The Rescue Deer Valley team is asking El Dorado County to require a comprehensive, and independent, environmental impact report (EIR) prior to granting any permits for the facilities proposed for 3335 and 3840 Deer Valley Court. This is an important request, as this rigorous process will investigate a number of significant areas of community concern, including water use, fire safety / risk, road impacts and others. The EIR process is transparent and comprehensive, so this report would help cut through the misstatements made by the developer to this point. The county is concerned about possible State legal action, but we have also provided a number of legal reasons why the county should still move forward with this request. We are all closely watching the next steps here. Stay tuned, as all our help may be needed if the county does not agree with our request.
Below is a note we sent to Supervisor Parlin concerning this request:
From: Chris Silva <redacted>
Date: Wed, Apr 10, 2024 at 1:31 PM
Subject: EIR requirement for Deer Valley Court Facilities
To: BOS-District IV <bosfour@edcgov.us>
Supervisor Parlin – The Rescue Deer Valley community is requesting EDC to do the right thing, and require HomeCA to complete a full Environmental Impact Report before any permits are approved for either 3335 Deer Valley Ct or 3840 Deer Valley Ct. Below is our justification for that requirement.
- Both Developments need to be considered together – Parcels are zoned rural residential single family residence. The county must look at both of these projects as a singular impact on the area. The two planned commercial SUD facilities proposed utilize the same access road (Deer Valley), same community maintained roads (Rough Ridge/Sands), same water table source, same fire/police/ambulance services, etc. Since they are separated only by one plot, they need to be considered together for any impact assessment.
- Community Safety – The county exists to maintain community health and safety, and it is a central tenet to the County General Plan. It is a core function, and must not be sidestepped when the proposed usage deviates so far from the zoned usage. Zoned use of these parcels is up to 12 residents, 20 car trips a day, water/sewage/etc usage for these two single family residence parcels. These two proposed facilities will support up to 80+ full time residents, daily support staff for commercial operations (admin, meals, day care, etc), commercial delivery/maintenance support. One parcel has the highest fire risk severity and adjoins unmaintained dense manzanita that could cause devastating fire to hundreds of residents, and of course patients of these facilities. Deer Valley Rd cannot support the additional use, which introduces significant community risk. The parcels have no water or sewage services, and the water source runs directly into major intake for El Dorado Hills and Folsom.
- Misrepresentation from Developer – This developer has a proven record of sidestepping the facts and misrepresenting the future usages in order to appease audiences. By enforcing a known diligent process, through a trusted consulting agent, the county can accurately assess the facilities and their impact on the surrounding community.
- Responding to Resident Concerns – by requiring an EIR, the county can demonstrate to concerned residents that it is taking their concerns into account, and are driving accountability to the developer to ensure any future facilities can be supported.
- Future Patient Safety – these facilities will be housing up to 80 patients/day, /450 patients/year, that are fighting substance abuse, housing, pregnancy and physical disability issues. These patients expect access to water, safety from fire, safe transportation capability, timely access to emergency services, etc. The county has a responsibility to ensure these developments are being built in a location that can service these patient needs.
- State requires Environmental Assessment – They are required to do at a minimum a Part 1 Environmental Assessment, per their grant, and that assessment is a basis for self certification that they are exempt from CEQA As you know, this is a very limited assessment. The county has a well established procedure and method for assessing environmental impacts through the EIR process. The county should require the EIR as proof of the environmental assessment that the developer needs to complete prior to moving forward with any construction, and certainly to certify exemption from CEQA. This gives the county a well proven methodology and report, while also allowing the developer to meet the environmental assessment requirement in order to move forward.
- It is the right thing to do – these two facilities significantly deviate from a single family residence. It is specifically for those types of building requests that the county uses tools like an EIR to ensure community safety and the ability of the natural and county resources to support the proposed usages.
This is the first of many of these developments being driven into El Dorado County. This one developer has a number of recently purchased parcels, along with the 4 parcels under proposed development now. Prop 1 introduced similar State legislation removing county control, so this is just the beginning. The county needs to draw a line when a greedy developer tries to force such egregious commercial facilites within a community that is not suited for it.
We, the community in Rescue, Shingle Springs and surrounding areas are depending on you, the county, to ensure these quick turn developments don’t create significant safety issues. Please enforce at a minimum a full EIR to do the diligence of these types of developments, on these types of parcels, demand.
Regards,
Chris Silva
Spokesperson for Rescue Deer Valley
Rescue Deer Valley! 