Planning commission advances Copperopolis community plan, adds language on recreation access and emergency egress

The Calaveras County Planning Commission voted to recommend that the Board of Supervisors adopt an amendment to the General Plan adding policies for the Copperopolis community, and to certify an addendum to the General Plan EIR and find certain actions exempt under CEQA Section 15183.

Peter Maurer, the county’s special projects administrator, told the commission the draft plan condenses earlier, longer community-plan drafts into a set of policies to sit within the countywide General Plan. Maurer said the plan is intended to focus the community’s long-standing priorities—circulation, recreation, community facilities and measured growth—without repeating countywide general-plan policies already in place.

A lengthy public comment period followed. Dina McAfee, a long-time Copperopolis resident who worked on earlier plan drafts, urged stronger language supporting a central community gathering place and more explicit language on meeting rooms and multiuse facilities. McAfee also urged the plan to acknowledge long-standing community interest in improved…