Logue follows the plan

Poor Dan Logue. His hands were tied.

Yes, it turns out that’s why he voted for Yuba Highlands. He had to.

It was interesting to read his comments in this newspaper and in the Grass Valley paper. They were strikingly similar.

“The general plan changed to allow this project to happen,” Logue told the Appeal-Democrat. “I was elected to make decisions, not to cave. This decision was by a previous board with a promise to be kept.”

He told the Grass Valley paper: “Politically speaking, the best thing would be to vote against the Yuba Highlands. Another board 15 years ago didn’t give us an option.”

Savor those comments for a moment. You’re not going to see very many elected officials come up with that kind of tortured logic very often, not even in Yuba-Sutter.

Back in the early 1990s, Yuba County supervisors crafted several specific plans - a comprehensive development plan for large areas - hoping to remake the county by getting more middle-class folks to move here.

Their plans were undone by a lack of demand for new housing in Yuba County. There were still acres to conquer in Placer County, which pretty much soaked up much of the inventory.

The good times started to roll a few years ago when developers noted the vacant land in Yuba County and all the specific plans. Plumas Lake and East Linda were the most notable examples of suburban success, or excess.

Yuba Highlands also was in the mix. It just took a lot longer to get from there to here.

So Logue, 15 or so years after the board approved the specific plan for the Yuba Highlands area, says he’s locked in. Can’t do anything. Decision was made.

That is quite a leap in logic, or lack of logic. Things change. Policies change. Conditions change. After 15 years, you might actually learn something you didn’t know many years ago.

Fee, fi, fo, fum

Congratulations to Yuba City Council members Rory Ramirez and Leslie McBride for negotiating a deal on nonresidential development impact fees.

They must know what they’re talking about. Both are involved in the real estate and development industry.

Ramirez “works in construction and development,” according to the city’s Web site, while McBride, a Realtor, is “vice chair of the local Governmental Relations Committee for the California Association of Realtors.”

So on one side of the table were real estate people representing the city, and on the other side were real estate people wanting to develop in the city.

One wonders if a council member not involved in real estate would have brought a different perspective to that table.

Harold Kruger is a veteran reporter and copy editor for the Appeal-Democrat. His column, “Off Beat,” appears Sundays. He can be reached at 749-4717, or via e-mail at hkruger@appealdemocrat.com