An Open Letter To the Placer County Board of Supervisors

Date: December 19, 2007

Re: Placer County Planning Department's agreement to keep Royal Gorge Developers' documents secret , and the Planning Department's refusal to comply with California Law.

Dear Supervisors:

On November 21st, Royal Gorge LLC submitted a number of documents concerning its proposed development at Donner Summit/Serene Lakes to Placer County Planning Department, including, but not limited to, a "Water Supply Alternatives" document,  and a Specific Plan.  There was, according to Michael Johnson's letter to me of December 19, a prior agreement between the county and Royal Gorge to keep these submissions secret and protected from public review. It is unclear to me whether Placer County or Royal Gorge originally suggested the secret "dress rehearsal"; the end result was the same-  the public was denied their part in the planning process until the county and Royal Gorge got their performance "perfect."  This "gentlemen's agreement" closed the door on citizen input, and citizen discussion of Royal Gorge's proposed development in Placer County, creating, essentially, a special "black-out" period for the developer.

As you may be aware, California has a Public Records Act that guarantees citizens the right to see, and copy pubic records.  Documents and plans submitted by developers to the county are public records when they are delivered to the county, and do not fall under exceptions related to drafts.  In the course of my attempts to view these documents, which began on December 3, the county has attempted to create a loophole large enough for Royal Gorge developers to drive a bulldozer through by claiming the documents were somehow exempt from disclosure because they were draft,or preliminary, or not kept in the course of business, and other legal fictions, all the time knowing that what they were citing to me only applied to county work product, not submissions from developers.

I am bringing this up to you now because I am absolutely shocked at the actions Mr. Michael Johnson has taken, or is proposing to take.  Confronted with the fact that the documents the county has been studying since Nov.21st are indeed public records , but unwilling to comply with my legitimate request for access to those records, as well as the request of others, including the Nevada Union's Freedom of Information request, Mr. Johnson, has proposed, in clear violation of California Law to send all of the public records back to Royal Gorge. In his letter he evinces more concern for whether Royal Gorge LLC "intended" their submissions to the county to be public, than to the rights of Placer County homeowners and taxpayers to access those records.  Further, he offers the slim reassurance that, "if these documents are re-submitted in conjunction with a formal application.....will be considered public records..." This is a slim promise indeed, as it seem to imply "formal" documents are  public records, but anything the Placer County chooses to call "informal" is blocked from public view.  If that is indeed the policy of Placer County Planning, then citizens must regularly be denied their rights of access to planning documents, and their rights to participate in a meaningful way in the planning process.

I am hopeful that you, as members of the Board of Supervisors, will look into this situation immediately.  As the situation in Placer County stands today, the Planning Department has slammed the door in the face of genuine public access, while seemingly bending over backwards to accommodate Royal Gorge's desires to work with county planning in a secret, almost furtive manner, in clear violation of California Law.

I trust you will take this seriously,

Kathryn Gray

Placer County homeowner