Recently the neighborhood around Deer Valley Road had quite a scare as the Silver Fire grew just off Green Valley Road, advancing toward the west side of Deer Valley Road. Many of us were under evacuation orders and we were grabbing what we could and getting ready to exit the area, unsure if we would return to our homes. This all happened very fast and fortunately, our firefighters were faster than the fire that day and got it stopped before it advanced too far. Thank You once again to our First Responders!
This was a stark warning of the dangers of living in this area of Rescue, and why two commercial facilities with a large number of people in them doesn’t make sense. If the two proposed facilities were operating as planned, there would be ~80 people residing and/or working in those two parcels on Deer Valley Court. As we detail in the “fire risk” page on our website (LINK), there is only one road we can exit – Deer Valley Road – and that road is very narrow, has single lane areas, and would not support the traffic evacuating in a rapid manner. In order to get 80 people out in a short time, there would need to be a number of busses just waiting for possible evacuations. This is one of the many reasons why we oppose development of these two facilities on Deer Valley Court.
Over the last month there has not been much noticeable action on the development of these two facilities. The permit applications for 3335 Deer Valley Court (2761 Sands Rd) are on hold, pending a full requested environmental evaluation, as requested by El Dorado County. There have been a few letters sent to/from the county and the developer, as well as a letter from our Assemblymember Patterson, cosigned by Senator Alvarado-Gil, reiterating the community concerns regarding placing these facilities here in Rescue. You can read these communications as part of our Project Timeline, which is kept here.
As of this moment we have significant momentum to force environmental reviews on this developer prior to granting any permits for construction. We need to keep a close eye on what level of review the developer completes and be ready to raise our voices if the reviews are not diligent or underplay the serious community and patient risks that exist if these proposals move forward. Stay tuned…and you can always reach out to us via the “Contact Us” form here.
Rescue Deer Valley! 