C ALI FORN IA’S OLDE ST NE W SPAPER
– E S T. 18 51
– Weekend Edition – VOLUME 173 • ISSUE 56 | $1.00
mtdemocrat.com
FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2024
CPUC rules AT&T cannot drop carrier obligation status Odin Rasco Staff writer
Mountain Democrat photos by Eric Jaramishian
A family enjoys a day under the sun on the American River at Henningsen Lotus Park in Lotus May 15. Each year El Dorado County parks get thousands, if not tens of thousands, of visitors. County staff is in the process of updating its parks and trails plan to meet residents’ and visitors’ needs and desires.
& getting update with clearer focus
PARKS
TRAILS PLAN
Eric Jaramishian
Gayla Rooks, right photo, walks her white German shepherd Nikhil at Henningsen Lotus Park in Lotus May 15. A lady practices her ukulele skills at Bradford Park on Mother Lode Drive in Shingle Springs, photo below.
Staff writer
T
he El Dorado County Parks and Trails Master Plan, which sets goals and implementation measures shaped by the community, is getting an update based on countywide feedback. When complete, the new 10-year plan will serve as a guide for new park and trail facilities, including recommendations for funding such projects, and set goals on improving park and trail infrastructure. “It will provide us a road map for how the overall system of parks and trails will be developed and managed accounting for resource constraints and reflecting, again, those community priorities,” said Chief
After months of collecting input from Californian consumers and considering evidence on record, the California Public Utilities Commission May 10 rejected AT&T’s request to drop its status as a “Specifically, carrier of last resort. AT&T failed to The telecommunications giant filed A.23-03-003 demonstrate in 2023, an application the availability requesting to step away from its COLR obligation of replacement without establishing a providers willing replacement. A COLR and able to serve is a telecom service provider legally required as COLR ...” to provide access to — California Public Utilities telephone service to Commission statement anyone in its service area who requests it; the obligations are divvied into different areas across the state. AT&T is the largest COLR in California, ■ See RULING, page A9
Grizzly Flat closer to getting tiny homes Eric Jaramishian Staff writer
It didn’t take much time for the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors to approve the second reading of a new ordinance that will allow under- and uninsured Grizzly Flat property owners whose homes burned in the Caldor Fire to build small dwelling units. The unanimous vote made Tuesday marks another crucial step in implementation of the ordinance, which county leaders and Grizzly Flat folk have frequently expressed will help the small community, and possibly those surrounding the area, after it burned during the 2021 Caldor Fire. If the final reading is approved, which is expected to happen May 21, then the ordinance will go into effect June 20. “This has been a vision for a long time to try and help people in Grizzly Flat,” said District 2 Supervisor George Turnboo during the meeting, who advocated for the ordinance to help the people in his district. After thanking Planning and Building Director Karen Garner, who worked with her staff and the supervisors to draft the ordinance, supervisors ■ See TINY HOMES, page A9
■ See PLAN, page A9
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