Palermo/Honcut, Community Meeting Summary

The Butte County General Plan 2030 Community Workshop for the Palermo/Honcut communities was held on May 16, 2007. 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 community vision for consideration of land use changes by the General Plan 2030 process.

About 65 people attended the meeting. Also in attendance were 3 members of Butte County's Citizens Advisory Committee (Bruce McClintock, Bill Kienzle and Tony Rushing). Butte County Department of Development Services staff Pete Calarco and Noel Carvalho 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: 

Assets

The Palermo/Honcut area is a small farming community that has experienced slow growth for many years. Residents agree that the quiet community is a great place to live and raise a family. Its close proximity to goods and services in the Oroville area allows the community to retain it’s rural character by providing residents a short drive to obtain needs not met locally.  The Palermo park, pool and bike route are few recreational opportunities identified as assets. Additionally noted were the post office, fire station and local elementary school.

Issues

Issues identified at the community meeting focused mainly on storm water drainage, public safety and roads. Several citizens voiced their strong concerns about inadequate storm water drainage throughout the community. During the rainy winter months, surface water sheet flows across the community into roadside drainage ditches. Heavy rains quickly fill the systems exceeding their capacity and ability to drain effectively. The resulting flooding often renders roadways impassable. For many residents, this situation makes fulfilling daily needs impossible. In addition, emergency response becomes greatly hindered, resulting in a compounded public safety concern.

Currently, both the Butte County Sheriff and the California Highway Patrol serve the community. Residents expressed concerns with the joint public service due to the limited assistance each provides. Community members feel they would be better served if the County Sheriff serviced the entire area providing a consistent level of service.

Throughout the community, many of the roads are in poor condition and in need of repair. Residents would like to see improved road standards and regular road maintenance. Additionally, inadequate storm water drainage and the resulting flooding were noted as a probable cause for the rapid deterioration of the community’s roads.

Vision

Inadequate storm water drainage is a great concern to the community. One member expressed the difficulty of trying to identify a community vision when the issue of inadequate storm water drainage is so prevalent. After agreeing that implementation of an adequate drainage system/maintenance program is a priority, community members began to offer several more ideas, which centered on improved public service and more recreational opportunities.   

Palermo/Honcut:  Assets-Issues-Vision

Assets List

1. Quiet community
2. Small community
3. Growth has occurred slowly
4. Palermo park and pool
5. Bike Path through the community
6. Farming community / great place to raise children
7. Fire Department
8. Local post office
9. Local elementary school
10.  Abundance of ground water

Issues List

1. Poor storm water drainage throughout community
2. Existing drainage system is inadequate and not regularly maintained-  needs to maintain up stream
3. Roads regularly flood during heavy rains  
4. Unsightly residential/commercial buildings and fencing in highly visible areas- diminishes community character
5. Incompatible zoning of adjacent uses (e.g. residence next to junkyard)
6. Vandalism, theft and drug abuse is a problem
7. Slow sheriff response time is typical / during flooded conditions response time is delayed further
8. Need to apply sheriff service to whole community
9. Need to protect wells from ground water pollution
10.  Noise ordinance- protect residents from noise caused by neighboring  generators
11.  No fire hydrant system – need to improve ISO
12.  Septic Standards- need to update septic standards allowing new technology so parcels may be split
13.  County road standards need to be improved to include sidewalk and gutter
14.  County roads are poorly maintained / pot holes exist on most roads in the community
15.  Lower Honcut Road is used a thoroughfare by casino patrons/ roads deteriorate faster as a result
16.  Antiquated telephone line service
17.  Need up-to-date communication systems / high-speed internet
18.  Need traffic calming measures around Palermo school
19.  Need biking and hiking trails

Change Area / Vision

1. Adequate storm water drainage system throughout the community
2. Utilization of existing ditches and creeks to serve as liner parks that connect to recreational opportunities in Oroville and Lake Oroville
3. Fire hydrant system to serve entire community
4. Adequate storm water drainage system to serve entire community
5. Add public library
6. Add sheriff substation
7. More commercial/retail businesses (groceries etc.)
8. Retain quiet community / reasonable noise control
9. Explore ways to turn drainage problem into an asset
10. Allow smaller lots for residential use / retain large parcels for agriculture

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