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Is corporation yard a done deal?

By Bryan E. DeVoe Over the past couple of months the Sierra Sun has promoted more active participation by residents of our community in the development, design and planning of our community. Some residents have responded by saying that if the Town of Truckee and the power brokers of our community want it, a thousand residents could fill council chambers and oppose a project and it would still be built. At last Thursday’s council meeting it was most apparent that if certain members of the town staff want a project, the “yes bobble-head dolls” of the town council will approve it. The town’s corporation yard project will be built at the Forest Service site, and any meetings held regarding it will be only a dog-and-pony show. Three government agencies are collaborating on a project that will be called a corporation yard, with a large amount of vehicles and buildings for personnel and vehicle repair facilities. If three local excavating companies were to try and developed a sight there, it would be called an industrial site and they would be turned down. Town staff says that this site is the best location because it is centrally located. That statement holds about as much water as a colander. The school district did not have any problem with locating its school bus barn out on Joerger Road with easy access to Highway 267. This could also help create a much-needed light industrial park for local business. The other issue with this site is the Forest Service. At the council meeting I spoke about the large number of trees marked for removal. I guessed about 80 percent were marked. The representative for the Forest Service rejected my claim, stating that the number of trees marked was much less and they were marked for removal because the environment for them was poor, density and water amount for nourishment, and it was good forest management. OK, so the next day I went back to the site and paced off a 100 yard by a 100 yard study area and marked it. With a plus or minus 3 percent factor, I counted 250 trees with a 122 marked for removal and zero trees dead or dying. The average space between the trees was 10 feet. Not 80 percent as I thought until I remembered that they still had to remove trees for construction of the site and that will cover the 80 percent. The Forest Service is not doing forest management of this site. It was treeless 120 years ago, Mother Nature has done an awesome job of reforesting and management, the Forest Service is using the tree removal to finance their project – not forest management. We do not need such a large number of trees removed and land paved over so the town corporation yard can be centrally located. Where’s the town hall?Bryan E. DeVoe is a Truckee resident.


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