PARK P RK COMMUNITY T PA TY
MUSIC FESTIVAL V L & CARSHOW C RSHOW O FESTIVA VA CA OW Thank You To Our Sponsors
This event was brought to you by New Beginnings. Proceeds from this fundraiser went to support out non-profits mission. Our vision is for our county to have the lowest recidivism, crime, and homeless rate per capita in our nation. Big thank you to all of our sponsors, guests, participants and volunteers. We are truly grateful for your support.
www.newbeginningsgoldcountry.org .
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VOLUME 171 • ISSUE 121 | $1.00
mtdemocrat.com
MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2022
Auditor, EDHCSD fight SIERRA SPLENDOR over assessment fees Sel Richard Staff writer The El Dorado Hills Community Services District is butting heads with a county official over landscape and lighting assessment district fees, which were purposefully omitted from residents’ tax bills sent out this fall. “Based on the information that I have at this time, I am going to require that the CSD general manager and that the CSD board chair certify the accuracy of, and acknowledge responsibility for, the assessments that the CSD board wishes to be placed on the property tax bills,” wrote El
Dorado County Auditor-Controller Joe Harn in an email dated July 8. A blame game ensued with Harn harkening back to the previous fiscal year’s assessments, citing multiple inconsistencies in fees as well as residents irritated by being asked to pay for a park that hadn’t opened yet. Harn maintained that because his office is not adequately staffed to review each LLAD assessment individually, he requires representations from the CSD to verify assessment accuracy as he had in 2021. ■
See FEES, page A3
Photo by Belinda Breyer
Get a jump on leafpeeping, fall color is here on a mountainside near you. Soaking up the splendor of the Sierra in Ward Canyon behind Alpine Meadows is a lovely way to spend a sunny afternoon.
Mountain Democrat photo by Sel Richard
Brothers Samsor, 14 and Samer, 11 play some soccer on the newly opened Heritage Park field in El Dorado Hills.
Heritage Park opens to mixed reviews Sel Richard Staff writer
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Heritage Park’s construction fencing was recently whisked away after months of delays. “The construction work is completed at Heritage Park,” confirmed El
Dorado Hills Community Services District General Manager Kevin Loewen. “The park is available and open for use.” The epicenter of protests by some residents of the adjacent El Dorado Hills Heritage Village, an over-55 active adult community, the park’s 50-foot court lights sparked a hailstorm of ire; other complaints relating to safety, health, traffic, noise and impact on local wildlife were also raised. Most recently, residents cite a leaked internal memo from the El Dorado County Planning and Building Department to El Dorado Hills Community Services District and Heritage Park developer Lennar Homes that details concerns regarding height requirements for court
lighting and compliance with zoning ordinances. The letter, dated July 11, states, “The sport court lighting that has been constructed on the site was not authorized under the permit.” “We’re aware that Lennar’s legal counsel has submitted a response to the county in which they confront some of the ‘concerns’ expressed by the county,” Loewen told the Mountain Democrat. “We’ve made multiple attempts at getting this resolved with the county, such as even providing the stamped and signed construction plan sets which were reviewed and certified by the county. It’s unclear as to why we’ve not heard back from the county on this matter.” Currently, the lights at the park remain dark. ■
See PARK, page A2
Flume plans concrete Michael Raffety Mountain Democrat correspondent The capital improvement plan for 2023 through 2027 was presented to the El Dorado Irrigation District Board of Directors Oct. 11. One of EID’s focuses is replacing wooden flumes with concrete ones so they don’t burn in forest fires. The CIP totals $230.9 million over five years, $8 million less than the 2022-26 proposal. Typically, only 70-90% of projects survive to final approval, Engineering Director Brian Muller wrote in his Oct. 11 presentation. That totals out to $163 million-$208 million, Muller notes. A bond sale will be penciled in for some time in the five-year CIP. The exact size will be determined after insurance recovery and FEMA reimbursements come in for damage caused by the Caldor Fire, which burned up three canal sections. Big projects include the Sly Park intertie, Flume 45 and Flume 48 replacement, water treatment plant improvements and the potential Silver Lake Dam replacement in 2027. The district has been successful in obtaining grants. Previous projects funded by grants included $10 million for the Main Ditch piping project, $1 million for the Easy Street water line replacement project, $160,000 for the Outingdale raw water intake and $440,000
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for Outingdale diversion dam improvement, $1.8 million for emergency backup generator installations, $750,000 for design of replacement of the Sly Park intertie and $10 million for construction. The intertie is a project still in the design process. Currently design of Flume 48 is 30% complete. Two alternatives are being studied. One plan would stabilize the 1876 rock bench with injected shotcrete and replace the wooden flume with precast concrete sections. EID has acquired a neighboring parcel that could be used as a staging area or used as a 500-foot-long tunnel to replace 700 feet of canal and 448 feet of elevated flume. It has $6 million designated for construction in 2027. Flume 45 is a 940-foot-long wood flume last replaced in 2001. It is scheduled to be constructed over two fall outage seasons in 2024-25 at a cost of $11.5 million. Flume 46, at 3,340 feet, is the longest wooden flume in the district. Only $150,000 has been designated for study planning in 2023. One possible replacement would be a siphon, which is a large U-shaped pipe that crosses a valley. Other wood flumes eyed for replacement are Flumes 45A, 46A, 47A and 47B. Flume 45A, at 155 feet, is scheduled for replacement in 2026 at an estimated cost of $2 million.
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