Foothills debate: More homes or not?

If foothills life generally moves more slowly, so, too, does the process where foothills residents craft community plans to complement Yuba County's General Plan update.

And in Dobbins/Oregon House, a committee of 23 members is still wrestling with whether the future vision there is more homes, or more of the same.

"Now we're getting a bit of structure to it," said committee member and Dobbins resident David Soares, who added he expected to see more progress at last night's committee meeting in Oregon House. "All the people here have been invited to put in their two cents worth."

The committee, which formed at the direction of the long-standing Dobbins/Oregon House Action Committee, has subcommittees on several topics, including fire safety, land use and the plan's mission.

Committee chairman Greg Crompton said there is a lot to sort through, not least because members of the group represent both sides of the growth debate in Dobbins/Oregon House.

"There are probably some conflicting objectives there, and they're working hard to come together," Crompton said. "The very high concern of the public is that whatever's done isn't done in secrecy."

Some of the planning committee's members helped create a plan introduced in the spring and meant to be submitted to the county. But when other residents — suspicious those involved wanted to use it to develop their land — attacked it as made in secret, the process started over.

Erik Johnson, a Collins Lake-area resident and member of the new committee, said some of the rhetoric about growth has become overheated.

"These are basic concepts people are throwing around, and developing one's property has become prohibited for some reason," Johnson said, adding the plan residents rejected also addressed other areas of concern, such as economic development, fire escapes for isolated residents and expanding community boundaries for Dobbins and Oregon House to include Collins Lake.

From the perspective of county planners, discussion, and even debate, are OK in such groups, as long as it's grassroots and open to comment.

Planning director Wendy Hartman said residents in both Camptonville and Smartsville, along with Dobbins/Oregon House, are creating community plans for the county to consider after the general plan update is expected to be put in place later this year.

Because the plans will be submitted to the county like a development application, she said, the committee groups will need financial assistance to pay the county to process them, as any applicant would.

"Once the General Plan is updated, we'll look for funding sources to move ahead with these plans," she said. And as they're considered, the plans will be subject to more input at public workshops and meetings.

After months of meetings, Johnson and Soares said they feel like progress is being made.

"The main issue is control of the community is coming from up here," Johnson said.