Auburn, Calif. – Continuing an item from September, the Placer County Board of Supervisors today voted 4-1 to give final approval for the Martis Valley West Parcel Specific Plan, which would build 760 homes while preserving 6,376 acres of open space. District 5 Supervisor Jennifer Montgomery voted for denial. The project, which sits between Truckee and North Lake Tahoe, will move development from the east side of Highway 267 to the west side.
The plan will transfer the rights to build 760 homes, along with almost seven acres of commercial space, from the east parcel to the west parcel. Zoning would have allowed for 1,360 homes on the west side, however the developer retired 600 homes in transferring the development to the west parcel.
At the September meeting, the supervisors listened to staff’s presentation, a presentation from the project applicant and oral testimony from 60 members of the public. Written comments were also received. The board closed the public hearing and gave tentative approval to the project. The supervisors instructed staff to return with additional information about some of the board’s tentative September actions.
In September, the applicant presented a modification of its proposal about workforce housing to include constructing units for 47 full-time employees in the development and pay an in-lieu fee for five additional units.
State law requires a water assessment for the project to determine if adequate water supplies are available to meet project needs. The Martis Valley West project has two options: be annexed into the nearby Northstar Community Service District or drill wells and establish a water purveyor. A water supply assessment was completed and shows that, either way, there are sufficient supplies to meet the project’s needs.
The board’s approval was based, in part, in its finding that the proposed project’s significant and unavoidable impacts were outweighed by its benefits. In particular, the board felt the conservation component of the project — the preservation of 6,376 acres in the east parcel — outweighed the impacts.    Â
