EDH APAC Comment Letter to Planning Commission About Latrobe Road CIP Item
Comment Letter submitted to Planning Commission recommending tabling Latrobe Road CIP Item.
El Dorado Hills APAC submitted a comment letter to the Planning Commission regarding Agenda Item #2 on their scheduled April 13, 2023 Planning Commission Hearing. EDH APAC members, and many El Dorado Hills residents have concerns regarding the timing of adding a Latrobe Road widening project back into the County’s Capital Improvement Program, just three years after removing the project (then – CIP Project No: 72LATROBE) due to a finding that it was unwarranted in 2019/2020.
The timing concerns center on the staff recommendations that the new CIP #36105055 item is due to “growth in the EDH Business Park.” EDH APAC Subcommittee members have observed that the only significant growth in the El Dorado Hills Business Park that might justify traffic improvements has been the expansion of the John Adams Academy private school. The school has been a success welcomed by EDH residents, and has generated a significant traffic impact in the area, however without a traffic analysis it is uncertain if that one development has triggered the need for the expansion of Latrobe Road. John Adams Academy opened in El Dorado Hills in 2017, so some of its traffic impacts should have been known in 2020 when CIP Project 72LATROBE was removed from the CIP list.
It appears that CIP #36105055 would mostly benefit the proposed Project Frontier, which EDH APAC Subcommittees are still reviewing. EDH APAC Subcommittees are concerned that adding CIP #36105055 into the CIP would expose El Dorado County Taxpayers to more costs by shifting the funding burden away from the full impacts of the proposed Project Frontier development before it has been adequately reviewed and analyzed.
The EDH APAC comments to the Planning Commission recommend:
EDH APAC would propose delaying this action before your Commission before a thorough review has been completed. Considering that CIP 36105055 was removed as “unwarranted” just in 2020, it is fair to ask if it was short-sighted to remove the project at that time. If so, it may also be short-sighted to add the project back into the CIP without a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of Project Frontier in 2023.