County kicks off Neighborhood Services
Rio
Linda Elverta part of first Center
by Debbie Byrne
On Thursday, April 22, the Rio Linda/Elverta Chamber of Commerce hosted
a meeting to accomplish two objectives with respect to drainage. The
first was to explain how the drainage improvements in the Elverta
Specific Plan will work. Many of the residents downstream had not had
any previous notice of the project, as the County only requires notice
to be given to property owners within a 500 foot radius of the project.
Even though there have been several community meetings on the Specific
Plan, most of the property owners downstream didn't have any idea that
it could affect them. This was the first opportunity that they had to
hear an explanation of how the Elverta Specific Plan may affect them.
While most of the meeting was a positive flow of information, there
were some concerns that the invitations did not reach everyone that is
impacted, or that people did not know that it impacted them because
those areas were not clearly identified so that affected residents
would attend.
Residents who did attend expressed concern that as a result of the
development upstream, there would be additional water flow on their
properties during and after storm events. The presentation included
discussion of the computer modeling used to show that while water may
be on their property for a longer period of time, the drainage system
of the Specific Plan was designed to ensure that the height of the
water would not increase. Concern was also expressed that a large
number of residents have moved to the Rio Linda/Elverta area because of
the open space, and a lot of the open space is subject to flooding in
major storms. There have been a few dry winters, but when the wet years
come there was concern that a lot of people who had been previously
unaware of the flooding in the community would now experience flooding.
The second objective was to initiate a process for studying, and
fixing, some of the existing problems in the area. "It is our belief
that many of the drainage problems in the Elverta/NEMDC Tributary area
may be addressed with relatively simple fixes," said Mark Rains, an
Associate Engineer with the Sacramento County Department of Water
Resources. "We encountered a very similar situation downstream of a
development project in the Galt area. In that circumstance, we hired
outside engineers to identify problems and recommend improvements.
These improvements are now being implemented with a long-term, phased
approach. This would seem an appropriate activity for the folks
downstream of the Elverta Specific Plan. We want to get access to
people’s property to do a study to check for improvements that could be
done by Stormwater Utility Maintenance."
(Mr. Rains also administers the countywide program that pays the
majority of the expense of a property owner to raise a residence out of
the flood plain. He can be reached at 874-8649.
Supervisor Roger Dickinson
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
700 H Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Supervisor Dickinson,
Today a Code Enforcement investigator came to my door to inform me that
he had received a complaint that I had roosters on my property. He
informed me that, while the ownership of chickens was allowed in the
Agricultural-Residential neighborhood in which I live, the ownership of
roosters was considered "animal husbandry" and was therefore not
allowed.
First, I must tell you, as someone who has a degree in Agricultural
Economics, that both hens and roosters are considered chickens. Second,
even most "experts" cannot tell the difference between hens and
roosters when they are chicks. Therefore, when someone purchases
chicks, they have very little to go on as to which sex they are
getting. It is quite possible to get roosters when only hens are
desired, and vice versa. At what age must a resident of the
Agricultural-Residential zone get rid of the ones that turn out to be
roosters? Third, does that mean that no one in an
Agricultural-Residential zone is allowed to have two animals of the
same species of opposite sexes? Just what makes that ownership "animal
husbandry?"
The most important reason I am writing to you today is to ask: why,
especially in light of all the budget tightening, which left us
short-handed in the Code Enforcement Department in this part of the
County, is this the type of issue upon which Code Enforcement is
spending its time? I also am personally aware that Code Enforcement has
been in my neighborhood to enforce vehicle abatement in BACKYARDS of
residences, while other, more important Code Enforcement issues that
endanger the health and safety of the community are left unresolved.
These issues include houses with numerous violations that are actually
dangerous, illegal dumping, and – an issue of which I have personally
been aware for more than two years – "motorcross" race tracks in vacant
lots in residential areas. I know that all of these issues have
received NUMEROUS complaints over several YEARS, yet they do not seem
to be a high enough priority for Code Enforcement. Another issue is
corner vendors of fruit and other merchandise, which do not affect
health and safety so much, but are losing revenue for the County in the
form of business licenses and sales tax. Perhaps they don’t receive
enforcement action, even though I have personal knowledge of complaints
filed against them, because they operate outside of 9-5 Monday through
Friday?
Another issue is that when I attempted to find out who had registered
such a complaint against me, I was told that that information is
confidential. The United States Constitution allows the right to face
one’s accuser. How is it that Sacramento County is exempt?
At any rate, I hope to hear the rationale for such frivolous
enforcement actions in light of much more serious violations going
unresolved, as well as why I am not allowed to know who filed such a
complaint. I would like to see direction from the Board of Supervisors
to Code Enforcement to prioritize issues based on actual danger to the
heath and safety of the community.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Deborah Byrne
Elverta
P.S. For the record, I have no fowl of any kind, male or female on my
property.
cc:Chair Johnson
Supervisor Niello
Supervisor Collin
Supervisor Nottoli
Carlos Alcala
Rio Linda Elverta News
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