The Butte County General Plan 2030 Community
Workshop for Cherokee was held on Monday, April 16, 2007, at 6:00 pm
at the Oregon City School. This meeting is one of 20 community
meetings scheduled to take place in all of the unincorporated parts
of Butte County. The meetings are designed to take input directly
from community members about their area’s assets, issues, and
consideration of land use changes by the General Plan 2030 process.
About 65 people attended the Cherokee meeting. Also in attendance
were 3 members of Butte County's Citizens Advisory Committee (Bruce
McClintock, Mike Evans, and Jeff Carter). Butte County Department of
Development Services staff Tim Snellings and Dan Breedon gave an
overview of the Butte County General Plan 2030 process as an
introduction to the evening. For the next 90 minutes, they
facilitated a discussion about the area's assets, issues, and areas
for potential future change. The following summarizes the assets and
issues discussed at this meeting (a complete listing of community
assets, issues, and areas mentioned for change is also available):
Assets
Many felt that Cherokee’s main assets were its people and sense of
community and history. Natural beauty, which is complemented by
Cherokee’s peace and quiet, proximity to Lake Oroville, and other
natural resources such as the Table Mountain Preserve, local
wildflowers, and abundant wildlife were also mentioned. Cherokee’s
rural atmosphere and lack of big development, while still being
close to the large communities of Oroville and Chico, was also
mentioned as community assets that contributed to its livability.
Additionally noted was Cherokee’s undeveloped countryside that
limits light pollution and provides a night sky rarely seen in more
developed areas of the County.
Assets List
-
Sense of community (President Hayes Day, 4th of July
Celebration, Mardi Gras, family events)
-
Beauty of area
-
History and culture of area (gold rush)
-
People
-
Peace and quiet
-
Lack of big development
-
Table Mountain
-
Wildlife habitat and corridors
-
Wildflower Reserve on Table Mountain
-
Proximity to Lake Oroville
-
Clear and dark night sky
-
Public nuisances and illegal activities have been successfully
abated
-
Close proximity to services in Oroville and Chico
Issues
The group built a consensus around the need for improvement to
Cherokee’s main point of ingress and egress, Cherokee Road, which
was identified as being substandard, poorly maintained, and too
narrow for certain types of traffic. This was also identified as a
public safety issue, especially with respect to school busses,
pedestrians, and cyclists, who need a buffer zone from the daily
traffic, which can be heavy.
Several community members felt that development in Cherokee should
be curtailed due to the many constraints present in the area; the
lack of water, poor access, and limited services or utilities.
Others felt that many of the buildings were dilapidated and needed
renovation, and that some development, consistent with the area, was
warranted.
In addition to the need for road improvements on Cherokee Road,
other governmental services were discussed. The need for a staffed
fire department was mentioned, along with better attention to the
litter problem at the Table Mountain Reserve run by the California
Department of Fish and Game. Community members indicated that mining
should not be considered as compatible with nearby residential uses
and that standards for ambient community noise levels needed to be
set. Some community members felt that further regulation and
noticing was needed to address the approval of mining operations, as
well as group homes and care facilities, while others felt that
their rural community was over-regulated and they wanted less
governmental interference.
Issues List
-
Poor condition of
Cherokee Road, pavement is in disrepair, road is too narrow,
curves are too tight for emergency vehicles, school busses,
shoulder does not provide safe buffers for pedestrians or
cyclists
-
Funding is needed
for the operation of a staffed Fire Department
-
Water supply is a
limiting factor for any future development
-
Some homes/buildings
are dilapidated and need renovation, some development,
consistent with the area, is necessary
-
Too much
over-regulation and governmental interference for rural area
-
Mining should not be
considered compatible with Cherokee’s residential areas
-
Land use permits
such as mining, group homes, and care facilities need to be
noticed more widely to community.
-
Utilities such as
cell coverage, phone, and cable are limited
-
Rural Areas such as
Cherokee take brunt of Jessica’s Law Implementation due to lack
of schools
-
Litter problem on
Table Mountain Wildflower Reserve, Department of Fish and Game
needs to address
-
A community noise
level standard is needed to address uses that would influence
Cherokee’s low ambient noise level.
Future/Vision
There seemed to be a consensus that there
should NOT be much new development in the Cherokee area.
The information obtained from this meeting will be provided to the
Butte County 2030 Citizens Advisory Committee, the Planning
Commission, and the Board of Supervisors. The information will be
used to help create the Butte County General Plan 2030 land use
alternatives that will be discussed in Workshop Series #1, scheduled
to begin with a Public Workshop on May 17, 2007 at 6:00 to 9:00 pm
at the Oroville Municipal Auditorium. |
