Valley Springs Housing Plan Back On Table

Developers of Olive Orchard Estates in Valley Springs will try a second time today to win project approval from the Calaveras County Planning Commission.

CRV Enterprises of Galt, also developer of nearby Gold Creek Estates, is proposing a 47 single-family home development off Highway 26 and Olive Orchard Road.

In June, the commission continued consideration of the project and asked the Public Works and Planning Departments to work on some road issues. The project has the potential to generate 500 vehicle trips per day on Olive Orchard Road.

At that hearing, eight residents, calling themselves Citizens for Sensible Planned Development, testified Olive Orchard Estates would have an adverse impact on Highway 26 and the already dilapidated Olive Orchard Road.

This morning the commission will consider the project but the road issues have not been mitigated, Public Works Deputy Director Tim McSorley said.

“The developer wished to move forward and have some discussion without final resolution of the road issues,” McSorley said.

The commission also will consider a reclamation plan for an existing mining use permit.

The current permit allows for the processing of 15 million tons of crushed rock. The project would excavate 650 acres of dredger tailings on a 2,215-acre site.

Planner John Anderson´s report to the commission said the project would create 28 one-way truck trips per day, which would impact Milton and Jenny Lind Roads and Highway 26.

The operator, 7/11 Materials of Modesto, already is allowed to excavate the material under the current mining use permit, Anderson said. The reclamation plan says what they will do with the land after they remove the tailings. The company is proposing to use the land for grazing.

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