The Nevada County Planning Commission on a unanimous vote recommended approval of a proposed Holiday Market (North State Grocery) at a 5.5-acre site on Pleasant Valley Road, endorsing an initial study and mitigated negative declaration under the California Environmental Quality Act and forwarding a package of land-use actions to the Board of Supervisors.

Staff told the commission the project would reallocate about 4.3 acres to neighborhood commercial and 1.2 acres to light industrial, allow a 30,711-square-foot grocery with roughly 158 parking spaces, and require an Oak Resources Management Plan because eight landmark oak trees were identified on the site; five would be removed and the applicant must provide mitigation via payment to the Bay Area Yuba Land Trust.

Why it matters: commissioners and residents focused on traffic, wildfire evacuation and environmental protections. Lake Wildwood stakeholders and their counsel argued the mitigated negative declaration understates traffic and evacuation risks and urged a full environmental impact report. Supporters said a larger, modern grocery would add services, reduce long drives for residents and create local jobs.

Staff presentation and mitigation
Steve Geiger, senior planner, summarized the project's applications: a general plan amendment, rezone, development permit and the Oak Resources Management Plan. Geiger said the county prepared an initial study and mitigated negative declaration with a public review period from Oct. 17 through Nov. 17, 2025, and recommended approval with mitigation measures addressing aesthetics, air quality, biological and cultural resources, transportation and other topics.

Traffic findings prompted the most discussion. Staff and the traffic consultant said most nearby intersections would continue to meet the county's level-of-service standard with mitigation, but the Pleasant Valley Road/Commercial Avenue intersection could degrade in PM conditions without improvements. Proposed mitigations include restriping Commercial Avenue to create shared left/through and dedicated right-turn lanes and a condition requiring the applicant to pay the county's local transportation mitigation fee.

Residents' concerns and applicant response
Chris Styles, representing the Lake Wildwood Association, said the association is not categorically opposed but asserted the IS/MND is insufficient and "This project requires an EIR. This community deserves an EIR." He urged deeper analysis of truck patterns, unique local trip modes (including golf-cart trips), and evacuation impacts.

Braden Chadwick, outside counsel for Holiday Market, disputed that record evidence requires an EIR and pointed to the multiple traffic mitigation conditions in the staff recommendation. The applicant's principal, Richie Morgan, described operational problems at the current Lake Wildwood store (tight parking, delivery conflicts) and said the new site offers separate truck circulation, two access points and more parking to reduce those conflicts; he also clarified the in-store branded coffee operation would be a licensed, operator-run concept rather than a standalone Starbucks franchise.

Staff and Public Works said the county completed a 2024 evacuation study and that the greatest bottleneck for evacuations is internal to the Lake Wildwood community; Public Works Director David Garcia said the development is local-serving and that the applicant's mitigation payment would be earmarked for the Pleasant Valley/Highway 20 mitigation program and used to advance studies and leverage grant funding for larger intersection improvements.

Votes and conditions
The commission voted 5-0 to recommend that the Board of Supervisors: adopt the mitigated negative declaration and mitigation monitoring and reporting program (EIS 24-0007); approve the general plan amendment (GPA 24-0003); approve the rezone (RZN 24-0003) allocating ~4.3 acres to neighborhood commercial and ~1.2 acres to light industrial; approve the Oak Resources Management Plan (MGT 24-0011) allowing removal of landmark oaks with mitigation; and approve the development permit (DVP 24-2) subject to conditions.

Commissioners attached recommendations and amendments to be forwarded to the Board, including: additional striping/turn-lane consideration on Pleasant Valley Road and Commercial Avenue into Pine Shadows, encouraging the applicant to maximize native landscaping in the landscape plan, and protection of the rear portion of the site during construction. Public Works data cited by staff estimated the project's transportation mitigation fee at roughly $307,000 to be applied to the identified intersection program.

What's next
The recommendations go to the Board of Supervisors for final decisions. Staff said the mitigation-fee revenues would help fund initial analysis and make the project eligible for grants to design and build larger intersection improvements, but full construction of major intersection work would likely require additional funding and a multi-year timeline.

Key quotes
"This project requires an EIR. This community deserves an EIR," said Chris Styles, counsel for the Lake Wildwood Association. "There are 6 or 7 mitigation measures exclusively on traffic that were pointed out in the county's document," responded Braden Chadwick, outside counsel for the applicant.

The commission closed the public hearing and will forward its recommendations, with the record of public comment and conditions, to the Board of Supervisors for final action.