Forming the Future of Copper

At the first Copperopolis Community Plan Advisory Committee meeting held on April 17, 2012 at 6 pm at the CFPD station #1 approximately 30 residents were in attendance.

Committee members introduced themselves:
Steve Hutchings - resident 5 years   local business owner.
Jeff Millar - resident 12 years - Chief CFPD
Steve Marks (chair) - resident 23 years - contractor
James Tower - owner CalTel - rancher
Kelly Wooster - resident 10 (family in Copper since 1940) - cattle rancher
Don Rollings - resident 7 years - Corporate investigator
Carlee Mansour (alternate) - resident 24 years - Stan Cnty planning dept assistant analyst.

County representatives making presentations were Planning Director Rebecca Willis and Public Works Director Tom Garcia - who re-covered the O'Bynes Ferry Bridge project to help the committee get up to speed.

Willis presented the committee with information from the vision 2020 concept plan, the 2005 and 2009 community plans, new developments proposed, opportunities for the area and boundary considerations.

Willis stated that the County General plan is front and center as the County is operating under the existing General Plan from 1996 and that they "can't slow down for any community plans." The General plan has a 20 to 25 year horizon. With this said she requested first and foremost from the newly formed committee "boundaries, basic land uses" hopefully within 18 + months and lastly "policies and vision statements." Willis also informed the committee that current population and approved and pending projects need to be included in the plan.

Willis stated that currently Copperopolis has:
1928 single family homes
424 multi-family homes
1480 approved and recorded lots
335 approved golf course community Tuscany Hills
3475 approved golf course community Oak Canyon Ranch
18 pending project Vineyard Estates
800 pending project Sawmill
2400 pending project Copper Valley Ranch

With population based on 2.5 per home Willis stated the current population density for the committees statistical purposes is 5700, with an additional 10,000 approved but not built, and another 8000 in pending projects with a total currently "approved" population density of Copperopolis "just on the books and being processed" to be 23, 700 with "no current moratorium." She pointed out that the previous plans had estimated a population of 40,000 equating that population size with "the whole entire population of Calaveras and putting it into Copperopolis."

Tom Tryon closed the meeting by saying "we gotta do it right. The key to the planning is infrastructure" we need to understand the "economic significance of what we are addressing ...there is a huge amount of money coming into Copper."

Copperopolis Community Plan Advisory Committee meeting will be held the first Monday of each month at CFPD station 1 at 6 pm. All meetings are open to the public and will follow the Brown Act.