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Clover Valley Oak-Destruction Project Brings Out Thousands of Opponents to Sign Petitions Putting Development Plan on the Ballot

Developer's campaign to get citizens to rescind their signatures fails.

9/28/2007 ROCKLIN, CA. -- It's official. Earlier this week, the Rocklin City Clerk and the Placer County Elections Division certified that the Save Clover Valley Coalition submitted enough valid signatures to qualify a referendum to overturn a recent decision by the Rocklin City Council to amend the city's general plan and move forward with the controversial Clover Valley development project.

(Editor's note: The Clover Valley development would construct 558 homes in a 622 acre canyon that lies between the gated housing tracts of Rocklin and the rural community of Loomis. The developer promises to leave about half of the site as open space but will have to remove over 7000 oak trees and construct roads dividing the remaining open space into islands in order to get cars to the home sites. To see the developer's misleading aerial photo of the completed project, in which the entire site appears to be preserved, go to http://www.clovervalleypartners.com/open_space.php.

Note that the aerial photo caption says "after replanted trees are grown". Below is the actual map of "open space", with homes and roads in red shading, showing how the preserved land would be islands in a a sea of concrete. Click on it to enlarge.)

Rocklin City Clerk Barbara Ivanovich will submit the certification to the City Council for review at its regular meeting Oct. 9. At that time, the Council can either rescind its earlier decision, or it can put the referendum to the Rocklin voters to decide.

“We certainly hope that the City Council finally sees that the voters of Rocklin want Clover Valley protected and chooses to rescind their decision rather than force this on the ballot,” said Elaine O’Deagan a spokesperson for the Save Clover Valley Coalition.

To qualify the referendum, the Save Clover Valley Coalition needed 2,706 signatures of registered Rocklin Voters (10 percent of the registered voters), and easily surpassed that figure, turning in nearly 5,000 signatures. The signatures were turned in some 10 days prior to the 30-day deadline, despite a heavily financed blocking campaign on the part of the developers, Clover Valley Partners. A recent poll taken by the Clover Valley Foundation showed that voters almost 3 to 1 would vote in favor of a referendum to Save Clover Valley and overturn the General Plan Amendment allowing its development.

“No one can question now that the citizens of Rocklin have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that saving Clover Valley is important to them,” said Save Clover Valley committee officer Linda Hall, who submitted the 4,843 signatures last week. “People clearly want this amazing valley saved. They don't want more traffic on our streets. They don't want thousands of Oak trees cut down and they don't want to see homes built on and around ancient Native American burial grounds and other historically significant sites.”

Hall called on the City Council to support Rocklin voters on this issue. “As elected officials -- put in office to represent the will of the people -- I think the City Council members have a duty to take another look at this issue and do the right thing by the people of Rocklin and rescind their decision and save this valley,” she said.

Clover Valley Photo Gallery

The Referendum Will Give the Voters of Rocklin a Say About the Fate of Clover Valley - Learn More

For more information about the Save Clover Valley Coalition, visit http://saveclovervalley.org or http://savingclovervalley.org.

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The Sierra Club Reports:

http://motherlode.sierraclub.org/placer/index.html

Because the owners/partnership/developers have indicated a willingness to sell, we have been working with state agencies, land trusts, conservancies, and any other entities that may be able to help purchase the valley. As environmentalists, the negotiations and talks are way beyond our areas of expertise, but we believe the preliminary meetings with professionals are proceeding cautiously, but positively.

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Thousands of Years of Archeological Resources Will Be Wiped Out...

State Historic Preservation Officer, Appointed by the Governor of California Tells City of Rocklin the Environmental Impact Report Does NOT Comply with CEQA. Here are some Quotes from the SHPO, the Authority for the Historical and Cultural Resources for the State of California - The Authority as it pertains to the Historical and Cultural Resources for the State of California:

"The FEIR does not meet CEQA’s fundamental basic disclosure requirement, the law’s intent to provide information for meaningful public comment."

"The RDEIR and the FEIR have not complied with the requirement of CEQA to provide the information required by the public including this office under CEQA to offer meaningful comment."

"The withholding of salient information renders the CEQA process inadequate."

"OHP has had an opportunity to visit Clover Valley it has become very apparent that the Determination of Eligibility and Effect on Cultural Resources within the Clover Valley Lakes Project Area, Peak (2002) is less than adequate because of the resources that were discovered during the site visit. Therefore, the basis of discussion, the resource identification pursuant to the section 106 process, requires reevaluation; there is a need for a new survey."

"My office has the following serious concerns: project mitigation is a non-existent Historic Properties Management Plan (HPMP); the Cultural Resources survey is inadequate; and implementing any action prior to conclusion of Section 106 may threaten a 404 permit."

View Comment Letter for FEIR sent by State Historic Preservation Officer, Milford Donaldson, Appointed by the Governor of the State of California, to the City of Rocklin Concerning the FEIR.

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From : http://saveclovervalley.org/

Clover Valley has remained an undiscovered place.

Beaver dams create a succession of waterfalls along the length of Clover Valley Creek. Deer and newborn fawn graze undisturbed on the tall grasses. Birds are thick in the trees. The steep hillsides are blanketed with ancient oaks. Most importantly, from the valley floor the eye finds no reference to the present day. Enter Clover Valley and you enter a time machine.

It was recently discovered that a 1998 archaeological study of the valley found some 34 Native American cultural sites dating back to 5000 B.C. Clover Valley was a hub of regional Native American activity. Individual home sites, village lodge sites, cooking areas, ceremonial art and even a "ballfield" are there as they were left. The complete historic record is intact, wholly undisturbed in the top meter of earth, as it was created during 7,000 years of continuous Native American occupation.

So significant is the site that it qualifies as a historic district and for registry with the National Registry of Historic Places. However, at this time no trespassing is permitted and it's strictly enforced.