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VOLUME 171 • ISSUE 114 | $1.00
mtdemocrat.com
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2022
Permit backlog addressed Eric Jaramishian Staff writer
Tahoe Daily Tribune photo by Ashleigh Goodwin
Michael Green appears in a South Lake Tahoe courtroom Sept. 27 to hear his sentence.
Green sentenced in 1985 cold case killing Mountain Democrat staff Judge Suzanne Kingsbury on Sept. 27 sentenced Michael Green to 15 years to life in prison for the 1985 murder of Jane Anker Hylton. In late July Green pleaded no contest to second-degree murder for the killing — a crime once thought committed by another man, Ricky Davis, who undeservedly served 15 years in state prison.
“Justice has been served, but it took too long and some awful mistakes were made in the past to get to this moment,” said El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson, who discovered the wrongful conviction and, along with the California Innocence Project, led the effort to exonerate Davis. “I have personally apologized to Ricky Davis and also want to say we are sorry to Jane Hylton’s family for the
mistakes in handling this case in the past.” Ricky Davis called the Mountain Democrat in August, saying he was struggling personally and homeless. Davis said the “wheels of justice turn slowly.” In August 2020 he filed a claim seeking $18 million from El Dorado County. The claim states “various officers and members of the county, Sheriff ’s Office” caused the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of
Trip to Green returns Mountain Democrat staff Highway 50 traffic signals through Placerville will be set to green 8 a.m. to 8 PLACE ADDRESS LABEL HERE
p.m. this Saturday and Sunday as part of the Trip to Green pilot program. It’s the last of three weekends this fall selected for the traffic experiment that aims to alleviate seasonal tourist congestion. Northbound and southbound travel across Highway 50 at Canal Street, Spring Street (Highway 49) and Bedford Avenue will be closed to public traffic, allowing emergency vehicle access only, according to the El Dorado County Transportation Commission. Right-in and right-out access will remain available at Spring Street, Center Street and Bedford Avenue. On Canal Street
access in the north and southbound directions across Highway 50 will be prohibited for the duration of Trip to Green. Detours around Highway 50 will remain in place for Main Street, Broadway and Placerville Drive. Travelers may use these roads to travel east and west. To cross Highway 50 they can take Placerville Drive, Ray Lawyer Drive, Clay Street, Carson Road, Mosquito Road and Schnell School Road. Pedestrian/bicycle crossings on Highway 50 will be detoured from Canal Street and Spring Street for safety. Alternative access is provided at the ■
See SIGNALS, page A7
E OAKS SENIOR CARE VILLAG
Jane Anker Hylton Davis. In August 2020 he filed a claim in the Eastern District Federal ■
See COLD CASE, page A8
■
See PERMITS, page A7
Fly-in shines
Photo by Mitchell Weitzman
Cameron Park resident and pilot Julie Clark climbs out of her Beechcraft T-34 to applause from attendees of Props, Cops & Rodders Show & Shine Fly-In Saturday, Sept. 24 at the Cameron Airpark. Clark, an air show aerobatic aviator, took to the sky with some of her fancy flying. See more photos on page A7.
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The El Dorado County Planning and Building Department is making changes to address a backlog in approving building permits, including hiring more staff. As of June 30 more than 10,000 building permits have yet to be processed from the 2021-22 fiscal year. More than 13,800 new building permit applications were sent to the building division in 2021-22, a 30% increase from last fiscal year. The building division received around 10,000 permits in 2020-21 and 2019-20. Planning and Building Director Karen Garner shared these statistics with the Board of Supervisors during a regular Tuesday meeting Sept. 27. “I think that is primarily reflective of the strong housing market and strong economy overall in addition to all the new homes, tenant improvements and remodels coming through,” Garner said.
District 1 Supervisor John Hidahl noted the number of permits in process from fiscal year 2021-22 jumped by 69% from the previous year and questioned if a bottleneck in issuing permits had been identified. “I know staffing has been short but whenever you see that kind of increase it’s almost like we need to start looking at a closer timeframe, because if this thing is growing unexpectedly then we need to figure out why and what we can do to respond,” Hidahl said. “That response time needs to be fairly quick and we can’t wait until the end of the year to look at it again. “The more we can get ahead of that and understand the trending, I think we are going to be better off in understanding (if ) we need to ... start hiring now, recognizing that we probably have a lag time of three to six months in being able to hire anyone.” Garner said while her department has no control over market needs and demands,
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