can
be difficult on the other end.
My name is ulysses palencia.
I work in the two one one call
center.
I'm just a PRESIDENT Of grass
valley.
I have two daughters four year
old and a one year old in
nevada county two one one is
available 24/7 so we provide
for the community is
information that could be
anything from directions to
the resource centers.
It can be letting them know
where the fire is.
You know, if they are
themselves in an evacuation
center, if it's a fire, if
there's any information as to
whether power's coming back on
during a two on one gets
the information that we provide
directly from the county so
directly from the office of
emergency services the whole
team cares.
We're all local community
members.
We all just want to help.
So we were all sleeping in bed
on thursday, NOVEMBER 8th in
paradise and first the house
phone ring picked up my phone.
It was my sister who lived a
block or so away from us.
>> we were woken by a telephone
call from my daughter.
She said that we were being
evacuated.
I left sooner than them.
I had everything ready.
They were on the way out
the door.
there was no time to think
about what you're going to take
,what you're not going to take
.
>> the night before the fire I
knew it was a red flag warning
and I knew that it was a high
risk so on my way home I filled
up the tank.
>> oh well we we didn't get too
far from the house and you're
watching fire come down
the hill there was a machine
shop right to my right right
there and it had gas tanks and
propane tanks and I saw a lone
ember kind of floating through
dancing through the air and I
watched it as it landed on
the machine shop in the time it
took me to get my phone back
into hand and to take a picture
was engulfed in flames and I
knew that within moments it
would start exploding and I
would be dead.
And just as I moved out of this
the range of the explosions
they started happening and I
prayed for the people behind me
.
Ten minute drive normally
the trickle became almost four
hours so it was a long trip.
We started to hear a pattern.
People kept telling their story
of how they escaped
the campfire and they talked
about how if it wasn't for my
neighbor who came and knocked
on my door to tell me there was
a fire, I don't know that I
would have gotten out alive if
it wasn't for my son who lives
next door picking me up and
putting me in their car and
driving me out of there.
I don't know how I would have
survived and so I started
really thinking about this
connection between isolation
and how connected you are to
your community, to your
neighbors, to your friends, to
your family and how that can be
really helpful in a time of a
disaster.
So we were actually
the beneficiaries of someone
making that plan in advance to
have that group of people that
they were going to call and
that she saved my life that day
.
So absolutely having that
network really saved lives.
>> find your five.
The idea is that you know, find
trusted allies that can be
there and can be responsive and
we'll check in with you if a
disaster were to happen.
>> so we recommend that you put
people in your network that are
down the street that are maybe
the next town over there
outside the county and maybe
even outside of the state
the final tier of the ready set
go is that go peace and it's
simply that it's go evacuate
mission information comes in
two types.
The first type could be an
evacuation warning.
This is an essentially
information we're going to push
out to the public notifying
them of a potential threat in
their area where they MAY have
to evacuate their home and
evacuation order is essentially
that we are telling people that
it's time to go.
There is an imminent threat to
life and we do not believe that
you have much time to leave
the area.
>> code red is a opt in
alerting system that will dial
your number.
It'll send you a phone call, a
text message and an email
notifying you of an emergency.
That message is sent from our
office.
The office of emergency
services.
It's going to be very targeted
to your area and it'll be
specific to you that 513
the phone rang with the code
red call and so as I was going
up forty nine I could look over
to the left and see the flames
in the canyon.
The next layer is for staff to
actually be out driving in
the areas with a high low siren
.
>> there's no other reason
you'll hear that in an area
unless we're putting out that
evacuation order not a warning
but an order.
My day started routine patrol
came in and I was notified by
dispatch to respond out to
the jones fire houses that had
evacuation tags made it so we
could just pass by.
We knew that the residents had
already been evacuated
residences that did not have
the tags we would have to
physically go in, knock on
the door, look in the windows,
make sure there were no
occupants inside once you've
been evacuated as you're
leaving, put this tag somewhere
very clearly identifiable
whether it's a mailbox, a gate
,your address marker so that
deputies and officers can
quickly identify if your
residence has already been
evacuated.
I mean you look out my back
window here on the east side
and you see how close this fire
came.
It was certainly a shock and at
the same time it was such an
incredible relief to have
the house as safe as it was.
I and I think with personal
preparedness and being ready it
can feel overwhelming.
It can feel like a lot to do
and the most important piece is
to just start with one little
bite at a time just start
the conversation, have some
sort of plan.
It can be a small ismy to
place, you know, a destination
that everybody will get to
everybody in the household to
get to if there's a disaster.
Recognize you live in a
community in a county that
really does take the emergency
response as a priority.
We have worked diligently
throughout the last few years
on ensuring that not only our
staff are trained and prepared
but we're also putting that
that out for our community.
The more prepared you are in
your own community, the better
the outcome is going to be
the level of community
awareness they have to be part
of the solution.
They have to communicate with
their neighbors.
They have to be part of
the discussion in communities
they have to support
the response, the prevention,
the education and and
ultimately the collaboration
and the engaged people have to
be engaged at all levels.
The more you think about it now
the easier it will be when
the time comes that you need to
evacuate.
we've created this network and
we want you to make sure that
you know that you can tap into
that so if you are feeling a
little bit overwhelmed, not
sure where to start.
Reach out to one of our offices
.
Reach out to the fire safe
council or two one one.
We're here to support you
from
the foothills of the sierra
nevada, a new hero will emerge
one who is ready one who make
sure their friends and family
are set and has the power to go
at a moment's notice this fire
season.
>> you are the hero we are
ready.
Nevada county, nevada county
has a new tool to make
evacuations safer and more
efficient in the event of an
emergency.
This new tool is called zone
haven and we need you to know
your zone in order to know your
zone you need to go to
community dot zone haven dot
com type in your address once
your address populates and
the popup window take that
information and write down
the zone that is given to you
where you know you'll find it
in case of emergency zone haven
and knowing your zone does not
replace next call and or code
red it actually supplements
them and it makes those tools
more powerful because you will
know what zones are being
evacuated or which ones are
being placed on advisory and as
a result you won't have to do
anything else other than listen
to those messages and know if
it's time to go even if you
don't have internet.
This could be done by word of
mouth.
It can be done by radio or it
could be driving down
the street.
So please know your zone from
truckee to lake of the pines
from chicago park to pennsville
every single square mile of
nevada county has a zone and
having a zone that you know for
your neighborhood is going to
help you save time to be able
to evacuate and keep you and
your family safe already nevada
county is an education campaign
designed to help the public
have successful outcomes during
emergency events we really
focus on a whole host of
disasters or emergency events.
We want to have a broad
spectrum.
We want to be prepared for
anything but really we focus a
lot on wildfire because we know
that's one of the most likely
events to happen in nevada
county.
>> ready, set, go is really
built around the wildfire
premise to prepare residents to
be ready before an event to
move into a set posture when
there's a red flag or fires
near you and then to go when
it's time to go essentially in
its simplest form it's athree
tiered community emergency
preparedness plan I have lived
in this house which we built my
husband and I twenty six years
ago now actually we selected
the hardy plug the concrete
siding and also the metal roof
.
Then we moved up here and heard
about the forty nine year fire
.
that's when we started to say
wow this really is even more
important than we first
realized for the forty nine
year fire fires one of the most
historic fires in nevada
county's history they figured
it'd change the laws of
the state of california.
That said, this is how you have
to protect your home that came
out of nevada county.
Steve eubanks came from
the fire save council and
the main thing we needed to pay
attention to was the ladder
fuels planting has been removed
from the edges of the house so
that it does not touch
the house.
It was an incredible service
from the fire safe council to
come out and spend a couple of
hours going through this
property.
So the remedy phase is when
there's no immediate threat to
you and your family, this is
the time when you should be
doing education and planning
whether that be training,
educating yourself or
accumulating equipment,
hardening your home, creating
defensible space, defensible
space is really all about
creating a buffer zone between
your house and flammable
vegetation.
We really focus on defensible
space around the home but first
one hundred feet but also
around the roadway to another
aspect of the ready phase is
hardening the home and really
what that means is making your
home more resilient to wildfire
that's going to be putting
the fine grained mesh around
the vents of your home so
the embers won't get into under
your house or into the eaves of
your house.
That's going to be using
noncombustible materials o
your deck and around your home
so no storm comes through.
It's not going to ignite your
home self.
I currently live here on grass
valley with my parents.
All of us have sleep apnea so
we all have separate machines
that require power in order to
run.
I also use a nebulizer and
that's used to disperse
medication that I need to get
myself breathing again when we
have safety shutoffs we have to
hook up our equipment to
batteries that hae inverters.
We have a generator that powers
some of the things around
the house.
But then I obtained a pretty
substantial battery from friede
and it was so easy to go
through the process to obtain a
battery that I would recommend
it to anyone who might have
medical needs that require
power or really anything.
I would highly recommend
contacting friede so whether
it's a snowstorm or a public
safety power shutoff we really
want folks to be thinking about
ok, what are the things I'll
need on hand to weather
the storm?
Do I need to have candles?
Do I need to have battery
powered radio or do I need to
have flash lights?
So what are the things that you
will need to shelter in place
or address the disaster at hand
so go back could be anything.
It could be a backpack.
it could be a suitcase.
It's going to be something that
you put together to sustain
yourself, your family, your
pets if needed.
That's going to have food,
water, medication, clothing,
toiletries to get you buy for
seventy two hours you need to
think of your go bag as
the only resource you MAY have
.
Stores MAY be closed the power
maybe I'll see you MAY have to
literally live out of this
thing for a three day period as
an evacuee if you are someone
with a disability maybe you
have a chronic health condition
for me I have type one diabetes
.
I have an insulin pump.
Right.
And so that's a critical piece
that I need to plan for if I'm
going to evacuate or be away
from my house frankly for any
amount of time.
What we find often is that if
people don't evacuate with
their c pap machine with their
oxygen concentrator, with their
wheelchair walker then it can
be difficult on the other end.
My name is ulysses palencia.
I work in the two one one call
center.
I'm just the PRESIDENT Of grass
valley.
I have two daughters four year
old and a one year old in
nevada county two and one is
available 24/7.
So we provide for the community
is information that can be
anything from directions to
the resource centers.
It can be letting them know
where the fire is.
You know, if they are
themselves in an evacuation
center, if it's a fire, if
there's any information as to
whether power's coming back on
during a two on one, it's
the information that we provide
directly from te county.
So directly from the office of
emergency services the whole
team cares.
We're all local community
members.
We all just want to help.
So we were all sleeping in bed
on thursday, NOVEMBER 8th in
paradise and first the house
phone rang, picked up my phone
.
It was my sister who lived a
block or so away from us.
>> we were walking by a
telephone call from my daughter
.
She said that we were being
evacuated.
I left sooner than them.
I had everything ready.
>> they were on the way out
the door.
There was no time to think
about what are going to take
what you're not going to take
the night before the fire I
knew it was a red flag warning
and I knew that it was high
risk.
>> so on my way home I filled
up the tank.
Well, we we didn't get too far
from the house.
You're watching fire coming
down the hill.
>> there was a machine shop
right to my right right there
and it had gas tanks and
propane tanks and I saw a lone
ember kind of floating through
dancing through the air and I
watched does it landed on
the machine shop in the time it
took me to get my phone back
into hand and to take a picture
it was engulfed in flames and I
knew that within moments it
would start exploding and I
would be dead and just as I
moved out of this the range of
the explosion they started
happening and I prayed for
the people behind me.
Ten minute drive normally
the trickle became almost four
hours so it was a long trip.
We started to hear a pattern.
People kept telling us their
story of how they escaped
the campfire and they talked
about how if it wasn't for my
neighbor who came and knocked
on my door to tell me there was
a fire, I don't know that I
would have gotten out alive if
it wasn't for my son who lives
next door picking me up and
putting me in their car and
driving me out there.
I don't know how I would have
survived and so I started
really thinking about this
connection between isolation
and how connected you are to
your community, to your
neighbors, to your friends, to
your family and how that can be
really helpful in a time of a
disaster.
>> so we were actually
the beneficiaries of someone
making that plan in advance to
have that group of people that
they were going to call and
that she saved my life that
day.
So absolutely having that
network really saved lives.
>> find your five the idea is
that you know, find trusted
allies that can be there and
can be responsive and we'll
check in with you if a disaster
were to happen.
>> so we recommend that you put
have a broad spectrum.
We want to be prepared for
anything but really we focus a
lot on wildfire because we know
that's oe of the most likely
events to happen in nevada
county.
Ready, set go is really built
around the wildfire premise to
prepare residents to be ready
before an event to move into
the set posture when there's a
red flag or fires near you and
then to go when it's time to go
essentially and simplest form
it's a three tiered community
emergency preparedness plan.
I have lived in this house
which we built my husband and I
twenty six years ago now
actually we selected the party
like the concrete siding and
also the metal roof.
Then when we moved up here and
heard about the forty nine year
fire that's when we started to
say wow this really is even
more important than we first
realized for the forty nine
year fire is one of the most
historic fires in nevada
county's history.
They figured it'd change
the laws of the state of
california.
That said, this is how you have
to protect your home that came
out of nevada county.
Steve eubanks came from
the fire safe council and
the main thing we needed to pay
attention to was the ladder
fuels planting has been removed
from the edges of the house so
that it does not touch
the house.
It was an incredible service
from the fire safe council to
come out and spend a couple of
hours going through this
property so already phases when
there's no immediate threat to
you and your family.
This is the time when you
should be doing education and
planning whether that be
training, educating yourself or
accumulating equipment,
hardening your home, creating
defensible space, defensible
space is really all about
creating a buffer zone between
your house and flammable
vegetation.
We really focus on defensible
space around the home but first
one hundred feet but also
around the roadway to another
aspect the ready phase is
hardening the home and really
what that means is making your
home more resilient to a
wildfire that's going to be
putting the fine grained mesh
around the vents of your home
so the embers won't get into
under your house or into
the eaves of your house that's
going to be using
noncombustible materials on
your deck and around your home
so no storm comes through.
It's not going to ignite your
home itself.
I currently live here in grass
valley with my parents all of
us have sleep apnea so we all
have sleep machines that
require power in order to run.
>> I also use a nebulizer and
that's used to disperse
medication that I need get
myself breathing again when we
have safety shutoffs we have to
hook up our equipment to
batteries that have inverters.
>> we have a generator that
powers some of the things
around the house but then I
obtained a pretty substantial
battery from friede and it was
so easy to go through
the process to obtain a battery
that I would recommend it to
anyone who might have medical
needs that require power or
really anything.
I would highly recommend
contacting friede so whether
it's a snowstorm or a public
safety power shut, we really
want folks to be thinking about
ok, what are the things I'll
need on hand to weather
the storm?
Do I need to have candles?
Do I need to have battery
powered radio?
Do I need to have flashlights?
So what are the things that
you'll need to shelter in place
or address the disaster at hand
so go back could be anything it
could be a backpack.
It could be a suitcase.
It's going to be something that
you put together to sustain
yourself, your family, your
pets if needed.
That's going to have food,
water, medication, clothing,
toiletries to get you buy for
seventy two hours you need to
think of your go bag as
the only resource you MAY have
.
Stores MAY be closed, the power
MAY be out so you MAY have to
literally live out of this
thing for a three day period as
an evacuee if you are someone
with a disability maybe you
have chronic health condition
for me I have type one diabetes
.
I have an insulin pump.
>> right.
And so that's a critical piece
that I need to plan for if I'm
going to ever evacuate or be
away from my house.
Frankly for any amount of time
.
Right.
What we find often is that if
people don't evacuate with
their c pap machine, with their
oxygen concentrator, with their
wheelchair walker then it can
be difficult on the other end.
My name is ulysses palencia.
I work in the two one one call
center.
I'm just a resident of grass
valley.
I have two daughters four year
old and a one year old in
nevada county two one one is
available 24/7 so we provide
for the community is
information that could be
anything from directions to
the resource centers.
It can be letting them know
where the fire is.
You know, if they are
themselves in an evacuation
center, if it's a fire, if
there's any information as to
whether power's coming back on
during a speaks to and one gets
the information that we provide
directly from the county so
directly from the office of
emergency services, the whole
team cares.
We're all local community
members.
We just want to help.
So we were all sleeping in bed
on thursday, NOVEMBER 8th in
paradise and first the house
phone ring picked up my phone.
It was my sister who lived a
block or so away from us.
>> we were woken by a telephone
call from my daughter.
She said that we were being
evacuated.
I left sooner than them.
I had everything ready.
They were on the way out
the door.
There was no time to think
about what you're going to take
,what you're not going to take
.
The night before the fire I
knew it was a red flag warning
and I knew that it was a high
risk so on my way home I filled
up the tank.
>> oh well we we didn't get too
far from the house and you're
watching fire coming down
the hill there was a machine
shop right to my right right
there and it had gas tanks and
propane tanks and I saw a lone
ember kind of floating through
dancing through the air and I
watched it as it landed on
the machine shop in the time it
took me to get my phone back
into hand and to take a picture
was engulfed in flames and I
knew that within moments it
would start exploding and I
would be dead.
And just as I moved out of this
the range of the explosions
they started happening and I
prayed for the people behind
me.
Ten minute drive normally
the trickle became almost four
hours so it was a long trip.
We started to hear a pattern.
People kept telling their story
of how they escaped
the campfire and they talked
about how if it wasn't for my
neighbor who came and knocked
on my door to tell me there was
a fire, I on't know that I
would have gotten out alive if
it wasn't for my son who lives
next door picking me up and
putting me in their car and
driving me out of there.
I don't know how I would have
survived and so I started
really thinking about this
connection between isolation
and how connected you are to
your community, to your
neighbors, to your friends, to
your family and how that can be
really helpful in a time of a
disaster.
So we were actually
the beneficiaries of someone
making that plan in advance to
have that group of people that
they were going to call and
that she saved my life that day
.
So absolutely having that
network really saved lives.
>> find your five.
The idea is that you know, find
trusted allies that can be
there and can be responsive and
we'll check in with you if a
disaster were to happen.
>> so we recommend that you put
people in your network that are
down the street that are maybe
the next town over there
outside the county and maybe
even outside the state
the final tier of the race that
go is that go piece and it's
simply that it's go evacuate
mission information comes in
two types.
The first type could be an
evacuation warning.
This is an essentially
information we're going to push
out to the public notifying
them of a potential threat in
their area where they MAY have
to evacuate their home and
evacuation order is essentially
that we are telling people that
it's time to go.
There is an imminent threat to
life and we do not believe that
you have much time to leave
the area.
>> code red is a opt in
alerting system that will dial
your number.
It'll send you a phone call, a
text message and an email
notifying you of an emergency.
That message sent from our
office the office of emergency
services.
It's going to be very targeted
to your area and it'll be
specific to you that five
thirteen the phone rang with
the code red call and so as I
was going up forty nine I could
look over to the left and see
the flames in the canyon.
The next layer is for staff to
actually be out driving in
the areas with a high low siren
.
>> there's no other reason
you'll hear that in an area
unless we're putting out that
evacuation order not a warning
but an order.
My day started a routine patrol
came in and I was notified by
dispatch to respond out to
the jones fire houses that had
evacuation tags made it so we
could just pass by.
We knew that the residents had
already been evacuated
residences that did not have
the tags we would have to
physically go in and knock on
the door, look in the windows,
make sure there were no
occupants inside once you've
been evacuated as you're
leaving, put this tag somewhere
very clearly identifiable
whether it's a mailbox, a gate
,your address marker so that
deputies and officers can
quickly identify if your
residence has already been
evacuated.
You look at my back window here
on the east side and you see
how close this fire came.
It was certainly a shock and at
the same time it was such an
incredible relief to have
the house as safe as it was.
I and I think with personal
preparedness and being ready it
can feel overwhelming.
It can feel like a lot to do
and the most important pieces
just start with one little bite
at a time.
Just start the conversation,
have some sort of plan.
It can be as small as a meet up
place, you know, a destination
that everybody will get to.
Everybody in the household will
get to if there's a disaster.
Recognize you live in a
community in a county that
really does take the emergency
response as a priority.
We have worked diligently
throughout the last few years
on ensuring that not only our
staff are trained and prepared
but we're also putting that
that out for our community.
The more prepared you are in
your own community, the better
the outcome is going to be
the level of community
awareness they have to be part
of the solution.
They have to communicate with
their neighbors.
They have to be part of
the discussion in communities
they have to support
the response, the prevention,
the education and ultimately
the collaboration and
the engagement.
People have to be engaged at
all levels.
the more you think about now
the easier it will be when
the time comes that you need to
evacuate.
We've created this network and
we want you to make sure that
you know that you can tap into
that so if you are feeling a
little bit overwhelmed, not
sure where to start.
Reach out to one o our offices
,reach out to the fire safe
council or two on one.
We're here to support you
from
the foothills of the sierra
nevada.
A new era will merge what is
ready one who make sure their
friends and family are set and
has the power to go at a
moment's notice this fire
season.
You are the hero.
We are ready.
Nevada county, nevada county
has a new tool to make
evacuation safer and more
efficient in the event of an
emergency.
This new tool is called zone
haven and we need you to know
your zone in order to know your
zone you need to go to
community stonehaven dotcom
type in your address once your
address populates and the popup
window take that information
and write down the zone that is
given to you where you know
you'll find it in case of
emergency zone haven and
knowing your zone does not
replace naxal and or code red
it actually supplements them
and it makes those tools more
powerful because you will know
what zones are being evacuated
or which ones are being placed
on advisory and as a result you
don't have to do anything else
other than listen to those
messages and know if it's time
to go even if you don't have
internet this could be done by
word of mouth, it can be done
by radio or it could be us
driving down the street.
So please know your zone from
truckee to lake of the pines
from chicago park to pennsville
every single square mile of
nevada county has a zone and
having a zone that you know for
your neighborhood is going to
help you save time to be able
to evacuate and keep you and
your family safe.
Fretting about a county is an
education campaign designed to
help the public have successful
outcomes during emergency
events we really focus on a
whole host of disasters or
emergency events.
We want to have a broad
spectrum.
We want to be prepared for
anything but really we focus a
lot on wildfire because we know
that's one of the most likely
events to happen in nevada
county.
>> ready, set, go is really
built around the wildfire
premise to prepare residents to
be ready before an event to
move into a set posture when
there's a red flag or fires
near you and then you go when
it's time to go essentially in
its simplest form it's a three
tiered community emergency
preparedness plan I have lived
in this house which we built my
husband and I twenty six years
ago now actually we selected
the hardy plug the concrete
siding and also the metal roof
.
then we moved up here and heard
about the forty nine year fire
.
That's when we started to say
wow this really is even more
important than we first
realized for the forty nine
year fire is one of the most
historic fires in nevada
county's history.
They figured it'd change
the laws of the state of
california.
That said, this is how you have
to protect your home that came
out of nevada county.
Steve eubanks came from
the fire safe council and
the main thing we needed to pay
attention to was the ladder
fuels planting has been removed
from the edges of the house so
that it does not touch
the house.
It was an incredible service
from the fire safe council to
come out and spend a couple of
hours going through this
property.
So the remedy phase is when
there's no immediate threat to
you and your family.
This is the time when you
should be doing education and
planning whether that be
training, educating yourself or
accumulating equipment,
hardening your home, creating
defensible space, defensible
space is really all about
creating a buffer zone between
your house and flammable
vegetation.
We really focus on defensible
space around the home that
first one hundred feet but also
around the roadway to another
aspect of the ready phase is
hardening the home and really
what that means is making your
home more resilient to a
wildfire that's going to be
putting the fine grained mesh
around the vents of your home
so the embers won't get into
under your house or into
the eaves of your house that's
going to be using noncom
unstable materials on your deck
and around your home.
So when the storm comes through
it's not going to ignite your
home itself.
I currently live here in grass
valley with well good morning.
We're going to call this
meeting to order the nevada
county board of supervisors
JANUARY 10th.
Twenty twenty three.
Would you please stand with me
and let's say the pledge steve
rose, would you lead us leg of
the united states of america
and to the republic for which
it stands one nation under GOD
indivisible with liberty and
justice for all?
Thank you, julia.
Are there any corrections or
additions to the agenda?
Yes, chair I did want to know
that oh yes is in a late item
to the agenda a declaration of
a local emergency due to
the effects of the 2022 23
winter storms, the board will
have to approve adding this
item by a four fifths vote and
then you'll move into hearing
that item.
Ok, great.
And cair, I also wanted to
note for the record that
supervisor bullock is in
attendance but he's attending
telet_n remotely.
Thank you.
Ok, perfect.
Are you there hurty?
>> yes.
Good morning.
Sorry I'm not there in person.
Ok great great to have you.
>> and with that I'd like to
welcome district three
supervisor lisa swarthout.
Nice to have you here on
the dais with us.
So welcome and before we move
on to I'm going to call for a
motion for that.
I would like to take a moment
though right now and have a
moment of silence in memory of
22nd anniversary of the JANUARY
20th or 10th, 2001 tragic
incident at the area health
department at our hsw building
in the lyons restaurant in
memory of laura wilcox, michael
marcal and pearlie feldman.
So if we all just take a moment
.
>> thank you so much.
Ok with that I'm going to come
to my board and I would
entertain a motion to accept
this item to the agenda so
moved sergant then moved and
seconded.
Julie, would you call the role
?
Yes, thank a chair district
three.
District one yes.
District five yes.
District two yes.
And district four.
District four yes.
Ok with that I'm going to
invite craig griesbach,
director of emergency services
up and craig, I'll let you take
this well just for stepping in
a little bit late second here a
good morning.
>> sure.
Hope hook's still members of
the board grigoris project
director of emergency services
for nevada county.
The recent winter storms
starting at the end of DECEMBER
and continuing into this week
brought several atmospheric
river events, high winds and
significant snowfall.
Higher elevations a substantial
amount of precipitation.
High winds have created a
threat of mud and debris flow
across county roads, drainage
ditches and burn scar areas.
We have received some damage to
some kind of roads due to
fallen trees, debris flows and
color failures.
Our county road crews have been
doing an excellent job
responding to these issues and
implementing preventative
measures.
We've also experienced several
power outages due to trees
across power lines and
associated storm damage.
We have been partnering closely
with pg&e representatives and
their crews have expeditiously
been preparing systems as
needed.
We've been working very closely
with our partners including our
first responders calloway's
national weather service water
agencies, schools and cities
and town partners.
These storms have also impacted
fuel delivery services for
propane similar to last year's
winter storms as these services
are through private businesses
,we're encouraging residents
to both to search both in and
out of county for propane
delivery services during this
time if they're experiencing
delays to their normal service
,we continue to encourage our
residents to be prepared prior
to additional storm events by
ensuring they have secondary
source of heat vehicles, hatful
things, a glass.
They have fuel for generators
making sure they have enough
groceries for 72 hours charging
all devices including medical
devices called two and one for
non emergencies avoid flooded
roads or roads with trees
across them or power lines
across and securing household
items that might blow away in
high winds as we've experienced
quite a bit in these storm
events, there are also
resources for free sandbags to
mitigate flooded flooding for
residents properties therefore
sites available throughout
the county and information is
available online ready in about
a county morgue or by calling
two on one sandbags are first
come first serve services.
Citizens can also report downed
trees or flooding on county
maintain roads by reporting
them online with nevada county
service tool service request or
by calling five three zero two
six five one four one one do
these storm events.
>> I signed a local emergency
proclamation yesterday
proclaiming the existence of a
local emergency due to
the twenty twenty two twenty
three winter storms.
The governor declared a state
of emergency these storm events
on JANUARY 4th and
the PRESIDENT Declared a
federal emergency due to
the storm events on JANUARY 8th
.
It's also important to note
that washington water district
and the city of nevada city
both proclaimed local emergency
emergencies an additional 18
california counties and several
cities have also proclaimed
proclaimed local emergencies.
These winter storm events
throughout the state ratifying
the local emergency
proclamation allows us to be
more effective responding to
winter storm impacts so we can
utilize mutual aid is needed to
obtain state and federal
funding as it MAY become
available and ensure that we
have tools at our disposal at
our disposal to ensure we can
endure through these events.
Storms are continuing through
this week our team are
continuing to monitor and
respond while working with
community partners as needs
rise staff's recommendation is
to adopt the attached
resolution ratifying
the proclamation of a local
emergency in nevada county to
the 2022 23 winter storms.
That concludes my presentation
will be happy to answer any
questions you MAY have.
Thank you words heidi question
is a question ed hardy for me
ok.
>> I think that I mean I think
we've all been seen and
experienced what's going on.
I just want to give a shout out
to the crews that are out there
working in the midst of all
this.
It's it's been fairly crazy out
there so that I need to open
this up to public comment.
>> is there any public comment
on this item on this just on
this item about declaring an
emergency for our our weather
situation?
Is there anybody online?
There's no callers chair ok
with that I'm going to close
public comment and go back to
and I would call for a motion
to adopt this resolution so
moved I been moved and seconded
.
Julie, could you call the roll
as district three?
District one, yes.
District five yes.
District two yes.
And district four.
District four, yes.
Thank you craig for bringing
that and getting that all taken
care of.
>> thank you very much.
Ok, well with that we're going
to move on to our first board
item and this is going to be
the selection of the chair
the vice chair for 2023.
So first I would entertain a
motion to appoint the chair for
twenty twenty three.
So move to I need to name
the person.
Yes I'd like to move that ed
schofield be appointed as chair
for twenty twenty three eyes
second second multiple seconds
there you go so with that we'll
do a roll call vote julie yes
district three yes district one
yes district five yes.
District two yes and district
four.
>> district four yes.
>> so with that do you do
the nomination.
I think I'm just going to do
the I'll call for nominations
for vice chair for twenty
twenty three.
I don't like to nominate
supervisor bullock I'll second
move to seconded for a
supervisor bullock to be vice
chair for twenty twenty three.
Julie could you call the role
district three.
Yes district on yes.
District five yes.
>> district two yes and
district four.
>> district four yes.
Ok with that there we go.
So with that we're going to
just take a minute and do some
changing of the seats and ed
will be taking over as
the chair of the board.
Yeah I think I just moved down
here sorry heidi
.
All right.
We will call this meeting back
to order and I would like to
thank my colleagues for
allowing me the honor of being
the chair for twenty twenty
three and wih that we want to
recognize the CHAIRMAN Twenty
twenty two chairperson and
the excellent job that she did
and I think these are
the things that we all cherish
am I right.
So to I don't know what to say
it's been a it's been a good
year and I think you've handled
it exceptionally well and I
think take going out of this
year and coming into the new
one it is the year of the heart
and that is that is your call.
So if I MAY congratulate you.
>> yeah, sure.
Are there any comments from
the border?
>> yeah.
I want to thank sue also and
just I mean I am in awe of
the great job you did.
It was clear from the beginning
that you were going to bring
your own wonderful style and
you just grew into the role so
amazingly you are been
the model of tolerance and
compassion and kindness.
So you did a phenomenal job.
I tink we're all going to take
some lessons from how you did
that and just so inclusive and
capable and kind.
And I just want to thank you so
much for bringing that whole
approach to our work here.
>> thank you.
You were fantastic.
Thank you very well.
>> thank you.
Our congratulations to
schofield and again welcome.
We look forward to working with
you up on the dais and
congratulations for being a
part of the board of
supervisors.
But sue, I just want to thank
you for your your authentic and
genuine leadership style over
the last year I've learned so
much from you and you and I
share so many things that we're
passionate about in nevada
county in our history.
Our families go back a long way
and I just it is such a
pleasure to work with you and
get to share all that you know
,the other pieces that you
brought a level of common
understanding and transparent.
You consistently focus to all
of our meetings that I really
respect that could be difficult
during some of the periods over
the last year.
But I look to you for a lot of
that leadership and I really
have learned a lot from it.
So I look forward to serving
with yo in the next the next
couple of years at least.
And again, thank you so much
for your time and your
contribution.
I saw you in early and leaving
late and I saw you in all kinds
of functions all over
the county on east county and
west county both.
>> so thank you so much.
Thanks very lisa.
I know you've attended a number
of our meetings this past year
.
Well, thank you.
Although I didn't get
the opportunity to sit up here
with you as the chair.
I was in attendance for many of
the meetings and I was just
very impressed with how you ran
the meetings, your compassion,
your level of patience that you
have with people and just
you're all around
professionalism.
So I really look forward to
working with you in the next
year and thanks for your
service.
>> thanks, lisa.
Anyone on staff?
>> absolutely.
Thank you.
Chair supervisor hug on behalf
of the senior executives, we
just want to thank you for your
leadership this past year.
You're measured approach have
served the community well and
you always looked out for
the benefit the interest of
the entire county.
What most people do not see are
the long days that you have
leaving late the late night
texts.
The chair is often the first
person to know in terms of
incidents or issues that
elevate in the community on
weekend calls and you always
made yourself available to help
us navigate through those
issues.
So I just want to share our
appreciation to you and thank
you again for your leadership.
>> thanks.
>> thank you, alison.
Is there anybody from
the public who would like to
comment on sue's reign as
the 2022 chair?
MR. French, thank you very
french and I attended a lot of
meetings and I was amazed at
how sue handled the problem
that came up and finger
pointing and the and all
the things that would
antagonize another person to
death.
So she handled it so well and I
really appreciate what she did
and hopefully in representing
the public in some manner.
I thank you so much.
So I look forward to working
with you.
Thank you for the kind words.
Thank you lee diane good
morning.
My name diana gamson and I live
in district one and I just want
to thank you sue for your
leadership.
The past year you led with
transparency, authenticity,
honesty and the meetings were
always held with such grace
even during challenging moments
and they're always very prompt
.
I always appreciated that.
So thank you so much.
And as an engaged community
stakeholder you have always
been available when there's
been questions and so just
really appreciate you.
Thank you and look forward to
your reign as chair supervisor
schofield you know your I've
always appreciated the way you
lead with integrity so thank
you so much.
Thank you diana.
All right.
I guess we'll get down to
business to chair schofield I'm
sorry to interrupt.
We do have one caller waiting
to provide comment.
Oh very good.
I'm sorry that that's thank you
.
Can we bring the caller in
please?
>> yes.
>> good morning.
My name is wade.
Laughter I live in district one
.
I wanted to thanks to hook or
glide in our county to a very
difficult year and I look
forward to supervisor schofield
taking on the chairmanship
because both of you and
the entire board seem to
represent very clearly
the needs and the desires of
this community.
And I thank you for your
service to our community.
That's all I have.
Thank you.
Thank you, wade.
All right.
So was ready to sue owusu.
Do you want to say something?
I know you guys have been
listening to me for a whole
year so no, seriously, it's
been an honor and a privilege.
You know, we represent you as a
community and you are
the people that we we work for
and it's been a pleasure.
It's it's been challenging and
I've learned a lot and i
learned a lot from all of you.
You know, I get to watch your
style in the situations you
went through and I appreciate
that.
I think that's why we are a
good team when we we look at
things that happen here in
the community and I really I'm
going to focus this year on
the heart.
I believe that we have
the ability to really heal and
have bigger hearts for each
other and get some more work
done.
We we see that even when we can
apply for these emergency
situations because we know
that's what we need in our
community right now.
Right.
And that's what we do and
that's where we put our foot
forward first all of us so
appreciate you look forward to
your leadership.
Ed and let's get on with
business.
Thank you.
Thank you again.
So great you're all right.
So our next item on the agenda
is our general public comment.
Members of the public will be
allowed to address the board of
supervisors and items not
appearing on the agenda that
are of interest to the public
and are within a subject matter
jurisdiction of the board.
>> ok, maybe we'll add to that
at some point but at this point
I'll call for public comment.
Come on up and if you could
give your name and district if
you would you don't have to but
I would appreciate knowing your
name.
Members of the board congrats
elations MR. Chair and to
the new members of the board,
my name is suzanne smith.
I'm district three.
I'm just a little background on
me from 2011 to 2015 I served
in nevada county planning
commissioner from 2000 to 2000
seven.
I was a county senior planner
from nineteen eighty eight to
2000 I was a resource planner
for the county of santa cruz
during which time I implemented
the surface mining and
reclamation act which means
that I know some things about
what's above ground.
I don't know what underground
mining requirements are but I
processed irs reclamation plans
and financial assurances for
the quarries that were in
santacruz the pieces of paper I
have requested be handed out to
you are the pieces of paper
that are used when people go
out into the field to do water
quality testing and you will
notice that all of them are out
of what's called hole time
which means that the analysis
and there's several cover
yourself letters in here from
staff people saying uh received
out of time, logged in
regardless and will be run for
analysis required all
the county required of our
consultant was that they take
what was submitted by rice gold
and analyze it and nobody has
ever looked at the fact that
none of these numbers are worth
anything because they're all
out of whole time.
So we don't know there could be
a magento drain there right now
and we don't know I don't know
how much else is within
the application package that is
similar to this.
But I did notice this.
I went to circle circle said oh
my GOD, out of whole time it's
a big thing we don't have any
information on the water
quality that they sampled.
>> we don't have a thing and
what we are being asked to do
with this final year is trust
me and this is from robert
zoellick door from a union
JANUARY 3rd, 2003.
This is from a person
the applicant for this project
facing sixteen offenses under
the british columbia water act
is now up there on trial nine
under the fisheries act in
canada and for for the british
columbia water act we have
questions about why we would
want to trust this person,
their application and why there
wasn't any peery view, why
nobody send anybody out to take
a look at the water quality.
Nobody did anything except
analyze what they submitted.
>> so I thank you very much.
Thank you, suzanne.
And any paperwork you MAY have
you can give to the clerk to
you all have a copy of it.
>> ok, yellow is slightly gray
when I copied it it's hard to
see.
Very good.
Thank you, suzanne.
Good morning.
My name is ralph silberstein
from seet foundation.
>> the final etr for rice goes
idahoan maryland mine is
inadequate because it fails to
address the potential
significant impact of mine
waste disposal.
The mine project plans to
export 1000 tonnes of tailings
and waste rock per day.
This mine waste wll be dumped
into two engineered filled
piles over the course of
the first eleven years.
After that the mine waste will
be disposed of through offsite
sales.
There are sgnificant issues
with the disposal of mine waste
due to the potential to pollute
groundwater and surface waters
by leaching hazardous chemicals
.
This falls under
the jurisdiction of
the regional water quality
control board.
The water board classifies mine
waste as groups a, b or c only
group c which has relatively
low levels of contaminants is
clean enough to be used for off
site sales groups saying b
require more stringent controls
.
The water board requires mine
waste testing to determine
class defecation in response to
the draft are the water board
stated quote the applicant
shall not sell or utilize waste
rock and tailings from
the project for a construction
aggregate or field purposes off
site and thus such material has
been tested and confirmed to
qualify as group c mining waste
in the e r the water board and
numerous other parties
identified that there was
insufficient testing to
determine whether the mine
waste would be group c suitable
for offsite sales for the water
board comments quote
the alternatives narrow that
the mining waste is not
suitable for off site use
should be examined unquote.
The water board goes on to
state that rice should assess
any constraints o challenges
associated with waste disposal
in case they can't do offsite
sales for construction
aggregate.
They conclude with quote
the draft year should be
revised to address this comment
unquote.
Rice gold acquired a collection
of drill cores and samples from
gold mine when they purchased
the mine.
In addition they did over sixty
seven thousand linear feet of
exploratory drilling.
Yet from all these samples they
chose to test only 11 feet.
The characters will be over
twenty five million tonnes of
waste rock that will be
produced over the life of
the mine disposal of mine.
Waste is a critical element of
the project with the potential
for causing significant long
term impacts.
Yet no further testing was
produced for the final item.
This is inexplicable.
Sequoyah requires that the irr
quote give the public and
decision makers the most
accurate and understandable
picture practically possible of
the projects likely near-term
and long term impacts unquote.
This final year fails to do
that.
>> thank you very much.
I'm going to give copies of
this for your very good well
thank you.
Morning my name is john vaughan
.
I'm a fifty five year resident
of nevada county.
they live in district three.
My comments are a continuation
of ralph's comments.
You are being asked to approve
a project without knowing if
any of the mine waste qualifies
as group c currently there is
no realistic plan for continued
mine operations if you can't
sell the mine waste.
The final irr response uses
speculative unproven
assumptions that the mine rock
quote would not be mine until
mine waste characterization has
been performed to ensure
the rock will be suitable for
off site sell rock types that
are not suitable for off site
sale would likely not be mined
and if mined the waste rock
would be placed underground and
coal mine waste classified as
group and b require specific
management that must be
determined by the water board
and cannot automatically be
placed underground backfilling
with waste rock and tailings is
the exact scenario that led to
polluted groundwater discharges
in so many mines in our area.
This new element placement of
group a or b mine waste
underground was not included in
the draft eia even disposal of
mine waste on the project site
for engineered fill requires
testing and will have to meet
waterboards approval ordering
the final eia are the barren
rock and sand tailings would
undergo testing as part of
obtaining water discharge
requirements for use in
the engineered fill pads and
compliance with water quality
objectives will need to be
demonstrated to the water board
prior to that placement
the project description fails
to provide an adequate means of
interim storage for mine waste
the viability of the entire
project is dependent upon
the safe disposal of mine waste
under group c there were
numerous core samples available
that could have undergone
static and long term dynamic
testing.
Yet subsequent to the release
of the draft year no additional
testing was done even if
the mine waste is all class c,
it's hard to believe there will
be no need to stockpile any of
it for shipping off site one
thousand tons a day will be
coming out of the shaft.
That's fifty truckloads a day
instruction aggregate is
seasonal.
Most construction shuts down in
the winter neither the draft or
final irr includes plans for
storage.
The final hour is inadequate
because it fails to address
the potentially sgnificant
impact of mine waste disposal
critical testing after project
approval does not fulfill
the secrecy requirement to give
decision makers an accurate and
understandable picture of
the projects likely impacts.
Thank you.
>> thank you john.
Again, if you have materials
you can give it to our clerk
and with very good paul.
Good morning and happy new year
to all of you and to the newest
member of our board.
Congratulations.
And now I'm going to bring you
up to speed about a subject
that the board and I have been
having over the past several
months now.
They should have briefed you on
the request for information
that the assembly mae back in
NOVEMBER and their response to
it.
And I would like to thank
the county for their response
and some of it we are still
reviewing.
We did find some nice gems and
most concerning were
the questions that you couldn't
find any responsive documents
for.
So it would be reasonable for
you to expect additional
letters to come your way as we
probe deeper into those subject
areas both answered and
unanswered now for lisa's
benefit, what we are talking
about is NOVEMBER 8th, 1960
proposition twelve.
This is where the legislature
put on the ballot prop twelve
which asked the people of
california to make changes to
the constitution.
The people voted and they
approved of changes.
Now one of those changes was to
repeal the commencement date of
the 1879 constitution.
Now I ask what is a
constitution?
Well, a constitution is a
contract between the party
sovereign we the people and a
group of people that make up
the many branches of government
who are to provide a service.
But wait, wasn't the california
constitution created back in
1849 when the state was
admitted into the union of
several states and that was
found to be republican in
nature and thus we were
admitted into the union?
so what happened in 1879?
Well, there was a convention
and some changes were made and
our republican form of
government was replaced with a
federal overlay and just like
that w went from being
the california republic to
the state of california, a
government services corporation
.
Now this is where it gets fun
because buried in all
the statutes we find some
curious entries about where
the state of california is
located.
Please do your homework here.
The answer might surprise you.
Now back to the contract
constitution.
What happens to a contract to
both parties agree to repeal
the commencement date?
Well, to start you wouldn't
have a contract for to have a
valid contract.
There must be a starting date
as to when that contract
becomes effective.
So what happens to a
constitution when it's
commencement state is repealed
?
Well, the constitution becomes
null and void and that is when
the state of california became
a de facto government, one that
no longer has the authority to
govern the people.
So what happens next is a story
not yet written but won't be
before unfolding before our
very eyes in the coming months
.
Now I wish you a good day and
we will chat more about this
and other relevant subjects at
the next meeting.
Thank you.
thank you, paul galv*n first of
I'd like to think it schofield
for last week asking the board
to pull the agenda item 31
maybe it was two weeks three
weeks ago now three weeks ago
that agenda item show to
discrepancy of over one point
two point seven million dollars
that all of a sudden was being
spent at the end of the year
back in balancing of the budget
and I asked politely for and
explanation where this money
went and there was the analyst
who stepped up and he did his
best and then the ceo alison
lehman asked for the cfo to
step up and do his best and he
deferred questions to
the analyst as you remember and
and I again said well, we
wanted to know where this money
is and I didn't get an answer.
And alison, didyou prepare
some form of documentation
regarding that where that money
went?
You trust me, please come
the millions of dollars worth
the millions of dollars go.
And so this this is a
concerning thing in the county
.
So when we talk about
transparency and we praise each
other for transparency like
they just did sahuc you are my
district supervisor.
You did not put this on
the agenda.
You did not asked for a board
or a chair of that department
of public health to come to
the meeting just as you did not
ask for the rise for company
that you hired to track every
cell phone in nevada county and
or covid you never put anything
on the agenda on behalf of
district four constituents and
here we go and say you are
transparent and you are
wonderful.
That's fine.
It's not about you personally.
It's about the oath of office
and your duty.
For example, the JANUARY
meetings that you had were then
you did not publish the meeting
online.
And allison, you told me
directly to my face that these
were were not recorded and then
I contacted nevada county media
and tey said oh yes, we
videotaped those.
Why were they kept off of
the website of nevada county of
the county board of supervisors
because there's a cover up in
this county and I believe you
guys and ed, thank you again
for for pulling that off
the agenda so that at least
there was an opportunity for
the public to find out where
the money is going and I pray
that this year will be less
oppressive than than this last
year.
Thank you.
Thank you, calvin bonner clerk
is there anyone on the line?
Yes.
We do have a caller chair.
Can we bring the caller in?
>> good morning, board of
supervisors matthew culter.
>> good morning matthew.
>> yes, good morning.
Just want to say to susu sorry
for cursing at you last year
and lisa I hope I won't curse
sit you down had a way of
bringing that out in me so I
did want to bring up a couple
of things a little town to
washington they're still under
a boil water order because of
their water system failure.
I think that's something that
really needs to be dealt with.
It's been a couple of weeks now
and on the other water topic
raised gold dewatering I think
they're going to do water this
mine.
Right?
They're going to put it into
southfork of wolf creek.
Well, if anyone has looked at
southfork wolf creek or look at
the pictures on my
conservancies and facebook page
,you can see it's at maximum.
So during rain events is
rascal's going to turn off
their operation and not be
water and it's going to fill up
again.
There isn't enough capacity for
just the dewatering aspect of
the mine operation, let alone
the waste product.
The trucks, all the other
things that go along with it.
The river lost capacity due to
the sinkhole and colfax avenue
on henderson street where
handsome brothers just went in
there with the multi month
project and diminished
the capacity of the pipe by
selling the bottom of the pipe
with about a foot deep of
concrete for life from street
to grass valley charter school
.
So these things haven't been
taken into consideration in
the area.
They just said we're going to
do water, we're going to put it
down this drainage but no one
even walks the drainage to see
if it's even capable handling
what they want to do with it
because it isn't it's failing
right now I have to report to
caltrans that their little
section there by grass valley
charter school is failing
the rock wall is undermined
about three feet back in now
because of lack of maintenance
to that section that is there
under their control right.
Everybody goes restaurant.
So those are some concerning
things that they have needed to
be dealt with for a long time
even or even without rice gold
just maintenance to our
waterways and not just ignoring
them and pretending that their
sewer troughs that we can just
send matt and waste product
down because we live on top of
a superfund site.
So all this fines that are
running down the creeks you can
see the mercury pockets right
now if you go out walk around
because it's stripped off all
of the topsoil, the recent
rains so we really need to
consider where we live or we do
these projects like amirica.
All that material is now
involved breaking down into
bear river and into
the reservoirs that we need to
make more reservoirs because
they fill up with silt.
I wonder why because of these
inadequacies in our system that
is up to our board of
supervisors and our people that
we elect most importantly
the dui epidemic that's going
on here in town.
If you look at the police
blotter, it is just every other
arrest as a dui arrest.
These people have no driver's
licenses, no insurance, have
repeat offenses, have warrants
themselves.
you could wrap it up you way
appreciate it.
>> yeah.
Yeah that's the thing just I
mean it be great somehow we
could get a task force to do a
dui problems in this town.
>> thanks a lot.
Thank you matthew.
Is there any other public
comment at this time?
General public comment kirsanow
clicked yes.
We did receive three emails
from paul schwartz of district
one, kelly ogburn of district
three and yashar baginski of
district one.
The board received him.
They're all opposed to
the idaho maryland mind.
I can read him into the record
if you like.
I know that all the board has
received him and they are
uploaded with the agenda.
I don't think that's necessary
.
Thank you but thank you.
Thank you for noticing that.
All right.
We will close the public
comment at this time and we
will go into our consent agenda
and I'd like to bring up one
point as we go with hardy in a
virtual situation.
>> what I'm going to try to do
if I remember this already is
that each time when I asked for
comments from the board I will
ask to start with hardy so
he'll know when to come on
although I see you've come on
quite nicely at this time and
then from there will will shift
different supervisor so that
works for everybody will
proceed into a consent calendar
.
these items are expected to be
routine and non-controversial.
Board of supervisors will act
upon them at one time without
discussion.
Any board member MAY request an
an item be removed from
the consent calendar for
discussion.
Members of the public wishing
to ask questions are here
discussion on items listed
under the consent agenda MAY
raise their concerns to
the board members prior to
the consent agenda being
introduced.
The supervisors will take
the concerns under
consideration and decide if
there is adequate reason to
remove the item from consent.
So I will start with the board
is are any items that you'd
like to see pooled there?
>> I would like to pull item
twenty five please.
>> all right.
Item twenty five.
Is there any specific items
from the public or staff?
Let's start with the staff.
We're not doing any any from
the general public that we'd
like to see pooled.
All right.
Now kelvyn, I would like to ask
the board of supervisors to
hold any public health items
off of the consent calendar
until there's an accounting of
the financial discrepancies
that happened at the end of
the year where they received
millions of dollars and did not
appear failed to appear to talk
about that transparency within
that department.
So I'd like you to pull items
under public health which are
starting with item three
because money was spent on
behavioral health without
accountability for five, three
,four and five.
Ok, well calvin actually your
request does not relate to
these actual items so I don't
think that will be pulled that
I appreciate it.
So we do have item twenty five
that will be pooled.
>> so at this time we're cesco
I'm sorry so sorry to interrupt
.
We do have a caller on line for
public comment.
>> can we bring him in.
Oh yes.
Ok please bring the caller in
so I don't I'm sorry I'm just
going to listen I'm just going
to listen is thank you.
>> go ahead matthew no I'm just
going to listen to you guys.
>> go ahead.
No no comment.
Oh ok.
>> thank you and one more we
did receive three letters
emails from eric jorgensen.
One was in support of item
number twenty two.
That's the battery backup
systems.
The other item he was
supportive was item number
twenty two and that's
the capital asset purchase of
an air conditioner unit.
The third item is number twenty
three that he was opposed to
and he writes as a member of
the county's energy action plan
committee, I oppose
the purchase of gas furnaces
and its twenty year life
install heat pumps.
Yes, higher install cost but
long term cheaper energy
efficiency, operational cost,
the proposed gas furnace is not
support supervisors objective
for resilience, electrification
of county transportation and
buildings is a clear win for
environment, adaptation and
mitigation.
Ok thank you.
There's the board wish to pull
any of those three items.
I think the only one that any
opposition to was item number
twenty three.
All right well we we received
his comments and we will make
that part of the records and so
at this time I would ask for a
motion for the consent ajai
agenda item minus item number
twenty five so moved so second
motion supervisor who seconded
supervisor oh roll call please
.
Yes district four yes.
District three yes.
District one yes district five
yes.
And district two yes but at
this time we all go we will
pull item number twenty five
and let's see that is a
resolution approving amendment
to the contract between
the county of nevada and
the fire safety council of
nevada county.
I think I'll just let it go
that hardy your wish t pull
that would you like to make
your comments?
>> yeah, thank you chair
schofield and I want to thank
craig griesbach for answering
the questions I had in advance
of the meeting on the side of I
in general I'm in support of
the item I do have some
concerns about the nevada
county fire state council on
their ability to support our
constituents in the eastern
county.
I know that the city council
handles a multitude of program
and project level elements for
the county and for a number of
our stakeholders and partners
both the truckee fire
protection district and other
grant funding opportunities
through cal fire and others
here on the west county.
But I just wanted to do some
simple math here and bring to
the attention of my colleagues
that we have had repeated
conversations with the nevada
county fire chief council in
requesting some direct support
in eastern county off the hills
and measure v I thought it was
important for me to bring this
up and highlight it and talk a
little bit about the fact that
we are looking to get some
additional resources support
fire safe council contributions
or alternatives to the nevada
county fire council up in
eastern county.
And so when I asked craig some
questions about this item my
questions are really centered
on understanding the amount of
effort that's gone into
supporting our constituents in
eastern county from our city
council perspective.
And so just roughly speaking in
rough math we have the item in
front of us is three hundred
and forty thousand and we have
the additional money coming in
which I do support.
But when we look at it in phase
one we had one out of forty
five properties was located in
the eastern portion of
the county that one property
has yet to be completed to date
craig has let me know that he
thinks that that will be
completed this year and for
that I'm very happy and
grateful that that one property
will be done.
But one out of forty five
properties in phase one phase
two there's been five
properties identified out of
three hundred zero completed
for eastern county.
So out of the three hundred and
forty thousand expenditures if
you did the simple math it
would about sixty eight
thousand dollars which I'm not
asking for a one one or an
apples to apples comparison but
I do want to just draw
attention to the fact that if
it is the nevada county fire
chief counsel we need to start
taking action that would
reflect the county wide
contributions that organization
when our board adopts different
funding priorities again, I'm
in support of this.
I don't need to talk too much
more about I just want to bring
to the attention of my
colleagues that this is
something that I'm thinking
about and I'm talking to other
eastern county stakeholders
including the county and
the fire safe excuse me and
the turkey fire protection
district on how we can meet
the needs up there in eastern
county.
So thank you for taking
the time to discuss this with
me this morning and taking
the time out of the agenda.
And again, craig, thank you so
much for sending a great
summary of information for me.
thank you already.
Craig, do you have comments on
that?
Yeah, sure.
Scofield and supervisor bullock
it's important to note and
especially for the public this
is related to our access and
functional aids program.
We applied for this funding
about four or five years ago.
It is related to defensible
space space clearing around
homes for those in need.
So that's typically based on
disability, age and income.
A specific challenge for this
program specifically in this
county is the income component
with the addition of it being
so long ago that these
properties were prequalified
out of the forty five there's
only thirty that are actually
going to be treatable just
because of the owners passing
away or moving on or not being
qualified any further.
So it is a specific challenge
in phase two we are trying to
have more of a presence in east
county because this can be in
the town or in the cities isn't
just in the unincorporated area
.
So we're working closely with
truckee fire protection
district and the fire safe
council to get more
prequalified properties across
the entire county including
east county.
Thank you, greg.
Supervisors, any comments on
this to now?
I mean I think part of
the issue this is the timing we
already looking for this
funding, right?
It's not doesn't come overnight
.
That's one of the challenges
we've seen as we move on we
talk about measure v in those
things right.
We have to wait.
We're in the wait.
We're in the queue whether we
find this funding.
So like you said, some of these
folks and this wa a you apply
for this I believe, right?
>> yes.
We had to apply for this and
this was in 2017 and 2018.
So you're right on the money
supervisor that it's all based
on timing.
That's been the primary
challenges with phase one.
That's what we hope to improve
in phase two because it's going
to be more timely.
We're pre qualifying properties
and starting that work
potentially at the end of this
year right in those properties
had to apply as well, correct.
So there was a lot of that that
went on to so and it's not just
an easier county.
It is a western county that
there's still a backlog.
We're working on it and we have
started actually the process
has started and we are I think
we've had some completed
correct.
>> yeah.
Supervisor look in phase one we
have actually started
the treatment and we started
the treatment during the fall
and we've also started that
prequalification process.
We still have several hundred
spots left so we're encouraging
people to apply even if they
don't think they do qualify to
make sure that they can get
some free defensible space.
Right.
Thank you, supervisor swarthout
.
>> no supervisor home, no
comments things ok ardiente or
is there any comment from
the public on this issue?
>> is there any calls?
No.
All right.
Hardly anything else.
>> you know, I just I do want
to recognize needs based on
this particular program
recognize that and have no
problems supplying the needs
for our constituents in western
county.
I just want to draw attention
to the needs of eastern county
and that if there's programs
specifically target different
income levels or a needs based
approach, we MAY have to look
at an apples versus oranges
supply of service offerings in
eastern county.
If it doesn't if it doesn't
necessarily meet the needs of
eastern county, I would like to
see some contributions made in
other program areas and I know
I talked to craig a lot about
that so we can talk more about
that in the future.
But but I do appreciate
the time the discussion on I
just wanted to bring this to
your attention with that I'm
ready to make a motion to
support this.
>> all right.
Thank you already so we have a
motion to approve second
seconded by supervisor hook
roll call please.
Yes.
District four.
Yes, district three yes.
district one yes.
District five.
>> yes.
And district two.
Yes, all right.
Thank you for that.
And we go into our department
head matters and the first item
on our agenda is the resolution
adopting the county of nevada
2023 legislate its platform.
>> let's introduce the saidon
society.
Oh no absolutely.
Thank you chair so you have
jeff the whispy the board
analyzed as well as aerial of
the project administering
the ceos office who worked
diligently in terms of bringing
this platform in front of you
today I would like to highlight
that this is a regional
approach working with
the cities in the town as well
with other stakeholders to look
at a comprehensive look for
the county in terms of our
alleged platform for twenty
twenty three.
So I want to personally thank
you both for your efforts.
Thank you, alison.
Excuse me and good morning
chair schofield and honorable
board.
We're here today to present
nevada county's 2023
legislative platform for your
review and recommended adoption
.
But before we begin I'd like to
acknowledge the board for your
leadership at the local, state
and federal level.
I'd like to recognize chair
schofield as the former
treasurer of cisac, a
california state association of
counties and representative for
many years.
Supervisor hall is
the representative for
the county to cisac and vice
chair of the cisac agriculture
environment and natural
resources policy committee and
member of the broadband and
cannabis workgroups.
She's also the county
representative to nako
the national association of
counties where she serves as
vice chair for the public lands
subcommittee on payments and
member of the rural action
caucus district for
representative sahuc as
the county representative to
our crc or rural county
representatives of california.
We also recognize
the leadership of supervisor
bullock organizing the regional
sustainability summit in
OCTOBER with local, state and
federal leaders and
coordinating various meetings
to promote advocacy including a
day long visit to both sides of
the county with assembly member
doli and we look forward to
working with supervisors.
Swarthout also active in
advocacy as the former
representative to the league of
cities for grass valley in
today's presentation will
provide an orientation to
the purpose and use of
the legislative platform
the process by which the twenty
twenty three legislative
platform was developed an
overview of policy areas some
twenty twenty three highlighted
updates and we'll close with
time for questions and a
recommendation.
So with that I'll turn I over
to jeffrey to talk a little bit
about the purpose of this tool
and how the ledge platform is
used.
>> perfect.
Thank you so much.
Material honorable chair
schofield members of the board
and it's great to be with you.
My name is jeff dausabea.
You're a senior military
analyst and again a pleasure to
speak to be here for you today
and also really again to
highlight ariels comments on
your leadership at the state
and federal level and local
level.
So thank you for that.
So the today speaking about
the twenty twenty three
legislative platform to provide
an overview for you as well as
the public the purpose of
the legislative platform
provides a framework to support
legislative enraged regulatory
advocacy that helps ensure
the sustainability of resources
for the delivery of core public
services advancing your
priority objectives and help
solicit funding if you will.
The intent of the legislative
platform is to be
noncontroversial from
the county's perspective so in
a way you could think of almaz
as a consent agenda for a
legislative positions that we
use throughout the year and
I'll talk a little bit more
about that use this helps
orient our lawmakers on key
positions that are critical to
the community and the county
and also helps enable a
proactive approach to advocacy
for not only you when you're
working with your colleagues
whether at the state or federal
and local levels but also for
our legislative advocates as
well as for our association
members to understand what our
priorities are and of course
enables the chair to respond to
urgent calls of action that
happened throughout the year.
This kind of gets me to a do
what I want to talk about how
again how we use this.
And so te above chart outlines
the decision making process by
which we use the legislative
platform when there's a call to
action throughout the year.
>> so for example, let's say
there's a call to action on an
urgent bill that's being
presidentially proposed at
the state level.
We would then look at that call
to action whether it's a to
support or to oppose or to
provide input we would think
through is this included within
the legislative platform
meaning has the board already
articulated its position on a
given issue?
We then let's see if
the legislative platform
identifies a position then we
would then provide a
recommendation to your county
executive officer who then make
a determination.
It's important to know just
because that there's position
within the legislative platform
if the ceo and staff determine
that it could be potentially
controversial we will still
bring it to your board.
>> we will not just make action
if we believe it could have
controversial ramifications for
the board and it warrants board
discussion and event and then
we will follow up with
the chair and then provide that
recommendation the chair and
then follow up with whatever
that action is generally would
be a letter a letter to a
lawmaker if you will at any
point if we determine the need
we will then bring and we don't
believe that there is one for
us to move forward and that
there is a need for discussion
be bring it to your board.
But you can imagine that during
the legislative process
sometimes especially towards
the end of the legislative
season, actions are happening
very quickly sometimes within,
you know, a two hour probably a
two day period.
We need to make action.
So this is where this platform
is extremely helpful because in
some cases we MAY not be able
to put our board special
meeting for an item.
>> of course as the development
of this platform we take a
close look at your board
priority objectives as a
reminder this platform
currently includes your twenty
twenty two board objectives and
we would be looking to update
this following your workshop in
the coming months as you look
at potentially new objectives,
I've got to pass it over to
ariel to kind of talk a little
about the development process.
Thanks jeff.
So this slide provides an
overview of the process by
which the legislative platform
is developed each year as well
as how it aligns with
the budget process.
And I'd like to highlight two
specific elements that have
been enhanced this year for
your twenty twenty three
platform first is the timing
which you've likely noted in
the past the platform was
developed in the first quarter
of the year and brought to your
board in MARCH or APRIL.
This timeline has been
accelerated and this
legislative platform was
developed in late twenty twenty
two bringing to you for
approval now in jauary to
advance the county's advocacy
opportunities at the very
beginning of the legislative
and calendar year.
It can also serve as a tool to
support you in your upcoming
workshop later this month.
Second, we're really excited
that this year's process as
alison mentioned was
strengthens by enhanced
outreach to an participation
from our jurisdictions and
other partners.
And I'd like to thank these
partners including a city of
grass valley, the town of
truckee, nevada city knid as
well as the nevada county
superintendent of schools and
the nevada county contractors
association for their working
with us to identify shared
priorities and we look forward
to continued partnership in
the coming year to advance
these mutual priorities that
benefit our community.
While this is an ongoing
process, we can kind of see
the cycle beginning with staff
work at the senior executive by
the senior executives at
the SEPTEMBER workshop where
they review progress, identify
hot topics and articulate
priorities from their
respective associations staff
also work with our partners at
cisac and nako as well as our
state and federal advocates to
identify these priorities.
We also met individually with
our elected officials and of
course with each of you
supervisors for review and
input before offering this
document for your adoption
today it is anticipated that
staff MAY bring your board an
amended twenty twenty three
legislative platform following
your annual board workshop
later this month.
Should the workshop result in
any updated priorities?
Also recognizing that we
operate in a dynamic
environment and the issues MAY
arise throughout the year that
aren't addressed in this twenty
twenty three platform staff are
prepared to address new
priorities and bring them to
your board for consideration as
the year progresses.
>> and with that I'm going to
pass it back to jeff.
Absolutely serious.
Perfect in one maybe one other
comment I would just make on
this slide two is we
specifically also met with
representatives of
the california state
associations of counties in
trade and in terms of
the timing wanted to kind of
align this timeline with their
timing and actually right
before coming down here to
present to you the governor is
actually presenting his budget
which is released maybe half
hour ago and so to the adoption
of your platform potentially
today that helps position us
from the get go as we move
forward into the budget process
.
That being said, I'm not going
to go into every specific
policy here but I do want to
provide an orientation.
There is five overarching
policy areas.
These are the administration of
justice policy area agriculture
,environmental, natural
resources, government finance
and administration health and
human services housing and land
use and transportation is
actually mimic the state
associations policy.
We felt that that's a good
alignment that your board
actually adopted previous
legislative platforms and you
could see the number of issues
we have for 107 three policy
positions.
I will also just make a couple
notes that you'll see in
changes in this platform versus
last year notably we have
included an update regarding
the 2020 census and so changes
in terms of your state and
federal delegates we've updated
to include state senator maria
alvarez to kill for senate
district four who now
represents the sum of
the truckee area along with
senator brian dalli.
And then we've also included
update with senator portman,
congressman kevin kiley from
california 3rd district who now
represents our area in
the house of representatives no
longer being represented by
congressman mcclintock or lamar
morphet.
>> so those are some key
changes you will see in that
platform.
For example, we do not have
included all the updated
information for kevin kiley
staff in his office.
That's because his staff is
being set up as we speak as
the house has just elected its
own elected leadership.
So that's kind of delayed
component.
So we will be working to get
that updated and then last but
not least, I also want to
articulate your own contacts
are included in there for state
and federal delegates as well
as contacts for our association
representatives.
>> the county executive office
.
And I will also note that
the county is also members that
has maintained membership
through his department heads
for various other specific
association.
Those are not included.
But I just want to highlight
that because your department
heads and senior executives do
are very active as well as your
other elected officials.
>> so I'll kick it back over
there.
Ok, well thanks jeff.
We'll wrap it up.
So last year we introduced
the executive summary of key
legislative positions and with
one hundred and seventy three
positions that jeff mentioned,
you can see this can be a
useful tool for staff advocates
and board members to reference
in policy advocacy along with
the twenty twenty three
projects summary.
So the twenty three twenty
twenty three key legislative
positions represents really an
overview of the top legislative
positions that reflect
the board's top priority
objectives and the twenty three
projects list is a dynamic list
of some of our most important
projects.
I'll note that these projects
have been identified by staff
local elected officials and
board members though it is not
an exhaustive list and it does
not substitute a capital
improvement project process.
You'll note on the projects
that they're identified also
with respect to their
development phase so
the concept ideas are a light
bulb.
Those in planning are
identified with a pencil and
those that are shovel ready are
the shovel again we recognize
that there MAY be updates to
these projects particularly
following the board workshop
and we'll update this tool to
support staff and advocates to
further next steps in planning
,advocacy ad funding.
So with that I want to thank
you for your time today and in
closing we respectfully
recommend adoption of
the nevada county twenty twenty
three legislative platform and
we welcome any questions.
Thank you, ariel.
Thank jeffrey.
Welldone supervisor all as our
cisac representative and nako
representative, would you like
to go oh I'm sorry I'm supposed
to ask party first time you
were going to but that's right
.
>> you're already can you hear
me?
Yes I can hear you but go but
I'm going to go I'm a good
supervisor hall first.
Okay thank you.
I thank you.
First I want to commend jeffrey
aryal and all the staff who
worked on this for your
extensive collaboration with
our other special districts
with all the different
departments.
It's really critical that we
represent the county as a whole
and so I think that's a great I
know you we did before but
you've really brought this
whole effort up a great level.
So appreciate that very much.
Also that you've changed
the organization of
the documents.
So it's clear that we have a
policy positions versus
projects and they're not
intermixed.
I think this document will be
useful for the public.
So I just want to highlight
the changes and what's what's
helpful about it.
I also just want to just
emphasize what you've already
said that this document is
intended to help us on
the policy side to move qickly
when something comes up so that
we don't have to wait for a
board meeting and discuss
the item.
These are items that we all
agree we want to support or
oppose depending on what
the issue is.
So that'll help provide a
speedier response.
However, it doesn't stop us
from bringing additional items
.
it just mens that those items
have to come to the board to
make sure that we are in
alignment that the majority of
the board is in agreement on
what whether what position we
take.
So I think that's really
important to note and then on
the projects list as well,
the project is a little bit
confusing I think it will be
for the public as well because
doesn't include things that are
already in process sometimes
things that we've already
applied grants for and correct
me if I'm wrong on any of this
or that maybe our partners like
the fire safe council MAY be
applying for grants MAY not be
reflected in ths project list
.
So I don't know if we can
figure out a way to in
the future to sort of clarify
that somehow because it is you
know, every time I look at it
what where's my dear creek
project?
Although it's somewhere it's on
a list it's on several lists
but it MAY not be reflected in
this list.
So I want to make that really
clear to the public and to us
here that, you know, we've
that's taken some conversations
to be clear on that.
But overall this is a really
excellent effort.
I know that other folks other
counties are interested in
seeing what we've done and how
we've done it.
So we're out in front of
the pack on this one again and
I don't have any questions just
just great big thank you for
putting this together and doing
such a fine job.
Thank you.
Supervisor supervisor bullock,
would you like to go?
>> yes, thank you.
A great job.
First of all it's very well
organized and you know, I've
seen even in my short tenure
seen a lot of progress in
the watch platform and how it's
presented and the transparency
and the amount of information
that goes into it.
It's quite impressive.
I'd also like to kind of
mention that if I remember
correctly we've kind of
integrated the cities and towns
over the course of the last few
years and married our
legislative support staff
contracts and other efforts
with them which I think is a
great way to move in local
government together and it
doesn't mean that we're aligned
on every on every element or
every project or priority and
obviously measurable is a great
example of that.
But I do really appreciate
working with the cities and
towns to integrate that
information.
I think it's critical in
sharing in the in the heavy
lifting.
I would like to thank everybody
on the board who's involved in
our crc and cisac because as a
new member to the board when I
attend those those meetings
it's obvious that about a
county has a very firm and
historical presence in those
organizations and it makes a
huge difference when it comes
to a meeting the needs of our
constituency and it's obvious
when you talk to some of our
state and federal wattage
representatives that they're
familiar with where we sit in
those organizations and it's
because those ties have been
made.
So I look forward to
contributing to that over time
as well.
And then I'd like to reach out
and thank staff again for
the sustainability summit and
also the support of getting
the megan does and other
elected representative to our
county and sharing in that I
think it was really valuable to
highlight some of the issues on
our platform and we've had some
direct kind of some pretty
direct wins from those
relationships and we're looking
forward to doing that again in
the first and second quarter of
twenty twenty three.
>> I did have a number of words
smith type of changes but I
don't think it's really worth
going into here.
I'll just send I'll send staff
a list of those and then one
quick question about
the process scofield I think
this is staff as well.
Is this going to return back to
us in final draft format for
the workshop?
Yeah, yeah.
So we're hoping should report
choose to go ahead and adopt it
today we know is one of
the components that we want to
ensure that you had this
available for you for your
workshop following the workshop
we bring forward an amendment
with any update to platforms of
course with your airport
priority objectives and I would
recommend if there's any kind
of language changes we can look
at it at that time.
That would be kind of my
recommendation if that meets
the board's satisfaction
rating.
Yeah, great.
I'll send them to staff then we
can provide them to the other
board members if we think that
it's material enough to make
make that change and not look
forward to it.
>> seeing it again at
the workshop and thanks again.
Great work.
Thank you already supervisor
hook oh no thank you staff.
This is such a collaborative
effort to really make this all
to come together and last year
we got to watch it in action
many times a letter had to go
out in the middle you know
within a day or two that fit in
this and those are the crucial
times that this makes it all
work for us.
Right.
So I just really appreciate how
we broadened it, how we brought
it in to all the issues we
think of hundred seventy nine
issues just locally that that
impacts of course agriculture
for me.
We watch what happened with
the board of forestry and
the work that had to go and be
done through our department
heads and the work and
the advocacy that went there
for some of the changes that
were coming down that we're
going to affect us through
the contractors association and
all those things.
So again, well done.
I'll look forward to seeing
this again at the workshop
because of course I always love
listening to the our folks that
will be there from washington
and from sacramento that really
give us an overview of what's
happening right down there on
the floors of the government.
>> so thank you very much.
Thank you so supervisor
swarthout, thank you thank you
to staff for putting together
such a comprehensive report.
>> this is all very new to me.
So at the city we did not have
legislative lobbyists and you
know, people who did this work
.
>> so I'm very appreciative to
the collaborative approach that
you're taking working with
the cities in the town.
I think that that's really
important because their issues
are our issues and our issues
are their issues.
So I think it's great that
we're working together.
Just a point of clarification
though.
I appreciate the shout out
about the league of cities
actually was not
the representative for
the league that would be mayor
jan arbuckle who's done an
amazing job and has always been
the city's representative.
But I did serve on several of
their committees and
participated in many of their
events so familiar with that
process.
But thanks for all the hard
work that's gone into this as I
move forward in my new role
here, I look forward to working
with all of you and really
appreciate the proactive
approach that the county has
taken on this.
>> thank you, lisa and I do
want to thank everybody
involved with this.
I like the way it's broken out
policy wise and then finding
the projects and I also know
that there's many more projects
beyond what is in here and in
fact I had one listed in here
that we actually removed
because it is almost too
general that there was too many
situations similar to what I
had down in the south county.
So until we're ready to really
make it a priority, we have not
put it in here.
But I want to also thank those
folks that have represented us
,heidi, have done a great job
with cisac and nako and I think
a lot of what we're seeing here
has to do with your work
supervisor miller with our crc
and I know you'll be doing
the same thing and said just
just a great job.
And jeffrey, I want to give you
credit too.
I mean I think you've gotten
very involved with this
legislative program and I think
you're you are well known at
the state level.
So thank you for your help to.
All right.
Is there any public comment on
this particular item?
>> diana, you get to go first I
good days supervisors.
My name is diana gamson,
executive director of
the nevada county cannabis
alliance.
>> and as an organization we
engage at the statewide level
through our lobbyists this
smith policy group and so we
stay active on the various
legislation affecting
the cannabis industry but more
specifically how it impacts
small cannabis business, small
cannabis businesses and I
really want to thank and give
appreciation to jeffrey thors
before engaging through us with
us throughout the year on
various aspects that impact
cannabis policy and we've had
many, many conversations and so
I really appreciate
the involvement and passion
that you have, jeffrey, and for
bringing us into conversations
even when we MAY not be aware
of something or just a chat
about something and supervisor
hall, thank you for serving on
the cisac cannabis subcommittee
.
Your role on this commodity
committee brought the unique
voice of our small farmers here
in our legacy cannabis region
to sacramento sacramento and
I'm very grateful as as a
result of this representative
from csa came to nevada county
they've towards ciac in
addition we are able to get
some very important messages to
nicole elliott who heads up
the department of cannabis
control.
So really grateful to your
leadership as serving and we
are fully supportive of
the cannabis priorities that
are on a legislative platform
before you today we support
full adoption this legislative
year.
We do anticipate that there
will be a number of bills
present to specifically support
small farmers in legacy in
small rural regions.
And so we intend to continue to
engage with jeffrey and arielle
on these policies and then
bring them to your board as
needed.
So thank you so much and we
will continue to stay involved
in this large platform.
Thank you.
Dana gorman.
Yeah, thank you.
It's good that there is some
transpac azzi in regard to this
.
It's great that there's
discussion of these groups that
are transparent but I'd like to
request an additional level of
transparency if we could get
every group that's involved in
providing information,
documentation, resources and
data to provide a list of their
funding where they get their
funding and that that could be
available on a link on
the county website so that we
could also have that not just
the crc and go to their website
and dig for it but you should
know who's funding the some of
these groups because they are
connected to special interest
groups.
We all know that and it's your
job as watchdogs all of us in
this room even to be aware of
whether or not these things are
destructive to the constitution
,to our limited role as as a
government in the county on
the county level and whether or
not we're we're giving away
people's farms through such
words as sustainability and
the agendas of things like
the world economic forum and
the recent cop twenty seven
meeting we found out that
they're now funding trillions
of dollars and asking county
and states and governments
throughout the world to give up
a lot of their money to meet
the goals and fund the agendas
of the united nations.
And so if there's any influence
of the united nations I this
county, it needs to be
documented where that money
came from or where that goal
came from.
The word sustainability really
didn't appear in our texts
until agenda 2030 and agenda
twenty one in nineteen ninety
two.
That was the reason why they
had that bagus summit and they
got together and they decided
one hundred and 70 countries
decided to sign a contract to
implement the international
council of local environmental
initiatives which is totally an
oxymoron if you think about it
why would internationalists
want to be involved in your
county?
>> well it's going on and if
you don't know it you need to
know it.
You are the watchdogs in our
county this is significant.
This has to do with the delta
smelt shutting down farmers.
This has to do with water and
trees and farming and every
aspect of your life and if you
don't believe me please look it
up look up agenda 2030 and
sustainability was mentioned
here also heidi, you mentioned
the 30 by 30 program which is a
disguised program in the name
of equal employment for women
but it's actually it actually
is to put meters on everything
in this in this world.
Thank you.
thank you, carmen.
Thanks for your comments there
.
>> any other comments on this
night?
>> I like to just say one other
thing while we've pointed out
jeffrey, many of our staff very
much involved state federal
ryan rachel, phoebe many in
fact we even lose them to
the state when they become so
good like jeff with campus, you
know, boy anyways thank you to
everybody.
Any other comments from
the board?
I would entertain emotion that
way except this so moved motion
supervisor all I'll second
second it's supervisor
swarthout roll call please.
It's district four.
Yes, district three s district
one yes.
District five yes.
In district two yes.
All let's see where we are.
Thank you so much.
Thank you jeff.
Thank you.
Aryal all right.
Item number thirty four this is
an informational present
station on the community
resilient resiliency grant
awards funded by the american
rescue plan act artpop ceo
allison thank you chair
schofield so aerial love it and
project administrator with
the county executive office and
kimberly parker our program
manager for economic
development.
It's going to provide the board
an update on our community
resiliency grants will be
available for any follow up on
questions.
>> thank you.
>> you're real good morning
again.
I'm eric.
Love it and serving as a
project administrator for
the ceo's office and prsenting
with me as kimberly parker,
your economic development
program manager.
And we are so glad today to be
bringing you an informational
presentation offering an update
on the community resiliency
grants program as just about a
year ago in JANUARY 22 you
approved the majority of these
grant agreements.
We have with us a few grantees
as well to share highlights
today and I'll introduce a
momentarily.
Today's presentation will
include a brief background on
the program and expenditures, a
summary of progress and grant
completions and highlights of
the impacts this grant funding
has had on our community.
And as you were speaking this
morning again, supervisor hook
,I really feel like this
resonates with this theme of of
the heart in many ways these
organizations represent
the heart of our community.
This photo is of an
organization synergy that I'll
speak to a little bit later in
this presentation.
So these grants as a reminder
are funded through the nevada
county's american rescue plan
act or arpa allocation in
alignment with the expenditure
requirements to respond to
the public health emergency and
address its negative economic
effects.
And as a reminder all
information and board actions
taken are available on
the county website listed on
this slide in APRIL 20 21 your
board allocated five point
eight million of the nevada
county arpa allocation for
community and economic
resiliency and today we're
discussing the first line of
this graph the community
resiliency grants in which
the board invested two million
of arpa funding directly into
nevada county nonprofits,
businesses and special
districts nevada counties
community resiliency grants,
program funds, programs and
projects that respond to
the negative economic impacts
of the covid-19 pandemic and
are designed to increase
resiliency, support, recovery
and provide relief.
And I should mention all
the photos are included in a
slide or from grantees.
This one is from the kids zone
.
While this program was
initially staffed by the ceo's
office it furthers your
economic development board
priority supporting
the economic vitality of our
community and as such
the program is being
transitioned to the county's
economic development office
established this year.
And with that I'd like to pass
it over to kimberly parker,
your economic development
program manager.
Thank thank you, larry and
thank you.
>> thank you, ariel and good
morning board members.
The grants were awarded to
eligible entities which
included nonprofits, businesses
and special purpose districts.
This program was executed in
two funding rounds.
Each individual grant agreement
was brought back to your board
for approval beginning in
JANUARY of twenty twenty two
and the last grant award
agreement was approved this
morning.
>> a total of 34 grants were
awarded within the two funding
rounds.
Nine of these were fully
completed and others are near
completion and 25 are still in
progress and all grantees are
in compliance.
Nearly three quarters of
the funding has been expended.
Just so you know, this is a
photo of a woman school at sea
or a friend's center.
This slide is an overview of
the 34 grants awarded in six
specific sectors.
>> those involved have been
completed.
There's a great diversity of
services including safety net
services like food distribution
and emergency housing to arts
to several programs directly
supporting small business
development to programs focused
on education and youth
community centers.
Areas like the grainge granges
or the rodeo and others and
recreation, wildfire prevention
and environment.
You can also see a broad
geographic distribution and
representation from truckee to
pine valley to south county,
nevada city, grass valley and
throughout the region before we
provide more progress reports
we have invited a couple of our
guests and our grantees who
have completed projects to
share quick highlights today
I'd like at this time to
introduce phil alonzo,
executive director of
interfaith food ministry.
>> hi, phil..
Hello MR. CHAIRMAN supervisors
and thank kimberly and ariel
and the county executive's
office for this opportunity.
My name is phil alonzo,
executive director interfaith
food ministry.
Our mission is to feed
the hungry and reduce food
insecurity.
>> these local provided grants
are crucial to our success.
Covid taught us that we have to
diversify our funding streams
and for us to be able to
leverage these types of grant
opportunities and in our case
spend that directly on food
benefiting our community was a
huge, huge impact and it
multiplied a lot further than
just the twenty five thousand
that we received which was part
of the purpose of the grant.
And so we were a really great
fit for this and it was a huge
impact.
So just a few examples for you
here that that we saw coming
out of this.
>> we did half of the funds to
local sources and that includes
mainly farms but also some
other local food producers and
that of course has its own
economic multiplier effect and
economic development effect and
that's really important to us
because we know that some of
our farmers have to come to us
for assistance for food and
certain times of the year with
the seasonal nature of their
jobs and their revenue sources
.
And so it's just really
important for us to be able to
support them and then
the nonperishable foods that's
where we have our buying power
.
So us as an organization we can
leverage actually placer food
bank out of roseville which is
the feeding america food bank
over in nevada classer and el
dorado county.
So that's why we can leverage
them and so we can buy canned
good fruit or vegetable soup
for 20 cents when we buy it by
the pallet and and so and we
also leverage of course a lot
of local food donations.
The food bank of nevada county
we don't have to pay for
the food that they give us.
So that's great.
And then many of our local
farms and growers also donate
to us and so we need in our
community I think everyone is
quite aware over the last two
years has grown but we're
really on the front lines.
We're sort of a good litmus
test for what's happening
because in twenty twenty our
numbers shot straight up just
like we saw around the country
twenty twenty one it sort of
went down a little bit with a
lot of the extra benefits that
people were getting and and so
forth.
Twenty twenty two right back up
and it hasn't stopped the whole
year has been continually
increasing month after
the number of people that we're
seeing and that we're trying to
feed and so we can't do that
without this type of funding.
We can't do that without our
amazing volunteers that this
community provides and and so
you know, it's just oh yeah.
>> one stat I wanted to give
you a full 50 percent increase
from twenty twenty one as well
to twenty twenty two as far as
the number of families a number
of people coming through to get
our free supplemental food and
let's see one last couple of
things here I get to hear
amazing stories of resilience
from our clients.
I hear quotes like having a
full refrigerator and a food
cabinet makes me feel like a
better mom.
I've heard that from people.
>> I've heard things like we
have two working parents in our
household and we have three
kids in school.
We still can't afford all of
the our monthly bills now at
gas prices and food prices and
all these things that affect
people's monthly bills have
increased and so we've got
people that have never had had
to ask for help in their lives
and they're coming to us to to
ask for that and we're there
for him and we can't be there
for without these types of
funding sources becoming
available to us and the will of
this community to take care of
each other and to take care of
our own and neighbor helping
neighbor and the county helping
into nonprofits and so can't
thank you all enough and invite
everyone to come down for four
zero henderson street.
We're right there next to
the bowling alley in the beam
center distribution's monday,
wednesday, friday ten to one
saturday.
Now we're open every saturday
which is a thing we did to
respond to the higher need that
started in SEPTEMBER.
So every saturday now ten to
twelve I invite you all to come
on down, check us out.
It's really an amazing thing to
see that is resiliency and
action right there and yeah,
come on down.
Love to have you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Phil, interfaith food ministry
does a phenomenal job for our
community and you certainly
bring heart to that program.
So we thank you so very much.
I'd now like to introduce
teresa dietrich's and dave
summers and they're going to
talk to us about the penn
valley rotary rodeo.
I guess rodeo drive is ok.
Ok, good morning.
Supervisors, staff and
community members the penn
valley community rodeo is very
maicon I'm sorry it is on up
right?
>> I my height causing a
problem here I'm vertically
challenged.
Good morning.
Supervisors, staff and
community members.
The penn valley community rodeo
association is very grateful to
be the recipient of a twenty
five thousand dollar grant from
nevada county.
Our mission is to help preserve
the great western heritage of
nevada county that's critical
to our organization.
During the pandemic we were
unable to host our annual rodeo
which is the only real
fundraiser we have each year
the penn valley rodeo and its
parade is the largest event in
the rural community of penn
valley each year and so it is a
huge disappointment to our
citizens that we were unable to
host our rodeo.
Additionally, the penn valley
rodeo supports many other
nonprofits including care
crisis nursery knights of
columbus, the penn valley area
chamber of commerce, the penn
valley little league,
the nevada union high school
football boosters and others.
In 2023 we will be hosting our
sixty fourth rodeo so we're
here to stay.
>> and next I would like to
introduce our PRESIDENT Traktor
dave dave summers to tell you
what we did with the funds that
we are so grateful that you
provided for us.
Morning everybody.
Thank you for having us do all
appreciate what you've helped
us out with just for starters,
we were in our grounds from
the rodeo for fire protection
district which is a staple for
their budget.
The grants funds allowed us to
pay our rent for the fire
district pay for our iranian
liability insurance, fix
the bleachers which are aging
and require repair each year,
fix the shoot gates and make
them safer livestock and
the contestants fix the picnic
tables benches used for
the public and dining and rodeo
and other events fix our ticket
booths and build the silent
auction booth to host our
auctions.
We place our bridge which also
staff allows staff and board
members, contestants and
entertainment professionals to
safely reach our announcer's
crow's nest where they get
ready for working out so
the horses and stuff we were
able to afford to get a water
meter and groom the arena all
host other events such as horse
shows, gymkhanas, dog shows
etc. Plus this allowed
the community to ride in
the arena.
We were able to return to our
practice of sponsoring
scholarships for the local high
school seniors and for the penn
valley fire protection emt
program which benefits our
community.
Lastly, we were able to make
some much needed repairs to our
electrical the cookhouse.
This is just a list of larger
projects we were able to
complete with the funds we also
purchased the lumber and
supplies for the repairs in
nevada county to support our
community in a win win for and
thank you very much.
>> thank you so much.
Thanks for coming to share with
us today.
>> so while it would be
wonderful to have all
the grantees here, we don't
have time.
So we're going to summarize
progress highlights and some of
these other sectors and I just
need to caveat this by saying
that I won't have time to do
all of these incredible
programs justice.
But I do hope to give a
sampling of progress in each
sector and pardon me while I
drive backwards for a second.
So beginning with the highlight
of our safety net services
community resiliency grant
funds are providing essential
resources for habitat for
humanity to complete
predevelopment work to build 12
low-income homes and
the heritage oaks to
neighborhood in grass valley.
This photo is from a
groundbreaking in JULY and as
of this fall architecture plans
have been completed and
permitting applications have
been submitted moving into our
art sector, rpa community
resiliency grant funds have
assisted the tahoe truckee
school of music to partner with
sierra high school and truckee
river school to provide weekly
music classes as well as to
provide live music for
the community and sustain work
for local musicians who are hit
very hard by covid tomoaki
school of music also purchased
musical instruments and
supplies to provide a free
instrument lending program.
They report bringing music to
15000 community members in 2022
.
>> also in our arts sector on
the western side this photos
from music in the mountains who
use grant funds to support
staff to deliver children's
educational programs both in
school and after school.
In total, approximately 2000
students are benefiting from
programs mwm has been able to
offer in part due to this grant
these funds have helped to
reestablish programs postcode
closures and mym has
successfully leveraged other
funding for future
sustainability.
A couple other quick mentions
in this sector the nevada
theater was able to make
essential repairs and upgrades
to th theaters back smoke
alarm projector and lighting
systems to so this iconic local
venue is able to continue to
offer space for performing arts
.
>> also neighborhood center for
the arts use their funding to
support program operations like
rent and be able to keep their
programs open for artists with
disabilities and their
executive director amy medeiros
says our artists are happy to
be back and around staff and
friends with that I'll turn it
back to kimberly to highlight
some of our economic
development grantees.
Thank you.
I'm really excited to highlight
curious forge wonderful
makerspace in our region
through the grant funds that
were given to curious forge
they were able to hold 11
summer camps over the summer of
2022.
They were able program
developer to organize their
offerings and provide
invaluable marketing support.
They developed a medical
certification module using a
learning management system for
remote training that supports
their hands on training and as
you see from the slide, their
metal fabrication and program
also supported workforce
development and internships are
important so they increase
their internship program giving
students opportunities to learn
ceramics, blacksmithing, glass
working and support
the infant's infrastructure.
Forge other economic
development highlights in
the second round of community
resiliency grants this
the request for proposals,
guidelines, formats and
requirements we're very
consistent with round one with
the exception at the rfp
focused eligibility
specifically on entities
providing capacity building
support to small businesses.
This was recognizing
the pandemic's impacts on small
businesses and these grants
were intended in part to
support not a single business
but entities that supported
capacity building that
supported a variety of small
businesses.
This included entities not
limited to downtown
associations, chambers of
commerce, economic
organizations, business
business igniters and others
that supported nevada county.
>> the goal was to support
small businesses to sustain,
grow and thrive.
I'm briefly three highlights
starting with nevada county
economic resource council start
now start right program.
This involved tracking every
fictitious business name as
reported to the nevada nevada
county recorder's office and
providing not only an
introductory letter of welcome
to all of these businesses but
it also an offer of no cost
technical assistance to date
sirc has engaged with ten
companies that responded to
that introductory letter zero
comments funding is still in
its early stage of work.
Its startup accelerator will
support high tech innovators in
nevada county with a goal of
launching two to three scalable
companies by the end of 2024.
Support includes oureach,
networking events, cultivating
and investor networks and
providing space for technology
based startups.
Then on to events on
the thursday night markets in
the grass valley breakfast fall
into the first month of funding
for the grass valley downtown
association.
These events are designed to
draw on locals and visitors to
the downtown areas but also was
designed to find creative ways
to support not only
the businesses within our
region but also businesses
outside that immediate area.
Tony pusa of chilian
restaurant reached out at one
point to inquire about being a
food vendor at cornish
christmas event.
>> the grass valley downtown
association staff worked with
tony confirming what he would
need booth and equipment help
fine tune the menu liaison tony
with nevada county
environmental health on
the temporary food permit and
the success of that launch went
beyond his expectations and
gave him an ability to
participate.
>> then on the eastern side of
the county in 2022 the truckee
thursday eight week summer
street vendor participation
rate was the highest they've
ever seen with a total of 190
vendors compared with 150
the previous year.
The participated accumulatively
over a thousand times and this
included everything from
artisan food, commercial
business, professional services
,non-profits, government
agencies and special districts
over sixty thousand people
attended the eight week series
eighty percent were part time
residents or full time
residents from truckee lake
tahoe area and twenty percent
were visitors from outside
the area.
The truckee thursday summer
street third helps these
businesses financially and as
the largest event in truckee
thursdays also act as an
incubator for new businesses
and the town of truckee
programs at this time area.
I'll turn it back to you.
Thanks kimberly.
In our youth and education
sector we have three completed
projects and we'll start with
highlighting the kids zone in
truckee, nevada county, arpa
funding allowed kinslow to
reopen with improved health and
safety systems as well as
provide direct outreach really
and really creative ways when
covid prevented direct services
grant funds, supported staff
time develop a phased reopening
plan and new policies and
procedures and they report that
this funding allowed kids on to
serve hundreds of nevada county
children and their families.
Another highlight actually out
on the san juan ridge center.
A learning center also
completed their grant using
funds for operation that
allowed them to reopen their
ropes course this not only
provides enriching outdoor
experiences to local youth but
also draws schools and
businesses from out of the area
supporting economic development
as visitors stay, shop and dine
.
Deborah istar of synergy.
The rights teachers are
grateful and excited to be able
to their students on an outdoor
learning adventure once again
synagis staff are relieved to
be employed and so happy to be
working with youth again and
most importantly youth who are
isolated socially during
the pandemic can once again be
together in an environment that
fosters collaboration and
connection.
Another completed grantee is
wallman at sierra friend center
with funds used to update their
dining hall with improved
health and safety
infrastructure so that they
could reopen and they've since
hosted multiple successful
events including summer youth
camps and retreats.
We talked a little bit about
got a highlight from our rodeo
in our community centers sector
but we also have a complete
grantee with the golden empire
grange and their story was they
needed to replace their hvac
system to enable rental of
the hall.
They reported that without air
conditioning or heat they could
not rent the hall which would
have resulted in them shutting
down due to covid gatherings
being prohibited for a period
they had no rental revenue for
almost two years and so funding
was a critical issue.
These grant funds along with
volunteer time and effort
enabled them to successfully
install a new system and
they're renting the hall they
report we are recovering.
Clubs are meeting again.
The community is recovering and
then another this grant is
almost complete.
But I wanted to highlight
the north san juan community
center this the arpa grant
funds were used to successfully
drill in case a new well which
is now reading at fifty gallons
a minute.
In years past the community
center well ran dry severely
threatening their ability to
serve the community with a
critical safety net services
that they provide through
access to water.
This volunteer organization and
continue to provide access to
services for the local
community including essential
services like food distribution
,distribution, youth and
senior services.
And we now have in in our last
sector wanting to highlight
some the greenhorn firewire
community in truckee river
watershed council both complete
and we're glad to have sue
drake, the development director
with tuckee river watershed
council here with us today on
teams.
So sarah, are you able to bring
up sue on teams?
Jeff, the mastermind thanks for
being with us today, sue,
you're on.
>> thanks for having me and
thank you to nevada county and
all the decision makers for
these grants.
We just wanted to say thank you
very much for a twenty thousand
dollar grant.
The grant has helped us
increase resiliency, support,
recovery and provide relief in
order to continue carrying out
our mission in the community.
Our mission is to bring
the community together to
enhance, restore and protect
the river watershed in
particular it's allowed us to
move restoration projects
through our development phase
and specifically for partner
and stakeholder coordination.
Each project has a group of
partner agencies and we are
continuously holding partner
meetings and at project
milestones for our field data
review design review and design
finalization and a few project
highlights we have are
the prosser basin watershed
assessment.
We coordination going on
ongoing with multiple
landowners like the tahoe
association treki down our land
trust and the us forest service
to conduct an analysis of
existing conditions in
the watershed opportunities for
restoration management and
protection opportunities.
We also have the turkey river
wildlife area we call the bokha
site and in coordination with
our partners at the california
department of fish and wildlife
we've completed one hundred
percent design and now have
the ability to start our
implementation in twenty twenty
three this summer having
leveraged that amount of money
to bring in one point two
million in state grant funding
for implementation.
And so I'd really like to
highlight and thank you for
helping us with the project
development phases and it
really helps to leverage
the state and federal grants
that average project can cost
approximately two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars to get
through our design phase and
then once that's once once we
complete our design phase we're
eligible to apply for state and
federal grants for five to ten
times the amount.
So our project implementation
on average can cost anywhere
between one and three million
dollars on the ground for
implementation.
So this grant really helps us
achieve that in multiple
projects and push this through
the art design phase and we
also have projects coming up in
forest health.
We're continuing with early
stages of partnership
coordination with multiple
landowners across fifty
thousand acres for mitigating
the effects of wildfires in our
region and we've secured
funding and move and are moving
seventy five hundred acres into
the design phase to be
implemented in the next five
years and again grants like
this one from nevada county
help us move more projects
through the development phase
and provide leverage five to
ten times the amount for
implementation and we are
district river watershed
council in particular can be of
service to our community, our
residents and our businesses by
benefiting from restoration and
revitalization of our watershed
.
Some benefits of these projects
as they are implemented include
wider distribution of
recreation, wildlife
connectivity, ecosystem
resilience and increased
regional capacity to ldap to
drought, fire and flood and all
this while also contributing to
the local economy through
employing staff, technical
consultants and contractors
that help us get the work done
with our partners.
So thank you very much.
I really appreciate
the contribution and your
support.
>> thanks so much sue.
And I think that truckee river
watershed really exemplifies
what so many of these grantees
have done though which is to
leverage significant other
funding that they're able to
bring in with with this county
investment.
So jeff, if you can pop it back
to the slide show, we'll wrap
up the other grand see it
completed in the sector is
the greenhorn fieriest
community and we heard gosh
last month from diane marshall
about the purchase and
installation of water tanks for
fire suppression.
I also just want to highlight
the final grant that was
approved this morning on
the consent was the bear river
park and recreation which will
use grant funds to replace
their turf field this month.
This field which serves youth
and adult athletes community
wide, has been in urgent need
of replacement and they also
have leverage significant other
funding.
And so this investment will
enable year round recreation
programing that supports health
,safety and joy.
>> so I want to conclude by
acknowledging the work of these
organizations not only did
these local organizations,
staff and volunteers work hard
to stay resilient to recover
and rebuild during and
following the covert nineteen
crisis but they have also in
all cases leveraged significant
MARCH toward these grants both
in the form of financial natch
as well as volunteer time.
Many of the organizations are
all volunteer organizations.
I also want to thank leslie
with zero business council for
her help in administering this
program as well as chenin
duchaine and our office
coordinating our reporting and
compliance with our grantees
and thank you.
And for those that MAY not know
how our funding works, grantees
are required to report on a
quarterly basis and we want to
remind folks that all reports
are available online at nevada
county's american rescue plan
act page along with other
information on the counties are
expenditures and as we close we
understand this direct
investment in our communities,
nonprofits, businesses and
special districts was an
intentional and unique decision
by this board.
And we thank you for your time
in receiving the update today
on the impact of this
investment and providing relief
promoting recovery and building
resilience in nevada county.
So we welcome any questions.
You enjoy these photos from our
friends center and tahoe
truckee school of music.
Thank you, aryal.
Thank you, kimberly questions
hardy, would you like to start
?
I I do not have any specific
questions.
It was a great presentation.
It was awesome to see our
partners in the work that done
and all the progress it made so
no questions for me.
Just good to see it and I do
have comments on the program a
little bit.
I guess we're going to go to
that stage next maybe after
public comment to supervisors
work that no questions.
>> supervisor hall, thank you.
>> thank you for highlighting
the successes and giving a
little more detail on
the programs.
I think it's just incredibly
obvious what a great great use
of these funds this was both
and that it generated
additional funds.
It sort of goosed the economy
at a time when the economy was
just tanking through through
all the closures from covid and
whatnot.
It just I think we I want to
thank the panelists folks who
helped make these decisions as
well and I hope we can find a
way to keep this going through
,you know, a foundation that
we want to be establishing
because the I think
the benefits of this are just
wide spread and exactly
the kind of thing that we can
be doing as a county as long as
we can get the funds coming in
.
Thanks for the effort to
highlight all these great
programs.
>> supervisor hook I think
heidi said it all that was
great again and I think it's
and I think it's wonderful.
Thank you for bringing
the presentation.
I think it's fun for the public
to actually get to really see
some of the activities that are
happening and I got to say I've
gone to some of them and it's
really heartwarming new
building out it um at woman
lovely lovely allows them to
have more people coming in and
out really was it was really a
benefit to that there's so many
so many kids from all over so
really good.
>> I just loved it.
Thank you so much.
Appreciate the project in s
county to that field does mean
a lot to them.
We'll go to the public.
Are there any public comments
on this one?
Just come up to the microphone
,give me your name and you
have three minutes.
Is it ok?
There we go.
Yes, my name is jenny
darlington person and I am
the executive director of music
in the mountains and on behalf
of our arts and culture
agencies and organizations in
nevada county, I just want to
thank the board of supervisors
,the county of nevada and as
well as our federal partners
for making this arpa money
available and this board for
priorities raising our
nonprofits and especially our
arts and culture nonprofits.
Shakespeare said that music is
the food of love and I think
shakespeare was talking about
romantic love but I was here
the other day for the swearing
in and we and it was talked
about this year being a year of
heart.
I think that arts and culture
and music are the food of all
types of love because art has
the power despite our
differences and I'm
paraphrasing our PRESIDENT At
the moment to bring us together
and to provide uniquely human
experiences.
>> you know, I had the benefit
of growing up in this community
and from I don't know any from
ever a third grade on I had
choir, I had band, I had all
the arts and I know that
watching my children go through
our community schools they
didn't have as nearly as many
opportunities as I had.
And so part of our goal that
music in the mountains is to
bring those music opportunities
back to our schools and with
this money we have been able to
do that and we've been able to
leverage over a ground or over
one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars to keep those programs
sustainable.
So thank you very much.
>> thank you, danny blue,
robert trent, executive
director of sierra comments.
>> first I just want to
acknowledge all the hard work
that the board has done and
the ceo's office and so many
people here.
>> it's it's really cool to see
all the work being done because
I'm in my silo of doing my work
and that's pretty impressive.
So sitcom's is doing a tech
accelerator.
We're doing our we're kind of
taking a three pronged approach
.
It's through community building
funding and resources and so
the community building side of
things we've been very active
in doing events and bringing
the tech community together
because of what's happened in
covid is that it's everyone's
off doing their own thing and
the whole tech community has
been kind of turned upside down
and the working demographics of
the workforce demographics have
changed.
We've had a huge influx of tech
workers here and what sierra
colman's role we're taking
right now is to bring these
people together so they get to
know each other and build it's
really community building.
>> there's been a change in
demographics and the way tech
companies are starting up.
It's not like we're going to be
the next twitter and hire a
thousand maybe shouldn't use
twitter.
>> we're going to be the next
tech company and hire a bunch
of people and have a huge
office.
>> it's more ceos moving to
town or homegrown ceos that are
hiring individuals, building
small lean teams.
>> and what's really important
is to build a community and a
culture where it's thriving and
less focus on starting huge
companies because that's kind
of a difficult thing to do
nowadays.
It's not what's happening in
the tech scene funding we had
the capital summit thank you
all soon for presenting there.
It was really great.
We brought some new funding
opportunities to this area and
also other agencies that can
help local companies get funded
.
>> things are starting to
bubble up but it's going to
take some time to get people
connected, get companies
started and so we're well on
our way to doing that.
We're getting a lot of media
attention.
It was a great coverage and
comstock magazine we've been on
cancio and and cavium and
you've been at and all of
the union of course to try to
get the word out that there is
this community forming that
sierra commons and it's really
starting to click.
So thank you so much for
the funding and just planning
that got twenty seconds left
planning a seed another big
project that sierra commons is
working on developing is a
kitchen incubator to help
create more food security in
the county.
>> so you'll be hearing more
about that.
So thank you.
You're robert.
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you kelvin.
Yes, I really appreciate
the part the private sector in
our community that helps to to
take care of and support
the core services that
the county is trying to take
care of and I only have one
question and that is when will
the this this constant flow of
money stop and the reason why I
ask that is because it's
unnatural by the time my three
minutes is over thirty six
million dollars will be added
to the national deficit and as
we know this was a tax and
spend program under the covid
con job that was used as an
emergency to create a crisis
economic crisis in regard to
that inflation is often
the most important but at least
understood principle of our day
contrary to what we might be
led to believe by the news
media and some high economic
advisors.
Inflation is not a rise in
the general level of prices
often referred to as an
increase in the cost of living
inflation is simply an increase
in the supply of money.
This increase in the number of
dollars in relation to
the goods and services that are
put u for sale causes people
to bid up prices.
Thus a general rise in prices
is the effect of inflation more
dollars is the underlying cause
of the higher prices.
I could be looked at like I'm a
critic.
I simply care about our
community.
>> certainly the aging folks
who have saved their dollars.
>> now those dollars don't
compete with the inflated
dollars that were dumped into
our our county.
Even the extra 300 million
dollars that were separate from
this nine million dollars that
was added to support these core
services in our community.
So we're talking about that
three hundred million dollars
and then when that stopped from
the federal government and
the state government, next
thing you know we needed to
raise sales tax now this was a
statewide problem.
They did this in most of
the counties.
This is this is not just a
random act of inflation and so
there's also some ancient or I
consider it pretty old
statements by a guy named
eukaryote nikita khrushchev
that actually puts a little bit
of answers and clarity into
this this problem and he said
that we were americans are so
gullible.
You americans are so gullible.
No, you won't accept communism
outright but we'll keep feeding
you small doses of socialism
until you'll finally wake up
and and find you already have
communism.
We won't have to fight.
You will so weaken your economy
that your until you'll fall
like overripe fruit into your
hands.
My quote my comment is simply a
principled comment about
economics.
We need to watch and be
accountable for where this
money's coming from truly
because it's on the back of
hard working americans that
this money was created.
Thank you kevin.
Is there any phone on the phone
or written comments?
MADAM Clerk chair schofield we
have no callers on line but we
did receive three emails just
recently from kids own museum
curious george and barry you
land trust thinking the board
in the county for
the resiliency fund in very
good.
>> thank you.
All right, I'll bring it back
to the board.
Hardy, I felt that you were
going to follow up on your
comments.
>> yeah.
Thank you.
Chair schofield's I just want
to say, you know it the program
was nimble.
I think the money got out there
quickly.
I think it's incredibly
difficult to give money to
deserving agencies and
organizations and people in in
an equitable and timely way.
I think we did a great job that
I just want to commend staff
and the board for doing what I
feel like was the right thing
during that period when there
are funds and all the kahrizak
funding came down.
I think it was it was it was
difficult because we didn't
understand at that time exactly
the true cost of the covid
pandemic and what our staff
time in our our direct and
indirect cost would be.
So I think there was a little
bit of a risk but I think we
reached out and did the right
thing to support our community
and definitely supporting
the individuals we saw today
and all the other people that
received a grant is just
incredible to see the work that
they're doing and really a huge
thank you to them for sticking
with it during that period
because it was a tough time.
i know that many of the people
we have helped out and worked
with is our partners have
talked to me on the eastern
side of the county about
the difficulty that they've had
over the last year and kind of
the fatigue that they're
feeling.
So I think now's a great time
and as we look at the strategic
workshop and look at the final
dollars we have to spend for
the arpita revenue, I think
we're going to have some great
opportunities in front of us to
do some really meaningful work
and thank you again to senior
staff for making the program
work and being nimble and quick
and responsive.
That's good government.
That's good local government
and it's just it's awesome to
see that.
So I just want to pass that
along.
Thank you already board members
any other comments I I I just
want to say one thing one thing
that we can do as a community
though is just go out and
support these these nonprofits
and the folks that work in our
community go out go to center
of the arts, go out to wal-mart
and check it out, see what kids
jones is doing.
Come and have an amazing brunch
at north san juan community
center.
It's fabulous.
You will think wow, this is a
little community center.
They're serving this kind of
food right.
So and come to pine valley
rodeo is one of the funnest
events in you're going to come
to and see a parade in
the middle of you know, little
downtown prevelly.
So these people have passion
and love for our community.
So as a community let's give
them that passion love back,
come and support what's going
on all around and thank you all
for the work that was done on
this and the people that donate
your time.
I just love the interfaith
ministry.
Let's go put in some hours down
there.
Let's let's help bring all of
our community together and keep
doing things and and really
support what we put here and
make it continue to grow.
So thank you a great
presentation because you do so
so I echo all of what you just
said but you know I was not
part of of this board that made
the decisions to support all of
these organizations in
the community.
>> but I just want to say that
I wholehearted supported as an
audience member and a community
member the work that has been
done here.
>> you know, covid changed
everything for many of our
businesses are nonprofit arts
organization and as a person
who has been very intimately
involved with some of
the organizations that
the county has funded over
the last few years, I'm very
appreciative that we were able
to allow those businesses and
those nonprofits to continue
serving in our community and as
sue said, please support our
local businesses support
because they help support
the nonprofits and it's just
like I said, it's changed
everything.
It's changed how we recreated
changed how we shop, its
changed how we do entertainment
.
>> and as we get into this new
normal after covid it just you
know, can't say how much I
appreciate the work that's been
done here and well hopefully
I'll be able to continue to
support it as well.
Thank you, lisa.
All right.
So at this time I would
entertain a motion and this is
a voice vote.
So here emotion so moved
sakura's sahal second it's
supervisor swarthout all those
in favor I I all right.
Oppose motion carried
unanimously thank the board and
with that how is everybody
doing would you like a few
minutes before we go to our
next item.
Yes ok how many.
Just a few.
Ok we'll take a few minute
break ok
and
I think we've had
our few minutes so we can wrap
up our conversations and we'll
come back into the agenda.
All right gentlemen, listen up
.
All right.
Our next item is a resolution
appointing gina will as ordered
a controller to fill
the vacancy due to the court's
ruling disqualifying
the elected auditor comptroller
effective JANUARY 11th, 2003
and through a term ending
JANUARY 2027.
Audit comments no no comments.
no comments that I would move
we steve going to make a
presentation of this.
>> oh, that's right.
I'm supposed to review steve on
that.
That's ok.
Good to know.
Steve schofield, supervisors.
This item was asked to be
brought back from the DECEMBER
13th, 2010 two board meeting to
appoint jean-noel as the new
auditor comptroller for nevada
county.
That's the resolution I bring
forward today.
>> very good.
Thank you, steve.
Is there any comments how you
do have any comments?
>> no comments from me.
Thank you to your comments.
I would move that the selection
of the control controller be
filled by gina will kate do we
have any public comment on this
before we go forward?
Gavin there we go.
I know I don't have any any
skin in this game of of
elections.
I believe though that it's
important that it be recognized
that the constituents your each
of your constituents voted for
somebody else under
the assumption that that person
was qualified.
>> fair enough.
Right.
So I would just put a caution
out there that it that it would
probably be in the best
interest to represent those
constituents not as overtaking
the election process by
extending this temporary
position to be out for years I
believe two years would be a
reasonable amount.
That's I'm just speaking from
my my perspective that there
will be an election a general
election in two years and if
the citizens get upset that
this was just as if you acted
like the body that elected this
person.
It's not it's not personal.
It's not a personal complaint
on my behalf at all.
It's just simply that what
would your constituents who
voted for somebody else under
the assumption that they were
that rob trebil was qualified,
what would they think if they
get upset that you chose to
kind of overtake two more years
of the election process?
So I just invite to consider
that a two year appointment is
probably more reasonable than
certainly a four year term just
for the fact that a regular
election will occur.
And so I would suggest that you
mean that that's what I would
suggest on behalf of what I
think are the constituents and
the majority of voters in this
county.
Thank you.
Thank you, kelvin.
Any further comments?
I think that was discussed at
the last meeting that chair
schofield if I could.
Yes.
The appointment is for the full
term as mandated by law.
So there there isn't a choice
to do a two year term or you
could m. Coworkers or anyone on
line or and there's no collar's
chair and I received no emails
on this very good.
We will bring this back and I
have a motion from supervisor
hook.
>> do I have a second I'll
second that second supervisor
hall MADAM Clerk roll call
please.
Yes.
District four yes.
District three yes.
District one yes.
District five yes.
>> and district two yes.
Very good.
Congratulations gina.
And at this point I'd like to
introduce our current auditor
comptroller for one more day
marsha salter who will do
the swearing in for gina.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for appointing gina
to you.
She's very deserving and she
worked hard to make a point of
the importance of the meeting
qualifications of the office
and I'm I know you all saw that
and for the constituents I know
they understand that that is a
very important that this is a
very important role and those
qualifications mean a lot not
just to the county of nevada
but to all the california
counties and their auditor
controllers in their positions
.
So it is really a unique
situation that I am still
seated elected official and I
can now swear in my my my
successor and with that gene,
thank you for allowing me to d
this.
And as as you know, I will
start this and when it says
state your name will you state
your name ok and then I'll read
the rest of this and the end
you just accept and say I do ok
so I I do know I swear that I
will support and defend
the constitution of the united
states and the constitution of
the state of california against
all enemies foreign and
domestic that I will bear true
faith and allegiance to
the constitution of the united
states and the constitution of
the state of california that I
take this obligation freely
without a. And any mental
reservation or purpose of
evasion and that I will well
faithfully and discharge
the duties upon which I'm about
to enter.
I will.
Thank you.
All right.
And with that congratulations
gina.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I am just so grateful and
appreciative to the board for
this opportunity to serve.
I'm so grateful to all of
the many members and wonderful
community members that I've met
along this journey to ge to
this point.
Very grateful for that.
I'm very grateful to my family
and especially my husband randy
who has been just my top
supporter through this whole
process.
>> so thank you very much to
our amazing auditor comptroller
team, the men and women that I
have the fortune to work with
every day that I just am
inspired by your integrity,
your commitment, your
dedication to public service
and to this amazing auditor
comptroller marsha psalter.
I am so grateful for the two
and a half years that I've and
mentored by you that I learned
from you.
I will strive very hard to
maintain the legacy that you've
created for our department and
just pursuing excellence in
accounting and auditing
services for for those that we
serve.
So thank you very much.
You always have to do
the paperwork and duplicate you
ok, congratulations dana and
marsha again.
Thank you for your service to
the county over the years.
>> well here we took a quick
break and now we are in a time
diatom so it looks like we have
nine minutes for our next item
so we will take a break and I
believe it's at eleven and
fifteen chair pardon me love
muffin.
>> oh look at that.
We're late.
Ok, thanks for being with me
julie.
Thank you for having me.
>> all right.
So this time we have a
presentation from the this I'll
be introducing tricia for a
presentation on the truckee
chamber of commerce and their
current activities.
Tricia, please.
Thank you.
Chair schofield.
So it's my pleasure to
introduce this item today and
we have jessica penman with us
virtually she's a new PRESIDENT
And ceo of the truckee chamber
of commerce.
So jessica, your presentations
up online and let me know when
I can advance the slides.
>> all right.
thank you.
Can everyone hear me ok?
Yes, ok.
Great.
Good morning.
I am so sorry that I'm not able
to be there in person but I did
just get word that eighties
clothes so I'm glad I didn't
try to make it down there.
My name's jessica penman.
I am the new PRESIDENT And ceo
of the truckee chamber of
commerce and I'm here today to
present our new strategic
direction and a little bit of
an update about what we're
doing up here in truckee.
Next slide so briefly who
the truckee chamber of commerce
is.
We provide a host of benefits
and programs designate to
assist and promote members.
We're the hub of the business
community.
Keep members informed, educated
and connected businesses that
join our supporting a vital
organization and professional
staff that are actively
involved in the community
working on behalf of members to
enhance and improve
the community and business
climate we currently serve over
five hundred business members
and their employees and not
just the truckee prop. But in
nevada and plaza county as well
as all the way down into reno.
Our businesses include large
businesses such as ski resorts,
brick and mortars in
the downtown corridor and at
home businesses during
the truckee chambers.
One hundred and ten year
history we've provided
educational networking
opportunities marketing for
the town of truckee help to
found the north tahoe truckee
leadership program.
We run the california welcome
center and we've helped to
build a community through
programs such as good morning
truckee and truckee tomorrow we
also serve new residents of
truckee.
There are big life connections
program which offers new
residents the opportunity to
meet new people and receive
educational information about
living in the mountains in
early twenty twenty two
the truckee chamber of commerce
board of directors started
the process of creating
the chamber's first ever
strategic plan.
This process allow them to
think of what the truckie can't
chamber can and should be known
for and that's the plan I'm
going to present to you today.
Next slide.
So first a little bit about me
.
Like I said, I'm the new
PRESIDENT And ceo of
the truckee chamber.
I started in OCTOBER of twenty
twenty two so just hit my 90
days with the organization
before us.
I was at te yountville chamber
of commerce, the napa county
for the last five and a half
years as our director of
community relations where I
helped bring the orvil chamber
from a sleepy little chamber to
one of the top recognized
chambers in the region.
I bring with me a for chuckie
and a fresh eyes to this
community that's facing growing
pains a lot of our mountain
communities when I saw this
position come up in MAY of last
year I knew I had to go for it
.
My family's had a home in
truckee for over twenty five
years and I love it up here and
I've been very excited to make
it my permanent home.
I love the work that chambers
do and I'm excited to be here
and able to help the truckee
chamber move forward.
We are at the intersection of
community and business.
I'm perfectly positioned to
help move our community forward
.
So my first task when I started
was to finalize and implement
our new strategic direction for
the truckee chamber.
Next slide.
So like I said, this is our
first strategic plan in one
hundred and I guess now eleven
years which is exciting.
It really is allowing us to
move forward and really create
a new identity for the truckee
chamber of commerce.
The plan was approved by our
board of directors on NOVEMBER
17th and this is our first
public meeting to discuss what
we will be doing moving forward
.
The three and a half year plan
is like I said, our first
strategic plan and we're really
excited to bring forth three
new strategic pillars that will
guide the work that we do for
our members business and
community next slide.
So our first pillar is to
advocate for business.
We are looking to be the voice
of business in our community
being the go to source of data
and information related to
the business climate in truckee
and eastern and western nevada
county.
We will have a seat at
the table for all policy and
business related measures at
the local and county level and
we are going to work to create
a regional business voice to
ensure nevada county is
business friendly.
We are really excited to start
working on a way to really
understand what our business
climate looks like in
the county and to move forward
with a communication plan to
really make sure that all
business information is
reaching those that need it.
>> next slide our next pillar
is to bolster economic
prosperity.
We're going to work to ensure a
strong vibrant economy by
cultivating and promote
promoting healthy business
growth and then supporting and
growing that truckee workforce
in partnerships with crucial
community partners.
The future of the economy right
now as we know, is on
everyone's mind and with one
that is based on tourism,
economic diversification and
strengthening is a top priority
for the truckee chamber of
commerce working with our
community partners such as
the town of truckee, sierra
business council, usda and
others.
We are looking to be a leader
working towards economic
stability and growth.
One of our first priority is to
create a system to accurately
talk about how our business
community is doing and what
the business climate is in
the truckee region.
Next slide and then our third
pillar is to cultivate
community connection and this
is really where the truckee
chamber of commerce has
excelled in the past and we're
going to continue that legacy
forward.
So we're continuing to engage,
connect and promote the truckee
community to both resident
residents and visitors continue
popular programing such as good
morning truckee, which we did
move to the third tuesday of
the month to allow for county
and town staff to participate
so it doesn't conflict with
these meetings.
Be a convener of community
leaders around important issues
facing truckee and then we will
continue to operate a trekkie
welcome center and transit
center as an important touch
point for both visitors and
residents.
We have always been known as a
community connector and we look
forward to continuing that
tradition and building upon our
already existing community
partnerships.
Next slide.
>> so our next steps we're
entering this new era for
the truckee chamber of commerce
.
I'm really looking to move our
strategic plan forward with
the help of regional partners.
We look forward to finding new
ways to partner with nevada
county and to really work with
you to get your message out to
our businesses in the truckee
region.
We look forward to making sure
that nevada county remains one
of the world's best places to
live, work and of course do
business.
Next slide and that's it.
Thank you.
Any questions?
I'm sad my photo of my dog
didn't show up like it's
supposed to on the slide but
that's ok.
Thank you jessica and welcome.
>> I'm glad you didn't try to
make it over today.
Let's start off with questions
and comment.
>> hardy, this is your area.
Yeah.
Thank you so much, jessica.
I really appreciate you taking
the time to present to my
colleagues and I as alison and
I were both fortunate to sit
down with you recently and we
got to sit down, jessica and
talk to her about these three
pillars and there are things
that I watch the chamber work
toward and then I'm excited
about your leadership and also
chair vitus and her leadership
with the chamber and others
that have taken it in a new
direction.
I'm excited about that.
I do I'm always really
protective of the community
portion of that pillar because
the chamber has always played
such a classic role.
Good morning rocky.
Is this place where you can
show up and talk about what you
have to do in your organization
,what your hopes, dreams and
goals are.
You can work with your partners
.
you can have the meeting after
a meeting which is suffices for
many meetings a week and I'm
really, really glad and I
really appreciate you switching
that date so we can participate
because I've missed every
single good morning thank for
the last two years except when
I call in to present and I
think that while eastern county
in the town of truckee in
the chamber and commerce
association are quite vibrant
and really resilient, it is a
fragile balance in eastern
county trying to get the proper
economic growth support
the local character of
the community have people that
are local with their work,
their shop there and preserve
their way of life during these
really peak periods.
And I know that during
the recent weeks it can be
incredibly challenging and so
that balance of business,
quality of life and in our
environment and our recreation
based economy is something that
I know the chamber is really
looking closely at.
We had those conversations last
time we met and then also
talking with you about our
regional opportunities we face
east and west county because we
do have this really great
balance of winter activity in
east county and summer activity
in both sides of the county and
then we can go back and forth
when we are tired of the snow
we can go down the hill and
when people want to go skiing
they can go up the hill if you
can get across state.
But you know, once again,
thanks jessica.
looking forward to working with
you and our other people.
I just want to recognize chair
schofield as well because
during the covid pandemic he
and supervisor miller spent a
tremendous amount of time on
the covid business calls and I
think it had a different name
but I doubt that all of those
and I know for at least a year
and a half they spent a lot of
time working with the chamber
of commerce and others to make
sure that that community was
taken care of from an economic
perspective.
Just a shout out to schofield
for that as well and thanks are
presenting today.
Thank you already to professor
swarthout.
>> well welcome jessica.
I like you are new to my my
role up here as a member of
the board of supervisors but
certainly I'm not new to idea
and working with chambers of
commerce.
I had a small business in
downtown grass valley for many
years and was very involved
there.
So I just have always had great
respect and admiration for
the truckee chamber of commerce
and the collaborative approach
that your organization has
taken in working with
the business community and
the other entities that provide
similar services up in your
community.
So as when the weather gets
better I'm not a big snow
person but when the weather
gets better I look forward to
coming up to truckee and I'm
doing a tour around hopefully
with supervisor bullock and
coming by and meeting with you
and just to talk about what
your future plans are.
Yorkville is one of my favorite
places in the napa valley.
When I saw when I saw your your
resume online looking through
the chamber of the truckee
chamber of commerce, I was like
wow, they they hit it out of
the park getting somebody from
youngsville.
Just a couple observations I
had when I was perusing through
your website this week the two
things that I did not see on
there which I'm not a member so
I wasn't able to sign in so
they might be available is who
your board of directors are?
I did I was able to find it
through an article in
the newspaper and then also I
don't know if this is protocol
but just to see what your
budget was and to see, you know
,your sources of revenue and
your expenses.
>> so I don't know if that's
something that you guys publish
publicly but I think for
transparency sake I think it's
really important that our
nonprofit organization,
especially our business
organizations are very
transparent in in their
finances and where the money
comes from and where the money
is spent.
Although I will say that I
think guys have done a
fantastic job of managing your
budget and helping your
businesses especially through
covid so welcome and I really
look forward to working with
you in the future.
Thank you supervisor.
Ok, well welcome.
>> I'm happy you love
the truckee area.
It sounds like you have a
history there and now they're
just going to reap in those
benefits having two chambers
are so important I think
keeping that camaraderie really
kind of going with all your
businesses and having them know
what's going on I think is such
an integral part of what a
chamber does.
I even see that in our little
pine valley chamber that we
have how important it is to
bring those business members
together so they know what's
going on and keep those
activities going and keeping
you have this is a big chamber
.
It's huge when you said five
hundred people that actually
that's fantastic.
>> so I'll look for it.
I'll be up in truckee in these
days and I'll look forward to
meeting you.
So welcome and thank you for
the presentation.
I thank you.
You're welcome.
Jessica and I look forward to
collaborating with you from
the county level.
The more collaboration
the better.
So so I wish you lots of
success in getting your
strategic plan up and running.
Thank you.
Read and you and jessica at
pleasure having you here and
looking forward to meeting you
in person and you know my
comment is that it's really
good to see the collaboration
that the county has with
organizations such as yours and
i think we look at
the legislation legislative
platform today and we discussed
how the communities were
brought in or cities or towns
and also there is a resiliency
fund and how that's gone out
throughout our entire county.
And I think, you know, I always
say that what's good for
the cities and towns is good
for the county and what's good
for the county is good for
the cities and towns and it's
not always easy unless there
are there are times that we we
kind of bump heads a little bit
.
That's ok.
I think that philosophy is true
with all of this so and you
guys do a great job up there.
I've always fet the same way
that it's an amazing
organization that you have.
So again, jessica, thank you
very much and looking forward
to meeting you in person any
other I'm sorry any comments
public comments on this one,
MADAM Clerk, anybody on
the line or chair?
>> we have no callers and no
one on line and I also did on a
note we have a public comment
kiosk in treki open right now
for this item but oh no one is
there and I imagine it has to
do with the weather.
>> is it very snowy outside
right now?
>> is it snowing now?
Yeah, yeah.
I guess that's why hardy
couldn't be here today.
>> all right, jessica, thank
you so much.
And we will soon.
All right.
Thank you, tricia.
ok, so we are down to
announcements and we've done
quite well here.
So I think we have time to do
our announcements before lunch
.
So who would like to start it
off?
Hardy, I guess I go to you
first.
>> ok, thank you very much.
I'm going to keep it pretty
brief.
You know the biggest thing that
was the thing that I want to
announce is basically in
DECEMBER we did these
stakeholder outreach meetings
and they worked very well.
We reached out into
the community that most of
the major east county
stakeholders and many from was
county sat down in person when
we could and did some phone
calls and it was just it was a
great opportunity to connect
after the end of the year I I
forget the total maybe twenty
five meetings or so half of
those in person half online and
we we took all that information
and kind of rolled it up to get
a better understanding of how
people were doing what their
hopes, dreams and goals were,
what their priorities were for
twenty twenty three and hoping
to bring those forward and and
work with my colleagues on
the board at our strategic
planning workshop and I'm
looking forward to meeting
there.
So that's that's my
announcement.
And once again I just wanted to
welcome supervisor swarthout.
I'm looking forward to working
with you and and working
closely with the city grass
valley.
Thank already ready.
You're ready.
>> you're I'm ready to so I
continued my work with cisac
and nako through calls and
meetings.
I'll just note that there will
be a proposal probably coming
to us about spending some of
our pilt return funds on a on a
group to promote rural stries
and I think we're going to have
a discussion on that.
So I'm trying to gather
information for all of you but
continuing to do my advocacy
for the county and the state of
california on both on those
calls I have met with a couple
of folks and one group on
the ranch house renovation
project which wll be coming to
the board on JANUARY 24th.
And so I want to continue to
encourage my constituents and
others who have questions to
call me about that been
preparing for the JANUARY
workshop attended our mental
and behavioral health board
meeting and just want to take a
moment to remind folks that
that board meeting is open to
the public.
It meets the first friday
the month generally from ten to
twelve.
We have lots of presentations
are mental and behavioral
health programs depend quite a
bit on a number of local
non-profits and agencies to
help deliver enormous amount of
services to help our folks in
this county who need that kind
of help.
They do a tremendous job.
There's always struggles with
bureaucracy and need for money
and folks wh fall through
the cracks is a huge workload
and we appreciate so much folks
in the community who support
that work and help us deliver
those services and if you're
interested in sitting in on one
of those meetings, feel free to
call me as well and I can get
you connected.
I did I did drove around with
craig griesbach to take a look
at our bill a couple of our blm
sites as folks MAY know, we're
trying to work more closely
with the bureau of land
management on the number of
sites in our counties that need
some vegetation management and
it's been tough to get that
going.
So we spent some time just
ensuring that I know what in my
district what the issues are.
There's a number of lots in my
district that are really need a
lot of work.
So we took a look at those I
did the in concert sierra
facility tours that might have
been before the last meeting
but what they're proposing to
do with the building to create
a new concert hall but also a
new venue for conferences is
just a tremendous as well as
theater.
It's a tremendous project.
So it was exciting to take a
look at that and see how we
might engage with them on that
.
I've been doing a lot of work
with civic well which is
the organization statewide
organization that works on
sustainability and climate
change issues including
transportation and housing.
we just hired a new ceo and
it's a I think poised to do
some really great things and
we're going to be collaborating
with them as we go forward here
in this county and then finally
I was able to go on the cash
and fields tour which was just
phenomenal.
So it's a low income workforce
housing in nevada city.
Bunch of people are the folks
including folks we know and
friends of people I know who
are just starting to move in
this week and last week
the units are beautiful and
efficient.
The community center down below
is spectacular.
They all have a place for
gardens and a playground and
it's affordable and they think
60 percent of the folks who are
moving in are directly local
nevada city and another twenty
five percent they think are
from also local grass valley
rough and ready.
And so these are folks who are
trying to stay and live here,
who work here and needed a
little help getting into
housing.
I think it's a phenomenal model
and I'm hoping we can do more
projects like that here in
the future.
>> but just kudos to all
the folks who made that happen
and the people who are running
it and congratulations to
the folks who are moving in
there now.
>> thank you.
Thank heidi sue, I don't have a
whole lot of those.
>> I was sick so I didn't make
it to that tour but I've been
watching that grow and being a
part of the regional housing
authority is actually really
exciting program and to look at
the work that really has come
together and collaborating with
the cities and the counties to
get those done with some of
that funding that came that
worked is it is exciting.
I'm happy to see the folks
moving in.
I think that is huge.
Um, I have had lots of phone
calls.
I want to shout out to staff
and the folks that are working
out in the in the dredges of
this storm.
I mean I get a lot of phone
calls with issues with
the roads with pg&e and and
rightfully it's hard wen you
don't have power.
It's hard but I got to say
they've done a great job really
in our community right now.
So I feel a lot of those
questions we have a lot of
folks with their phones are out
.
We got to remember at&t there's
only so many people that work
so be patient.
It's part of living in a rural
area.
I know sometimes it's very
frustrating.
I've experienced it myself.
We didn't have a phone for ten
days.
The line was out.
There was five people with
ninety five calls for service.
Right.
So I just want to remind
everybody is as frustrated as
be patient.
Remember those folks working in
the in the downpours in
the rain our staff from roads
they are trying to keep up with
the downed trees and
the branches and so really if
you don't have to go out
the best thing is to stay home
and be safe.
I just want to remind people
you think about that we watch
the news we're seeing we know
we're having flooding.
We know that we have some road
issues where there's been some
erosion.
So I guess what I'm just saying
is I think first stay home,
stay warm.
I am answering those phone
calls.
We are fielding the issues that
are having problems.
The website is still up.
You're welcome to turn in
the problems that you see along
the highways if you are out and
about.
But again, remember every time
we're out we're putting
somebody else at risk that has
to come out and check on us.
So I just want to I just want
to say be safe.
That's the biggest thing.
This is winter.
We live in a wonderful place.
Thank GOD for the rain.
We do need it sometimes we
wanted to come a little
differently than we see coming
.
But fr right now it's is what
we have and when it dries up we
can think about all
the vegetation management we
can do because it'll be a
little bit fire safe at
the time.
So I guess I'm saying keep your
cup half full.
I'm happy to field those phone
calls.
you can call to me I'm really
good listener and then we'll
see what we can do and keep
moving forward.
So that's probably been my
busiest time the last couple of
weeks and looking forward to
all my committees starting back
.
I have orientation for our crc
coming up and I'll look forward
to reporting back and all that
.
>> so that's all I have thanks
to lisa.
So I've only been here a week
but I did want to take this
opportunity to thank everybody
who's been so helpful the warm
welcome I've received from my
fellow board members, the help
from staff especially jeffrey
and sarah and julie and claire
who have been emailing me and
trying to keep me on task.
So I always thought I knew a
lot and then you get up here
and you realize how much you
don't know and how complicated
all of this is.
So I really appreciate all
the work that everybody's put
into onboarding me and
hopefully in the next month or
so we'll figure where
the bathrooms are.
>> thanks.
>> thanks, lisa.
It's a pleasure having you here
.
And I've been telling folks
you're way ahead of most people
when they first come here so
and I know you've been doing a
lot of touring and talking with
department heads and it's nice
to win and I'm primary.
Where did you go?
You didn't.
>> you did.
that's right.
No yeah that's right now though
you are here so you know, I
looked at it and it's like
christmas vacation new year's.
It wouldn't be too much going
on but it is surprising what we
have been involved with even
during these ties.
I had a saids stakeholder
meeting that I think that
stands for community economic
development.
Is that right kimberlite?
Not too bad and this is a very
important plan that is helps us
in obtaining federal and state
dollars I believe primarily
federal right.
And it was a panel hosted by
cierra business council, an
economic resource council and
there's a survey that really
needs to be taken and what they
found was during this meeting
that we had was that most of
the people that took the survey
was us so they said look, we
need to get this survey back
out.
I think we'll find it online
with cierra business council I
believe vassy hasid do we have
it county wise kimberly?
We do look for that survey and
fill it out and we need to get
down into the working level of
our community for the for
the best results of the survey
.
So that was very interesting.
We had a south county fuel
break meeting to al-jazeera
which was very good.
It had about sixty percent of
the property owners had already
agreed to their participation
in the plan and as soon as you
know it's all private
properties, we have to have
that private property approval
and I felt sixty percent
because this is really
the first meeting we had that
it was a really great
percentage and I think
the ponderosa break is a people
can see it and what a benefit
it is.
So thank you for that area for
meeting on aging and I'm happy
to tell you that lisa will be
the representative there.
Thank you, lisa.
We have a special meeting
the higgins area municipal
advisory committee and
the reason we held it was we
knew that it was coming to a
planning commission.
In fact it is coming to
the planning commission on
thursday.
If you're interested in that,
we will be here.
>> so the mac wanted to have
just one more opportunity to
look at it and see if there was
any recommendations that needed
to come into the planning
commission.
And unlike the penn valley mac
,the greater higgens area mac
sunset's once it goes through
so they're really looking at
what what purpose can they
serve moving forward and it's
really a fine group of people
that have come together on that
.
So we'll be bringing it back
more information on that toward
the region regional dispatch
center.
Lisa was there very impressive
what's going on out there and
the future of that building?
>> I think we're headed in
the right direction.
They're kind of disappointed to
see us losing our key
communication person and and
your trig who will now be
the ceo of the nevada county
fairgrounds.
But I think andrew has agreed
to help sheriff moon going
forward on this and it's just
so much better than it was down
at the wayne brown facility
aracy executive committee and
ursy regular meeting.
And I just want to say
something there in that steve
rose was one of the panelists
in talking about human
resources and I think we would
have to agree that steve was
really the he was the highlight
of that and and frankly I was
very, very impressed with
what's going with in the county
.
Steve has been doing an
exceptional job and he
represented it's great down
there.
I toured the site with lisa
tricia and david garcia was
taking her out there.
>> so if I asked if I could
just kind of tag along really
to kind of see in your mind
exactly how that's going to
play out.
There was a good good good
meeting and I think that's it
did attend the swearing in
ceremony which is really,
really a great ceremony and
we're moving forward with hard
to so with that I believe we
will adjourn not to back nine
minutes early and we will
reconvene at one thirty this
afternoon.
Bringing about a county is an
education campaign designed to
help the public have successful
outcomes during emergency
events we really focus on a
whole host of disasters or
emergency events.
We want to have a broad
spectrum.
We want to be prepared for
anything but really we focus a
lot on wildfire because we know
that's one of the most likely
events to happen in nevada
county.
Ready, set go is really built
around the wildfire premise to
prepare residents to be ready
before an event to move into
the set posture when there's a
red flag or fires near you and
then to go when it's time to go
essentially in its simplest
form it's a three tiered
community emergency
preparedness plan.
I have lived in this house
which we built my husband and I
twenty six years to go now
actually we selected the party
like the concrete siding and
also the metal roof.
Then when we moved up here and
heard about the forty nine year
fire that's when we started to
say wow this really is even
more important than we first
realized for the forty nine
fires, one of the most historic
fires in nevada county's
history, they figured it'd
change the laws of the state of
california.
That said, this is how you have
to protect your home that came
out of nevada county.
Steve eubanks came from
the fire safe council and
the main thing we needed to pay
attention to was the ladder
fuels planting has been removed
from the edges of the house so
that it does not touch
the house.
it was an incredible service
from the fire safe council to
come out and spend a couple of
hours going through this
property so already faces when
there's no immediate threat to
you and your family, this is
the time when you should be
doing education and planning
whether that be training,
educating yourself or
accumulating equipment,
hardening your home, creating
defensible space, defensible
space is really all about
creating a buffer zone between
your house and flammable
vegetation.
We really focus on defensible
space around the home but first
one hundred feet but also
around the roadway to another
aspect the ready phase is
hardening the home and really
what that means making your
home more resilient to a
wildfire that's going to be
putting the fine grained mesh
around th vents of your home
so the embers won't get into
under your house or into
the eaves of your house that's
going to be using
noncombustible materials on
your deck and around your home
so no storm comes through.
It's not going to ignite your
home itself.
I currently live here in grass
valley with my parents all of
us have sleep apnea so we all
have separate machines that
require power in order to run.
I also use a nebulizer and
that's used to disperse
medication that I need give
myself breathing again when we
have safety shutoffs we have to
hook up our equipment to
batteries that have inverters.
we have a generator that powers
some of the things around
the house but then I obtained a
pretty substantial battery from
friede and it was so easy to go
through the process to obtain a
battery that I would recommend
it to anyone who might have
medical needs that require
power or really anything.
I would highly recommend
contacting friede so whether
it's a snowstorm or a public
safety power shutoff, we really
want folks to be thinking about
ok, what are the things I'll
need on hand to weather
the storm?
Do I need to have candles?
Do I need to have battery
powered radio?
Do I need to have flashlights?
So what are the things that you
will need to shelter in place
or address the disaster at hand
so go back could be anything it
could be a backpack.
It could be a suitcase.
It's going to be something that
you put together to sustain
yourself, your family, your
pets if needed that's going to
have food, water, medication,
clothing, toiletries to get you
buy for seventy two hours you
need to think of your go bag as
the only resource you MAY have
.
Stores MAY be close, the power
MAY be out so you MAY have
literally live out of this
thing for a three day period as
an evacuee if you are someone
with a disability maybe you
have chronic health condition
for me I have type one diabetes
.
I have an insulin pump.
Right.
And so that's a critical piece
that I need to plan for if I'm
going to ever evacuate or be
away from my huse.
Frankly for any amount of time
.
Right.
What we find oten is that if
people don't evacuate with
their c pap machine, with their
oxygen concentrator, with their
wheelchair walker then it can
be difficult on the other end.
My name is ulysses palencia.
I work in the two one one call
center.
I'm just the PRESIDENT Of grass
valley.
I have two daughters four year
old and a one year old in
nevada county two one one is
available 24/7 so we provide
for the community is
information that culd be
anything from directions to
the resource centers.
It can be letting them know
where the fire is.
You know, if they are
themselves in an evacuation
center, if it's a fire, if
there's any information as to
whether power's coming back on
during a two on one gets
the information that we povide
directly from the county so
directly from the office of
emergency services the whole
team cares.
We're all local community
members.
We all just want to help.
So we were all sleeping in bed
on thursday, NOVEMBER 8th in
paradise an first the house
phone ring picked up my phone.
It was my sister who lived a
block or so away from us.
>> we were walking by a
telephone call from my daughter
.
she said that we were being
evacuated.
I left sooner than them.
I had everything ready.
They were on the way out
the door.
There was no time to think
about what you're going to take
,what you're not going to take
.
The night before the fire I
knew it was a red flag warning
and I knew that it was a high
risk so on my way home I filled
up the tank.
>> oh well we we didn't get too
far from the house and you're
watching fire coming down
the hill there was a machine
shop right to my right right
there and it had gas tanks and
propane tanks and I saw a lone
ember kind of floating through
dancing through the air and I
watched it as it landed on
the machine shop in the time it
took me to get my phone back
into hand and to take a picture
was engulfed in flames and I
knew that within moments it
would start exploding and I
would be dead.
And just as I moved out of this
the range of the explosions
they started happening and I
prayed for the people behind
me.
Ten minute drive normally
the trickle became almost four
hours so it was a long trip.
We started to hear a pattern.
People kept telling their story
of how they escaped
the campfire and they talked
about how if it wasn't for my
neighbor who came and knocked
on my door to tell me there was
a fire, I don't know that I
would have gotten out alive if
it wasn't for my son who lives
next door picking me up and
putting me in their car and
driving me out of there.
I don't know how I would have
survived and so I started
really thinking about this
connection between isolation
and how connected you are to
your community, to your
neighbors, to your friends, to
your family and how that can be
really helpful in a time of a
disaster.
So we were actually
the beneficiaries of someone
making that plan in advance to
have that group of people that
they were going to call and
that she saved my life that day
.
So absolutely having a network
really saved lives.
>> find your five.
The idea is that you know, find
trusted allies that can be
there and can be responsive and
we'll check in with you if a
disaster were to happen.
>> so we recommend that you put
people in your network that are
down the street that are maybe
the next town over there
outside the county and maybe
even outside of the state
the final tier of the ready set
go is that go peace and it's
simply that it's go evacuate
mission information comes in
two types.
The first type could be an
evacuation warning.
This is an essentially
information we're going to push
out to the public notifying
them of a potential threat in
their area where they MAY have
to evacuate their home and
evacuation order is essentially
that we are telling people that
it's time to go.
there is an imminent threat to
life and we do not believe that
you have much time to leave
the area.
>> code red is a opt in
alerting system that will dial
your number.
It'll send you a phone call, a
text message and anemail
notifying you of an emergency.
That message sent from our
office the office of emergency
services.
It's going to be very targeted
to your area and it'll be
specific to you that five
thirteen the phone rang with
the code red call and so as I
was going up forty nine I could
look over to the left and see
the flames in the canyon.
The next layer is for staff to
actually be out driving in
the areas with a low siren.
>> there's no other reason
you'll hear that in an area
unless we're putting out that
evacuation order not a warning
but an order day started a
routine patrol came in and I
was notified by dispatch to
respond out to the jones fire
houses that had evacuation tags
made it so we could just pass
by.
We knew that the residents had
already been evacuated
residences that did not have
the tags we would have to
physically go in and knock on
the door, look in the windows,
make sure there were no
occupants inside once you've
been evacuated as you're
leaving, put this tag somewhere
very clearly identifiable
whether it's a mailbox, a gate
,your address marker so that
deputies and officers can
quickly identify if your
residence has already been
evacuated.
I mean you look out my back
window here on the east side
and you see how close this fire
came.
It was certainly a shock and at
the same time it was such an
incredible relief to have
the house as safe as it was.
I and I think with personal
preparedness and being ready it
can feel overwhelming.
It can feel like a lot to do
and the most important pieces
to just start with one little
bite at a time just start
the conversation, have some
sort of plan.
It can be a small ismy to place
,you know, a destination that
everybody will get to everybody
in the household to get to if
there's a disaster.
Recognize you live in a
community in a county that
really does take the emergency
response as a priority.
We have worked diligently
throughout the last few years
on ensuring that not only our
staff are trained and prepared
but we're also putting that
that out for our community.
The more prepared you are in
your own community, the better
the outcome is going to be
the level of community
awareness they have to be part
of the solution.
They have to communicate with
their neighbors.
They have to be part of
the discussion in communities
they have to support
the response, the prevention,
the education and and
ultimately the collaboration
and the engaged people have to
be engaged at all levels.
the more you think about it now
the easier it will be when
the time comes that you need to
evacuate.
We've created this network and
we want you to make sure that
you know that you can tap into
that so if you are feeling a
little bit overwhelmed, not
sure where to start.
Reach out to one of our offices
.
Reach out to the fire safe
council or two one one.
We're here to support you
from
the foothills of the sierra
nevada, a new era will emerge
one who is ready one who make
sure their friends and family
are set and has the power to go
at a moment's notice this fire
season.
>> you are the hero we are
ready.
>> nevada county, nevada county
has a new tool to make
evacuations safer and more
efficient in the event of an
emergency.
This new tool is called zone
haven and we need you to know
your zone in order to know your
zone you need to go to
community dot zone haven dotcom
type in your address once your
address populates in the up
window take that information
and write down the zone that is
given to you where you know
you'll find it in case of
emergency zone haven and
knowing your zone does not
replace next call and or code
red it actually supplements
them and it makes those tools
more powerful because you will
know what zones are being
evacuated or which ones are
being placed on advisory and as
a result you won't have to do
anything else other than listen
to those messages and know if
it's time to go even if you
don't have internet this could
be done by word of mouth, it
can be done by radio or it
could be driving down
the street.
So please know your zone from
truckee to lake at the pines
from chicago park to spend
sevil every single square mile
of nevada county has a zone and
having a zone that you know for
your neighborhood is going to
help you save time to be able
to evacuate and keep you and
your family safe.
Fretting about a county is an
education campaign designed to
help the public have successful
outcomes during emergency
events we really focus on a
whole host of disasters or
emergency events.
We want to have a broad
spectrum.
We want to be prepared for
anything but really we focus a
lot on wildfire because we know
that's one of the most likely
events to happen in nevada
county.
>> ready, set, go is really
built around the wildfire
premise to prepare residents to
be ready before an event to
move into a set posture when
there's a red flag or fires
near you and then to go when
it's time to go essentially in
its simplest form it's a three
tiered community emergency
preparedness plan I have lived
in this house which we built my
husband and I twenty six years
ago now actually we selected
the hardy like the concrete
siding and also the metal roof
then and we moved up here and
heard about the forty nine year
fire.
That's when we started to say
wow this really is even more
important than we first
realized for the forty nine
year fire is one of the most
historic fires in nevada
county's history.
They figured it'd change
the laws of the state of
california.
That said, this is how you have
to protect your home that came
out of nevada county.
Steve eubanks came from
the fire safe council and
the main thing he needed to pay
attention to was the ladder
fuels planting has been removed
from the edges of the house so
that it does not touch
the house.
It was an incredible service
from the fire safe council to
come out and spend a couple of
hours going through this
property.
So the phase is when there's no
immediate threat to you and
your family.
This is a time when you should
be doing education and planning
whether it be training,
educating yourself or
accumulating equipment,
hardening your home, creating
defensible space defense space
is really all about creating a
buffer zone between your house
and flammable vegetation.
We really focus on defensible
space around the home but first
100 feet but also around
the roadway to another aspect
of the ready phase is hardening
the home and really what that
means is making your home more
resilient to a wildfire that's
going to be putting a fine
grained mesh around the vents
of your home so the embers
won't get into under your house
or into the eaves of your house
that's going to be using
noncombustible materials on
your deck and around your home
.
So no storm comes through.
It's not going to ignite your
home itself.
I currently live here in grass
valley with my parents.
All of us have sleep apnea so
we all have separate machines
that require power in order to
run.
I also use nebulizer and that's
used to disperse medication
that I need to get myself
breathing again when we have
safety shutoffs we have to hook
up our equipment to batteries
that have inverters.
We have a generator that power
some of the things around
the house.
But then I obtained a pretty
substantial battery from friede
and it was so easy to go
through the process to obtain a
battery that I would recommend
it to anyone who might have
medical needs that require
power or really anything.
I would highly recommend
contacting friede so whether
it's a snowstorm or a public
safety power shutoff, we really
want folks to be thinking about
ok, what are the things I'll
need on hand to weather
the storm?
Do I need to have candles?
Do I need to have battery
powered radio or do I need to
have flashlights?
So what are the things that you
need to shelter in place or
address the disaster at hand so
go back could it could be a
backpack.
It could be a suitcase.
It's going to be something that
you put together to sustain
yourself, your family, your
pets if needed.
That's going to have food,
water, medication, clothing,
toiletries to get you buy for
seventy two hours you need to
think of your go bag as
the only resource you MAY have
.
Stores MAY be closed the power
maybe I'll see you MAY have to
literally live out of this
thing for a three day period as
an evacuee if you are someone
with a disability maybe you
have a chronic health condition
for me I have type one
diabetes.
I have an insulin pump right.
>> and so that's a critical
piece that I need to plan for
if I'm going to ever evacuate
or be away from my house
frankly for any amount of time
.
Right.
What we find often is that if
people don't evacuate with
their c pap machine with their
oxygen concentrator, with their
wheelchair walker then I can
be difficult on th other end.
My name is ulysses palencia.
I work in the two one one call
center.
I'm just the PRESIDENT Of grass
valley.
I have two daughters four year
old and a one year old in
nevada county two and one is
available 24/7.
So we provide for the community
is information that can be
anything from directions to
the resource centers.
It can be letting them know
where the fire is.
You know, if they are
themselves in an evacuation
center, if it's a fire, if
there's any information as to
whether power's coming back on
during a two on one, it's
the information that we provide
directly from the county.
So directly from the office of
emergency services the whole
team cares.
We're all local community
members.
We all just want to help.
So we were all sleeping in bed
on thursday, NOVEMBER 8th in
paradise and first the house
phone rang, picked up my phone
.
It was my sister who lived a
block or so away from us.
>> we were waking by a
telephone call from my daughter
.
She said that we were being
evacuated.
I left sooner than them.
I had everything ready.
>> they were on the way out
the door.
There was no time to think
about what are going to take
what you're not going to take
the night before the fire I
knew it was a red flag warning
and I knew that it was high
risk.
>> so on my way home I filled
up the tank.
Well, we we didn't get too far
from the house.
You're watching fire coming
down the hill.
>> there was a machine shop
right to my right right there
and it had gas tanks and
propane tanks and I saw a lone
ember kind of floating through
dancing through the air and I
watched does it landed on
the machine shop in the time it
took me to get my phone back
into hand and to take a picture
it was engulfed in flames and I
knew that within moments it
would start exploding and I
would be dead and just as I
moved out of this the range of
the explosion they started
happening and I prayed for
the people behind me.
Ten minute drive normally
the trickle became almost four
hours so it was a long trip.
We we started to hear a pattern
.
People kept telling us their
story of how they escaped
the campfire and they talked
about how if it wasn't for my
neighbor who came and knocked
on my door to tell me there was
a fire, I don't know that I
would have gotten out alive if
it wasn't for my son who lives
next door picking me up and
putting me in their car and
driving me out there.
I don't know how I would have
survived and so I started
really thinking about this
connection between isolation
and how connected you are to
your community, to your
neighbors, to your friends, to
your family and how that can be
really helpful in a time of a
disaster.
>> so we were actually
the beneficiaries of someone
making that plan in advance to
have that group of people that
they were going to call and
that she saved my life that day
.
So absolutely having that
network really saved lives.
>> find your five.
The idea is that you know, find
trusted allies that can be
there and can be responsive and
we'll check in with you if a
disaster were to happen.
>> so we recommend that you put
people in your network that are
down the street that are maybe
the next town over there
outside the county and maybe
even outside the state.
The final tier of the ready set
go is that go peace and it's
simply that it's go evacuation
information comes in two types
.
The first type could be an
evacuation warning.
This is an essentially
information we're going to push
out to the public notifying
them of a potential threat in
their area where they MAY have
to evacuate their home and
evacuation order is essentially
that we are telling people that
it's time to go.
There is an imminent threat to
life and we do not believe that
we have much time to leave
the area.
>> code red is a opt in
alerting system that will dial
your number.
It'll send you a phone call, a
text message and an email
notifying you of an emergency.
That message sent from our
office the office of emergency
services.
It's going to be very targeted
to your area and it'll be
specific to you that five
thirteen the phone rang with
the code red call and so as I
was going up forty nine I could
look over to the left and see
the flames in the canyon.
The next layer is for staff to
actually be out driving in
the areas with a high low siren
.
>> there's no other reason
you'll hear that in an area
unless we're putting out that
evacuation order not a warning
but an order day started a
routine patrol came in and I
was notified by dispatch to
respond out to the jones fire
houses that had evacuation tags
made it so we could just pass
by.
We knew that the residents had
already been evacuated
residences that did not have
the tags we would have to
physically go in and knock on
the door, look in the windows,
make sure there were no
occupants inside once you've
been evacuated as you're
leaving, put this tag somewhere
very clearly identifiable
whether it's a mailbox, a gate
,your address marker so that
deputies and officers can
quickly identify if your
residence has already been
evacuated.
I mean you look out my back
window here on the east side
and you see how close this fire
came.
It was certainly a shock and at
the same time it was such an
incredible relief to have
the house as safe as it was.
I and I think with personal
preparedness and being ready it
can feel overwhelming.
It can feel like a lot to do
and the most important piece is
to just start with one little
bite at a time just start
the conversation, have some
sort of plan.
It can be a small ismy to place
,you know, a destination that
everybody will get to everybody
in the household to get to if
there's a disaster.
Recognize you live in a
community in a county that
really does take the emergency
response as a priority.
We have worked diligently
throughout the last few years
on ensuring that not only our
staff are trained and prepared
but we're also putting that
that out for our community.
The more prepared you are in
your own community, the better
the outcome is going to be
the level of community
awareness they have to be part
of the solution.
They have to communicate with
their neighbors.
They have to be part of
the discussion in communities
they have to support
the response, the prevention,
the education and and
ultimately the collaboration
and the engaged people have to
be engaged at all levels.
The more you think about it now
the easier it will be when
the time comes that you need to
evacuate.
We've created this network and
we want you to make sure that
you know that you can tap into
that so if you are feeling a
little bit overwhelmed, not
sure where to start reach out
to one of our offices, reach
out to the fire safe council or
two on one.
We're here to support you
from
the foothills of the sierra
nevada.
A new era will emerge one who
is ready, one who makes sure
their friends and family are
set and has the power to go at
a moment's notice this fire
season.
You are the hero we are ready.
>> nevada county, nevada county
has a new tool to make
evacuations safer and more
efficient in the event of an
emergency.
This new tool is called zone
haven and we need you to know
your zone in order to know your
zone you need togo to
community dot zone haven dot
dotcom type in your address
once your address populates and
the popup window take that
information and write down
the zone that is given to you
where you know you'll find it
in case of emergency zone haven
and knowing your zone does not
replace netsol and or code red
it actually supplements them
and it makes those tools more
powerful because you will know
what zones are being evacuated
or which ones are being placed
on advisory and as a result you
won't have to do anything else
other than listen to those
messages and know if it's time
to go even if you don't have
internet.
This could be done by word of
mouth.
It can be done by radio or it
could be driving down
the street.
So please know your zone from
truckee to lake at the pines
from chicago park to pennsville
every single square mile of
nevada county has a zone and
having a zone that you know for
your neighborhood is going to
help you save time to be able
to evacuate and keep you and
your family safe.
>> fretting about a county is
an education campaign designed
to help the public have
successful outcomes during
emergency events we really
focus on a whole host of
disasters or emergency events.
We want to have a broad
spectrum.
We want to be prepared for
anything but really we focus a
lot on wildfire because we know
that's one of the most likely
events to happen in nevada
county.
>> ready, set, go is really
built around the wildfire
premise to prepare residents to
be ready before an event to
move into a set posture when
there's a red flag or fires
near you and then you go when
it's time to go essentially in
its simplest form it's a three
tiered community emergency
preparedness plan I have lived
in this house which we built my
husband and I twenty six years
ago now actually we selected
the hardy plug the concrete
siding and also the metal roof
.
Then and we moved up here and
heard about the forty nine year
fire.
That's when we started to say
wow this really is even more
important than we first
realized for the forty nine
year fire is one of the most
historic fires in nevada
county's history.
They figured it'd change
the laws of the state of
california.
That said, this is how you have
to protect your home that came
out of nevada county.
Steve eubanks came from
the fire safe council and
the main thing he needed to pay
attention to was the ladder
fuels planting has been removed
from the edges of the house so
that it does not touch
the house.
It was an incredible service
from the fire safe council to
come out and spend a couple of
hours going through this
property so already phases when
there's no immediate threat to
you and your family.
This is the time when you
should be doing education and
planning whether that be
training, educating yourself or
accumulating equipment,
hardening your home, creating
defensible space, defensible
space is really all about
creating a buffer zone between
your house and flammable
vegetation.
We really focus on defensible
space around the home but first
one hundred feet but also
around the roadway to another
aspect the ready phase is
hardening the home and really
what that means making your
home more resilient to a
wildfire that's going to be
putting the fine grained mesh
around the vents of your home
so the embers won't get into
under your house or into
the eaves of your house that's
going to be using
noncombustible materials on
your deck and around your home
so no storm comes through.
It's not going to ignite your
home itself.
I currently live here in grass
valley with my parents all of
us have sleep apnea so we all
have sleep machines that
require power in order to run.
>> I also use a nebulizer and
that's used to disperse
medication that I need get
myself breathing again when we
have safety shutoffs we have to
hook up our equipment to
batteries that have inverters.
>> we have a generator that
powers some of the things
around the house but then I
obtained a pretty substantial
battery from friede and it was
so easy to go through
the process to obtain a battery
that I would recommend it to
anyone who might have medical
needs that require power or
really anything.
I would highly recommend
contacting friede so whether
it's a snowstorm or a public
safety power shut, we really
want folks to be thinking about
ok, what are the things I'll
need on hand to weather
the storm?
Do I need to have candles?
Do I need to have battery
powered radio?
Do I need to have flashlights?
So what are the things that
you'll need to shelter in place
or address the disaster at hand
so go back could be anything it
could be a backpack.
It could be a suitcase.
It's going to be something that
you put together to sustain
yourself, your family, your
pets if needed.
That's going to have food,
water, medication, clothing,
toiletries to get you buy for
seventy two hours you need to
think of your go bag as
the only resource you MAY have.
Stores MAY be closed, the power
MAY be out so you MAY have
literally live out of this
thing for a three day period as
an evacuee if you are someone
with a disability maybe you
have chronic health condition
for me I have type one diabetes
.
I have an insulin pump.
>> right.
And so that's a critical piece
that I need to plan for if I'm
going to ever evacuate or be
away from my house.
Frankly for any amount of time
.
Right.
What we find often is that if
people don't evacuate with
their c pap machine, with their
oxygen concentrator, with their
wheelchair walker then it can
be difficult on the other end.
My name is ulysses palencia.
I work in the two one one call
center.
I'm just a resident of grass
valley.
I have two daughters four year
old and a one year old in
nevada county two one one is
available 24/7 so we provide
for the community is
information that could be
anything from directions to
the resource centers.
It can be letting them know
where the fire is.
You know, if they are
themselves in an evacuation
center, if it's a fire, if
there's any information as to
whether power's coming back on
during a speaks to and one gets
the information that we provide
directly from the county so
directly from the office of
emergency services, the whole
team cares.
We're all local community
members.
We just want to help.
So we were all sleeping in bed
on thursday, NOVEMBER 8th in
paradise and first the house
phone ring picked up my phone.
it was my sister who lived a
block or so away from us.
>> we were woken by a telephone
call from my daughter.
She said that we were being
evacuated.
I left sooner than them.
I had everything ready.
They were on the way out
the door.
There was no time to think
about what you're going to take
,what you're not going to take
.
>> the night before the fire I
knew it was a red flag warning
and I knew that it was a high
risk so on my way home I filled
up the tank.
>> oh well we we didn't get too
far from the house and you're
watching fire coming down
the hill there was a machine
shop right to my right right
there and it had gas tanks and
propane tanks and I saw a lone
ember kind of floating through
dancing through the air and I
watched it as it landed on
the machine shop in the time it
took me to get my phone back
into hand and to take a picture
was engulfed in flames and I
knew that within moments it
would start exploding and I
would be dead.
And just as I moved out of this
the range of the explosions
they started happening and I
prayed for the people behind me
.
Ten minute drive normally
the trickle became almost four
hours so it was a long trip.
We started to hear a pattern.
People kept telling their story
of how they escaped
the campfire and they talked
about how if it wasn't for my
neighbor who came and knocked
on my door to tell me there was
a fire, I don't know that I
would have gotten out alive if
it wasn't for my son who lives
next door picking me up and
putting me in their car and
driving me out of there.
I don't know how I would have
survived and so I started
really thinking about this
connection between isolation
and how connected you are to
your community, to your
neighbors, to your friends, to
your family and how that can be
really helpful in a time of a
disaster.
So we were actually
the beneficiaries of someone
making that plan in advance to
have that group of people tat
they were going to call and
that she saved my life that day
.
So absolutely having that
network really saved lives.
>> find your five.
The idea is that you know, find
trusted allies that can be
there and can be responsive and
we'll check in with you if a
disaster were to happen.
>> so we recommend that you put
people in your network that are
down the street that are maybe
the next town over there
outside the county and maybe
even outside of the state
the final tier of the ready set
go is that go peace and it's
simply that it's go evacuate
mission information comes in
two types.
The first type could be an
evacuation warning.
This is an essentially
information we're going to push
out to the public notifying
them of a potential threat in
their area where they MAY have
to evacuate their home and
evacuation order is essentially
that we are telling people that
it's time to go.
There is an imminent threat to
life and we do not believe that
you have much time to leave
the area.
>> code red is a opt in
alerting system that will dial
your number.
It'll send you a phone call, a
text message and an email
notifying you of an emergency.
That message is sent from our
office.
The office of emergency
services.
It's going to be very targeted
to your area and it'll be
specific to you that 513
the phone rang with the code
red call and so as I was going
up forty nine I could look over
to the left and see the flames
in the canyon.
The next layer is for staff to
actually be out driving in
the areas with a low siren.
>> there's no other reason
you'll hear that in an area
unless we're putting out that
evacuation order not a warning
but an order.
My day started routine patrol
came in and I was notified by
dispatch to respond out to
the jones fire houses that had
evacuation tags made it so we
could just pass by.
We knew that the residents had
already been evacuated
residences that did not have
the tags we would have to
physically go in and knock on
the door, look in the windows,
make sure there were no
occupants inside once you've
been evacuated as you're
leaving, put this tag somewhere
very clearly identifiable
whether it's a mailbox, a gate
,your address marker so that
deputies and officers can
quickly identify if your
residence has already been
evacuated.
You look out my back window
here on the east side and you
see how close this fire came.
It was certainly a shock and at
the same time it was such an
incredible relief to have
the house as safe as it was.
I mean I think with personal
preparedness and being ready it
can feel overwhelming.
It can feel like a lot to do
and the most important piece is
to just start with one little
bite at a time just start
the conversation, have some
sort of plan.
It can be a small ismy to place
,you know, a destination that
everybody will get to everybody
in the household to get to if
there's a disaster.
Recognize you live in a
community in a county that
really does take the emergency
response as a priority.
We have worked diligently
throughout the last few years
on ensuring that not only our
staff are trained and prepared
but we're also putting that
that out for our community.
The more prepared you are in
your own community, the better
the outcome is going to be
the level of community
awareness they have to be part
of the solution.
They have to communicate with
their neighbors.
They have to be part of
the discussion in communities
they have to support
the response, the prevention,
the education and ultimately
the collaboration and
the engagement.
People have to be engaged at
all levels.
The more you think about now
the easier it will be when
the time comes that you need to
evacuate.
We've created this network and
we want you to make sure that
you know that you can tap into
that so if you are feeling a
little bit overwhelmed, not
sure where to start.
Reach out to one of our offices
,reach out to the fire safe
council or two on one.
We're here to support you
from
the foothills of the sierra
nevada, a new hero will emerge
one who is ready, one who make
sure their friends and family
are set and has the power to go
at a moment's notice this fire
season.
You are the hero we are ready.
Nevada county, nevada county
has a new tool to make
evacuations safer and more
efficient in the event of an
emergency.
This new tool is called zone
haven and we need you to know
your zone in order to know your
zone you need to go to
community stonehaven dotcom
type in your address once your
address populates and the popup
window take that information
and write down the zone that is
given to you where you know
you'll find it in case of
emergency zone haven and
knowing your zone does not
replace call and or code red it
actually supplements them and
it makes those tools more
powerful because you will know
what zones are being evacuated
or which ones are being placed
on advisory and as a result you
won't have to do anything else
other than listen to those
messages and know if it's time
to go even if you don't have
internet.
This could be done by word of
mouth.
It can be done by radio or it
could be driving down
the street.
So please know your zone from
truckee to lake at the pines
from chicago park to pennsville
every single square mile of
nevada county has a zone and
having a zone that you know for
your neighborhood is going to
help you save time to be able
to evacuate and keep you and
your family safe
.
Fretting about a county is an
education campaign designed to
help the public have successful
outcomes during emergency
events we really focus on a
whole host of disasters or
emergency events.
We want to have a broad
spectrum.
We want to be prepared for
anything but really we focus a
lot on wildfire because we know
that's one of the most likely
events to happen in nevada
county.
>> ready, set, go is really
built around the wildfire
premise to prepare residents to
be ready before an event to
move into a set posture when
there's a red flag or fires
near you and then to go when
it's time to go essentially in
its simplest form it's a three
tiered community emergency
preparedness plan.
i have lived in this house
which we built my husband and I
twenty six years ago now
actually we selected the hardy
like the concrete siding and
also the metal roof.
Then when we moved up here and
heard about the forty nine year
fire that's when we started to
say wow this really is even
more important than we first
realized for the forty nine
year fire is one of the most
historic fires in nevada
county's history.
They figured it changed
the laws of the state of
california that said this is
how you have to protect your
home that came out of nevada
county.
Steve eubanks came from
the fire safe council and
the main thing we needed to pay
attention to was the ladder
fuels planting has been removed
from the edges of the house so
that it does not touch
the house.
It was an incredible service
from the fire safe council to
come out and spend a couple of
hours going through this
property.
So the phase is when there's no
immediate threat to you and
your family, this is the time
when you shuld be doing
education and planning whether
that be training, educating
yourself or accumulating
equipment, hardening your home
,creating defensible space,
defensible space is really all
about creating a buffer zone
between your house and
flammable vegetation.
We really focus on defensible
space around the home that
first 100 feet but also around
the roadway to another aspect
of the ready phase is hardening
the home and really what that
means is making your home more
resilient to a wildfire that's
going to be putting the fine
grained mesh around the vents
of your home so the embers
won't get into under your house
or into the eaves of your house
.
That's going to be using
noncombustible materials on
your deck and around your home
.
So you know, no storm comes
through.
It's not going to ignite your
home itself.
I currently live here in grass
valley with my parents.
All of us have sleep apnea so
we all have separate machines
that require power in order to
run.
I also use a nebulizer and
that's used to disperse
medication that I need to get
myself breathing again when we
have safety shutoffs we have to
hook up our equipment to
batteries that have inverters.
We have a generator that powers
some of the things around
the house.
But then I obtained a pretty
substantial battery from friede
and it was so easy to go
through the process to obtain a
battery that I would recommend
it to anyone who might have
medical needs that require
power or really anything.
I would highly recommend
contacting friede so whether
it's a snowstorm or a public
safety power off, we really
want folks to be thinking about
ok, what are the things I'll
need on hand to weather
the storm?
Do I need to have candles?
Do I need to have battery
powered radio or do I need to
have flashlight?
So what are the things that you
need to shelter in place or
address the disaster at hand so
go back could be anything could
be a backpack.
It could be a suitcase.
It's going to be something that
you put together to sustain
yourself, your family, your
pets if needed.
That's going to have food,
water, medication, clothing,
toiletries to get you buy for
seventy two hours you need to
think of your go bag as
the only resource you MAY have
.
Stores MAY be closed the power
maybe I'll see you MAY have to
literally live out of this
thing for a three day period as
an evacuee if you are someone
with a disability maybe you
have a chronic health condition
for me I have type one diabetes
.
I have an insulin pump.
Right.
And so that's a critical piece
that I need to plan for if I'm
going to evacuate or be away
from my house frankly for any
amount of time.
Right.
What we find often is that if
people don't evacuate with
their c pap machine with their
oxygen concentrator, with their
wheelchair walker then it can
be difficult on the other end.
My name is ulysses palencia.
I work in the two one one call
center.
I'm just a PRESIDENT Of grass
valley.
i have two daughters four year
old and a one year old in
nevada county two one one is
available 24/7 so we provide
for the community is
information that could b
anything from directions to
the resource centers.
It can be letting them know
where the fire is.
You know, if they are
themselves in an evacuation
center, if it's a fire, if
there's any information as to
whether power's coming back on
during a two on one, it's
the information that we provide
directly from the county.
So directly from the office of
emergency services the whole
team cares.
We're all local community
members.
We all just want to help.
So we were all sleeping in bed
on thursday, NOVEMBER 8th in
paradise and first the house
phone rang, picked up my phone
.
It was my sster who lived a
block or so away from us.
>> we were walking by a
telephone call from my daughter
.
She said that we were being
evacuated.
I left sooner than them.
I had everything ready.
>> they were on the way out
the door.
There was no time to think
about what are going to take
what you're not going to take
the night before the fire I
knew it was a red flag warning
and I knew that it was high
risk.
>> so on my way home I filled
up the tank.
Well, we didn't get too far
from the house.
You're watching fire come down
the hill.
>> there was a machine shop
right to my right right there
and it had gas tanks and
propane tanks and I saw a lone
ember kind of floating through
dancing through the air and I
watched it as it landed on
the machine shop in a time it
took me to get my phone back
into hand and to take a picture
.
It was engulfed in flames and I
knew that within moments it
would start exploding and I
would be dead.
And just as I moved out of this
the range of the explosions
they started happening and I
prayed for the people behind me
ten to drive normally
the trickle became almost four
hours so it was a long trip.
>> we started to hear a pattern
.
People kept telling us their
story of how they escaped
the campfire and they talked
about how if it wasn't for my
neighbor who came and knocked
on my door to tell me there was
a fire, I don't know that I
would have gotten out alive if
it wasn't for my son who lives
next door picking me up and
putting me in their car and
driving me out of there.
I don't know how I would have
survived and so I started
really thinking about this
connection between isolation
and how connected you are to
your community, to your
neighbors, to your friends, to
your family and how that can be
really helpful in a time of a
disaster.
So we were actually
the beneficiaries of someone
making that plan in advance to
have that group of people that
they were going to call and
that she saved my life that day
.
So absolutely having a network
really saved lives.
>> find your five.
The idea is that you know, find
trusted allies that can be
there and can be responsive and
we'll check in with you if a
disaster were to happen.
>> so we recommend that you put
people in your network that are
down the street that are maybe
the next town over there
outside the county and maybe
even outside the state
the final tier of the race that
go is that go piece and it's
simply that it's go evacuate
mission information comes in
two types.
The first type could be an
evacuation warning.
This is an essentially
information we're going to push
out to the public notifying
them of a potential threat in
their area where they MAY have
to evacuate their home and
evacuation order is essentially
that we are telling people that
it's time to go.
There is an imminent threat to
life and we donot believe that
we have much time to leave
the area.
>> code red is a opt in
alerting system that will dial
your number.
It'll send you a phone call, a
text message and an email
notifying you of an emergency.
That message sent from our
office the office of emergency
services.
It's going to be very targeted
to your area and it'll be
specific to you that five
thirteen the phone rang with
the code red call and so as I
was going up forty nine I could
look over to the left and see
the flames in the canyon.
The next layer is for staff to
actually be out driving in
the areas with a high low siren
.
>> there's no other reason
you'll hear that in an area
unless we're puting out that
evacuation order not a warning
but an order.
My dy started routine patrol
came in and I was notified by
dispatch to respond out to
the jones fire houses that had
evacuation tags made it so we
could just pass by.
We knew that the residents had
already been evacuated
residences that did not have
the tags we would have to
physically go in and knock on
the door, look in the windows,
make sure there were no
occupants inside once you've
been evacuated as you're
leaving, put this tag somewhere
very clearly identifiable
whether it's a mailbox or a
gate, your address marker so
that deputies and officers can
quickly identify if your
residence has already been
evacuated.
You look out my back window
here on te east side and you
see how close this fire came.
It was certainly a shock and at
the same time it was such an
incredible relief to have
the house as safe as it was.
I mean I think with personal
preparedness and being ready it
can feel overwhelming.
It can feel like a lot to do
and the most important pieces
to just start with one little
bite at a time, just start
the conversation, have some
sort plan.
It can be as small as a meet up
place, you know, a destination
that everybody will get to
everybody in the household will
get to if there's a disaster.
Recognize you live in a
community in a county that
really does take the emergency
response as a priority.
We have worked diligently
throughout the last few years
on ensuring that not only our
staff are trained and prepared
but we're also putting that
that out for our community.
The more prepared you are in
your own community, the better
the outcome is going to be
the level of community
awareness they have to be part
of the solution.
They have to communicate with
their neighbors.
They have to be part of
the discussion in communities.
They have to support
the response, the prevention,
the education and ultimately
the collaboration and
the engagement people have to
be engaged at all levels
the more you think about it now
the easier it will be when
the time comes that you need to
evacuate.
We've created this network and
we want to make sure that you
know that you can tap into that
.
So if you are feeling a little
bit overwhelmed, not sure where
to start.
Reach out to one of our offices
,reach out to the fire safe
council or two on one.
we're here to support you
from
the foothills of the sierra
nevada.
A new era will emerge one who
is ready one who make sure
their friends and family are
set and has the power to go at
a moment's notice this fire
season.
You are the hero we are ready.
Nevada county, nevada county
has a new tool to make
evacuations safer and more
efficient in the event of an
emergency.
This new tool is called zone
haven and we need you to know
your zone in order to know your
zone you need to go to
community dot zone haven dot
dotcom type in your address
once your address populates in
the pop window take that
information and write down
the zone that is given to you
where you know you'll find it
in case of emergency zone haven
and knowing your zone does not
replace and or code red it
actually supplements them and
it makes those tools more
powerful because you will know
what zones ar being evacuated
or which ones are being placed
on advisory and as a result you
won't have to do anything else
other than listen to those
messages and know if it's time
to go even if you don't have
internet.
This could be done by word of
mouth, it can be done by radio
or it could be us driving down
the street.
>> so please know your zone
from truckee to lake at
the pines from chicago park to
spend sevil every single square
mile of nevada county has a
zone and having a zone that you
know for your neighborhood is
going to help you save time to
be able to evacuate and keep
you and your family safe.
Fretting about a county is an
education campaign designed to
help the public have successful
outcomes during emergency
events we really focus on a
whole host of disasters or
emergency events.
We want to have a broad
spectrum.
We want to be prepared for
anything but really we focus a
lot on wildfire because we know
that's one of the most likely
events to happen in nevada
county already tego is really
built around the wildfire
premise to prepare residents to
be ready before an event to
move into a set posture when
there's a red flag or fires
near you and then to go when
it's time to go essentially in
its simplest form it's a three
tiered community emergency
preparedness plan I have lived
in this house which we built my
husband and I twenty six years
ago now actually we selected
the hardy plug the concrete
siding and also the metal roof
.
Then we moved up here and heard
about the forty nine year fire
.
That's when we started to say
wow this really is even more
important than we first
realized for the forty nine
year fire fires one of the most
historic fires in nevada
county's history they figured
it'd change the laws of
the state of california.
That said, this is how you have
to protect your home that came
out of nevada county.
Steve eubanks came from
the fire save council and
the main thing we needed to pay
attention to was the ladder
fuels planting has been removed
from the edges of the house so
that it does not touch
the house.
It was an incredible service
from the fire safe council to
come out and spend a couple of
hours going through this
property.
So the remedy phase is when
there's no immediate threat to
you and your family, this is
the time when you should be
doing education and planning
whether that be training,
educating yourself or
accumulating equipment,
hardening your home, creating
defensible space, defensible
space is really all about
creating a buffer zone between
your house and flammable
vegetation.
We really focus on defensible
space around the home but first
one hundred feet but also
around the roadway to another
aspect of the ready phase is
hardening the home and really
what that means is making your
home more resilient to a
wildfire that's going to be
putting the fine grained mesh
around the vents of your home
so the embers won't get into
under your house or into
the eaves of your house.
That's going to be using
noncombustible materials on
your deck and around your home
.
So when the storm comes through
it's not going to ignite your
home itself.
I currently live here in grass
valley with my parents.
All of us have sleep apnea so
we all have separate machines
that require power in order to
run.
I also use a nebulizer and
that's used to disperse
medication that I need to get
myself breathing again when we
have safety shutoffs we have to
hook up our equipment to
batteries that have inverters.
We have a generator that powers
some of the things around
the house.
But then I obtained a pretty
substantial battery from friede
and it was so easy to go
through the process to obtain a
battery that I would recommend
it to anyone who might have
medical needs that require
power or really anything.
I would highly recommend
contacting friede so whether
it's a snowstorm or a public
safety power shutoff we really
want folks to be thinking about
ok, what are the things I'll
need on hand to weather
the storm?
Do I need to have candles?
Do I need to have battery
powered radio or do I need to
have flashlight?
So what are the things that you
need to shelter in place or
address the disaster at hand so
go back could be anything could
be a backpack.
It could be a suitcase.
It's going to be something that
you put together to sustain
yourself, your family, your
pets if needed.
That's going to have food,
water, medication, clothing,
toiletries to get you buy for
seventy two hours you need to
think of your go bag as
the only resource you MAY have
.
Stores MAY be closed, the power
MAY be out so you MAY have to
literally live out of this
thing for a three day period as
an evacuee if you are someone
with a disability maybe you
have a chronic health condition
for me I have type one diabetes
.
I have an insulin pump.
Right.
And so that's a critical piece
that I need to plan for if I'm
going to evacuate or be away
from my house frankly for any
amount of time.
Right.
What we find often is that if
people don't evacuate with
their c pap machine wih their
oxygen concentrator, with their
wheelchair walker then it can
be difficult on the other end.
My name is ulysses palencia.
I work in the two one one call
center.
I'm just a resident of grass
valley.
I have two daughters four year
old and a one year old in
nevada county two one one is
available twenty four seven so
we provide for the community is
information that could be
anything from directions to
the resource centers.
It can be letting them know
where the fire is.
You know if they are themselves
in an evacuation center, if
it's a fire, if there's any
information as to whether
power's coming back on during a
two on one, it's
the information that we provide
directly from the county.
So directly from the office of
emergency services the whole
team cares.
We're all local community
members.
We all just want to help.
So we were all sleeping in bed
on thursday, NOVEMBER 8th in
paradise and first the house
phone rang, picked up my phone
.
It was my sister who lived a
block or so away from us.
>> we were walking by a
telephone call from my daughter
.
She said that we were being
evacuated.
I left sooner than them.
I had everything ready.
>> they were on the way out
the door.
There was no time to think
about what you're going to take
,what you're not going to take
the night before the fire I
knew it was a red flag warning
and I knew that it was high
risk.
>> so on my way home I filled
up the tank.
Well, we we didn't get too far
from the house.
You're watching fire come down
the hill.
There was a machine shop right
to my right right there and it
had gas tanks and propane tanks
and I saw a lone ember kind
floating through dancing
through the air and I watched
it as it landed on the machine
shop in a time it took me to
get my phone back into hand and
to take a picture.
It was engulfed in flames and I
knew that within moments it
would start exploding and I
would be dead.
And just as I moved out of this
the range of the explosions
they started happening and i
prayed for the people behind me
ten to drive normally
the trigger became almost four
hours so it was a long trip.
>> we started to hear a pattern
.
People kept telling us their
story of how they escaped
the campfire and they talked
about how if it wasn't for my
neighbor who came and knocked
on my door to tell me there was
a fire, I don't know that I
would have gotten out alive if
it wasn't for my son who lives
next door picking me up and
putting me in their car and
driving me out of there.
I don't know how I would have
survived and so I started
really thinking about this
connection between isolation
and how connected you are to
your community, to your
neighbors, to your friends, to
your family and how that can be
really helpful in a time of a
disaster.
So we were actually
the beneficiaries of someone
making that plan in advance to
have that group of people that
they were going to call and
that she saved my life that day
.
So absolutely having that
network really saved lives.
>> find your five.
The idea is that you know, find
trusted allies that can be
there and can be responsive and
we'll check in with you if a
disaster were to happen.
>> so we recommend that you put
people in your network that are
down the street that are maybe
the next town over there
outside the county and maybe
even outside the state.
The final tier of the ready set
go is that go peace and it's
simply that it's go evacuate
mission information comes in
two types.
The first type could be an
evacuation warning.
This is an essentially
information we're going to push
out to the public notifying
them of a potential threat in
their area where they MAY have
to evacuate their home and
evacuation order is essentially
that we are telling people that
it's time to go.
There is an imminent threat to
life and we do not believe that
we have much time to leave
the area.
>> code red is a opt in
alerting system that will dial
your number.
It'll send you a phone call, a
text message and an email
notifying you of an emergency.
That message sent from our
office the office of emergency
services.
It's going to be very targeted
to your area and it'll be
specific to you that five
thirteen the phone rang with
the code red call and so as I
was going up forty nine I could
look over to the left and see
the flames in the canyon.
The next layer is for staff to
actually be out driving in
the areas with a low siren.
>> there's no other reason
you'll hear that in an area
unless we're putting out that
evacuation order not a warning
but an order.
My day started routine patrol
came in and I was notified by
dispatch to respond out to
the jones fire houses that had
evacuation tags made it so we
could just pass by.
we knew that the residents had
already been evacuated
residences that did not have
the tags we would have to
physically go in and knock on
the door, look in the windows,
make sure there were no
occupants inside once you've
been evacuated as you're
leaving, put this tag somewhere
very clearly identifiable
whether it's a mailbox, a gate,
your address marker so that
deputies and officers can
quickly identify if your
residence has already been
evacuated.
I mean you look out my back
window here on the east side
and you see how close this fire
came.
It was certainly a shock and at
the same time it was such an
incredible relief to have
the house as safe as it was.
I and I think with personal
preparedness and being ready it
can feel overwhelming.
It can feel like a lot to do
and the most important piece is
to just start with one little
bite at a time just start
the conversation, have some
sort of plan.
It can be a small ismy place,
you know, a destination that
everybody will get to everybody
in the household to get to if
there's a disaster.
Recognize you live in a
community in a county that
really does take the emergency
response as a priority.
We have worked diligently
throughout the last few years
on ensuring that not only our
staff are trained and prepared
but we're also putting that
that out for our community.
The more prepared you are in
your own community, the better
the outcome is going to be
the level of community
awareness they have to be part
of the solution.
They have to communicate with
their neighbors.
They have to be part of
the discussion in communities
they have to support
the response, the prevention,
the education and ultimately
the collaboration and
the engagement.
People have to be engaged at
all levels.
The more you think about now
the easier it will be when
the time comes that you need to
evacuate.
We've created this network and
we want you to make sure that
you know that you can tap into
that so if you are feeling a
little bit overwhelmed, not
sure where to start reach out
to one of our offices, reach
out to the fire safe council or
two on one.
We're here to support you
from
the foothills of the sierra
nevada.
A new era will emerge.
What is ready one who make sure
their friends and family are
set and has the power to go at
a moment's notice this fire
season.
You're the hero we are ready.
>> nevada county, nevada county
has a new tool to make
evacuations safer and more
efficient in the event of an
emergency.
This new tool is called zone
haven and we need yu to know
your zone in order to know your
zone you need to go to
community dot zone haven dot
com type in your address once
your address populates and
the popup window take that
information and write down
the zone that is given to you
where you know you'll find it
in case of emergency zone haven
and knowing your zone does not
replace nexon and or code red
it actually supplements them
and it makes those tools more
powerful because you will know
what zones are being evacuated
or which ones are being placed
on advisory and as a result you
don't have to do anything else
other than listen to those
messages and know if it's time
to go even if you don't have
internet this could be done by
word of mouth, it can be done
by radio or it could be driving
down the street.
So please know your zone from
truckee to lake at the pines
from chicago park to pennsville
every single square mile of
nevada county has a zone and
having a zone that you know for
your neighborhood is going to
help you save time to be able
to evacuate and keep you and
your family safe.
Fretting about a county is an
education campaign designed to
help the public have successful
outcomes during emergency
events we really focus on a
whole host of disasters or
emergency events.
We want to have a broad
spectrum.
We want to be prepared for
anything but really we focus a
lot on wildfire because we know
that's one of the most likely
events to happen in nevada
county.
>> ready, set, go is really
built around the wildfire
premise to prepare residents to
be ready before an event to
move into a set posture when
there's a red flag or fires
near you and then you go when
it's time to go essentially in
its simplest form it's a three
tiered community emergency
preparedness plan I have lived
in this house which we built my
husband and I twenty six years
ago now actually we selected
the hardy plug the concrete
siding and also the metal roof
.
Then we moved up here and heard
about the forty nine year fire
.
That's when we started to say
wow this really is even more
important than we first
realized for the forty nine
year fire is one of the most
historic fires in nevada
county's history.
They figured it'd change
the laws of the state of
california.
That said, this is how you have
to protect your home that came
out of nevada county.
Steve eubanks came from
the fire safe council and
the main thing we needed to pay
attention to was the ladder
fuels planting has been removed
from the edges of the house so
that it does not touch
the house.
It was an incredible service
from the fire safe council to
come out and spend a couple of
hours going through this
property.
So the remedy phase is when
there's no immediate threat to
you and your family.
This is the time when you
should be doing education and
planning whether that be
training, educating yourself or
accumulating equipment,
hardening your home, creating
defensible space, defensible
space is really all about
creating a buffer zone between
your house and flammable
vegetation.
We really focus on defensible
space around the home that
first one hundred feet but also
around the roadway to another
aspect of the ready phase is
hardening the home and really
what that means is making your
home more resilient to a
wildfire that's going to be
putting the fine grained mesh
around the vents of your home
so the embers won't get into
under your house or into
the eaves of your house that's
going to be using noncom
unstable materials on your deck
and around your home.
So when the storm comes through
it's not going to ignite your
home itself.
I currently live here in grass
valley with my parents.
All of us have sleep apnea so
we all have separate machines
that require power in order to
run.
I also use a nebulizer and
that's used to disperse
medication that I need to get
myself breathing again when we
have safety shutoffs we have to
hook up our equipment to
batteries that have inverters.
We have a generator that powers
some of the things around
the house.
But then I obtained a pretty
substantial battery from friede
and it was so easy to go
through the process to obtain a
battery that I would recommend
it to anyone who might have
medical needs that require
power or really anything.
I would highly recommend
contacting friede so whether
it's a snowstorm or a public
safety power shutoff we really
want folks to be thinking about
ok, what are the things I'll
need on hand to weather
the storm?
Do I need to have candles?
Do I need to have battery
powered radio or do I need to
have flashlight?
So what are the things that
you'll need to shelter in place
or address the disaster at hand
so go back it could be anything
could be a backpack.
It could be a suitcase.
It's going to be something that
you put together to sustain
yourself, your family, your
pets if needed.
That's going to have food,
water, medication, clothing,
toiletries to get you buy for
seventy two hours.
You need to think of your go
bag as the only resource you
MAY have.
Stores MAY be closed the power
maybe I'll see you MAY have to
literally live out of this
thing for a three day period as
an evacuee if you are someone
with a disability maybe you
have a chronic health condition
for me I have type one diabetes
.
I have an insulin pump.
Right.
And so that's a critical piece
that I need to plan for if I'm
going to evacuate or be away
from my house frankly for any
amount of time.
Right.
What we find often is that if
people don't evacuate with
their c pap machine with their
oxygen concentrator, with their
wheelchair walker then it can
be difficult on the other end.
My name is ulysses palencia.
I work in the two one one call
center.
I'm just a resident of grass
valley.
I have two daughters four year
old and a one year old in
nevada county two one one is
available 24/7 so we provide
for the community is
information that can be
anything from directions to
the resource centers.
It can be letting them know
where the fire is.
You know, if they are
themselves in an evacuation
center, if it's a fire, if
there's any information as to
whether power's coming back on
during a two on one gets
the information that we provide
directly from the county so
directly from the office of
emergency services, the whole
team cares.
We're all local community
members.
We all just want to help.
So we were all sleeping in bed
on thursday, NOVEMBER 8th in
paradise and first the house
phone rang, picked up my phone
.
It was my sister who lived a
block or so away from us.
>> we were woken by a telephone
call from my dughter.
She said that we were being
evacuated.
I left sooner than them.
I had everything ready.
They were on the way out
the door.
There was no time to think
about what are going to take
what you're not going to take
the night before the fire I
knew it was a red flag warning
and I knew that it was high
risk.
>> so on my way home I filled
up the tank.
Well, we we didn't get too far
from the house.
You're watching fire come down
the hill.
There was a machine shop right
to my right right there and it
had gas tanks and propane tanks
and I saw a lone ember kind of
floating through dancing
through the air and I order
after afternoon session of
the nevada county board of
supervisors JANUARY 10th twenty
twenty three and our scheduled
item at one thirty is a public
hearing to consider the nevada
county planning commission's
DECEMBER 8th.
Twenty twenty two three one
with one absent recommendation
that in nevada county board of
supervisors adopt the addendum
to the certified final
environmental impact report and
a four oh one absolute
recommendation that nevada
county board of supervisors is
approve a zoning ordinance
amendment to section l down to
three point three oh of chapter
two zoning regulations to amend
the county's commercial
cannabis cultivation ordinance
.
And with that I'd like to
introduce brian foss and turn
it over to brian.
Thank you sheriff schofield and
good afternoon supervisors
brian phosphine and director
with me is brad stoneman and
behind him is alex jewell and
they are with the planning and
environmental firm kimberly
vaughn and they will be
assisting me in
the presentation and they
perform the environmental
review.
But before we discuss
the environmental review, I
want to go over a little bit of
all right.
Which button to push
the background and overview of
what brought us here today.
So as your board MAY remember,
the cannabis cannabis
cultivation ordinance was
adopted in MAY of 2019.
It's been in effect for over
three and a half years.
We've issued over 200 permits
in accordance with that
ordinance.
The ordinance and cannabis as a
topic has been a broad
objective for a number of years
and discussed at your annual
board workshop in JANUARY and
it was discussed at the JANUARY
2022 workshop and what came out
of that workshop was some
direction to staff to analyze
and explore different
amendments and changes to
the ordinance that address some
of the issues listed below as a
general recap.
Those included looking at
additional license types
currently only cultivation is
allowed but there are other
license types for manufacturing
distribution and other
activities that I will get into
currently the ordinance is
medicinal use only and
the restriction to look at
allowing adult or recreational
use exploring ways to
accommodate larger canopy sizes
.
there's currently a 10000
square foot maximum.
There were unintended
consequences with the original
ordinance that resulted in some
subdivisions and parcel ization
of land.
An on site residence
requirements caused some
increase disturbance that was
unanticipated and with
the overall direction to
maintain environmental
protection as well as ensuring
neighborhood compatible was
the general direction.
So with that I will go through
the proposed ordinance
amendments.
The proposed ordinance does
include the addition of adult
use in addition to medicinal
use there's really no change to
land use impacts or to the farm
operations.
In fact when it enters
the marketplace there is really
not a differentiation between
how medicinal cannabis and
adult or recreational cannabis
is tracked and moves through
the marketplace at the state
level.
So this is kind of aligning
with how the state looks at
cannabis product so there's
really no land-use impact
changes as a result of this
addition an administrative
change that is being proposed
is the elimination of the lower
tiering of the permitting
process.
The when the ordinance was set
up to permit pass were created
.
One is an administrative
development for men.
One is what was called
the commercial cannabis permit
or cp that was intended to
address the smaller cannabis
rises of two thousand five
hundred square feet or less.
However, there's really no
change or there was no
difference in the processing of
those applications would just
be more consistent to do them
all through the administrative
development permit for
regardless of cannabis size
about 10 percent of the over
200 are that we've approved
qualifies as the ccp.
So it's a small amount of
the permits and the change will
allow a more consistent and
smooth processing for
the applicant.
>> the other addition or
another addition would be
looking at additional license
types again only cultivation is
allowed under a current
ordinance and so the proposed
ordinance includes for
additional license types or
other activities.
The first is nonvolatile
manufacturing which would
include extraction infusion
packaging, labeling of
the product and storing of
the product on site there's
another category called
volatile.
Obviously this is nonvolatile
so there are no classified
hazardous materials involved
over there are combustible or
flammable materials and so
there are development standards
that require compliance with
the fire department and review
and oversight with any
hazardous type material
restrictions that MAY be
implemented by the fire
department.
we've also included a
limitation for a thousand
square feet on site in order to
limit the area for these
proposed activities.
The second license type is
distribution and this more
relates to the movement of
the cannabis products once it
is processed and leaves
the site currently without a
distribution license there are
limitations on how and who can
transport and b deliver that
product and the distribution
allowance opens up
opportunities for different
locations.
Retailers manufacture ers and
other distributors to move
the product once it leaves
the site and again we've
limited that to a thousand
square feet of on site area in
order to keep it relatively
limited or small.
>> a third type is retail sales
which is kind of broken up into
two subcategories.
There's a non storefront retail
and that is kind of tied to a
delivery option.
This would be closed to
the public.
There's no onsite public
allowance for on site sales.
It's a license that allows
deliveries to other end users
of the product and then a
storefront which is more
traditional on site open to
the public where products are
displayed, transactions are
made for sale.
We have introduced
the requirement for a use
permit for these activities
only the store front retail
which would allow a
discretionary process, public
notice and public hearing as
well site specific sequoyah
analysis to look at the site
specific impacts of potential
to the neighborhood of
potentially allowing public to
access the site and purchase
product from the site in
the fourth license type is
called the micro business which
is required when any three of
these activities are engaged in
by the by the operator of
the farm and ths is intended
to mirror the structure of
the state or the state
permitting system.
One of the issues that I
mentioned currently there is an
onsite residence requirement so
any parcel that is engaging in
cannabis cultivation requires
an onsite residence.
There has been an unintended
result of increased development
and disturbance on sites in
order to try to maximize canopy
sizes.
I have a couple of
illustrations to depict on what
I'm trying to describe here.
So the current ordinance with
if there are two ten acre
parcels which is the picture on
the left would be limited to
5000 square feet of canopy but
only 25 hundred square feet
would be allowed on each parcel
for a total of 5000 in order to
maximize the canopy sizes, a
second house would need to be
built on the undeveloped
property as depicted on
the picture on the right in
order to take advantage of
the maximum allowable canopy
sizes so that mandates and
additional structure which
includes disturbance for
driveway septic systems and
other access issues.
The proposed ordinance would
allow parcels that are under
common ownership and control to
maximize the canopy size on
each parcel based on its
acreage without the need to
build an additional house but
would still be under the same
permitting requirement security
requirements and oversight from
both the county and the state.
This is another example of
the current ordinance
limitations.
If there were two parcels under
one operation, the maximum
canopy size is based on
the largest parcel size and so
under this scenario of a
thirteen and a half acre parcel
and a seven acre parcel side by
side under one operation would
be limited to 5000 square feet
of canopy over the changes in
the ordinance language would
allow the total acreage to be
used to calculate and dictate
the total canopy size allowed.
So this would allow this set up
to engage in 10000 square feet
rather than 5000 square feet
and taking advantage of
the additional property
included in the operation.
>> another change is regarding
the canopy sizes allowed
currently there is a 10000
square foot canopy maximum for
parcels 20 acres and greater
regardless of how much greater
that current ordinance from
five to nine point ninety nine
acres allows 2500 square feet
of canopy.
There's no change to this
proposed ten to nineteen point
ninety nine acres which allows
5000 square feet of canopy.
There is no change proposed in
twenty to thirty nine point
ninety nine acres allows 10000
square feet of canopy no change
.
We have proposed to add
increments of 20 acres and
10000 square feet of canopy
between 40 and 59 point nine
acres up to 20000 square feet
of canopy with a 10000 square
foot limit of endor.
So additional canopy could be
outdoor mix light and then
incrementally with 20 acres it
would increase by 10000 square
feet in intel reaching eighty
acres total there would be or
eighty acres and above would
have a 40000 square foot canopy
max with the limitation of ten
thousand square feet of indoor
this will address some of
the subdivision and
personalization issue in
addition to allowing additional
canopy sizes on on larger
acreage and this is an
illustration depicting how this
might reduce subdivisions.
This is the current ordinance
where there's an 80 acre parcel
has a this is the picture on
the left would have a maximum
of 10000 square foot of canopy
with one house.
The property owner could
propose a subdivision to
subdivide the parcel into four
lots, build the house on each
line in order to maximize and
obtain 10000 square feet of
canopy on each property.
This again increases density or
increases traffic and
disturbance on the property and
sometimes the houses are more
manufactured and are only
developed and created to get
around the on site residence
requirement.
the proposed ordinance would
allow the 80 acre parcel to
remain intact only require
the single family residence and
still allow that 40000 square
feet of canopy that could be
achieved through subdivision
with the current ordinance with
the increase in canopy sizes
also taking a look at setbacks
and propose some modifications
to property line setbacks.
The current ordinance requires
100 foot setback including all
property lines even shared and
internal property lines with
multiple parcels that are under
one operation.
The proposed amendments would
retain the hundred foot set
back from all external property
lines but would reduce
the property line setbacks for
those internal shared property
lines to thirty feet for any
structures in zero feet for
outdoor canopy that contains no
structures and the idea there
is to further centralize
the operations internally onto
the parcel that's engaging in
the operations and encourage
those that disturbance and
those operations to be further
from the external property
lines or the neighbors that are
not part of the operation.
And I'll have an illustration
on the next slide with
the additional canopy size
we've also increased the set
backs four to 150 feet for
10000 20000 and 200 feet for
20000 square feet of canopy and
above.
There's also a modification to
the sensitive site setback to
600 feet.
It is a thousand and this is a
reduction.
however, this is in conformance
with the state requirement of
six hundred feet from a
sensitive site.
This illustration is intended
to show the proposed changes in
the setbacks.
The illustration on the left
shows that there are two ten
acre parcels involved in a
under one farm one operation
they could maximize 10000 5000
square feet of canopy on each
parcel and build to be located
more centrally within
the interior of the site and
maintaining a larger set back
on the exterior of the parcel
lines and then the parcel or
the picture on the right shows
if there are structures
involved it's a reduction to
thirty feet which is
the standard set back for all
structures required by
the code.
And again this is an incentive
to try to centralize
the disturbance as well as
the activities from neighboring
parcels.
>> a couple other changes
before I conclude.
One is the use of the support
area.
There is an allowance of up to
90 percent of the canopy square
footage can be used for support
area activities under
the current ordinance which
includes storage of materials
processing area drying
infrastructure as well as
immature plants.
The proposed amendments would
allow some of this support area
to be divided up and used for
different activities including
additional canopy rather than
just storage or processing.
so for some of the smaller
parcels, 55 percent of
the support area MAY be used
for additional canopy if they
can still utilize the remaining
support area for their support
uses.
This would increase maximum
sizes of canopy on the 2500 up
to thirty seven almost 37 fifty
five thousand square feet with
the math would go to almost
7500 square feet and 10000
square feet would go up to just
under 15000 square feet.
There would be no net increase
in the total area dedicated to
cannabis operations and this is
also tied to environmental
impacts and the original eia
that there was a certain
footprint if you will identify
it for potential disturbance
for either canopy or support
uses and this modification just
allows that same total square
footage to be utilized for
different uses at different
percentages and different sizes
of other minor changes.
We added some parking
requirements that were not
included with the original
ordinance we've reformatted
the ordinance to match more of
the format that's in
the current zoning ordinance
for other sections because it's
not a stand alone ordinance and
it is part of our land use
development code and the zoning
ordinance.
There's a allowance for an
increase in the liquified
propane from fifty five to a
thousand gallons.
There are some over regulations
and oversight that's required
from environmental health and
fire department for anything
between 55 and thousand gallons
.
So that will be managed and
regulated and we've also
included some language
regarding ccar or deed
restrictions and I will go to a
little bit more detail onthat
on the next slide that was an
item of discussion at
the planning commission which
heard the these proposed
changes to the ordinance on
DECEMBER 8th and there in
addition to teir
recommendation for adoption and
approval was to include
additional language requiring a
signed acknowledgment by
the applicant that places
the responsibility on
the property owner to
acknowledge compliance with any
applicable ccar requirements as
part of application submittal.
So this puts the applicant on
notice that they need to
research and be aware of their
homes and their cars and
indicate that they are in
compliance as part of their
application submitted to
the county without the planning
commission did make a
recommendation for approval
with the inclusion of
the addendum to this california
to the eia that was prepared
and at this time I'll turn it
over to brad.
Thank you very says brian
dimensioned mentioned obviously
the as you know the final the r
was prepared to do that.
We prepared a secret addendum
in accordance with secret
guidelines one five one six two
in one five one six four which
set forth the requirements
under which an addendum can be
prepared instead of something
like a supplemental irr.
So they they are an addendum is
used for an approved project
that's been updated or modified
and then when those updates or
modifications are minor
technical changes or additions
to the document changes,
the changes do not result in
any new or more significant
impacts.
There are not substantial
changes in the circumstances or
the major revisions or major
revisions.
There's no substantially
important new information and
then there's no or no or
different new no new or
different mitigations or
alternatives that would be
feasible but that would not be
or that are declined to be
adopted.
So the addendum different from
an irr there is no circulation
required.
The addendum is attached to
the final year or adopted
negative declaration
explanation.
The decision not to prepare a
subsequent year is included in
the addendum.
There are findings made on
the project findings basically
saying that there is no new or
substantial information, no new
or substantial new impacts and
that the findings are supported
by substantial evidence.
Although circulation is not
required, the county did post
the document on the website and
has conducted quite a bit of
research or not research public
outreach.
So in regards to the no new
substantial changes or
substantial impacts,
the project as modified is
consistent with all
the previous disclosures for
all of the various resource
categories we'll get into a few
more specific esthetics biology
but all of the twenty one
resource categories for all of
the potential projects under
the new ordinance they'll all
occur within the same
environment.
What the same circumstances
there 100 foot setback remains.
This was considered as well but
it would even be increased for
the ten to twenty thousand and
twenty thousand plus
cultivation.
There's no net increase in
the area used for cultivation
and there's no inducement of
subdivisions as brian had
talked about quite a bit
leading to the clustering of
uses.
So we considered that as well
in the same minimization
considerations are still
applicable.
All the projects will still be
required to comply with all
county codes in the development
review process there will be
subsequent seek review as
required by the ordinance and
all of the same mitigation
measures would apply to
the projects as applicable.
So a little more specifically
has pulled out a couple of
the resource categories that
are generally a little more
sensitive air quality and
greenhouse gases.
Again this is a little
redundant but the project is
still within the northern syria
quality management district so
it's in the same basin,
the same mission thresholds
will still apply.
There's going to be similar
construction and operational
missions and tying back into
the same mitigation measures
there's still the prohibition
on burning of cannabis and
other vegetation helping with
odor control so similarly with
esthetics where the projects
are all within the same visual
environment, there's no
additional zones or areas where
projects could occur.
There's still the protected
tree avoidance mitigation,
light control plans and visual
screening elements are still a
part and setbacks are actually
increased for the larger
project sizes in regards to
biological resources again it's
within there's the projects
that occur in the same zones
with the same biological
resources you know changes to
the wetland impacts riparian or
other habitats.
The same restrictions would
apply in that regard tying in
with noise in as well because
the noise can affect species.
There's the generator vasey
noise minims it minimization
measures and one of the big
elements for biological
resources is the prescreening
element which identifies
constraints were requires
biological inventory and
habitat management plan if
required and then again tying
back to esthetics there's
the lighting plan which helps
reduce nighttime lighting
impacts on species and lastly
transportation impacts project
could occur within the same
roadway network.
The projects would all comply
with county codes and
development review process
the same emergency access
parking ada compliance is
applicable for projects that
would caltrans to come into
play.
Caltrans requirements for
access would still be
applicable.
There's payment of fees and
taxes that can be used for
roadway improvements and then
there's a possible reduction
actually in vehicle miles
traveled.
This was briefly discussed in
the addendum going back to
the retail and manufacturing.
There's potential for more
efficient delivery and then
more efficient shipping of
products as well.
>> so that all led us to find
that the updated ordinance is
consistent with
the requirements of again
section one five one six one
five one six four no net
increase in the area of
cultivation.
There's no substantial changes
to the circumstances and a lot
of this is administrative
changes conform to the regular
regulations of the department
of cannabis control.
Brian touched on that as well.
The updates do not result in
new or substantially different
impacts.
The those updates are balanced
by increased setbacks for
the larger canopy sizes.
As I noted, it remains limited
to the gaap and F.R. Zones.
So there's no expansion into
areas where cannabis would not
have previously been allowed
and these are generally
consistent rural lands which
are less populated with fewer
sensitive scepters and then
the retail and manufacturing
and distribution elements
comply with state law last
slide.
So the continuing with
the findings the project would
implement county land use and
development code to reduce or
avoid the impacts reduces
the addendums the project still
reduce potential impacts from
subdivisions.
There is the required sequiera
review process as applicable
again all the same mitigation
measures and the mitigation
monitoring reporting plan are
still in play.
The projects I would conform to
title twenty four and include
green development and
the development group review
process through the county
would remain in place to for
that and with that the planning
commission and staff's
recommendation is to adopt
the resolution to adopt and
approve the addendum as well as
adopt the ordinance amending
chapter two of the ladies and
development code for commercial
cannabis cultivation and I'm
happy to answer any questions
you MAY have.
Thank you.
Thank you gentlemen.
I'd like to point out that
supervisor bullock is unable to
be with us today but he is with
us remotely so as we go into
questions and comments,
supervisor bullock, would you
like to start us off?
>> sure.
thank you, MR. Schofield.
Thanks, brian.
I appreciate work in your in
your conversations prior to
the meeting here and thanks
thanks to everybody in
the consultant team on
the squad portion as well.
Brian, just to confirm addition
of the adult use portion is
just bringing us into line with
what state the state law
already essentially calls for.
>> is that is that right,
supervisor bullock?
Yes, as I understand it, there
is that once it leaves the farm
and enters the state system,
the marketplace it can be used
for any type of product and
purpose.
And so it's not really it was
something that was set up with
the early days of allowing
medicinal use only through
the state and through
the county and so it would just
align with kind of removing
that term in that restriction
with the state.
Ok, um, on the nonvolatile
manufacturing portion, could
you just give us some examples
of what types of products that
would be?
Would that be edibles and food
and like things you lie creams
and things like that?
>> I think in addition like
bath salts or I'm I'd have to
defer to the industry a little
bit more but as soaps things
like that in addition to some
potentially edible products, ok
and they've been nonvolatile
meaning obviously it's not
prone to foshee exposure type
of things but it is still
flammable subject to whatever
regulation goes with flammable
materials manufacturing.
Yeah.
Supervisor bullock I think
the there's a list of different
types of materials and
chemicals that are classified
as either volatile or
nonvolatile and it's regulated
by the state.
So any extraction and fusion
processes that are used for
nonvolatile need to only
involve those types of
materials and or chemicals that
are on the approved list or on
that criteria.
But some of those chemicals and
gases and things could still be
flammable and combustible but
they're just not considered
volatile materials.
Ok, understood.
Ok, brian, was there any
discussion other at
the planning commission or at
the staff level regarding kind
of a good neighbor policy that
would allow setbacks to change
based on the neighborhood to
for example, if you had a 20
acre parcel with the twenty k
square foot canopy in a
neighbor said yeah, we're fine
having our our neighbor who's
growing reduce the stuff back
to one hundred feet, is that
something that was discussed at
all or was it and it was
the result of that the setbacks
that we came up with here in
the staff recommendation to
book current ordinance does
have two options to reduce
those setbacks and would apply
to the increased setbacks.
One is a variance process so
that a landowner could apply
for a variance and if certain
findings could be made they
could reuce those or reduce
those setbacks to not less than
60 feet.
There's also a setback easement
that is allowed which
essentially is your neighbor is
granting an easement on their
property to accommodate some of
that setback requirement on
the neighboring property,
thereby reducing effectively
the set back from the property
line.
So that's already built into
the current ordinance and it
was not expanded but it would
apply to the existing and
the new set back requirements.
So there is a provision to
reduce the setbacks with
neighborhood neighbor agreement
if grant ok ok.
>> um was there any discussion
but again at the at the meeting
of the senior staff level maybe
about consortiums of property
owners discussing like a
rezoning to bring their
property areas into some kind
of cohesion on what they feel
is appropriate for their
neighborhood supervisor?
Yes, that's that's always been
a potential avenue for
neighborhoods for a reason out
of one of the allowed zone
districts.
You know, that can be a lengthy
process.
We are looking at other options
and in fact at the board
workshop there is plans to
discuss kind of some other
options that we MAY develop and
provide to neighborhoods that
want to create an exclusion
zone for lack of a better term
for cannabis operations.
So that is kind of in process
right now ad we do anticipate
engaging with your board in
more detailed discussions a
couple of weeks at the end of
this month.
>> ok, yeah, that sounds like a
conversations probably worth
having.
Well, this is kind of more of a
subjective question but do you
know really do our complaints
or what goes into cannabis code
enforcement have any linear
relationship to the size of
the canopy?
For example, do we get more
complaints from can't or can't
be sizes and then one more
piece on that mixed or outdoor
indoor or make any difference
and all supervisor I'm not sure
that I have seen a an obvious
trend in that I think probably
some the larger sites do
potentially include more odor
complaints and more traffic
type complaints and then
there's various complaints that
I've seen versus outdoor versus
indoor.
Sometimes people, you know,
prefer indoor because they
can't see the cannabis as
readily as the outdoor.
So I think that's a little bit
more evenly split.
But I would imagine that
the larger canopy size do
potentially generate some of
the more of the complaints that
we receive.
>> ok, yeah.
Thank you.
Thanks brian.
That's that's all the questions
I have.
Terry schofield, thank you
already supervisor hall.
>> yeah, thanks.
I um I think I have a couple of
questions and then obviously
I'll be interested in hearing
public comment before just
seeing any changes or whatnot.
But just to get some
clarification brian, thanks for
the presentation.
It's very clear on this set
backs I guess I'm interested in
these are any new set backs are
grandfathering in people who've
already met the existing set
backs but might not meet
the new set backs or do we even
have any folks who are in that
position who supervisor also
way it would work is that any
operation that's been permitted
can remain where there are they
don't need to change anything.
They don't need to change their
permit or anything like that.
They're essentially what's
called legal nonconforming if
they were to expand or make
amendments to their operation,
then any new canopy or any new
activities would need to meet
the new setbacks if those
setbacks were to apply to that
property.
So any expansion or additions
would need to meet the new
setbacks in place.
But existing farms that
continue to operate as they
were permitted would now have
no change or other requirements
needed.
>> ok and then a new wants to
that would be expand the are
proposing to allow folks to
expand into their support area
so if they write so if they are
if everything's just meeting
the set back and they want to
expand into the support area
they might be then be in
violation of that set back.
>> are we in the process for
that as well because
the expansion into the support
area only affects the smaller
canopy sizes, they would still
only be subject to the foot
which they should be in
compliance with to be permitted
anyway.
So the use of the canopy would
not kick that operation into
the next threshold for setback
requirements.
>> ok ok um there might be a
comment on that so I know to
get that clarified the rest of
the proposal is are basically
bringing folks into state
bringing into alignment with
the state and and then addition
to allowing more including
allowing more licenses that
also would bring us into into
alignment with the state
correct it it does the license
types that are identified are
available license types to
the state.
There are others that the state
allows but this would line up
with more of the options
available through the state
permitting.
Ok, and then my last question
and this seems really minor but
it did come up earlier and I
was surprised to see this is a
requirement of a parking space
for each the worker.
So this is actually going
completely opposite to what is
going on now in the state.
I think in san jose they've
like eliminate their parking
spot requirements even for
buildings because they're
trying to reduce, you know,
that sort of traffic.
>> is this something that's
required or why are we adding
that there were no parking
requirements with the original
ordinance but there was an
internal policy developed for
one space per employee that has
been applied over the last
three years and that's in order
to ensure just like any other
land use that involves people
that don't live on the site
that we want to make sure that
there's parking on site rather
than parking in the street or
in the right of way.
So the parking does not need to
be paved or striped or curved.
It just needs to be an area
that's identified that can
accommodate vehicles for
employees coming to the site.
>> ok, ok, those are all
the questions for now.
Thank you.
>> so yeah I think we actually
heard in um heidi akst a couple
questions I have I'm kind of
really interested in what
public comment goes and then
come back and really look at
where we could make some where
some improvements might be made
.
I mean I have some questions
little ones like about
the setbacks.
I think you made that pretty
clear.
It's kind of interesting to me
though.
I want to talk a little bit
more about those setbacks when
the two parcels stopped to have
the 30 foot sit between your
own parcels.
>> I mean yeah, that's right.
That's for all structures and
that's a fire and safety issue
for access and airflow and so
no no structure if it's even if
it's not for cannabis can be
closer than thirty feet but
your open canopy grow could
just be contiguous.
you wouldn't have to worry
about that.
Correct.
Right.
I mean that's kind of the ideas
we want to see them cluster
that all into one area.
>> yeah definitely that was
the hope that it gives
the property more options to
you know, meet setbacks in
the interior of the property
rather than trying to have much
larger setbacks for all
property lines.
>> right.
And then just other one I was
looking through here briefly
though there is kind of
interesting like when you have
an eight acre parcel you're
going to grow your forty
thousand square feet right.
There's not a whole lot in
there that talks about
the management of the rest of
the land that you're let's have
vacant.
So I'm just throwing that out
there somewhere else because I
mean I want people to know you
could do multitasks, you could
graze.
However we would work that
right.
And I want to see a bunch of
open space left for fire and
vegetation management that's
not handled.
>> that was just a weird thing
.
I know we've talked about it
before and then there was
the other thing about the mixed
light.
I just wanted to be real clear
when you get the larger parcels
and you can have forty thousand
square feet or whatever it is
that still doesn't limit you to
the mix light and or greenhouse
grows with lighting.
Right?
I mean is there going to be a
limitation of that or are you
going to have 40000 square feet
of greenhouses?
>> supervisor work as it's
currently written 40000 you
could have 40000 square feet of
outdoor or mix light including
hoop houses or those 80 acres
and above say not quite sure
how I feel about that.
>> that's a little overboard.
Um, so but again I want to
listen to what everyone else
has to talk about because I
think there was another
question too about when you
have to have a conditional or
when you have a use permit.
>> when I read in here so when
you have reuse permit it's a
whole different ballgame, right
.
You got to come in and meet a
whole different set of
standards.
And I just for example, I have
a group in my district that has
a wonderful facility that
they've changed over from a
winery persay to another
building that might not meet
those exact thousand square
foot measurements when we want
them to use buildings that are
already there and approved.
Is there going to be a variance
for that or how is that going
to work or could that just be
taken care of inside of a used
permit supervisor if the there
is a thousand square limitation
as currently written, if your
board does wants to remove that
,then we would certainly
remove the thousand square foot
restriction but it would only
be encompassed inside of a used
permit that has to meet all
those other standards.
Correct.
A thousand square feet
reference in a couple of
different places that apply to
different activities and there
was one specifically for retail
in that use permit requirement
and if that is directed to be
removed then that could be
removed with really no major
impacts to to the structure of
the ordinance or the secret
document.
>> ok, and then was there
anything placed in here into
where we talked about being a
landowner in good standing like
your taxes have to be current
when you apply for your
application?
>> I don't see any place we
added that we did not make any
changes to that.
So all of the application
requirements and submittal
requirements in terms of other
permits.
But if there is no requirement
for being consistent with your
or up to date with your taxes
then that was not an addition
that has been made to date.
>> ok, those are some I'll be
interested to hear the rest of
the of you guys did a great job
put this together for me it was
great reading material he sent
you.
>> I just have one question.
Um and the retail component
that we're asking for to have a
framework for what that's going
to look like rather swarthout I
mean I don't know like a
business model or what the what
the requirements would be for
how big it could be, where it
could be, what the road
standards would be.
I mean I'm new to all of this
so I know you guys have talked
a lot about some of these
things before but I think
the retail component is pretty
new.
>> so I was just curious as to
what that looks like.
So the use permit requirements
would require full review by
fire department public works,
certain road standards
the class one or emergency
access road standards would
then also have to be secondary
access requirements and then
any environmental health
requirements that pertain to
septic or class to wells to
ensure that based on the size
of the activities proposed that
the infrastructure could
accommodate it.
So all of that is looked at
through the use permit process
,the sequel process that's
reviewed by all the county
departments including fire
public works, environmental
health and conditions of
approval are developed that
would apply prior to
the operation and then it would
be up to in that case
the planning commission to make
a determination which would be
appealable to the board.
I think that I've had that
explained to me multiple times
.
I think brian, the fact is I
mean if you're looking at
regular retail setups,
something like some of
the wineries have that's a use
permit that's that's that's a
whole different process that
you have to go through some of
the other standing is retail to
most of the folks that have
permits only has to do with
the transportation of
the product.
Am I correct there for the non
storefront retail exposed and
yes, it's it's not open to
the public.
There's not that onsite public
component.
It's basically a distribution
option to allow the product to
go to a different end user off
site than would be currently
allowed with just a cultivation
license.
Right, right.
All right.
Well, I needed clarification.
I think it's kind of hard to
even get it after hearing
multiple times.
But I think what we'd like to
do unless there's any other
comments is at this time.
>> sure schofield could ask one
more quick question.
Oh, sure.
Artie, thank you.
Brian, is there any discussion
about a limitation to the store
retail component, the number of
licenses that MAY be issued?
I know that it's the kind of
infant stages of cannabis,
particularly some of the towns
and cities.
There is a discussion about
the number of established
retail storefront licenses that
were out there for circulation
.
>> has there been any
discussion about that?
Serializable some discussion
but nothing's been included in
the ordinance as far as a cap
or a no because of the use
permit process is fairly
involved and they will be going
through you know, the public
hearing process.
So you know, potentially in
the future if there was a I
mean you could certainly
establish a cap now but if
there was a trend that we were
seeing quite a few of these go
through the process, then you
know that that could be a time
when when that's entertained or
discussed.
But the use permit process is
not quick.
You know, it takes a number of
months and quite a bit of
financial investment.
So I think we would start
seeing a trend develop before a
lot of them were aproved.
>> if we saw an influx of
applications, we'd have some
kind of look at that that trend
growing.
>> ok, we could thank you this
one more question.
So yeah, just I just wanted to
kind of be clear again so if
you are currently have your
application but you want to
amend your application then
you'd have to come to the new
current standards.
Right.
So is that especially effective
?
I'm still curious about this or
of forestry road standards that
we're looking at as is that
going to trigger that for a lot
of these?
>> I think we're still
determining how those
regulations would affect any
any operation.
But yeah, there is a chance
that amendments could require
compliance with the new board
of forestry standards but those
might be minimal and there MAY
be options to for petitions and
things like that.
But we're still digging into
those details that only
amendment would trigger that
right.
>> so an amendment to use your
support area, would that do
that or is that that's kind of
a different sort of an
amendment?
>> I mean I'm just trying to
see what's going to trigger
these things.
I think to use the support area
would probably not because it's
critical to have is it's
already there.
I think it would just be more
of an expansion of the canopy
or addition of maybe like
the retail type uses would be
really the main area that would
have the most likelihood to
trigger it.
Ok, said any other all right
then what I'd like to do is
open the public comment and if
you would come to the podium
you will have three minutes and
if you would give us your name
and the district would be very
,very helpful if you would.
Good afternoon supervisors and
happy new year.
My name is patricia rockwell
and I'm a member.
I live in district four and I
am a proud member of the penn
valley mac my family and I own
a small quarter acre cannabis
farm greenleaf gardens nearly
twenty percent of all
organically grown and certified
cannabis in the state is
located in nevada county and we
are proud to be one of those
local certified certified farms
.
nevada county has a rich
history of organic farming and
it feels so rewarding to carry
on the tradition with our
cannabis farm just like
traditional farmers producing
value added products on
the farm as a way of adding an
additional stream of revenue
during the months when we are
not farming and I am here today
to talk in support of
the nonvolatile manufacture on
the farm under prop 215
cannabis farms were able to
produce tinctures selfs and on
our farm we can give gardens
made salves in oils with unique
medicinal properties helping
many patients with ulcerative
colitis joint pain, muscle
aches and anxiety.
These products were made simply
in a slow cooker using cannabis
,coconut oil and a few other
ingredients.
This was such a satisfying
experience extension of our
ability to provide medicine for
our community.
We farm the cannabis with love
and science and then we're
directly able to create these
much love products for patients
out of this incredible plant.
We request that your board
adopt the ordinance a day with
the option of nonvolatile
manufacturing permits for our
firms.
>> many of us already have
the required ef1 factory
industrial compliant commercial
space with increased firewall
protection, water storage and
fire alarms due to
the regulations we are not able
to prepare these products in a
home kitchen.
They must be made in a
commercially permitted space.
It is easy to carve out a small
area for this type of
manufacturing and will help
make sense of our startup costs
and the money we've already
spent for these types of
buildings.
Additionally, since we will be
producing ourselves in-house
during the off season it will
not involve an increase in
traffic to our firm so there
will be no impact to roadways
or neighbors since we are
creating a small batch cell
within a limited space per
the ordinance there will not be
a need for additional employees
.
My kids and I who live at our
farm are the only employees in
good faith.
We have done the necessary due
diligence to become legal
cannabis farm and we are here
today to request the same tools
that are afforded to all
farmers.
Producing sales on my farm is
no different than a goat farmer
creating soaps with their
ranching biproduct or lavender
farm creating bath salts
farming crops comes with a
unique set of challenges
weather pests, market
fluctuation.
This is not unique to cannabis
however for us to succeed as
farmers we need the same
opportunities that are afforded
to all farmers.
Thank you so much.
You can't patricia urie I agree
vacher 2nd district and for
the last four years I've
designed and processed fifteen
of these adp's for cannabis
projects in the last twelve
months three grading plans to
over 10000 years so we would be
considered design professionals
and there's a consistent
occurrence that I've seen on
these projects related to two
different things here.
You know one when you're
dealing with these mixed light
to choose or greenhouse or
indoor projects that are very
different from the other ones
and the outdoors and they're
reliant on the power to keep
these plants alive with power
outages that we've had
sometimes three days at a time
without the standby generators
these plants die on and with
the thousand gallons which is
really only eight gallons on a
5000 foot facility we can only
get about fifty hours of
generator time off of that
thousand gallon tank.
And so anything that's larger
than that and so the frequency
of propane delivery, you know,
definitely increases in their
reliability and the stress of
trying to make sure you get
groping.
So I'm just asking that maybe
we looked at that for projects
over 5000 feet that that no
change from on thousand
gallons to 2000 gallons on
the second item is on the water
tanks.
There's three different types
of water tanks.
These project use fire water
storage tanks which are located
typically near the building
that the tanks are needed for.
There's mixing tanks which were
water coming in from the from
the water storage tank is mixed
with the nutrients and again
those are located near
the cultivation area and
the water is pumped from those
tanks into the cultivation or
the third type is the water
storage tank which are not
necessarily located in
the cultivation area or
the canopy area.
The set is located typically
near where the water well is
located and if you can get them
on a higher elevation you can
save a lot more energy costs
because you can gravity feed
from these tanks down into
the mixing tanks.
The fire water storage tanks
they just maintain the water
all the time and there's really
not much activity there unless
there's a temperature really a
fire use and the mixing tanks
take a great deal of activity
because they are enemy because
of where they're located.
So they're they're dealt with
every day because you're mixing
in these tanks.
So I'm just looking at when you
look at these water tanks and a
setback requirements that water
storage be considered, you know
,something different than
these other two tanks and that
we can work within the existing
set backs we have.
>> and thank you so much.
Thank you, gary.
Good afternoon.
Supervisors.
My name is elise timoney and
I'm one of the founders of
sierra behind a quarter acre
cannabis farm in south county
and wms hoke's district four.
I'm a born and raised resident
as is my partner cody jackson
and we met at magnolia last
century.
Our kids attend clear creek and
i st on the board of
the nevada county jewish
communities center and we are
associate members of the farm
bureau.
Like any small business owners
it is crewes to be able to
adapt to shifting market
conditions due to
the fluctuating cannabis market
.
We need to modify our current
business plan.
Cierra wants to apply for a
micro business license which
will allow us to distribute and
manufacture craft product on
site and this does not mean
setting up a factory with
billowing smoke stacks for our
farm.
It would be as simple as
putting in a permitted
commercial kitchen in
the processing building that we
are planning on building in
this next year or it means
being able to run a raise
process which is a quiet
machine that simply squishes
plant material to squeeze out
the oil and most importantly a
micro business license will
allow me to transport my own
product.
Just a few weeks ago in
DECEMBER I paid two hundred and
fifty dollars to an out of town
distributor to move two pounds
of my product from my farm down
to santa rosa for the emerald
cup.
This out of town distributor
used county roads as well as to
private dirt roads a total of
four times a roundtrip to pick
up the product and a round trip
to return the product.
I also went to the emerald cup
so the roads were used six
times instead of just two.
There's a doesn't just meet my
needs is a business because it
obviously meets the needs of my
neighbors who one of
the biggest complaints is
the traffic and just like my
rural neighbors I do not want
more people in my neighborhood
.
I would much prefer to move my
own product rather than have
white vans come onto my
property, my kids and my
livestock.
So I don't think we're alone in
that.
I think we can all agree on
that.
So I do urge the board to
please adopt the planning
commission's recommendation
today.
This will allow cannabis
operations to say centralized
on the farm and we'll keep more
business local.
>> in addition, it is
imperative to please
grandfather in the regulations
already adopted approved by
the board that licensed farms
have already had permitted and
approved by the county 100 foot
step back.
We've complied with that.
If I use my processing building
which I would have to apply for
micro business that might just
because my micro but that
building is within that current
one hundred set back now it
might not meet the new
requirements later and that's a
significant issue and would
cause a lot more environmental
and a huge financial burden for
us.
I would just like to say thank
you again for your time and
thank you again.
Thank you.
Release I my name is jim and
together with my partner carl
we own and operate divine pines
a 5000 square foot license
cannabis farm in district one I
support the proposed changes
especially using aggregate
parcel sizes to determine
canopy size.
Current ordinance does not
allow using two adjacent
parcels out of the total
acreage and there are some very
real life unintended
consequences to that
requirement.
We owned a nine acre parcel on
which we live in an adjacent
undeveloped five acre parcel.
We could only grow twenty five
hundred square feet without
merging these two properties.
Merging properties cost a lot
of money and once merged you
have no guarantee they can
never be separated again.
Furthermore, once you begin to
merge two properties you almost
always end up involving banks
and that can be a disaster.
At least it was for us before
the merger could be completed.
Bank of america, the holder of
our home mortgage had to ok
the mortgage I just assumed
being we were adding value to
that asset that they would just
sign off on the deal but they
required appraisals on each
parcel and on the new proposed
merged parcel.
So we had to pay for three
appraisals while doing
the appraisals the permits for
our newly built shop reviewed
and they found out it was a
cannabis shop.
The bank then refused to sign
any merger papers because of
federal cannabis laws.
We were pretty stuck there.
The only way we could proceed
was to get more a more
expensive private loan and pay
off the bank of america
mortgage which we did and then
merged the two parcels.
Let me remind you that nothing
physical change on the land
that made up the new parcel
only the invisible line between
the two was erased to make one
and all of that cost us tens of
thousands of dollars which we
are still paying for in our nw
higher rate mortgage.
I hope this change goes through
because I don't want anyone
else to have to go through this
very unnecessary merging.
It was very stressful.
It took two years to get a new
bank mortgage.
I was refused for a year and a
half until finally I got lucky
and got one because I because
of our reported cannabis income
and because we had cannabis on
the property and to top it off
the value of this new merged
property is much lower and
the combined value of
the individual parcels.
So we spent tens of thousands
of dollars for this merger only
to lose by estimates from three
different appraisers over fifty
thousand dollars in valuation
on our properties.
So I hope I made myself clear
to sum up allowing aggregate
parcel sizes to determine
canopy size just makes good
sense.
I hope you support the proposed
ordinance changes and adopt
the ordinance today.
Thank you.
thank you.
Good afternoon supervisors.
>> hear me well down there you
go.
>> my name is mary cooper.
I reside in district one of
account nevada county.
I'm a retired english teacher
with more than thirty years of
experience.
I'm not an experienced farmer
or grower but interested in
the good of this county.
I feel it is crucial for our
community to continue to
support of the legal cannabis
industry.
We need to support
the businesses that have taken
rigorous steps.
Some of what you've heard in
the speakers before me to
become legal by allowing
the business flexibility we
need to support farming in our
community as these farmers are
a robust part of this community
.
>> we need economic development
that will provide revenue
pathways to nevada county.
The cannabis industry provides
this revenue in a number of
ways.
First, the industry provides
for small family farms to make
a living.
Secondly, these farms supply
jobs in the community.
Finally, these farmers support
the local business chain such
as hardware stores, gardens,
doors, printing shops, grocery
stores and restaurants to name
a few.
The cannabis industry is
breathing life into our
community and commerce.
Therefore we should do all that
we can to support it and pass
these new changes.
>> thank you.
Thank you mary.
I need to raise up good
afternoon supervisors.
First I would like to welcome
supervisor swarthout to
the board.
She comes with incredible
credentials.
My name is chris hannis.
My brother rodney and I own and
operate rock creek ranch 32
acle pastoral in district one
we have a 10000 square foot
outdoor cannabis permit.
We're good neighbors active in
our community and are good
stewards of our property.
We maintain a large vegetable
garden and have over one
hundred fruit trees and vines.
All of our farming including
cannabis is using sustainable
and regenerative methods.
We plant native plants to
enhance monarch butterfly and
other pollinator habitat as
well as attracting beneficial
insects.
A local beekeeper places hives
on our property rock creek
ranch is a sanctuary for
wildlife.
We would like cannabis to be
included in mainstream
agriculture.
As you know, cannabis is
the major agricultural crop in
nevada county with enormous
economic impact.
Cannabis is a very efficient
crop producing over four
hundred thousand dollars of
product value per acre
cultivated in comparison,
almonds produce about 10000
hours of product value per acre
cultivated to produce this ten
thousand ten thousand dollars
of crop value almonds need
almost one million gallons of
water with cannabis we produce
that ten thousand dollars worth
of crop value with less than
4000 gallons of water.
That's a huge difference at
rock creek which we feel is
extremely important that nevada
county adopt these changes to
the cannabis regulation and
bring us in conformance with
state regulations of particular
importance to us is the setback
requirements from a sensitive
site.
The state set back requirement
is six hundred feet from a
census site and currently
nevada county.
This setback is a thousand feet
.
This inconsistency between
state and county regulations
caused us hundreds of thousands
of dollars in added costs to
move our grow.
We were planning on six hundred
feet and then at the last
minute we had to change it to
comply with that thousand foot
setback.
All of us cultivators in nevada
county are small businesses.
We work together sharing
expertize experiences ideas to
promote nevada county cannabis
.
We have unique growing
conditions here and strive to
grow the best possible craft
style cannabis in your state.
Please help us by adopting
the ordinance before you today
.
>> thank you very much for your
time.
Thank you chris.
Hi.
Good afternoon district one my
name is maria buzby.
I'm a local business owner of
gold coast botanicals farm
labor.
We provide opportunities for
local people to join the farm
labor and support our small
cannabis farms here and we are
in support of the amendment.
>> thank you.
Thank you maria.
>> fellow supervisors my name
is alisa peters.
I'm a thirty year resident of
nevada county in district four
.
I am an alumni of nevada union
high shool.
I am a parent of children
currently attending local
public schools.
I am an owner operator of
sanctuary farms holding
cultivation and nursery
licenses in the bridgeport area
of penn valley.
We are a regenerative all
natural cannabis farm where we
also raise chickens, have
vegetable gardens and a fruit
orchard.
We are a small business
operating with tight margins
like any other small business
in nevada county.
>> the first point I would like
to make is that cannabis
cultivation is agriculture.
We grow plants in natural soil
tilled with natural nutrients,
with natural sunlight in
the same way that farmers of
other crops do.
We grow plants that are
intended for adult use in
the same way that grapes are
grown to produce wine for
adults.
Unfortunately, the negative
stigma associated with cannabis
does not allow for our farms to
be viewed with the same
prestige as vineyards and other
small farms or orchards.
This lingering negative stigma
that still persists locally
should not dictate land use
policy.
I am in strong support of
the additional license types on
the farm so that we can improve
efficiencies, reduce costs and
increase industry independence
.
I request that the new setbacks
apply only to new applications
and strongly oppose any changes
to setbacks for existing farms
or for those already in
the permitting processes.
>> excuse me I support using a
percentage of the support area
for mature canopy to allow us
to remain competitive in
the california market for
the same reason I strongly
support allowing aggregate
parcel sizes of multiple
parcels to be used to calculate
the allowed maximum canopy
sizes.
At the planning commission
there was a comment made about
chemical use with cannabis
farming.
I'd like to specifically
address this and I believe that
there's an opportunity for
education here all cannabis
before it hits the shelves of a
dispensary must undergo undergo
required testing.
Cannabis is tested for
mycotoxins pesticides, foreign
objects, heavy metals and
microbially by parts per
million and organic blueberry
would not pass the tests that
cannabis must undergo.
It isnear impossible for us to
use toxic chemicals and nor
would any of us want to.
I ask the board to adopt this
ordinance today so that we can
prepare for farming with
certainty in the spring before
the spring I thank you for
the work you do and for hearing
my comments.
>> thank you lisa.
Supervisors and barbara jones
from district four.
My husband brian and I are 35
year residents of nevada county
and own a 10000 square foot
permitted farm.
Brian still has it works as a
general contractor and I plan
events in the north san juan
community where active circo
volunteers and I'm also on
the board of the friends of
the library just got voted on
to vice PRESIDENT.
We raised to university
educated in extremely
successful children on the road
.
You are proud of the progress
we've made as licensed farmers
were homesteaders whose small
farm is struggling with
the growth of this new industry
.
But we're doing it with honest
hard labor as commercial
farmers with slim margins we
live a modest life currently we
are allowed nine thousand
square feet of support area for
our 10000 square foot farm.
We find it would be most useful
if we could use some of that
area for a mature flowering
plants.
After running the numbers we
see that this would give us a
chance at actual profit.
We are supported of
the reasonable proposals to
allow farmers to grow mature
plants in our support area and
I believe it to be realistic
and manageable.
What county does not currently
offer distribution licenses
which would allow us to
transport our own product to
retailers and third party
distributors to move our crop
is a financial burden to
farmers and lost tax revenue
for the county where we able to
have a distribution license.
We would say about 25 to 30
percent of our sale by avoiding
outside fees.
In addition, holding our own
distribution license would cut
down the traffic on our own
street.
Lasley county tourism is an
opportunity for farmers to show
up teir hard work boots,
reputations, excellent farmers
and is a revenue stream we
should not overlook.
We are supportive of the micro
business retail model and
support the ordinance
modifications that you have
before you today we urge our
board to adopt the ordinance.
Thanks for listening.
We are fortunate to live in a
community where we are actually
heard by our local supervisors
.
Thank you barbara.
Hello supervisors.
My name is tess hacker and I
live in district three.
I am a cannabis consultant and
have been helping cultivators
navigate a regulated market for
the past four years.
Our cannabis entrepreneurs have
worked tirelessly to become
licensed.
I have assisted numerous small
farmers and the permitting
process and have witnessed
their hard work and
perseverance it takes to become
licensed.
I've lived in grass valley for
twelve years and have seen
the evolution of cannabis
industry has taken in our
county.
We have come so far but there
is still so much work to be
done in order for license
cultivators to thrive we have
to continue to view cannabis as
agriculture and understand that
cannabis plays a significant
role in our communities economy
.
It was great to see the past
year's crop report highlight
this fact while cannabis only
makes up eighteen acres of
harvested cropland, its crop
value accounts for nearly half
the total value of all
agricultural interests in
nevada county today your board
is at a decision point where
you can choose to continue to
support this area of
agriculture and our community.
The proposed changes that are
being brought to you today are
simply the same tools that all
farmers need the ability to
make value added products on
the farm, the ability to
vertically integrate their
business and in the few cases
the ability to bring people to
your farm just like a winery by
increasing the canopy size we
provide license farmers a way
to increase their profits also
increasing tax revenue and
encouraged unlicensed cannabis
farmers to become license.
I strongly recommend that
setback changes only apply to
new applications set back
changes would greatly impact
existing farms that choose to
change their cultivation layout
through increased canopy.
These changes could force
licensed farmers to change
existing inforce structure,
potentially causing further
environmental impacts and as
part cannabis farmers are
facing challenges right now and
the current market with
the price per pound plummeting
to unbelievably low prices
cultivator are often faced with
the question of whether or not
to continue their business.
We need to encourage licensed
cultivators to continue farming
and support the new folks
entering into the regulated
market.
We have to continue to work
together to streamline
the permitting process to be
more efficient and more
attainable for the new
licensees while taking into
consideration potential impacts
to neighborhoods and
the environment.
I believe with the new proposal
,with the proposed changes to
the ordinance and potential
equity programs on the horizon
,we can reboot the cannabis
industry and our community.
There are so many benefits to
having a thriving cannabis
industry in our community.
These farms are often small
family run businesses that are
paying taxes and hire and
purchase locally increasing
the economic health of our
community.
Let's continue to work together
to revive the cannabis industry
.
i urge you to adopt
the proposed changes
the ordinance today so that our
farmers have business assurance
as they make their plans for
spring planting.
>> thank you.
Thank you dash wayne.
Hi my name is wayne clower
property and district to
district four and district
three.
I don't have a prepared speech
so I'm going to kind of go
winging it here.
I guess first off when you talk
about joining herzl's I have
two forty acre pieces that
touched by one inch so I would
now be allowed to put the full
grown on one of those 240 acre
pieces to equal an 80 acre
parcel.
What if my wife and I get a
divorce and you've got a huge
building that's grandfathered
in on just one parcel?
There's a lot of gray area
there.
It's kind of like the canopy
size I have to pay for my holes
in my closet and my stairway's
and everything in my house when
I build it.
Nobody lives there so I don't
understand how the canopy thing
works compared to the entire
building site when people are
going to move products you have
to use a U.S. Carrier public
utility commission.
You know that they have
insurance when they're driving
on our county roads.
I don't see that it's going to
create that many more trips on
the roads when you look at
the fact if you have a pizza
delivered you've got one trip
in and out and so they can use
you know, somebody with a
public utility commission no to
move this stuff.
>> I hear him talk about paying
taxes.
I guess I'm surprised probably
nobody's affected more than me
by the number of immediate
grows.
Invite any of you to come out
and see my house and see
the immediate grows next to it
.
And I know the one guy just
stood up here and said that he
just did a couple of ten
thousand cubic yard moves one
next to me they only got a
permit for twenty seven hundred
yards I think they went over
ten thousand.
I'd be curious if that's one of
them that he's talking about.
So the next thing would be when
you talk about roads like in
golden oaks are the sirtex
going to be from easements?
Well those easements be from
inside for those setbacks.
Well those easements be for
public right away.
Is the immigrant trail.
Are you going push, you know,
off of that people know how big
a piece of property they have
when they buy the property.
I think the parcels need to be
joined together legally because
you don't know if somebody is
going to get a divorce guy or
sell the property later and
you've got it grandfathered in
.
>> it's going to create a huge
problem.
Roads is a problem.
You're going to have people
coming from nevada county or to
nevada county from placer
county you the county did buy
this stuff.
It's going to create less
traffic.
Sure.
Because they're going to stop
at pne valley to buy the stuff
or stop on carriage road to buy
the stuff.
They're not going to drive to
aggressively.
So you will eliminate traffic
but you're going to pt
the traffic in the county roads
in the residential places.
I could probably keep going on
forever.
>> it's but you're over ok,
thank you.
Thank you wayne.
And actually the set back
question is when we can come
back to an answer later.
Brian, I have more to
improvisors thanks for hearing
me.
My name is lincoln nelson.
I have the pleasure of being
business owner, homeowner and
voter all within district one.
I am in favor of the proposed
changes to the ordinance but I
wanted to take a look at page
19, section one regarding micro
businesses with retail licenses
.
I currently is verb to be
allowed a thousand square foot
included within a support area
and the general plan already
allows for retail on aglen.
So it seems kind of like a
redundant thing for the more
retail spaces require site
specific analysis use permit
public notice and their
discretional making
the regulations within
the ordinance two four six
seven not only redundant but in
some cases less stringent.
many operational cultivation
sites already have built their
support building areas to
the 90 percent limit and
they're utilizing that space
for what it was intended
support activities.
It would hinder their
operations to remove
the ability to complete those
actions.
Now additionally retail spaces
have different california
building codes in storage so
many of the recently built
canvas support buildings would
not meet the retail california
building code requirements
anyway.
>> I believe that the county
has a great opportunity to pull
in retail dollars with micro
licenses near county lines.
For example, in the case of
cultivators located next to
the yuba county line they could
potentially pull retail from
yuba city and marysville were
currently consumers are going
up to palermo, orvil or chieko
and they're not willing to
drive all the way to nevada
city or grass valley but they
could just pop over the county
line.
Those are not only lost dollars
to the county but also to
the farmers as well.
That is pretty much it.
I've heard people express
concern regarding disturbances
and I just want to say that
with adjacent parcels,
adjoining verbiage it actually
will mean less disturbances
because you're going to need
less road access if you don't
need another residence that's a
lot less disturbance especially
when you consider septic sewage
and again road access.
>> that's fine.
Thank you.
>> thank you.
Good afternoon.
Supervisors and staff um, my
name is david cooper.
I reside in district for um I'm
a father farmer here in nevada
county.
I probably own and operate
hillcroft farms with my brother
and my family.
Uh, we are one of the first
farms to go through this
process alongside some of these
other fellows in the crowd.
Um, we appreciate the pathway
that's been provided thus far
to help us accomplish our goals
.
>> we grow cannabis alongside
vegetables, herbs, flowers,
fruit trees, horses and
chickens I go with the plan is
to bring more life back to it
as well as raise our children
among the natural world.
We'd like just as much freedom
to accomplish our business and
personal goals on our land as
any other farmer ranch should
be allowed.
Our success is your success.
I'm here specifically to voice
the need for business
flexibility on our farms
the same as any small farm
would be allowed as we look to
the future will need to be
allowed to utilize our land for
what it's intended for to
the fullest extent.
So far county's done a great
job in helping us get to where
we need to go.
We look forward to continuing
the process with you as you
know and as you know in any
industry it's constantly
evolving specifically I want a
voice and it's I'm going to cut
a little bit short because a
lot of people have said
the same things here.
But specifically I want to
voice the support for allowing
a percentage of the support
area to be used for additional
mature can be this area already
exists as a proved area for
cultivation with this ordinance
amendment farmers have greater
flexibility in how they can
utilize the space even with
the change we're still growing
a very modest amount for a crop
farmer in the county if we
choose to utilize this space
for cultivation we would still
be farming less than an acre
which is a micro farm by nevada
standards as noted in twenty
twenty one nevada county crop
report there are currently
three thousand three hundred
sixteen acres of land for
harvested crops yet only
eighteen acres of that is
cannabis.
I also want to echo the support
for micro businesses to allow
more flexibility in our
business models as well as that
I request for the subjects to
apply only for new applicants.
Um where there is a variance
process in place to setbacks we
need to ensure that the process
is simple to obtain and people
that have already created their
infrastructures based on
the setbacks would be not only
financially burdened but it MAY
be impossible for some of
the farms actually to apply to
those new setbacks.
Um, thank you for listening to
my suggestions and I support
full adoption of the ordinance
today.
>> thank you.
Thank you, david.
Barbara.
I have to pull away way down.
Good afternoon.
My name is barbara marshall.
Um and I'm speaking on behalf
of the nevada county
contractors association and I'd
like to submit the following
comments on the proposed
changes.
>> I I represent contractors
who do work for the cannabis
industry and those who live in
neighborhoods adversely
impacted by the cannabis
industry.
The planning commission staff
report the purpose of
the update is to make
cultivation within the county
more efficient and responsive
to the needs the industry while
balancing the potential impacts
to the neighborhoods.
>> so we offer the following
comments based on the intent
and purpose of that statement.
While the cannabis businesses
certainly will benefit from
the changes, I don't see any
provisions to address
the impacts on neighborhoods
since the county does not
enforce this ignores
the addition of increased
canopy manufacture and retail
license well significant
increase traffic smell and
visual impacts while the retail
license requires the use permit
and will address these issues
as part of that permit process
,the increase in canopy and
manufacturing do not.
There are certain areas of
the county that appropriate for
cannabis growing and
the proposed changes will help
those businesses be more
successful while not affecting
their surrounding neighbors and
we support those changes for
those areas.
However, in certain areas such
as sunshine valley, golden oaks
and some of the other
subdivisions in the county that
have been significant issues in
those neighborhoods, these
proposed changes don't go far
enough to protect those
neighborhoods and their quality
of life and will only serve to
further exacerbate the conflict
between neighbors and users.
Some of those neighborhoods
have canals that prohibit
commercial cannabis businesses
if the county wants to be
responsive to the needs of
the industry while balancing
the impacts to
the neighborhoods, then these
this peace needs to be
addressed.
The county doesn't enforce this
in ours and it would be up to
the highways to litigate any
permits that are approved.
There has to be a better way to
encourage cannabis businesses
in areas that make sense while
protecting neighborhoods where
it doesn't well before it goes
into litigation and
neighborhood conflicts.
>> it would be better to
prevent a problem of further is
one.
A little bit of prevention goes
a long way.
One solution would be to create
an overlay zoning district
exclusion area that clearly
identify where those
neighborhoods are and prohibit
or discourages businesses from
going in there.
So sum it up barbara.
>> ok, I'm sorry I tried for
three minutes so there are many
options to to work on that and
it could simply be a map and
you know another option is to
just kind of leave you can
leave that with with the okello
we can also go barbara I
appreciate it.
I really wanted to make a point
.
There are lots of options.
I hope that you take a little
bit more time to address that
piece.
>> thank you, barbara.
Hello supervisors.
My name is kim rawlins and I'm
a resident of district four.
I've owned my home and farm
since 2006 and became one of
the first county licensed
canvas farms in twenty nineteen
.
Our business is luminescent
farms a quarter acre outdoor
garden on twenty one acres.
Like many others here we've
just completed our fourth
season as a licensed farm in
nevada county.
We care deeply about being
small business owners in
the county we shop at hills
flamboyancy.
We hire local accountants and
bookkeepers and during
the construction of our
building we hired all local
contractor.
There's an effort to be
compliant and efficient.
We've been constructing 4500
square foot commercial building
on a property for the last
three years.
The vision of for this building
has stumbled due to declining
revenues and inflated
construction costs.
Right now it is crucial that
these current proposed changes
be designed to help us stay in
business without raising new
obstacles.
As it stands, our commercial
building was constructed at
the 100 property setback for
the existing ordinance
guidelines.
It would be discouraging to
allow new canopy expansion
under the condition of an
increase that back effectively
moving the goalposts on three
years worth of work an so much
of our hard earned money please
allow existing permanent
facilities to operate with
existing set backs and enforce
new setback requirements on new
projects only please provide
existing cannabis license
holders a pathway to ensure we
do not need to meet new
setbacks on infrastructure that
is already in place.
I would also like to comment on
the proposed expansion of
allowable cannabis license
types.
The change in cannabis market
has taught us that cultivators
cannot survive on bulk
wholesale alone at this scale
just like traditional farming,
some level of vertical
integration is needed to remain
competitive by allowing these
additional license types,
cultivators can produce a shelf
ready product onsite that can
be sold directly to retail.
Many firms are already
following this model in other
counties and this ordinance
change would give nevada
cannabis a chance to remain
competitive and relevant.
I support the adoption of
the cannabis ordinance today so
that our farm can know
the rules that will be in place
for planting in the spring.
>> thank you.
Thank you.
Good afternoon supervisors
jeunesse the two day with
the south uber reverse citizens
league thank you for
the opportunity to provide
comments today and first one I
really think county staff for
putting together this ordinance
.
We are strongly supportive of
the ordinance as proposed and
would urge your adoption.
We do however want to point out
one um item in the proposal
that um we'd like you to
consider and that is
the allowance of the four
thousand square feet of canopy
for mixed light use.
Um, we think um that that might
be excessive and that might
lead to undue um environmental
um harm potentially increased
water use and energy use um
impacts to our roads and so um
while we wholeheartedly support
this process and want to be a
partner and encourage that a
small modification to
the ordinance my potential to
mitigate that unintended
consequence um and
unfortunately I was unable to
provide written comments to
the board but will do so
following this meeting.
So you have a record of our
comments.
Um, once again just want to
reiterate that we are
supportive of this process and
I want to thank staff for all
of the work that they've done
on this so far.
Thank you.
Hello my name is emily porter.
Um I live in district one.
I'm a member of the nevada
county cannabis alliance and I
have been a cannabis consultant
here in nevada county for
the past four years.
Prior to that I was a
cultivator in the traditional
market and I have spent my
entire adult life working with
cannabis.
Thank you for the opportunity
to speak today primarily I
would like to express my
gratitude for the opportunity
to participate in this
discussion and for all of
the time and attention our many
community members have put
towards crafting and guiding
this thoughtful and thorough
ordinance amendment.
Although I work primarily
within nevada county, I also
manage compliance for cannabis
businesses across california
and in many other states I get
to see firsthand the triumphs
and the failures of many
different approaches to our
still fairly new transition
into a regulated cannabis
industry.
My experience has been that
nevada county's cannabis
policies are some of the most
sensible and reasonable in
the state.
I see the opportunity for real
longevity for our small
businesses here and together
with careful intention we can
continue to craft a robust
industry in this place so dear
to our hearts.
the proposed ordinance
amendment before you is
the result of so many folks
efforts and perspectives.
I am truly grateful that in a
time when many other legacy
producing regions and their
communities struggled to create
and maintain a balanced and
fair cannabis program, we are
here together discussing viable
options for our communities
path forward.
I would like to voice my strong
support for these ordinance
changes and ask that you allow
our farmers the opportunity to
grow to diversify their
agricultural businesses to
provide a stable future for
their families during uncertain
times and to continue to set a
standard within california for
sensible cannabis policy.
Let nevada county be an example
to the rest of the state of how
to responsibly scale our
industry while honoring our
heritage and those who
weathered the war on drugs and
paved the way for any of us to
be here today.
Cannabis is agriculture and
cannabis is medicine.
Thank you.
>> hello my name is clarissa
rozario.
I'm a resident of your district
MR. Scofield district to thank
you for the opportunity that
mike down a little.
Absolutely.
Thank you for the opportunity
to speak here today.
Although the changes being
proposed are called minor, they
will have a large and positive
impact on the future of
the cannabis industry in nevada
county.
It is my opinion that
the proposed changes wll be
beneficial to the cannabis
industry by streamlining
the application process as well
as the opportunity to have
licensing activities in
addition to cultivation.
Frankly, these these are
the same exact tools that
traditional farms utilize to be
a fully functioning farm
the ability to utilize to
adjacent parcels to maximize
cannabis size in addition to
using part of the support area
for mature flowering plants
will greatly licensed farmers
in these challenging times and
make it a lot easier to operate
a business.
Although I agree with
the permit holder being
required to acknowledge their
businesses in any way I would
hope that the board would not
allow any way to make
additional restrictions outside
of what is already legal within
the county and state of
allowing it ways to dictate
county code MAY set a negative
precedent for land use policy
because even with all
the proposed benefits there
will always be pushback by some
individuals.
It is unfortunate that I have
seen so much harassment of
the licensed farms within my
community and it's hard to
understand why considering
they're doing the right thing
by following the law, some
people cannot let go of their
negative stigma against
cannabis farming.
I would hope that by
acknowledging that the permit
holders within away it will not
open the door for the way to
restrict cultivation and
cannabis business and an
already approved ccar in
the future as is currently
occurring in my community, our
nature has been pushing to make
changes to our current decision
to restrict all commercial
agricultural activity on our
agriculturally zoned lands when
this is clearly allowed and
legal in the state and county
and this is the reason why many
of us have purchased
agriculturally zone lands to
begin with is allowing
the rules I'm sorry is changing
the rules to restrict
commercial agricultural
activity but allowing all other
commercial business is
unreasonable again a choice
should not have the authority
to restrict cannabis
cultivation when it is legal
based on county and state law.
>> of course insuk attorneys
have a tendency of instilling
fear into residents.
No one should ever dictate how
one can earn a living on their
private property, especially
not in a right to farm county.
I think the county board of
supervisors has a duty to not
only advocate for all small
businesses but also for
the individual property owners
and their rights within nevada
county.
The board of supervisors cannot
police each individual in
the county.
Individuals still have property
rights.
Furthermore, there are
unscrupulous individuals
manipulating a choice for their
own self-interest.
I am hopeful that the board of
supervisors will support
the proposed amendments to
the cannabis ordinance and
adopt this ordinance today.
>> thank you for your time.
Thank you melissa.
I'm sorry one more speaker and
then we've got two callers on a
line holding out so we'll take
them after this.
Hello supervisors.
Thank you for your time today.
My name is david travelzoo.
I am a working professional and
I live in an age or community
nevada county in district two I
was born and raised in new york
city within close proximity to
my neighbors where possible
relationships and effective
communication with one's
neighbors was paramount to
living a happy and harmonious
life.
Sadly, it seems to me that here
in nevada county these positive
relationships and open
communications occur less
frequently and sometimes just
feel no longer possible.
I moved to california
specifically purchasing my
property in my community
because I hoped for
the possibility of owning a
variety of farm animals, having
a small orchard I moved to
california specifically
purchased my property sorry
recently my enjoy although
currently a road association
only has made attempts to limit
the agricultural exposure and
possible commercial
agricultural uses of all
property owners although these
limitations are reported to be
only against cannabis
businesses in cultivation, I'm
concerned that it will not end
their at what point in time
will the restrictions prevent
me from doing the things that I
want to do on my property?
At what point in time will I
need to go to the board to ask
what colors I can paint my
house?
At what point in time will I
need to go to the board and ask
what how many guests can I have
at my house because they using
a roads along the way these
limitations MAY begin with
marijuana cultivation but where
will they end?
I would like to be able to
continue to pursue my farming
activities, my choice on my
property which is zoned
agricultural with an
encroachment restriction from
an hla cannabis is an
agricultural activity just like
my desire to have farm animals
and orchards.
I hope that we can sometime in
the future find ways to
communicate again as neighbors
and build positive
relationships beyond anyone's
biased against any particular
crop.
We should be helping people to
be able to create small farm
businesses and be supportive of
our neighbors.
Some people just need to get
past the stigma of the cannabis
industry.
It's repeats itself though 100
years ago there were uprose
about people building wine
orchards in farming communities
by adopting the ordinance
changes the county will be in a
position of not assisting any
way and limiting the use of our
properties for agricultural
pursuits.
I hope this ordinance can be
adopted today.
Thank you for your time.
It all right MADAM Clerk, if
you could bring in our callers
no, no, no, no.
We're going to the callers
first.
You'll get up there.
Thank you.
Chair.
>> can we bring the callers in
please?
Good afternoon.
My name is smale.
I'm a resident of nevada county
district for and the owner of
their small pipsy, a law firm
in nevada city as local
attorney I work with many local
farmers who are in or coming
into our regulated cannabis
program.
I'm calling to indicate my
strong support for the proposed
ordinance update.
These common sense updates will
allow compliant operators to
run sustainable businesses that
can compete and california
cannabis market and bring even
further economic benefits to
our county in particular I want
to express my support of
additional license type of
support area state for mature
canopy aggregate parcel sizes
and grandfathering in already
approved projects set back.
I also want to thank the board
planning commission and
cannabis compliance team for
your continued openness towards
exploring options for
maximizing the success of local
farmers have chosen to enter
the regulated cannabis industry
.
i appreciate you and your
ongoing willingness to listen
to your constituents and make
me proud to be a resident and
business here in nevada county
.
>> thanks so much.
Thank you sir.
It's going in the next caller
please.
>> hello.
Hello.
>> we can hear you.
Hello.
Can you help ed?
Can you hear me?
Yes you can matthew ok very
good thank you.
Um yeah long run on this one
topic.
I was the first person
convicted after prop 215 was
installed by the california
voters there in nevada county
and then watching it ever since
and it's interesting that we
are continuing to micromanage
and trying to micromanage our
way out of something that is so
rudimentary as far as farming
because it really depends on
the weather.
It depends on so much and
farmers are pretty much at
the bottom of the rung for
having time off to do things or
making money for having
literally long life because
it's very hard work no matter
how you cut it and I hope
the county can pull back a
little bit and realize that it
is just a crop doesn't need to
be taxed so heavily.
It doesn't need to be regulated
so heavily.
But what unfortunately after
going to all the meetings for
so many years seeing that
the county was so excited about
the tax base that basically
turned it over to
the commercial farmers saying
know just give us our money and
do your thing well we see what
that's gotten with a lot of
illegal huge farms, huge which
for some reason can't be seen
from the air or from google
earth at least our county
everyone else can see it.
>> so there seems like to be a
way to finance the whole thing
with the illegal farmers and
getting back to the medicinal
marijuana topic that was voted
on by the california voters way
back before it was taken over
as a financially viable thing
for so many people to do which
is great.
I love small business.
I love to see all the different
things that have come out of it
.
But at the same time
the counties just spend their
every step of the way with
their hand out for the farmers
and for all the entrepreneurs.
And that's why it just seems
like it's there's been this
twenty five year cycle of
watching the same thing over
and over the cag the amount of
money and ours the county has
spent on this topic could put
half of that towards fire.
We did make a huge dent
the fire problem.
>> thank you.
Thank you, matthew.
All right.
We'll continue the public
comment here in the chambers.
Hello.
I'm an oelrich I don't know my
district apologetically.
I have my husband and I own
sugarbush farms who are twenty
five hundred square foot on a
farm here in nevada county and
this is our while we spent our
life savings about two and a
half years ago to make this
possible to get permitted.
This is our first year in
the legal market trying to make
this work and it's not working
.
So some things that would
really help for us you know,
the things the things that
the state is already doing with
the micro business license
these business license types so
I can make my sales at home
tinctures that have helped my
family along the years and
myself so we could distribute
our own product and not have to
pay all this middleman just to
kind of se it up so we can
succeed.
We want to work side by side
with the others in
the community.
We don't want to be the enemy.
We just want to make this work
.
And as somebody who's used
medical marijuana for pain,
hypo pituitary is in my entire
life, you know, we can talk
about quality of life and how I
want it has changed my life and
I'm sure others dealing with
chronic fatigue, other things
so a little bit of excessive
traffic and a and a smell
ruining the quality of your
life just kind of comparatively
bothers me.
You agricultural products smell
a horse manure smells our sheep
farm up the street smells so
does our marijuana product.
You know, if we were seen as an
agricultural business instead
of a commercial business, maybe
that would change.
But or the fact of them the way
it upsets everybody would
change but it isn't so I guess
I just hope that you can
subscribe to these proposed
changes and understand we're
just humans like everybody else
out there trying to make it
work.
And you know, if we could
decrease our support area size
and increase our canopy size,
we might be able to donate more
of our product to the calvert's
group and other people at
the distribution in town.
So that people like me can have
free medical marijuana.
You know, just trying to make
it work.
So thank you for hearing me and
that's all.
Thank you, ed yabbie good
afternoon.
I'd like to require five
minutes please because I
minutes think the PRESIDENT
Doesn't get five.
I thought we did we're down to
three.
Debbie porter I live in heds
group I am PRESIDENT Of
the golden oaks homeowners
association and along those
lines I have been on the board
since the late 1990s.
PRESIDENT For at least 12 years
.
I have lived here for twenty
five plus years firsthand
knowledge of how the increase
in traffic I will be referring
to the traffic that comes and
the fact that we're in a
private association we're
paying for the roads.
>> uh, we have I oversee over
11 miles of private roads.
My neighborhood consists of one
hundred and three lots and
seventeen easement properties
that all use the private roads
and pay your dues to maintain
them.
We acknowledge that we are
zoned ag x but we are also a
neighborhood of private homes
with cars and bylaws that
govern what is allowed since
the county has decided to allow
commercial cannabis businesses
to set up some issues have
occurred being termed
commercial is it by this
ordinance?
I hope you can acknowledge
the extra traffic that we see
exists here.
The owners have employees,
the grower owners.
The county has allowed trailers
for their workers to use.
Portable toilets are in place
parking lots large greenhouses
and outbuildings, increased
traffic that brings in
deliveries of soil fertilizers
,gravel support vehicles, et
cetera.
Um, this is already increased
the traffic on our roads and we
are trying to come up with a
way to equitably pay our dues
to this end I ask the following
require any commercial business
giving a license to operate in
golden oaks, a directive to pay
additional road dues and fees.
One proposal is to charge a
larger gross four times
the standard fee smaller sites
two times this should be
doubled if you allow selling
and manufacturing to occur do
not allow these growth sites to
sell directly from their
property as they are seeking.
I would think it would be
obvious that this will create a
great deal more traffic and
bring a lot more people that
would normally drive into our
neighborhood by doing this
the county is knowingly
creating a burden on all of
the people who own the property
.
Um, I'm going to have to skip
we are desperate for
the county's support.
Uh, we have for legally allowed
growers with a possible fifth
that is four percent of
the people who pay for our
roads and it seems excessive
that they don't pay more when
they bring in so much traffic.
As PRESIDENT I have been asked
by one of our associates and
members to say a few things
because his kid's school was
closed today and his wife is at
work so he had to stay home.
He is brought up to issues
about the fifth amendment and
the fourteenth amendment.
In brief, the fourteenth
amendment says no state shall
deprive any person of
the liberty or property without
due process of law nor deny any
person within its duties
jurisdiction the equal
protection of the law fifth
amendment says uh let's see
property without due process
nor shall private property be
taken for public use without
just compensation.
I'm pleased to say that you are
reacting to some ccr issues
because the burden is being put
on those of us who are paying
to use our roads with a very
few people in the neighborhood
who have excessively increased
the traffic, he I can't ok.
All right.
Well thank you.
that goes fast.
I know I know I don't have a
problem with these ordinances.
I just hope that you remember
what you're doing to
the majority of the people in
these private road associations
to help a minority.
Thank you very good afternoon
supervisors.
>> my name is tim morlin.
I am a board member for
the nevada county cannabis
alliance.
I actually live in sacramento.
I'm here to speak in support of
the proposed ordinance that is
before you today.
One of the main reasons I would
speak in support that is just
allowing additional license
types.
I am a former regulator for
the state of california.
I worked for CHAIRMAN
CHAIRWOMAN fiona ma when she's
at the board of equalization
and from twenty fifteen to
twenty eighteen.
Nevada county was one of
the first places that we
actually took a tour of of
the cannabis industry one of
the major ideas was to allow
cannabis licenses to have
multiple licenses.
I think that's what we're doing
here.
That's a great idea and it
helps it helps the cannabis
businesses save money obviously
want to speak on distribution.
I've worked in the industry for
some large distributors.
>> it's going to save a lot of
money just on the distribution
costs.
Distribution can range anywhere
from ten to twenty five percent
and that's not even including
packaging cost a whole other
litany of costs that a
distributor could assess to a
cannabis farmer.
So this is going to save
the industry money allowing
the other license types as well
to will allow them to to cut
costs.
Look at the cannabis industry
right now is in dire straits.
It's a tough market.
There's a lot of issues.
There's overproduction, there's
illicit market activity.
There's a whole bunch of issues
that are making the bottom line
very tough especially for small
cultivators and for small
businesses.
So this is a perfect plan to
allow companies to save money
and to cut costs.
Also wanted to speak on
the traffic.
I know the traffic has been
talked about.
Look at you allow companies to
have their own distribution
licenses.
>> they there's just
essentially going to be less
traffic because you're going to
have less distributors coming
in to this area to pick up
product from cannabis
cultivators and manufacturers.
So that eliminates traffic
right there.
This in my opinion just looking
at it also is good for
the environment too because
you're you're reducing
the amount of traffic driving
in and out.
So that is a good thing as well
.
I also wanted just before I
close real quick on
the additional license types
this you know, on the flip side
it will allow folks to do their
own processing, their own
distribution.
But this is also will help them
generate revenue too with these
license types they can package
for other companies with
the distribution license or
with the manufacture license.
Obviously they can sell other
other brands products.
So I really urge you to pass
this planning commission
ordinance and thank you for
your time.
Thank you, tim.
>> good afternoon chair
schofield and honorable
supervisor of county staff.
Good afternoon.
My name is abraham walinski.
I live in district four with my
wife and three sons and
the vice PRESIDENT Of our road
association which is wolf
mountain and I take great care
in helping and support a
neighborhood and the roads my
wife and I operate green
hummingbird farm a quarter acre
organic cannabis farm.
I'm here today to talk about
the proposed setbacks for any
new canopy that's over ten
thousand square feet in
the proposed one hundred feet.
One hundred and fifty setbacks
will disqualify many farmers
from participating in because
most of the parcels in
the county are sitting on odd
shapes and they're their step
terrains and waterways.
Now if we go back four years
ago to the cag meeting this was
an issue and it was agreed that
it will be 100 feet and nt
changed because this puts a lot
out of the game and I wanted to
clarify about the other 10000
square feet and I have a 10000
square a 9000 support area a
which is already set for
the 100 feet.
I have nowhere to go and many
farmers are like me.
They have nowhere to go.
That's it.
If you increase the setbacks
we're not going to enjoy it.
So we're taking two steps ahead
and one step back.
I'm grateful what the county
has been doing but like I said
,it's not going to help us at
the end of the day modifying
new areas will cause
significant disruption to
the environment.
This will put small farmers
that needs to grow in their
support area in difficult
situations in that will cause
them to take well they won't be
able to take advantage over to
the cost and the environmental
and environmental impacts today
I'm asking to adopt
the ordinance, however, seeking
to grandfather in setbacks for
those farmers who are under
twenty thousand square feet and
already licensed increase
setbacks for those increase in
backs for those at twenty
thousand square feet would be
more appropriate because those
that have more than 24000
square feet are probably on
bigger parcels while there is
variance in the easement
setback process we all know
where those processes and how
they work they never really
happen and I'm really concerned
that this process a will just
be another spending money
process in.
Thank you so much and I hope
this was heard and understood.
>> thank you.
Thank you reverend.
How many more speakers do you
have?
Ok, I'd like to kind of wrap
this up.
I think we've heard a pretty
good amount so if you get up in
line and we'll all kind of put
it at yeah there you go.
>> go ahead.
Next speaker hello I'm vicki d
.
>> I don't know what district
I'm in but I speak into
the microphone.
My name vicki day.
I've lived in nevada county for
twenty one years now and built
my house in two thousand and
six on a two acre parcel.
>> I'm surrounded by seven and
10 acre parcels around me I
have about seven illegal grows
around my parcel and we've been
coexisting.
Ok until this most recent
person that moved in decided to
cut and has the ambition to put
in a commercial grow right in
the middle of my neighborhood
right on the road.
So for myself I want to see
small farmers.
I want you guys to be
productive but there's always
that one bad egg that gets me
to be here today and the idea
that he's going to put in a
potentially commercial road
that I can see from my house
that is going to be smelling
terribly, bringing in more
traffic I've had in the past
guns coming into my
neighborhood because of
the illegal grows that are in
the area.
So I just ask you that as we
try to support our farmers
which I'm there and and I want
small businesses this is why I
live in nevada county at
the same time don't forget
about people that moved up here
just to be here just to be in
the woods, just to feel safe in
their neighborhood and I would
really like to see these
additional set backs especially
for neighborhoods.
So if there was maybe a way to
think about now I'm new to this
process is maybe a home a
residential home doesn't have
to be within a thousand feet of
commercial grow.
I don't know if that is
something that's been looked at
or not, but thank you for your
time.
I know you guys have been here
for a long time so thank you.
>> I'm willow valley berger
road district one.
Ok, thank thank you.
My name is wade laughter I live
in district one.
Hello heidi.
Chair schofield lou reed.
First of all I want to say that
a little quick look through
history our original cannabis
ordinance was drafted to try
and solve some of the problems
caused by prohibition and in a
deliberate and I think
appropriate way y'all went slow
small scale and now after a
couple of years you've seen
some of the challenges I've
heard from some of the people
who are actually trying to obey
the rules and this new
ordinance I really want to call
out MR. Foss and MISS Lemon and
welcome to the board of
supervisors of our third.
But this is a very complicated
topic because it seems to me as
I read the new ordinance, it
really is an attempt to
regulate something like what
the market was when I was very
busy and it's appropriate to
have controls.
One of the few things that's
nice about legalization is
the availability of safe, clean
tested consistent product for
patients, which is the next
thing I wanted to speak to as a
patient myself with a really
renewed strong interest in what
cannabis might do for a person
.
Uh here in nevada county
because of you all and folks in
the planning department council
and even the sheriff we're
working this out.
We're trying to sort out how to
go from literally a market
where the only rules were don't
get caught to this insane
overly regulated situation that
we have and this goes a long
way towards giving the folks
who actually are trying to obey
the rules a chance to make a
living at it so that person's
like myself or some of
the children in our community
would continue to have access
to what this plant can do for
them.
>> so I guess that's all I have
to say.
I think you can probably tell
would be in favor of you all
voting for this in much like
the same time we did
the ordinance a couple of years
back.
Let's see how it works.
Give people a chance.
Let's if they obey the rules,
pay their taxes, maybe even
some of them will succeed
generate jobs.
It might be a great story
someday.
So thank you for your
consideration and I look
forward to seeing more of you
this year.
Thank you, wade.
Thank you.
These are the folks that
deserve your applause.
Hello my name is pamela and I
come from district two and I
would like to bring up just a
few points if you don't mind.
One of them is a question I am
curious to see how much income
the fees on lowgar local grows
bring into our economy.
I don't know where that
information is available for
the public but I would love to
find out and I'm also curious
to see with the possibile of
the farms selling directly from
the farm what the dispensaries
how that'll affect
the dispensaries and
the control that that allows on
the industry with the testing
and stuff how it affects their
sales and what they think of
that.
So I'm that type of information
if you guys can provide that
information, appreciate it.
Um, that this was from one of
my neighbors he he wanted to be
able to come but was unable to
.
How can you nevada county
require the majority of
the people in a private road
association to pay for
the actions of a few?
Yes it is their private
property but what they are
proposing requires a drastic
increase in the use on
the highway private roads now
at the commissioners meeting
they informed us that nevada
county only owns thirty percent
of these roads in the in
the rural community which means
seventy percent of them a
majority belong to private
association and that
information isn't something I
came up with.
That's what they came up with
in the meeting.
Perhaps nevada county should be
paying the private road
association for this increase
in use as part of your annual
budget.
After all, you are the ones
taken the liberty to allow this
in private in private industry
and unrestricted use of our
private roads.
All the while you are
collecting taxes and profiting
from the revenue on
the industry that the industry
produces.
>> um, it is true where we
struggle to maintain the roads
.
It's very expensive as nevada
county will admit that they
don't want to have to pay for
all these private roads but we
would appreciate if there was
more repect for what we have
to go through to maintain our
neighborhoods.
And not only that, there's been
numerous cases where we have
lost high school students from
the pot because it's been laced
with stuff.
Well this encourages a lot of
the families don't want their
kids around the industry and
now they have no choice because
it's brought right into their
homeland.
So I'd appreciate if you would
consider that also it is a
majority of the people.
Thank you.
Thank you, pamela.
Good afternoon.
Diane gamson, executive
director of the nevada county
cannabis alliance, a trade
association representing over
200 cannabis businesses.
Our members are pioneering
small farmers, artisanal
product makers and prominent
cannabis educators collectively
in twenty twenty one the local
cannabis industry was valued at
twelve million dollars roughly
half the value of our entire
agricultural interests in
the county for that year.
Yet licensed harvested cannabis
is utilizing only eighteen
acres.
That is the equivalent of
the size of the of that is
the entire size of mountain
bounty.
Our farmers have been featured
in vanity fair forbes
the california state fair and
have won prestigious awards for
our craft products and we are
just getting started over
the past three years since our
audience is adoption, county
staff has created a framework
for public participation
through town halls and dozens
of stakeholder meetings.
The audience before you today
represent a comprehensive
ordinance that balances
the need of economic
development opportunities and
land use compatible and we
support the continued
discussions to ensure land use
compatibilities with highways
and for the board discussions
on that thse minor changes to
the ordinance will provide
the tools the license types
necessary for our small farmers
to modestly adapt their
business plans just as any crop
for farmer is permitted.
Everything that is proposed
today is already allowed as a
use on agricultural zone land
and is currently in use by
traditional farmers.
Today marks a historic moment
in moving in providing
the simple opportunity of
letting our cannabis farmers
farm.
Over two hundred small
businesses have started since
twenty nineteen, employing over
two hundred and fifty people in
the unincorporated area of our
rural community.
This economic growth is
unpressed ended and with
the adoption of the ordinance
amendments today the trend will
continue.
We support the full adoption of
your audit of the ordinance
before you today with two
modifications.
First in alignment with circle
and the letter that the bear
you built land trust set
submitted and the policy
committee of the cannabis
alliance we support the twenty
thousand square foot for mixed
cultivation limit with
the amendment in ef1.
Second, given the use permit
process for microbeads with
retail license we believe
the use permit should dictate
the size of the facility with
an amendment giving discretion
to the use permit.
That's a lot of words and
the size the micro business
with an amendment in section k.
one of note the highest
priority as you've heard today
is to not move the goalposts
for existing license farmers
that are adopting their
adapting their farm plans.
There must be a simple variance
process in place if existing
farmers need to meet new
setbacks creating overly
burdensome regulations on
farmers who have existing
infrastructure in place will
discourage businesses from
taking advantage of the tools
being approved today should a
farmer seek to maintain their
existing 100 foot setback.
We want to ensure that
the various process is simple
about updating approval with
the neighboring property should
suffice to maintain it, express
our gratitude for recognition
of cannabis as an economic
driver and the many steps
forward that today's adoption
the ordinance will lead us.
Thank you.
Hi my name is michael chadstone
.
I am a resident of district
four and diane is always a
tough act to follow but I'll
try on 40 acres of exxon land
and as we all know the primary
use of that exxon land is
agricultural activities which
is at a very base level.
What we're seeking to
accomplish here today I have a
10000 square foot mixed
facility there and I appreciate
your consideration of this
common sense policy before
today that is both a natural
and anticipated progression of
the work that we did several
years ago on the ordinance and
is critical for our local
farmers and operators five
years ago I started a
distribution company in the bay
area that serves to support my
farm and local other farms up
here simply because the local
jurisdiction here we weren't
there yet on our leisinger
process so I still own and
operate that facility down in
the bay area.
I would love nothing more than
to bring that facility up here
to my existing operation to my
home.
>> at the end of the day what
that looks like in distribution
is you know it sounds scary.
We hear these nonvolatile
distribution industrial terms.
It's me driving a van three or
four times a month round trip
unfortunately with very
expensive commercial insurance
.
So there's not a major influx
on our roads.
I live on a private road.
We pay for those increases in
the road.
Benefits to our local community
will be great.
There will additional tax base
,et cetera on the distribution
license.
I'm happy to answer any
questions that you have.
I've been though it all at
the state level so any
questions I'd be happy to
answer as a commercial
agricultural operation my farm
is required to comply with
commercial building and fire
standards for our cultivation
support areas.
This is a significant capital
investment and we simply ask
you that we utilize this
existing space when it's
underutilized during much of
the year for these ancillary
and supportive uses.
These additional license types
are truly administrative in
nature and would simply allow
farms to control the processing
and packaging of their own
products without having to use
a third party like myself.
This is obviously consistent
with their ag operations apple
orchards making cut apples and
packaging them or making cider
some of these things and we're
subject to our building fire
land use secret standards
already at this point.
So this is well within your
purview and ability to be able
to exercise on this ordinance
today.
I'd like to thank the staff on
the board for considering this
ensuring a fair public process
throughout the course of this
school compliance adherence to
land use fire building
standards and I applaud you for
continuing to refine our
program.
Thank you.
Thank you, michael.
Good afternoon.
Jonathan collier, district one
seven years ago I was a
founding member of the what is
now the nevada cannabis
alliance and I remember many of
you siting side by side
meetings and for the most part
I think I went through my notes
away because a lot of people
have spoken to this and I feel
I'm a little rusty.
I mean I was listening to this
whole meeting is just amazing
how articulate and how
professional members of
the cannabis industry have
become.
I remember 2012 2014 and when
we pretty much had at our for
lack of a better term circus's
and it's just that evolution
has been so astounding.
I think most of these poc are
much more articulate than I am
these days and I think we're at
a very important point here as
we continue to move these
regulations, this process
forward.
As we know there's a lot
changing there be a lot that
continues to change.
It's an industry similar to
the building industry where
every three or four years we
see the regular updates,
regulatory updates and we have
to continue to evolve with them
and we're at another point
where it's happening and I and
I just have to say just
watching what's happened across
the state of california, I
think people I've spoken to
this you know, nevada county
has done one of the best jobs
by doing a slow balanced
approach by taking into
consideration the interests of
the public and measuring that
with the industry and I just
want to also just put in that
we're also going to have to see
things for the future and I
think people have been spoken
to that too.
I know seven years ago when we
talked about this we talked
about a craft industry and
beginning to open up th things
that would kind of make us napa
and sonoma.
So we begin that today with
the micro business licenses and
I think there's so much more to
be said.
But again, it's just let
the people do what they're
doing.
We're doing such a good job of
continue to do what you've been
doing and I think we'll see
really important things happen
.
And I also think that we'll see
a lot of the late comers also
be inspired.
The more that we make our
businesses that exist
successful, the more that
encourages the late comers to
come on board and continue to
be a model of success for
the future.
So just really appreciate
everything that's been done and
appreciate all the people that
have stpped up through
the years to make this happen.
>> so thank you much.
Thank you, jonathan.
And good afternoon sherry
schofield and supervisors.
My name is john folie I river
rivers ranch excuse me a 63
acre parcel and district four
where my family and I cultivate
cannabis and graze beef cattle
.
>> I also serve as the board
chair of the nevada county
cannabis alliance.
I'm a member of the nevada
county farm bureau and I was
one of the first licensees in
the county when the ordinance
first passed in twenty nineteen
.
As I stand here today I'm happy
to recognize all the faces
looking at me and I feel
grateful that I've gotten to
know all of you over the last
few years.
I think it shows an incredible
amount of progress trust,
respect that U.S. Leadership
and myself and the cannabis
industry have developed in that
time.
>> it is unique and surely not
the experience of all in other
jurisdictions after voters in
nevada county overwhelmingly
defeated measure w and
the community advisory group
deliberated for one year
the county listened to the will
of the people and invested in
the cannabis industry with
the approval of funds for a
programmatic evironmental
impact report and the passage
of a cannabis cultivation
ordinance during public comment
before the passage of
the cannabis ordinance, I spoke
to the partnership that
the county the cannabis
industry we're now entering and
had and now the success of our
program would be codependent as
farmers was our responsibility
to become good operators
business people, neighbors and
examples to others
transitioning into compliance
for the county would be
imperative to listen to
the needs of the industry and
adjust the ordinance to afford
the flexibility required by our
operators and an eer changing
a turbulent marketplace with
the amount of time resources,
money spent, we had an ethical
responsibility to continue
forward in this manner.
While this transitionary period
hasn't been perfect, it has by
and large been a success today
in this room our sitting some
of the finest cannabis
cultivators in the state our
farmers are winning awards,
setting new trends for
cultivation styles and
techniques and penetrating
marketplace dominated by large
scale investor back operations
.
We are defying the odds stacked
against us proving a small
scale owner operator.
Businesses have a place in this
industry.
In return, county leadership
and staff have continued to
effectively communicate with
the industry and community,
listen to its needs and make
the appropriate adjustments to
serve the vitality of both.
>> we are all here today is
proof the proposed amendments
the ordinance offer operators
the tools needed for continued
success when, how and if they
choose to use them will be
different for everyone.
But the choice is ours
the ability to diversify
modestly scale vertically
integrate create value added
products and directly reach
the consumer is how small
agricultural producers succeed
and thrive.
We are not asking for special
or preferential treatment
simply to be treated the same.
I ask that your board adopt
the proposed cannabis ordinance
changes today with the minor
modifications proposed by
the cannabis alliance and I
promise our industry will
continue to make positive
strides effectively communicate
lead by example and strengthen
the health of our community.
>> thank you for your time.
Thank you john.
>> my name is kevin gentlemen.
I'm in the 2nd district
district two and gold notes and
actually have two properties
near wayne and to license
properties.
I'm going to try to keep this
quick but I do want to address
a few things I've heard here
today one regarding the testing
and what's required for
the chemicals for cannabis.
We my mom used to work for
the epa and cannabis requires
epa or even more difficult
standards just just so that's
understood.
I think one thing that's really
important about what's
happening here today is to
hopefully negate some of
the need or the fact that there
are so many illegal gross and I
want to thank everybody for
being part of this.
I know that this is a difficult
process and I see a lot of
progress happening in this
county with the last ordinance
.
What's proposed right now?
I think that's really important
when it comes to illegal
activity and I think that is
something we should all be
focused on in both estuaries
and in the county in general.
And this is all good work that
we're doing here today.
>> now.
So thank you to everybody for
being involved in this process
and helping on another thing I
heard on sales, any sales
whatsoever in the state of
california still require
testing the same really
difficult testing to pass.
One thing that's specific to my
situation one of my properties
is the oak management plan.
The idea of replacing oak trees
over like two thirds of my
property is a forest enough for
us in our neighborhood.
We have a lot of fires.
We I think last year we had
five fires within one month
that were over an acre.
The idea of replant oaks
doesn't necessarily make a lot
of sense to me, especially if
it's every place replant
something in those spaces which
might help with the visual
impact.
So the idea of being able to
allot some of this to like this
you would trust then I think
that would be very valuable
which was allowed when I first
did my first license but now
when I did my second one that's
not it for me.
Thank thank you.
>> and this will be our last
speaker my name's maggie.
I'm actually speaking on behalf
of scott galbraith who could
not be here due to the weather
good supervisors.
I am here today to speak in
favor of adoption of
the ordinance with strong
support for the allowance of a
cannabis micro business with a
retail license.
>> I am a proud owner of a
twenty five acre winery and
vineyard where I live with my
wife and our adorable four year
old the idyllic property where
we also raise sheep and
chickens has an approved ef1
commercial building and has
been used for decades as a
public winery and tasting room
.
My land which has already been
approved and used for public
facing commercial use is
perfectly set up for a cannabis
micro business with onsite
retail this ideal scenario
would provide an experience for
visitors to purchase cannabis
directly from the farmer.
My dream is to be able to bring
people from around the world to
our little slice of heaven to
educate on the sustainable
farming practices we study and
employ.
We intend to highlight the long
history of the organic farming
movement on the ridge which is
deeply embedded in our region's
history with luminaries such as
amigo bob.
We are a certified regenerative
farm and grow our plants
directly in the native living
soil.
We believe these practices are
vital to the future of all
types of commercial farming and
it's imperative to spread this
message to the public.
Nevada county is an area known
for its rich terroir an unique
growing climate which would
make it a great destination for
tourists interested the unique
characteristics of our area in
my community on the san juan
ridge there is a dire need for
economic diversification and
stimulus.
It is my plan for this business
model to be part the economic
resurgence on the ridge that
can provide tourism experiences
,employment opportunities and
tax revenue.
I also hope to partner with
ridge based non cannabis
businesses such as local
ceramic makers, flower farmers
and chefs.
Cannabis farmers need a pathway
to host visitors, provide farm
tours and then sell directly to
these consumers while they are
on the farm just as any other
traditional such as a winery is
able to do.
My current business model is to
sell bulk wholesale.
However, given the fall in
prices it is imperative I adopt
my business plans without
the ordinance adoption to
include a micro business with
retail model there is not a
clear path for me to afford to
keep the business going
changing the ordinance to allow
a canabis micro business with
a retail license would be
beneficial to both my family
and the community.
It would provide an opportunity
for me to convert the property
into a destination for tourists
interested in the unique
characteristics of the area, it
would provide a valuable
service to the community and it
would stimulate economic growth
on the ridge.
It is important that
the conditions of the use
permit dictate the size of
the retail space.
Currently there is a size limit
for retail that would count
against my support area.
This does not make sense for a
location such as mine that is
already built out as an
existing winery.
Considering that the micro
business with retail license
will be subject to a used
permit, please do not put
overly restrictive burdens on
the farms.
I urge the board to adopt these
changes before you today with
the modification to allow
the conditions of the permit to
dictate the size of the micro
business.
>> thank you scott galbraith.
Thank maggie.
All right.
At this point I'm going to
close a public comment and I
want to thank everybody here
today for a good civil
conversation.
I think we had some good
information brought forward,
brian at one point we had
the setbacks that we want to
ask about.
I don't think this change
the setbacks but maybe clarify
that a little bit and then also
somebody asked about fees and
revenues.
We don't make money on fees
that pays for what it costs
the process to go through.
We don't make money on taxes on
cannabis not nearly as much as
we had hoped to but that amount
is available online through our
budget, through our treasury
reports that come out and then
also I I think probably within
the questions of the rest of
the board will get back into
retail because I do think that
that's still a bit confusing to
everybody or so with that I'll
bring it back to the board.
And as we've been doing this
all day long party, are you
still with us and would you
like to start?
Yep, I'm here.
Thank you.
Appreciate all the public
comment.
A lot of good information on
see.
>> I think I'm working there.
There you go.
Ok, thanks.
You know I think in general I'm
supportive of the audience.
i do think that there's a
couple of things that are still
a little murky.
The retail portion and also
the exclusionary zones and
the legality of that which I
think we MAY want to bring up
at a different meeting
potentially the workshop I
think the mixed can be sizes
that are outlined in the staff
report are pretty big for me.
I'm a little uncomfortable with
the size of those and I think
they're incongruent with
the type of character that we
want to have in the in
the county having flown over a
lot of the county and look
specifically at that type of
operation.
I do support the different
license types.
I think it's the right way to
go.
I've talked about that since
the concept came up.
I think it's beneficial to
the farmers are the economic
growth of our community and
the diversification of that
type of activity in the in
the business landscape that
we're looking for here in
nevada county.
I do support the secret
determination.
I like the presentation on I
think there's a lot of
complexity particularly
the environmental protection
aspects of changes we make to
be looked at carefully and I
having reviewed the information
and I'm familiar with that type
of process I think it was done
very well and I support a
secret determination that was
made.
I don't see significant changes
from current ordinance
affecting our changes that
we're looking at here today and
I do think I'd like to talk or
hear a little bit more about
the micro business and the way
that the permit would dictate
the size of a micro business
and if staff had any specific
ideas or maybe my colleagues on
the more specific ideas on how
that MAY work and and what
the timing and how that MAY
actually be applied to people
that are trying to get their
businesses up and running, how
long it wuld take specifically
.
>> so the question for staff
already?
Yeah, it is.
Thank you.
And brian maybe could answer
that how if that would work and
how long it would take and what
types of I'm assuming that's
ministerial in nature and it
would go directly through that
to talk a little bit about
the process.
>> so supervisor, if I
understand I think you're
talking about the storefront
retail micro businesses and
the thousand.
That's right.
Limitation ok, so as proposed
the ordinance would require use
permit the process for use
permits is submittal of an
application, has a site plan
and a number of other
informational documents that
are required that the so that
we can do the analysis from a
sequence standpoint but also
from a policy and an audience
consistency standpoint.
So there's a number of
elevations and site plans that
are required to show
the activity locations how
the building or structures are
going to be used for what use
types there would be parking
requirements, there would be
septic information.
There would be roadway
information as far as
conditions of the roads,
the width of the easements,
legal access to to the roads
that are being used.
All that information is routed
to the departments including
fire building public works,
environmental health, an idea
of appropriate fish and
wildlife if appropriate.
It's a it's a full use permit
process we receive conditions
of approval and or comments
back from those agencies based
on the original submittal we
supply those back to
the applicant that might
require refinements to a site
plan or additional information
.
Once we have a complete
application we prepare a secret
document depending on the level
of impacts could be a mitigated
negative declaration which
typically is for a an operation
that is similar to a winery or
an event type activity like
we've had wedding venues any
time that there's public
introduced and then it is
circulated for public comment
and the entire project is
noticed, property owners are
noticed there's a comment
period our comments are
received and then it goes to
the planning commission for a
public hearing and
consideration.
So depending on, you know,
the size and scale it is a
multi month process from time
that it's submitted until
the time it gets to a public
hearing it could be three it
could be six could be longer
depending on the complexity
the thousand square feet was
was added just as an attempt
for, you know, keeping these in
the rural character of of where
these types of operations can
can occur as well as being
consistent with the other
thousand square feet
limitations for the other
activities that are being
introduced with this ordinance
.
But certainly because it is a
use permit and it is site
specific and there's a
notification and quite a
significant discretionary
process excuse me removal of
that thousand square feet for
that particular and specific
use would not necessarily make
any significant ripple effects
in the way that the secret
document and or the ordinance
is structured currently and
would be considered on a case
by case basis through the use
permit process that hopefully I
just tried to describe based on
site specific some specific
infrastructure and the merits
of the project itself.
Ok, that that that's great.
That's great.
Brian, thank innocent probably
contingent on the applicant to
a high degree.
Right.
And that they're responding
quickly and everything back to
you.
Just one more quick comment and
then I I really like supervisor
hook when she mentioned
property owners in good
standing and I just wondered if
you could comment on
the applicability of that type
of language within
the ordinance.
It is that in a relative to
the tax they're current on
their tax bill or yeah exactly
.
>> it's maybe yeah.
And maybe other things related
to encumbrances on their
property for unpaid fines or
enforcement violations or code
compliance violations or any of
those number of things that
could be brought into
the ordinance so that we would
understand that we're dealing
with people who cared about
what they're doing.
>> so typically for land use
entitlements especially for
discretionary actions but with
some administrative if there
are outstanding fees from
mostly kday or other land use
entitlements and permitting
that will be a condition of
approval that those are current
before the acp or any building
permit is issued we do not
typically check for taxes,
property taxes if that's a you
know, desire of the board that
that is something that staff is
looking at or it's a middle
requirement and we could add
that to the ordinance
requirements and or the check
list to show proof that, you
know, tax bills have been paid
but typically that is no
something we look at on land
use entitlements but other
types of violations, ins or
code enforcement issues are
addressed through the review
process.
Thank you.
Thank you already.
Sue, would you like to go ok?
>> yeah actually I've come to
agree with that taking that
thousand out and because it is
going to be a use permit so
just like you should look at
that sorry surprise sahuc I
could ask myself the underflow
if she could perhaps dress out
an issue asked my supervisor
bullock we were looking at that
particular issue.
I don't think it's a change in
the ordinance.
We already have some language
along that I think instead it
would be more direction from
the board of what what that
good standing means.
What we look for.
So you just give us a minute
will go ahead and answer that
chair supervisors deputy county
council read a vandersloot we
do have in our current
ordinance it's under revocation
and suspension failure to
timely pay any local state or
federal tax associated with
required by the licenses
cannabis business activities
including any taxes required to
be paid under the nevada county
code as MAY be established or
amended.
So we do address that in
revocation and or suspension of
current permits.
We don't have that for
the initial application so that
could be something we could
review.
I do know I haven't researched
it but monterey has something
similar about taxes and that
taxes must be what they do is
they say it has to be in good
standing and then they define
good standing as being current
on their taxes.
So there are there are some
viable options there.
Thank read you sir.
Ok, so then I just wanted to
couple a little quick
clarifications, MR. Clower.
I brought up a conversation
about having the two parcels
one you wouldn't let them build
a building across two parcel
lines.
Correct.
So and then I just want to be
clear in that situation.
Let's say you had the two
twenties and you did all your
grow on one pozole you could
not separate and sell your
other parcel without losing
that without losing your permit
.
So I just that it was you know
so that would be my question.
That was one of the protections
we were going to look at is
that if we allowed you to use
all your property I mean so now
you're growing your forty
thousand square feet.
Right.
And you've got it all clustered
you it doesn't give you
the right to sell that other
piece of property you would
actually lose your permit,
correct.
Supervisor so the enforcement
or the way we would verify that
is through the annual cannabis
permit.
So if there was a change in
ownership or a change in
the operation then the acp or
the annual permit would not be
issued and they would not be
able to operate and they'd have
to come back in and amend their
atp, their diminished
administrative permit in order
to revise the operations to
meet the code requirement.
So not being ongoing it would
be something that would not be
able to continue and renewed
the following year.
Right.
Ok, so that would that would
protect that part of it.
And again to that building
wouldn't be allowed to put on
two parcels that would be done
with the setbacks legally for
in case something happened and
you didn't have that business
anymore.
And then the other big one that
really is I listen to a lot
here is the setbacks that could
really affect especially
the folks under the twenty
thousand acre permits.
So let's say because we're
saying that if you go and amend
your your permit that that's
going to trigger the change in
setbacks possibly is there
going to be a grandfathered
type situation there or is
there going to be a variance
type situation there?
I think actually MR. Linskey
brought that up.
It would change his if he
wanted just to do an amendment
in that really wouldn't change
anything there particularly
the where you would grow or
what you're going to do.
But yet it would change
the setback.
>> so how are we going to
address that so way
the ordinance is structured and
the language would be that any
new area that's being proposed
would need to meet the new
setbacks the existing area of
the 10000 square feet that
meeting the hundred foot
setback could remain and stay
in compliance.
The additional canopy area of
up to 4500 square feet based on
the 90 percent or the 55
percent that I'm getting my
math confused.
But new area would need to meet
the 150 or 200 foot setback
depending on the size of
the acreage or the size
the parcel.
So the whole canopy would not
need to be moved.
It's the new planting area
would need to meet the new
setbacks the way that it's set
up currently.
>> so what if you're building
what is at that little setback
of martin?
Your building is already there
then the area that is used
within that building would
the new area would have to be a
150 feet or 200 feet is the way
the ordinance is currently
written and that's a hard one.
>> so idea was a balance with
the neighborhoods because we've
talked about moving
the goalposts.
I also was we were considering
not moving the goalposts for
the neighbors who understood
that they would only have 10000
square feet of canopy within
100 feet of their property line
and so it MAY not work for all
operations but some operations
can build or expand further
away and the new expanded
canopy would be further away
than the hundred feet and only
the 10000 square feet at a
maximum would be within one
hundred feet of the property
line as originally approved in
2019.
So it was a balance that's not
going to meet everybody's
requirements but it was an
effort to adhere to
the original expectations by
the neighbors that were not
involved in cannabis operations
.
>> correct.
So would it have the same
effect if you didn't have a
neighbor on the property line?
It would have the same effect.
I'm sorry.
Well, so so if you live and you
are I mean these are all
different scenarios.
I know but you have an
undeveloped property next to
you so you're not affecting
your neighbor at that point.
That's still that set box
that's in there.
Yeah.
A setback is regardless of if
the neighboring property is
developed or not that applies
across the board animacy meac
go ahead and ask them another
question.
Let me dig back to my notes.
All right, lisa, can I just ask
a follow up question in regard
to what issue as could you do a
variance with that set back so
say that you know, you couldn't
meet the setback but you wanted
to expand in the area and you
and your neighbors agreed and
they were ok with it and you
got there was some sort of
process that could be signed
off with is that something that
would be allowable under this
ordinance?
>> supervisor swarthout?
Yes, that's in the existing
ordinance there is a variance
allowance for setbacks for
canopy areas as well as a
setback easement which is more
of an agreement with your
neighbor and was a variance as
an application through
the county that is decided at a
public hearing and there
certain findings that need to
be made.
So there's two options to
reduce that setback.
Ok, and then I just have a
question I apologize for my
ignorance but you know all
the work on cannabis in
the county in the city of grass
valley has been based on not
growing.
So what does mixed like what
does that mean?
>> I've heard that term a lot
today and I didn't understand
it mix lt is a mix of natural
light and artificial light so
typically hoop houses houses.
>> ok all right thank you for
that clarification and I will
say you know for the most part
I'm in agreement with changes
that have been proposed.
I do have a lot of concerns and
questions in regard to how
the retail would work and I
know that there's you know,
there is a use permit but there
has to be a set of regulations
that goes into that use permit.
For example, are we going to
allow these retail uses to be
on private roads?
I fully respect the neighbors
issues also understanding
the need for some of our
cannabis farmers to want to
sell their product directly to
the public.
So I think this need that needs
to be a bigger conversation.
Maybe it's not something that
we're going to decide today but
because I think there needs to
be some public input into it
because retail I don't know if
the state has a distinction
between retail sales and
dispensary.
I've only been familiar with
the work of dispensaries and
obviously there's a huge
difference in how you sell your
product dispensary you know, is
a location with parking and a
security plan and you know all
sorts of things if you are
talking about small farmers
wanting to sell their product
directly to the public, are we
going to be requiring them to
do all the same things that a
dispensary would do?
And I don't know if that's
something that you guys have
worked on as part of the your
use permit application.
Those are some questions that I
would want to know because I
don't want to establish this
and then make it impossible for
the small farmers to get
the license.
I just think that's
counterproductive and if you're
going to be requiring a full
retail setup for people no one
will be able to afford to do it
.
Just it wouldn't be it would be
cost prohibitive to have to do
all the things for somebody who
has a small farm to want to
sell directly to the public.
>> so I think that process
needs to be far greater, you
know, lad out for all of us to
make the decision about it.
Well, the public comment has
been closed.
I'm sorry, folks, when you
raise your hands about it, it's
been closed.
i'm sorry, heidi.
Redefinitions no, I just I mean
I would want to you know, I
want to support this but I want
to know how it's going to work
before we make a full decision
and make sure that it's going
to work for the neighborhoods
and it's going to make it's
going to work for the cannabis
industry.
You know, obviously there's got
to be some compromise there
because not everybody gets 100
percent of what they want all
the time.
But I just I think I would want
a better definition of how
the retail component would work
and I 100 percent support
the micro businesses because
you have a small business if
you can diversify and do more
than one thing that it helps
you for your profitability.
>> so just see a little bit
more detail on how the retail
would work would be great
su*rez is going to feel I can
add just a little bit if if
you'd like to well just clarify
a little bit here because in my
mind retail sales has not been
approved by this board and I
don't believe that's what we're
doing and that's one with
perhaps the exception of
the used permit.
Am I correct there you are
correct that the use format
required allow would allow
public access or storefront
retail sales at a cultivation
site.
There are a number of criteria
that is in our ordinance
the proposed ordinance
regarding regarding security
plans and operation plans that
mirror to some degree the state
requirements.
There is quite significant
state permitting requirements
with oversight the age of
people that can access certain
locations for district security
plans, monitoring cameras and
I'm not conversant in all
the rules but in developing
this ordinance and referencing
the state laws that was
the intent that all of
the security and oversight
issues are reflected in this
ordinance and then reference
back to the state oversight and
licensing system that the state
oversees.
Oh, I saw it and I was curious
too and it also triggers a road
standard road standard.
It accessibility bathrooms for
your employees.
Yes, I mean I I reviewed
the seven of the seven
applications the city of grass
valley took in for retail
dispensary.
They were each one hundred to a
hundred and fifty pages long of
all the things that the people
had to do extremely complicated
and extremely expensive um so I
just like I said I just want to
make sure that if we put a
process in place that we're not
doing something that won't let
anybody in our community be
able to take advantage of it
because you're your business
model for selling direct to
the public from your your site
is far different than your
business model for doing a
dispensary where you're a
public location and you know,
people visit you whatever hours
you're open and just it's a
really different type of
business.
okay, already, heidi, though I
see more than I know now.
>> thank you for asking some of
those follow up questions.
I just want to start because I
think this can get confusing by
saying that I generally support
all of the proposed changes.
I'm really proud of how far
we've come.
I want to thank the audience
and commenters for yeah.
Just as jonathan said earlier,
everyone's become so much more
sophisticated.
Your comments ar very helpful
.
You're highlighting issues.
You've been working with staff
.
I appreciate all of that.
My hope today is that we can
agree on some of the minor
changes that can go into
approving the ordinance today
and that we can leave some of
the bigger issues to discuss
later in JANUARY.
That's my personal hope.
So I feel like maybe we can get
there.
So to just tee off of
the retail issue, I just want
to make sure brian has can hear
me try.
>> um yeah that's ok.
It just you know I know there's
some clarification to be made
my understanding so correct me
if I'm wrong is that if we
approve this we will approve
the ability for retail both on
site without the public coming
in that first piece and retail
that could be a dispensary or
it could be in farm on site
retail like the in the form of
the wineries with tasting room
sort of thing.
So we would approve
the possibility of any of those
retail establishments or retail
processes, correct?
Yes.
Thank you.
As part of going into retail
then people would have to come
back with specific plans for
whether it's a dispensary or
whether it's an on farm tourist
retail site.
They would have to come back
and with meeting all these
state standards go through
public workshops.
So we'd be working out some of
those details that you guys are
asking about as part of that
conditional use permit.
Is that also correct?
>> that is also correct, yes.
Ok, so we could prove
the concept today and then work
through those details as they
potentially come out that
that's that's sort of what I'm
looking at it what I would what
I would support.
I think that's something we
would want to see.
I would also support taking out
the thousand square foot limit
and leaving that to
the conditional use permit
process unless there's some
other legal thing that we need
to follow.
I would also also support I
think what I was hearing was a
request to cap the size that
we're allowing at 20000 square
feet, not forty thousand square
feet.
So I would support just
eliminating those categories
that up to 40 maybe 20 square
feet or mix like yes.
>> correct.
Ok, just for clarification and
would you still allow or want
to allow outdoor use over 20000
square feet because it does go
from allows up to 30 and 40000
square feet.
I believe the request was just
to cap th indoor but not
the total canopy size for
potential outdoor use.
>> is that the request now in
total I think it's total twenty
no, just the mix like ten
thousand makes like ten minutes
light makes light twenty
thousand instead of forty
thousand an additional ten
thousand allowed outdoor so a
total of twenty thousand square
feet out now can we ask diana
to clarify what the cannabis
alliance was asking.
Yes you can ok is that a
request.
Yes part of of the 40000 total
but it was there twenty
thousand up to total can be of
mixed light with the additional
up to 40000 additional outdoor
to come to.
Right ok that's thank you.
And then I am most the last two
things are kind of concerned
about the grandfather or
variance issue.
I think there's just a number
of complicated issues there
that we need to make sure we
allow for folks who who want to
expand into the support area,
bump up against that additional
setback area.
We just we need a process to
make that work.
I mean I think even your
example, brian, if they're at
the ten thousand square feet
they go into their support area
but they can't do it on one
side because the setback so
they do it on the other side
nevertheless it's now fifteen
thousand square feet and how do
then they still have to meet
that hannaford's 650 foot new
setback on the because
the whole thing itself is now
larger than 10000 now.
>> so the way I was trying to
explain it would be that only
the new area would have to meet
the one hundred and fifty foot
or two hundred.
>> but what's the new area is
combined with the old area.
>> the old area could remain
where it is and meet
the existing 500 foot setbacks
.
The idea was to expand away
from the property line and
the new area even if it was
combined.
Ok, the just the additional
square footage would have to
fall within that new set back.
But all the other areas already
permitted even if it's combined
and intermixed could stay where
it is under the permitted
hundred foot.
>> that's the intent.
It sounds like we need to we're
going to have to come out with
some explanatory language to
make that clear and I don't
want to I don't want to suggest
how to make that happen as long
as we have either a variance or
grandfather clause to deal with
folks who just are going to
have struggled to meet that new
square foot setback.
>> and then finally on
the neighborhood issues I
empathize with the neighborhood
concerns.
I do think we should continue
to talk about that perhaps at
our workshop.
But at this point the absolute
farthest I would be willing to
go is to have a checklist for
the cars I just that is I agree
with the speakers is that it is
a very slippery to start
allowing neighborhoods to
identify who can and cannot
live in their area so I can go
as far as a checklist but
that's it.
And if we want to discuss it
more in JANUARY I'd be I'd be
open to figuring out how to
make this work better for
neighborhoods.
>> I think that's covers all of
the issues.
You look confused.
No, no, I think it is good.
I think though I'm looking at
neighborhood you choose you
know when you buy a piece of
property I'm just going to
throw this out.
You know, when you buy a piece
of property you belong to a
homeowners association or you
know you belong to something.
It has scars that needs to be
on you.
We don't get to that's not
something we are in a land
where land use right that we're
talking about now requiring
people who've already moved
into neighborhoods because that
did not have a restriction on
them.
>> so is again a grandfathering
in issue potentially so that's
up to their board.
>> their board has to vote on
those kinds of things and
that's only thing that's a
little right.
I don't want us to get in
the way.
We can't that doesn't I think
we I looked into this legally
we can't do that right.
That's not what our in our
ability look at all.
But I do think that we can
notify people that you are
looking they're buying property
or looking to do a business
that has these now it's your
responsibility to go see what
those are.
Right.
Agree.
I mean and then those folks you
know that goes down they're
the ones that have to either,
you know, follow suit with what
their rules are.
I mean that's up to a board
kind of like we have to have
our board has to make up
decisions that's kind of up to
their board a little bit.
But I do think in some sense
and the grower or the applicant
whether it's I don't care
whether there's cannabis or if
you want to have a car fixin's
shop or a boat repair place,
you have to know what's in your
cars.
So we don't get to justify that
.
We get to do what's the law of
the land and the land use.
>> but then then its your
responsibility.
Yeah.
And on the other side of that
and my my philosophy is to not
be micromanaging these
businesses any more than we are
and to treat them like other
businesses or like agricultural
products.
So yeah, I think that's it for
me.
Thanks.
Well and I would say along
the same lines there are
neighborhoods that were really
still struggling with and
unfortunately it seems like
most of them are in my
neighborhood in my district so
and now it sounds like there's
division within those
neighborhoods to so I know that
ryan has information that we
can pursue during the our
planning session coming up and
that's what I would like to see
I'd like to see this these
ordinance get approved.
I'm all in favor of cannabis
working and weas wade it says
really put some heavy
restrictions not necessarily
just us but th state of
california almost obscene
what's been put on them.
And I think that we need to be
able to do what we can do to
make a better so that they can
make a profit like a legitimate
business and like
the legitimate businesses that
they are.
But at the same time it is a
process and that process
doesn't involve our homeowners
within this association.
So I would ask and moving
forward is that we do ask brian
that we do at least take a look
the exclusionary zones that has
been done in some other
counties, maybe not to their
success that would be something
that we could take a look at
and also I don't know kid, have
you been looking at what
changes are being recommended
here?
I've been listening.
So right now we just have
recommendation but I don't have
a majority of the board giving
direction.
So what we would need is a
motion motion to specifically
amend and then make sure that
that brian would have the chair
.
>> schofield what I would
recommend is a five to ten
minute recess so we're able to
take the feedback from
the board and put it up on
the screen to get that
direction.
That would be very good and we
will take as long as it takes
to put that together recess.
>> thank you chair and I think
we could do that in just ten
minutes.
Very good.
I think that this is a great
idea.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Because I think really truly
know what the bottom line of
this is.
People are starting to learn to
get along together with this
and we need to still continue
on our enforcement.
That's where this is going to
make change.
We get rid of our legal growers
and keep focusing on our our
growers that are really putting
in 100 percent and less and
make it so that they can make
money and not and be going
forward in your businesses.
So I don't know there's a lot
still to do
and
I think there
MAY have been some
clarification questions that
some of the board members MAY
have and I said did you have a
I just have one quick
clarification for brian
actually but I'll wait till
he's done so by approving this
today with the retail sales
that does not mean that we were
approving a dispensary in
the unincorporated county.
>> is that correct?
That's correct.
It means we're allowing that
license type to be applied for
and go through the process for
consideration.
>> have we put in any sort of
parameters for wedad where and
what a dispensary would look
like?
Do we have any process for that
?
>> well, it would need to
obtain state permits and all
their requirements for security
and operations, et cetera and
then go through our use permit
process and it would be subject
to requiring onsite
cultivation.
So all the standards that are
in the current ordinance for
cultivation would be required
as built in through the current
the proposed ordinance
language.
>> what would the zoning be for
it to be gaap or F.R. So it
would not be allowed in
industrial commercial m1 m2
retail would only a dispensary
would only be allowed in
the zones correct.
>> correct.
Wait wait wait at this point
wait wait we're not using
the word dispensary.
>> yeah no no no this is not a
this is ahead of where we are
right now.
Yeah yeah.
This is not how making those
decisions today because retail
sales retail sales so ganzouri
yeah.
I just I want us to be really
clear that there's a big
difference between those two
things and that we're only
today we're only going to be
allowing for retail sales in
those districts with the use
permit.
>> that's right.
Ok, we'll just take a
dispensary we'll take the word
dispensary out of our
vocabulary for that one for
today.
>> ok, tank you.
All right, brian, I'll give it
back to you and if you will
walk us through what changes
you heard and we will come to a
consensus up here before going
forward.
All right.
Thank you, chair schofield.
So hopefully I'm correct but
I've heard basically four four
issues I'm proposing to address
two of them in the ordinance
language.
The first one is regarding
the mixed light.
This is the proposed ordinance
language where the increase in
square footage of canopy is
introduced.
There's currently proposed
indoor shall not exceed 10000
square feet and then
the highlighted areas and
underlined in addition or 20000
square feet of mixed light.
So that creates a cap of 20000
square feet of mix light for
parcel's I think I need to do
it one more area actually I
think that that's accurate and
a maximum of forty thousand
square feet because you're
suggesting that's in
the proposed changes to
the audience is a maximum.
Oh there you go.
>> sorry.
Yeah right.
so the eighty acres and greater
still has that forty thousand
square feet allowance for
outdoor and then it has
different limitations for
indoor and makes light.
>> sorry thank so that also
addresses that issue does that
we're in agreement with that.
Yes I am already already signed
an agreement with that ok very
good.
Very good thank you brian.
The second change is regarding
the retail sales storefront in
the thousand square feet and
sorry for m scrolling but this
is the section that is adding
the standards for micro
businesses with storefront
retail and I've stricken
the language that the area
dedicated to retail sales shall
be a maximum of a thousand
square feet and shall be
included in the total support
area allowed for the operation
that just allows the proposal
or the applicant to propose
what they believe that they can
accommodate on their site and
that will be evaluated through
the use permit process.
We didn't identify any other
square footage limitations,
maximums or minimums.
It's just simply allowing
the option to apply and then it
will be reviewed on the merits
of the project with no internal
caps through the permit through
the use permit you ok ok heidi
hardy.
>> yeah understood.
Very good right so the other
two issues have not proposed
any change to the language in
the ordinance and are
recommending if your board
would like to discuss further
at the board workshop at
the end of the month and that
is clarification of the setback
issue that I've attempted to
explain that it's not
retroactive, it doesn't apply.
We can potentially look at
adding some clarifying language
but as it's currently worded it
would not apply to existing
permitted farms that
the setbacks would only apply
to those areas that are
proposed.
In addition above and beyond
what the current farm is
permitted for and what the new
ordinance would allow for in
terms of square footage.
But we can clarify that or
discuss it more if you like and
it also includes a variance
process because we already have
one, is that correct?
>> we do already have a
variance process built into
the ordinance there variances
there's certain rules and
regulations if it's a true
variance governed by another
section of our code.
But there could be a some
analysis on a different method
to to go about allowing a you
know, a reduction in that set
back that I'd have to explore a
little bit and discuss at
the board workshop in maldito.
>> I just want to make sure
that if we're passing like it
is we're passing it now that it
really is going to allow for
those odd lots or existing
structures and not make it
cumbersome for people to have
to come back and go through a
well, as I mentioned, there are
two two processes.
One is to get your neighbor to
agree to a setback easement and
so there can be recorded a
setback easement to accommodate
that set back on a portion of
their property and the other is
a variance process which
requires a public hearing
through the county through
the zoning administrator to
reduce that back that was built
into the original ordinance in
twenty nineteen and we don't
need any language about
grandfathering it in because
we're going to I mean you're
saying that we are but
shouldn't we put that in I mean
that's how the entire ordinance
operates that any any use that
was permitted under an existing
ordinance is grandfathered in
and any new proposal that
requires a permit or an
entitlement is subject to
the ordinance in place at that
time.
Ok, all right.
Thank you.
And with it, lisa hardy.
>> yes, I'm good with that.
Ok and the last I'm sorry
the last item was the good
standing as rita had had
mentioned, there is some
language in there regarding
the payment of certain taxes as
required by the code but we
would also like the opportunity
to look at that in a little bit
more detail to determine
legality and to make sure it's
placed in the right place
within the ordinance so we
could explore that further at
the workshop.
But I do not have proposed
language changes at this moment
to address that issue.
Ok, so I don't have to worry
about that.
And then there is
the understanding that we will
look at exclusionary zones
during the workshop and I know
that's not part of this.
Correct?
That's that's part of my draft
presentation that I'm already
working on for the workshop.
Very good.
Thank you, brian.
So I do believe we are ready to
have a motion and chair's
amended chair schofield if I
could I just want to remind you
you have one one item prior to
adopting your amended motion
and that is thirty seven a
which is related to the secure
document.
Ok, looks like we need three
motions.
Is that correct.
>> ok all right so I'll need a
motion for the resolution
adopting an addendum to
the certified final
environmental impact report
sluffed motion all seconded
hook we'll call please.
Thank you.
Chair district four for you
district three yes district
five.
District one yes.
Yes district five sorry my
fault was right and destructo
got them we got them
the earlier meeting got them
both yes ok with that and let's
see we are introducing them
waving a further reading is
that correct.
That's an ordinance amending
chapter two in nevada county
land use development road
zoning regulations section l
dash to summary just for
clarification so moved as
amended as a much clearer ok
only by motion as amended i
second it that you yes motion
seconded hook roll call please
it's district four district
four yes district three yes
district one yes district five
.
>> district five this district
to yes.
>> all right yeah.
Thank you very much.
Thank you party for being with
us in this meeting.
>> I believe is adjourned and