Ledger Dispatch photo taken by Josh McCoy Bob Devlin shows off his neighborhood electric vehicle at the Jackson City Council meeting Monday night, which he called a "radical, new solution" to the county's fight against traffic.

Bob Devlin envisions a world of green pastures traced by ribbon-thin roads with leisurely speed limits and noiseless cars. He told Jackson City Council Monday that he wants it to start in Amador County.

In a meeting normally dominated by discussions of big box stores, rising utility rates and residential development plans, the less-is-more approach called for by the coordinator of the Amador Transit Project was out of place but welcomed.

A 22-minute video making the environmental and economic case for sidewalk-sized streets and solar-paneled charging stations for electric cars was met with "enthusiasm" and "admiration" from audience members. Mayor Pro Tem Connie Gonsalves called the cars, meant to reduce traffic, noise and pollution, "really fantastic."

Financial and technical concerns about the project expressed at the meeting were saved for later as council members unanimously approved a resolution of support for the project, meant to give legitimacy to the small group as it looks for big funding. Sutter Creek voted in favor of the project last week, according to Devlin, after shows of support from several county agencies.

As for the practicality of the plan, Devlin is doing his research first hand. He drives his Chrysler GEM car, which tops out at 25 miles per hour, around Jackson and beyond, he said, mapping out possible routes along the way. To get to Sutter Creek, he takes 35-mph backways and cuts through a dirt lot in the Martell business park.

Some places are barely off limits, according to Devlin, due to short stretches of higher speed limits. He could drive all the way to Amador City if Amador Road was 35 mph. Right now it doesn't have a posted speed limit. He even drove the car into town hall as part of Monday night's demonstration.

His reasons were many: Neighborhood electric vehicles, commonly called NEVs, are cheap to drive, comparable to the cost of a gasoline car that gets 150 miles per gallon, and affordable. Devlin said he paid $13,000 for his. Skits in the video suggested NEVs for children whose parents want to keep them within a certain radius of home, or for seniors whose driving privileges might otherwise be revoked by concerned family members. Current models have to be recharged every 20 miles.

Devlin argued that simple upgrades to city streets, like pull-outs and bicycle lanes, would encourage the use of NEVs and other short-range vehicles, including electric bicycles and scooters. He acknowledged that other ideas, like a meandering road through Jackson's Oro De Amador property or a publicly-owned electric car company, were still a long way off.

Some of the concerns with the project included infrastructure costs, insurance technicalities and crash-test ratings for the vehicles, which are not much larger than golf carts. But Devlin remained resolute, calling the idea a "radical new solution" that has the potential of gaining acceptance in a place like Amador County. "It would be an example to the rest of the country trying to find unique solutions," he said.

As he navigated the double doors on his way out, a side mirror on his car nicked the door frame. He reversed, readjusted and managed to slip through. With small adjustments, he said, NEVs just might work in Amador County, too.

In other news, the city council approved a 3.3 percent increase to garbage rates in the city, proposed by Paul Molinelli Jr. of ACES Waste Services, Inc. The roughly 45-cent hike to monthly bills will go into effect Jan. 1, 2008.