April 24, 2007

Snow at the Summit, Part Two

You may have noticed I like to use the word snow.   We get  amazing levels of snow up here at the Summit in a normal year.  Often it comes  late,  even towards the very end of Spring. Some years ago, my children and dogs appeared on Sacramento area TV in late April, romping in our exceptional snow.  Cute kids, cute mutt dogs, and piles of snow.   Oh, wait...... that was the white, wet, snowman-building type of snow. 

Today we are dealing with 'invented' snow, the kind of snow produced by Royal Gorge LLC  to convince us that they are good developers , with only our best interests at heart, and  that they will develop lovely ,warm, enveloping enclaves that will bring us lovely interfaces with nature.......ok-  I can't subject you the reader, or myself, to any more of this.

The type of snow we are now being subjected to is artfully generated by legions of consultants.  PR consultants, planning consultants, people who design surveys that aren't really surveys (ever wonder why 'none of the above, and please go away' isn't an option?) , and consultants to the consultants.

Royal Gorge LLC had told us with a straight face at  three recent meetings , " We aren't planning to develop Norden Meadow because we heard you good folks loud and clear."   However, they  had quietly  proceeded  to revive the former owner of Royal Gorge's plans to develop Norden Meadow,  with the excuse that the plan was already in the permit process.   Apparently , that plan is now quite far along in the permit process.  A final EIR is imminent.   Oh,  I see..... the Royal Gorge LLC  plan concerns  the edges of the meadow, not the meadow.   Doesn't dirty snow pile up at the edges of things?  This distinction seems pretty dirty to me.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post,  I had a conversation with Nevada County's lead planner for the proposed Norden Development . Our conversation was a real eye-opener.   Granted, Royal Gorge LLC had been murmuring sotto voce ," pursuing permit process " , but everyone who was party to their March presentations, either because they attended the meetings, read the news reports, or visited their web site  would be justified in believing that the project in Placer County was the focus of Royal Gorge LLC, and that Norden Meadow was, at least, "safe".  Well, after my talk with the planner, I can tell you, Norden Meadow is currently the least "safe" piece of real estate on the summit. 

Further, people would assume that Nevada County planners read the same newspapers we do, and are aware of the development plans Royal Gorge LLC has just across the street in Placer County.  Apparently though, some magic blizzard has hit , and Nevada County doesn't think they should consider cumulative impacts of a development they know full well is coming. (It isn't on paper, you see.  Of course, they could visit www.royalgorgefuture.com and take a look....)

All of us up here at the Summit are aware of the idiosyncratic Placer/Nevada county line.  You could almost play one of those English bar games, tossing old coins, and betting which county it would land in.  In terms of environmental impact,  anything done in Nevada affects Placer, and vice versa.   Wildlife, watersheds, and people are all affected by the coins developers toss, no matter  in which county the coin lands.

About that snow I like to mention.....  Maybe people concerned about the fate of the Summit should summon all the snow plows, snow blowers, hardy people with broad shoulders and snow shovels, and start digging to the bottom of Royal Gorge LLC's plans.  If we don't,  Spring may come very late indeed.

KTG