League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	El Dorado County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
	Measure N Extends Meas Y, Amends General Plan and Prioritizes Some Road Improvements County of El Dorado County Ordinance and General Plan Amendment - Majority Approval Required Fail: 14616 / 24.51% Yes votes ...... 45010 / 75.49% No votes See Also: Index of all Measures

Arguments For Measure N	Arguments Against Measure N
Measure N is designed to keep us rural. Measure N will relieve local traffic congestion and limit growth in El Dorado County by: (1) Forcing the state to pay its fair share for Highway 50 improvements. (2) Prioritizing traffic mitigation fees and county transportation dollars to fix local roads. (3) Requiring an annual report to taxpayers sharing what is being done to improve local roads. In 1998, County voters approved Measure Y and in 2008, voters extended Measure Y for another ten years. On average, Measure Y has limited growth in El Dorado County to just one percent a year since 1999, and dedicated over $200 million to local transportation improvements. This Initiative extends Measure Y through 2025. It retains Measure Y's requirement that new development fully pay for the cost of improvements to local roads which are needed to ease traffic. It also improves Measure Y in three simple, but important, ways: 1. Encourages the county to utilize state and federal dollars to fund Highway 50 improvements whenever possible, and prioritizes county transportation dollars to improving local roads. This should alleviate local traffic congestion and better maintain local roads. 2. Keeps El Dorado County rural by limiting growth within existing Community Regions approved by voters in the county's general plan. This encourages responsible planning and zoning within Community Regions where infrastructure including roads and water is nearby. 3. Makes the County more accountable to taxpayers by requiring annual reports on what efforts are being made to alleviate traffic congestion and better maintain local roads. El Dorado County is a great place to live, and Measure N builds on the past success of voter approved Measure Y to limit growth, ease traffic congestion, improve local roads, and protect our rural way of life. Please join us. Gregory Thomas Jones Alexander M. Briggs John Bailey Rebuttal to Arguments For Measure N is unnecessary. Like Measure M, it claims it will improve El Dorado County transportation planning. Also like Measure M, it doesn't. The current General Plan is working. Measure Y, approved by voters in 1998 and overwhelmingly approved in 2008, was the result of collaborative efforts among environmental, business, development, and slow-growth advocates. A balanced plan to insure we protect the local economy as well as our rural quality of life. THE COMPROMISE PLAN IS WORKING -- NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO TRY SOMETHING UNTESTED. MEASURE N WILL PARALYZE EL DORADO COUNTY FOR YEARS WITH COSTLY BATTLES OVER LAND USE. Measure N, like Measures M and O, claims it will improve transportation and land use planning, but it will make traffic worse, endanger open space, reduce developer fees for road improvements and cost El Dorado County jobs and tax revenue. MEASURE N IS FLAWED AND WILL COST EL DORADO COUNTY MILLIONS. Measures N, M and O are so poorly drafted it will take years to sort out the conflicts between them -- paralyzing local planning and costing millions. Local business, labor, agriculture, public safety, education, and other community leaders have united against Measures N, M and O because the proposals threaten local control, undercut the voter approved Measure Y and General Plan, and will produce more traffic and less open space. And the measures threaten private property rights as well as damage the local economy -- costing jobs and tax revenue for important local public services. Vote No on Measure N -- we need a proper balance. Susan Bergin, Laborers Local 185 Laurel Brent-Bumb, CEO, El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce David Zelinsky, Community Activist Christa K Campbell, Owner Rainbow Orchards John E Upton, Former County Supervisor	Vote NO on Measure N. Measure N was placed on the ballot by a Sacramento-based developers' group. The developers measure is very self-serving and deceptively written. First, developers included language that permanently enacts controversial General Plan policies to approve 27,000 new homes, including 2,000 in the Placerville-Camino-Pollock Pines areas; 8,000 in El Dorado Hills; 6,500 in Cameron Park-Shingle Springs; 5,500 in El Dorado-Diamond Springs and 5,000 homes spread out in rural areas. Then developers also included deceptively simple language that reads: ... "HIGHWAY 50 CAPACITY ENHANCING PROJECTS ... SHALL RELY FIRST ON THE USE OF STATE AND/OR FEDERAL FUNDING ... RATHER THAN COUNTY TIM (developer) FEES". Every year, the state returns $9 million in gas tax revenues paid by El Dorado County residents when they pay gasoline and fuel taxes. This revenue is mostly used for local road repair and snow removal. The developers' wording means that up to $9 million a year of OUR state gas tax "funding" can now be used to pay for making Highway 50 traffic improvements for new development, rather than local road repair and snow removal as is currently budgeted. Further wording (see the phrasing above) says: RATHER THAN COUNTY TIM (developer) FEES". This means that County TIM (developer) fees can now only be used AFTER our state and/or federal gas tax revenues are used first. This language frees developers from fully paying for their Highway 50 improvements, as currently required in the General Plan. In summary, Measure N was written by developers to approve as much development as possible while using OUR gas tax revenues to pay Highway 50 improvements they are currently required to pay for. Measure N is opposed by local residents who want to protect their wallets, water, and rural lifestyle. Measure N could easily cost El Dorado County taxpayers $150 million. Vote No on Measure N. We the undersigned submit the Argument Against Measure N: Kathleen McCoy, President, EDC League of Women Voters Bill Center, Measure Y Committee John Le Pouvoir, Chairman, Sierra Club, Maidu Group Ellen Van Dyke, Rural Communities United John Hidahl, Chairman, El Dorado Hills Community Council

Full Text of Measure N

The people of the County of El Dorado ordain as follows: Section 1. Title. This initiative ordinance shall be known as the "Control Growth to Fix Our Local Roads Initiative" (the "Initiative"). Section 2. Purpose and Findings. A. Purpose. The purpose of this Initiative is to extend Measure Y through 2025 and improve upon its policies by requiring the County to prioritize local road improvements when allocating local transportation fees, limit sprawling traffic conditions by encouraging responsible planning and zoning within Community Regions where infrastructure, including roads, is already nearby, and provide annual reports to taxpayers on the traffic condition of local roadways and the efforts being made to alleviate traffic congestion. B. Findings. The people of the County of El Dorado find and declare as follows: 1. In 1998, County voters approved the "Control Traffic Congestion Initiative" (Measure Y), and in 2008, voters amended and extended Measure Y for another ten years. 2. Measure Y has done an admirable job controlling growth and requiring new development to mitigate traffic impacts. However, Measure Y is now set to expire again in just four years. If Measure Y expires, these protections would be lost. 3. This Initiative extends Measure Y through 2025. It retains Measure Y's existing requirements that new development must fully fund the cost of improvements to local roads which are needed to accommodate traffic, and that new single-family residential subdivision development projects of five or more parcels of land will not result in, or worsen, Level of Service F on Highway 50. 4. In addition, this Initiative improves upon Measure Y in three simple and straightforward, but important, ways. 5. First, this Initiative establishes a policy of, wherever permissible, relying on state and federal dollars for Highway 50 improvements and requiring the County to prioritize local road improvements when allocating our local transportation fees. 6. Second, this Initiative protects the rural nature of El Dorado County by directing growth away from rural areas and towards existing Community Regions by encouraging responsible planning and zoning within Community Regions where infrastructure, including roads, is already nearby. 7. Third, this Initiative makes the County more accountable to taxpayers by requiring annual reports on the traffic condition of local roadways and the efforts being made to alleviate congestion and better maintain our local roads. 8. For all of the reasons set forth above, the voters hereby find that this Initiative and the provisions set forth herein serve the public health, safety, and welfare of El Dorado County and are in the best interest of the County. Section 3. General Plan Amendments. The Transportation and Circulation Element of the El Dorado County General Plan, adopted July 2004 (and as amended, effective January 2009) ("General Plan") is hereby amended to read as follows (deletions are shown in strikethrough and insertions are shown in underline): Policy TC-Xa The following policies shall remain in effect until December 31, 2018 2025: 1. Traffic from single-family residential subdivision development projects of five or more parcels of land shall not result in, or worsen, Level of Service F (gridlock, stop-and-go) traffic congestion during weekday, peak-hour periods on any highway, road, interchange or intersection in the unincorporated areas of the county. 2. The County shall not add any additional segments of U.S. Highway 50, or any other roads, to the County's list of roads that are allowed to operate at Level of Service F without first getting the voters' approval or by a 4/5ths vote of the Board of Supervisors. 3. Developer-paid traffic impact fees combined with any other available funds shall fully pay for building all necessary road capacity improvements to fully offset and mitigate all direct and cumulative traffic impacts from new development upon any highways, arterial roads and their intersections during weekday, peak-hour periods in unincorporated areas of the county. TABLE TC-2 END TABLE TC-2 Policy TC-Xb To ensure that potential development in the County does not exceed available roadway capacity, the County shall: A. Every year prepare an annual Capital Improvement Program (CIP) specifying expenditures for roadway improvements within the next 10 years. At least every five years prepare a CIP specifying expenditures for roadway improvements within the next 20 years. Each plan shall contain identification of funding sources sufficient to develop the improvements identified; B. At least every five years, prepare a Traffic Impact Mitigation (TIM) Fee Program specifying roadway improvements to be completed within the next 20 years to ensure compliance with all applicable level of service and other standards in this plan; and C. Annually monitor traffic volumes on the county's major roadway system depicted in the Circulation Diagram and provide an annual report to County taxpayers detailing the traffic volume of major roads and highways and how TIM fees have been allocated.; and D. In specifying expenditures in the CIP, emphasis shall be placed on providing improvements to local roadways serving existing communities which are experiencing traffic congestion and areas designated as Community Regions in the General Plan. Policy TC-Xi The planning for the widening of U.S. Highway 50, and other improvements to State (Caltrans) facilities, consistent with the policies of this General Plan, including to prevent level of service F as provided in Policy TC-Xa (Measure Y), shall be a priority of the County. The County shall coordinate with other affected agencies, such as the City of Folsom, the County of Sacramento, and Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) to ensure that U.S. Highway 50 capacity enhancing projects are coordinated with these agencies with the goal of delivering these projects on a schedule to meet the requirements of the policies of this General Plan, and whenever possible shall rely first on the use of State and/or federal funding for these projects, rather than County TIM fee revenues, in order to better utilize the TIM funding for County road improvements. Notwithstanding the foregoing, TIM fee revenues may be utilized for Caltrans facilities as matching funds, for various grants or programs, for any purpose consistent with or required by Policy TC-Xa (Measure Y), or when no other means of financing is available. The Land Use Element of the El Dorado General Plan, adopted July 2004 (and as amended, effective December 2009) is hereby amended to read as follows (deletions are shown in strikethrough and insertions are shown in underline): Policy 2.1.1.2 Establish Community Regions to define those areas which are appropriate for the highest intensity of self-sustaining compact urban-type development or suburban type development within the County based on the municipal spheres of influence, availability of infrastructure, public services, major transportation corridors and travel patterns, the location of major topographic patterns and features, and the ability to provide and maintain appropriate transitions at Community Region boundaries. These boundaries shall be shown on the General Plan land use map. In order to achieve the goals and objectives of protecting the County's rural environment and agricultural uses, the County shall, consistent with Policy 2.1.1.7, encourage planning and zoning within the Community Regions where existing infrastructure, such as roads, water, sewers, and power, is nearby. Policy 2.1.1.7 Development within Community Regions, as with development elsewhere in the County, may proceed only in accordance with all applicable General Plan Policies, including those regarding infrastructure availability as set forth in the Transportation and Circulation and the Public Services and Utilities Elements. Accordingly, subject to Policy 2.1.1.2, development in Community Regions and elsewhere will be limited in some cases until such time as adequate roadways, utilities, and other public service infrastructure become available and wildfire hazards are mitigated as required by an approved Fire Safe Plan. Section 4. Implementation of this Initiative. A. Upon the effective date of this Initiative, the County shall proceed as expeditiously as possible to implement this Initiative. County staff shall promptly take any such administrative steps, consistent with the legislative policy established in this Initiative, as may be necessary to implement this Initiative. B. Upon the effective date of this Initiative, the provisions of Section 3 herein are hereby inserted into the General Plan; except that if the four amendments to the General Plan permitted by state law for any calendar year have already been utilized in the year in which this Initiative becomes effective, the General Plan amendments set forth in this Initiative shall be the first amendments inserted into the General Plan on January 1 of the next year. C. The General Plan in effect on the date of filing of the Notice of Intent to Circulate this Initiative ("Filing Date") and the General Plan as amended by this Initiative comprise an integrated, internally consistent and compatible statement of policies for the County. To ensure that the County's General Plan remains an integrated, internally consistent and compatible statement of policies for the County, any provision of the General Plan that is adopted between the Filing Date and the effective date of the General Plan amendments adopted by this Initiative shall, to the extent that such interim-enacted provision is inconsistent with the General Plan amendments adopted by this Initiative, be amended as soon as possible and in the manner and time required by state law to ensure consistency between the provisions adopted by this Initiative and other elements of the General Plan. Section 5. Interpretation and Severability. A. This Initiative shall be broadly construed in order to achieve the purpose stated herein. The provisions of this Initiative shall be interpreted and implemented by the County and others in a manner that is fully consistent with, and facilitates, the purpose set forth in this Initiative. B. If any portion, section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase or application of this Initiative is held invalid or inapplicable by a final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity or applicability of any other part of this Initiative. Consistent with that, the provisions and applications of this Initiative shall be deemed severable, and the voters expressly and deliberately declare that each portion, section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase or application of this Initiative would have been enacted irrespective of the fact that one or more other parts or applications is found to be invalid or inapplicable.   Section 6. Conflicting Measures. A. This Initiative is intended to be comprehensive, and to ensure that this intent is not frustrated, this Initiative is presented to the voters as an alternative to, and with the express intent that it will compete with, any and all voter initiatives or County-sponsored measures placed on the same ballot as this Initiative and which, if approved, would amend the El Dorado County General Plan (each, a "Conflicting Initiative"). In the event that this Initiative and one or more Conflicting Initiatives are approved by a majority of voters at the same election, and this Initiative receives a greater number of affirmative votes than a Conflicting Initiative(s), this Initiative shall control in its entirety and said Conflicting Initiative(s) shall be rendered void and without any legal effect. If this Initiative is approved but does not receive a greater number of affirmative votes than said Conflicting Initiative(s), this Initiative shall have no force or effect. B. If this Initiative is approved by voters but superseded by law in whole or in part by any other Conflicting Initiative approved by the voters at the same election, and such Conflicting Initiative is later held invalid, this Initiative shall be self-executing and given full force of law. Section 7. Amendment and Repeal. This Initiative may be amended or repealed only by a majority of the voters of the County of El Dorado voting in an election held in accordance with law. Section 8. Effective Date. Pursuant to state law, if this Initiative is approved by a majority of the voters voting on the issue, the Initiative shall become effective upon the earliest date legally possible after the elections official certifies the vote on the Initiative.