LAKE CAMP LULLABY AT DONNER SUMMIT

Royal Gorge LLC, in their March public presentations, told attendees that they would present a Specific Plan that would cover all development in an integrated manner.  They stated that the entire plan would  be reviewed at one time, to avoid piecemeal development. In Royal Gorge LLC's  "Introducing the Vision", an opulent  book prepared for investors, they declared: "the company will prepare a Specific Plan for Placer County's review.  This allows all the project undertakings to be evaluated in a single Environmental Impact Report (EIR)."  Further, Royal Gorge LLC assured the potential investor: "Thanks to an aggressive work pace, the major building blocks are now in place to finalize the preferred development plan and gain the necessary government approvals."

However, conversations with Placer County planning department, and Mike Livak, project director for Royal Gorge LLC confirm that Royal Gorge LLC is now only submitting detailed plans to the county for "Lake Camp",  and providing less specific, general "bubble plans" for the rest of the proposed project.  That's a potential problem, as an EIR based on "bubble plans" will be too general to ensure that all of the environmental consequences caused by a project of this magnitude are properly and completely laid out for the public and decision makers to weigh.  Speaking in plannerese,  piecemealing and tiering will be debated- and then, one imagines, there will inevitably be many, many discussions in lawyerese, as Royal Gorge LLC's (really the county's) EIR will run a substantial risk of failing to meet the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Well, I promised you a Lake Camp Lullaby, and I'm sure you're nodding off already.  The more interesting question is why would Royal Gorge, after all their bright and shiny PR, back away from submitting their whole project at once?

Royal Gorge LLC's development "vision" has not exactly been welcomed with opened arms by homeowners on the summit; the recent Donner Summit Area Association Survey has confirmed universal wariness of developments of this size and nature. Serene Lakes, which will be particularly impacted by RG's condo empire has manifested a strong antipathy to the proposed "ski camp", also known as "camp clearcut". 

Lake Camp, on the other hand, has a little "out of sight, out of mind" charm for Royal Gorge LLC.  It will bring terrible noise and disruption to those who live on Hillside, it will ruin sensitive lands, and destroy a cross country ski resort's trail system. The proposed full service equine facility will foul the watershed, and the artificial lakes blasted from granite, after all the trees are clearcut, will deprive the Serene Lakes and Serena Creek, a tributary of the North Fork of the American River, of water.  But no one will really see it when they look out their windows, except perhaps nearly everyone living on Hillside.  We'll all of course notice hundreds of more vehicles on Pahatsi, and Soda Springs Road, but what's a few more cars on a road that already has Placer County's lowest rating? (Soda Springs Road is rated "level of service" F- remember that if you're trying to escape a fire-)

Perhaps I do Royal Gorge LLC a disservice by surmising that their choosing to develop Lake Camp first, and their opting to "bubble" over the other planned developments and potential impacts, is intended to "lull" locals into complaisance.  After all, there could be other business reasons for their about-face.  The ongoing subprime crisis, and house price melt down in the state has certainly made many investors risk averse to chancy real estate investments.  And what's a more chancy investment than a development at Donner Summit which hasn't solved water and sewage disposal problems, and which will require a change in the county general plan, and rezoning? Add in a large group of disgruntled, engaged homeowners, some very serious environmental groups monitoring the project like hawks, and, well, would you invest your kid's college money or your retirement funds here?

Oh, and fun-zone time, and perhaps this explains what exactly Royal Gorge LLC is thinking. Parts of "Lake Camp" already have zoning.  So, in a "bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" manner, Royal Gorge LLC is trying to push Lake Camp through the County, in order to get some ready money, in order to pay for all the rest of the show. Planners, and lawyers, and lawyers, and architects, and consultants, and taxes, and loan payments, and lawyers (did I mention lawyers?) cost a whole lot of money,  as do the services of well connected lobbyists, and all those donations to elected officials.  Also, one would imagine investors would like to see the ship of development moving forward, and not mired in quicksand.  Royal Gorge LLC does, however, run the risk that this might not be fast enough to satisfy investors who were assured: "The EIR process is likely to take 18 to 24 months to complete.  It is expected that the Board of supervisors will vote to certify the EIR, and approve the Specific Plan by mid-2009."  

"Lake Camp Lullaby" has more than a few discordant notes.  Let's hope people keep their eyes opened to the big picture of how this proposed development will despoil the entire Donner Summit, and how Royal Gorge LLC's "vision" will bring nothing but a nightmare to the community it will surround, Serene Lakes.