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Park for county bike enthusiasts set to open
Isaac Streeter Staff writer
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MXers rejoice! Barspins, tailwhips and half-cabs will have a permanent home in El Dorado County next week. The Old Depot Bike Park will have its grand opening at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6. The 2.5-acre complex, located at 40 Old Depot Road off Missouri Flat Road, features a paved asphalt pump track, a series of dirt BMX jumps, a restroom, outdoor picnic benches and a children’s play area. The land for the park was acquired by the county in May 2018. In February 2020 the project secured $2 million of funding from Proposition 68. The park was initially slated for opening in March 2022 but was pushed back due to the
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RV resort planned to be tourist draw Eric Jaramishian Staff writer
Mountain Democrat photo by Isaac Streeter
The paved pump track at Old Depot Bike Park is one of the many attractions for the soonto-be-opened park. The track can be traversed without having to pedal, so long as the rider pushes downward force in the valleys of the roller bumps. a Facebook account called “Placerville Bike Park Project” began advocating for the creation of a bicycle-specific park in El Dorado County. Fast forward to early
COVID-19 pandemic. The park has had a large amount of community involvement and support over its history. Its roots date back to 2013 when
August and supporters of the project were pitching in to help with landscaping as the project neared completion.
Placerville could become a haven for RV campers. Proposed by local development guru Leonard Grado, owner of Grado Construction, is a potential tourist draw in the form of an RV campground called The Crossings RV Resort in the Missouri Flat Road area north of Highway 50. Grado is also involved with the adjacent retail project The Crossings at El Dorado, where Dutch Bros. Coffee recently opened. The project was presented to the Diamond Springs and El Dorado Community Advisory Committee Aug. 17 by planning staff and Grado, who shared aspects of the project and provided renderings of what they expect to include. The proposed site, located on an approximately 49-acre lot east of El Dorado Road, would include 252 RV, 15 tent, 30 cabin and four yurt lots. There are also plans to implement a general store, a 75,100-square-foot hotel and event center, a main building, a chapel, bath and shower houses, pavilions around the property and various outdoor
n See Bike park, page A9
n See RV Resort, page A8
Fuel-clearing goats are coming baaaack Odin Rasco Staff writer
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As part of Placerville’s continued efforts to remain fire-safe, goats are gearing up to graze at multiple city properties once again. Approved by the Placerville City Council in early August, a new contract with CAPRA Environmental Services Corp. will have more than 66 acres of city property visited by
herds of goats. The caprine custodians will be unleashed in order to bring down brush and grass as a means of fuel reduction. Six sites have been identified as needing attention from the hooved helpers, according the contract resolution approved by the council. The services will cost $45,470.30, an amount less than had been budgeted by the city and the smaller bid of the two received from different goat-grazing businesses.
The city has worked with the Rancho Cordova-based CAPRA before, hiring them in 2022 to visit Gold Bug Park, Lions Park and the slope north of lower Main Street/ Placerville Drive under the El Dorado Trail — parcels city leaders prioritized for fire fuels management. City documents show the contract to graze roughly 53 acres on the three properties in 2022 cost $31,341.
Goats graze in Placerville in 2022.
Mountain Democrat file photo by Krysten Kellum
n See goats, page A9
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