An "environmentally friendly" subdivision got a first look from the Amador County Planning Commission Tuesday night, but several of the speakers at the public hearing asked the commission to have its Environmental Impact Report recirculated for more public comment.

After much consultation with staff, the commission decided to continue the public hearing on the matter to the April 8 meeting.

Formerly known as "Sutter Creek Villages," the 98-home development is now called "Mokelumne Bluffs," because it is nowhere near the city of Sutter Creek. Instead, it is to be sited on nearly 138 acres, 3 miles east of Pine Grove.

Joe Murphy, a civil engineer representing John O'Sullivan, the developer, said the subdivision has been in the works since 2002 and originally consisted of 123 single-family homes, plus some multi-family housing.

"We decided to down-size," Murphy told the commission. Over the past five years, he said, the developer has met with a number of agencies, held two town hall meetings and changed the project accordingly. The subdivision now features 1-acre lots, a basketball court, a tennis court, and walking trails. Murphy said it involves minimal tree removal and individual septic tanks because a community leach field would have required clear-cutting 20 acres.

The primary issues after the draft EIR was issued, according to Charlie Simpson of InSite Environmental in Stockton, were how the project will look from Highway 88, the wildlife corridors, traffic mitigation and fire protection. About a year's delay, Simpson said, resulted from the developer's need to reorganize.

The EIR now needs to be certified, he said. Commissioners were told at the outset that the minimum of 10 days for them to review the final EIR had been overlooked, and therefore certification must take place at a second commission meeting.

Krista Clem, the project manager and O'Sullivan's wife, said that while an oak woodland survey was done, it showed the property is not legally considered an oak woodland. Nevertheless, she said, mitigation measures include protecting the oaks as well as the wildlife habitat. Homeowner packets are to be included, instructing them to protect oak trees by not overwatering them. In addition, she said, a consultant would be hired to monitor development impacts for seven years.

Cluster housing was discarded as a way to build, Clem said, because although it is a popular idea, "it is actually urban housing." Instead, she said, by limiting each 1-acre home site to a 10,000 square foot "envelope," into which the homes, garages, outbuildings, swimming pools and landscaping must fit, less than 70 percent of the entire site would be impacted.

Clem said the tennis court, basketball court and 2.5 miles of the walking trail around the outside of the property would be deeded over to the Amador County Recreation Agency.

John Carlson, a resident of Gayla Drive, asked the commission to recirculate the EIR as a draft EIR for further public comments. He said he was concerned that the proposed final document is substantially different from the draft document that was circulated in 2005.

"It is very important the public be involved in this issue," he told the commission.

For instance, Carlson said, the building envelope had gone from 6,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet.

The proposed community's lack of curbs and gutters, he said, means that the streets will be more expensive to maintain.

Jill North of rural Jackson said that during meetings in Pine Grove, "Mr. O'Sullivan assured us he wouldn't be a hit-and-run developer." But, she said, based on media information, it appears his property is in foreclosure. "I don't know how that affects the final EIR," North said. "If the project comes to a stop because of litigation, what will we be left with?"

Tom Sage, a neighboring landowner, said he had "bickered and dickered" with O'Sullivan for about a year over an emergency exit, and they finally came to agreement. But, Sage said, "I think they have addressed everything pretty well in here (the final EIR)."

Chris Wright, executive director of the Foothill Conservancy, said that as a whole, the project has "come a long way, but it's not there yet." He recommended the EIR be recirculated and insisted the developer had given "short shrift" to alternatives, such as a development half the size of that now proposed.

"For Amador County to move into the 20th century," Wright said, "we need to ramp up our planning."

Judy Alexander of Ranch House Estates, said she is concerned about how a potential wildfire would affect the area. While the proposed traffic signal at Highway 88 and Gayla Drive is purported to help in the case of an evacuation, she said, "It would only help if you get the green." Also, she complained that the basketball court would be practically under her window.

But Realtor Michael Vasquez told the commission that the developer had been working a long time to get to this point. The best part, he said, is that "they really, really tried to love the land."

Consultant Terry Strange, who worked on the project, said the wetlands and meadows on the property had been well protected by reconfiguring the lots and by the fact that homeowners could not build anything outside of their 10,000-square-foot "envelopes."

Clem asked that the EIR certification meeting be held at the commission's first April meeting, because she is due to give birth via cesarean section on April 18. Pushing for the earliest date, she also told the commission that she and her husband, O'Sullivan, would "rather spend money on mitigations than interest payments."