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– Midweek Edition – VOLUME 174 • ISSUE 75 | $1.00
mtdemocrat.com
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2025
Town and Country Village gets go-ahead Jo Carrerow
Village Life correspondent
Courtesy graphic
Town and and Country Village includes two, 150-room hotels and an event center/museum on one part of the site plus residential cottages on a second part of the property.
The El Dorado County Planning Commission paved the way for development of Town and Country Village, El Dorado, a resort which proposes two hotels, an event center, a museum and 112 residential cottages off U.S. Highway 50 on Bass Lake Road between El Dorado Hills and Cameron Park. The $210 million development could potentially generate $2.6 million in annual tax revenue for the county. During a six-hour special meeting on Sept. 10, commissioners were
asked by applicant Mohanna Development Co. to approve a full set of entitlements to push the project forward. Despite Chair Bob William’s request to “sleep on it” and return the next day, the commission voted yes on all four actions recommended by county staff. “I’ve been looking at this project for many years, seen a number of changes,” Williams said. “I’m really confused and concerned that there are areas where we still have blanks after so many years.” The 57-acre project has been six ■ See TOWN AND COUNTRY, page A4
Former senator Tribute to God’s Country Rico Oller dies News release Former California State Sen. Rico Oller unexpectedly passed away Friday at his old house in San Andreas. He was 66. Oller served in the California State Assembly from 19962000 before serving in the California State Senate from 2000-04, RICO OLLER during which time he represented much of the Sierra Nevada Mother Lode, North Eastern California and parts of Sacramento County. Well known in the building industry, Oller had also owned and operated DRI Supply, Sequoia Insulation and Carson Valley Insulation for many years. Oller’s death comes on the heels of the passing of his longtime friend Sam Parades, president and executive director of Gun Owners of California; and the assassination of international Conservative celebrity Charlie Kirk. Oller’s legislative accomplishments include: championing taxpayer and Second Amendment rights, saving swimming and boating in El Dorado County’s Jenkinson Lake in Sly Park, making EMT training more volunteer friendly for communitybased fire districts, changing the state school construction funding formula to allow non-growing rural districts with stable enrollments to finally receive state money for repairs and maintenance, preserving the state’s starthistle eradication program,
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■ See OLLER , page A4
Mountain Democrat photo by Shelly Thorene
A colorful addition has come to Episcopal Church of Our Saviour in Placerville. On Sept. 14 members of Immanuel Church in Coloma and Our Saviour in Placerville came together to celebrate the completion of a new mural on the corner of Conrad and Coloma streets. The mural, created by artist Ciara Comiskey of Sacramento, depicts Gold Country history and the legacy of Rev. Charles Caleb Peirce (1825-1903), the Protestant Episcopal pastor who served congregations in Placerville, Coloma, Diamond Springs, El Dorado and other more remote places. Other elements included in the mural are depictions of Immanuel Church and Church of Our Saviour along with nods to the county’s past. After the ribbon cutting, folks gathered at Our Saviour church for a luncheon and fun afternoon which included games for children, face painting and a live painting demonstration by Placerville artist Michael Fritschi. Emcee Becky Leighton, left, presents a bouquet of flowers to muralist Ciara Cumiskey, center, as Rev. Debra Sabino, right, looks on in a ceremony celebrating the mural’s completion.
Diamond Springs residents distressed over development Chris Woodard Staff writer
About 80 people attended a town hall in Diamond Springs on Sept. 10, where residents raised concerns about new housing projects approved under California’s Senate Bill 35. The meeting held at the Herbert Green Middle School gym and hosted by the Diamond Springs/El Dorado Community Coalition, drew District 3 Supervisor Brian Veerkamp and District 4 supervisor candidate Gina Posey. SB35, passed in 2017, requires counties that fail to meet state housing production
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goals to streamline the approval of certain projects. For El Dorado County’s west slope, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments assigned 7,157 units between 2021 and 2029, according to the coalition. Coalition leaders claim the county’s implementation of SB35 has bypassed local oversight. Projects that qualify no longer go before the Diamond Springs/ El Dorado Advisory Committee, the Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors. Instead, approval rests with Planning Director Karen Gardner. “Bypassing all of the checks and balances and the public and, oh, by
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the way, our elected supervisors, we’re bypassing them,” Coalition Founder Larry Rolla said. “So, you think, ‘Oh, we’ve got a representative,’ but we don’t on some of these projects.” Sue Taylor, also with the coalition, noted the county has choices in how to comply with the state mandate. “So SB35 says you have to streamline your process. OK, so that’s all they’re really saying,” Taylor said. “So what has happened is the Board of Supervisors said, ‘OK, how are we going to streamline the process?’ This process they came up ■ See DEVELOPMENT, page A5
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Fixed RateFixed Rate
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