El Dorado County slow-growth initiative launched
By Tony Bizjak, Sacramento Bee
Saying El Dorado County is growing too fast and Highway 50 is getting jammed, a group of activists launched a drive Tuesday to qualify a November ballot measure that would slow growth while encouraging the county to work harder to bring jobs to the area.
Petitioners hope to qualify their measure, called “Fix Highway 50 Traffic First/Keep Us Rural,” for the November ballot. It would be the second major grass-roots efforts in recent years to slow development in the lower reaches of the foothills county, where tens of thousands of commuters flow daily onto Highway 50, many bound for jobs in Sacramento County.
If passed, the measure would amend the county General Plan to prohibit the county from approving any more residential subdivisions of five or more parcels until overall traffic congestion is improved on Highway 50 from the current “level of service” F, or stop-and-go during commute periods.