January 28, 1965 (24 pages)

0 ae RAT . NEVADA ESN aN eo Serving the communities of Nevada City, Grass Valley, Red Dog, You Bet, T Talk, Glenbr: i ie Omega, French Corral, Rough and eae, Graniteville, North sis Foals, Herth f veal chius Nedial Selby Flat, Grizzly Hill, Gold Flat, Soggsville, Gold Bar, Lowell Hill, Bourbon Hill, Scotch Hill, North Columbia, Colum 4 ~ Juan, North Bloomfield, Humbug, Relief Hill, Wa sald Flat, Sweetland, Alpha, ington, Blue Tent, LaBarr Meadows, Cedar Ridge, Union Hill, Peardale, Summit City, Walloupa, Gouge Eye, Lime Kiln, Chicago Park, Wolf, Christmas Hill, ibe rty Hill, Sailor Flat, Lake City, Quaker Hill, Willow Ve alley, Newtown, Indian Flat, Bridgeport, Birchville, Moore’s Flat, Orleans Flat, Remington Hill, Anthon: s Brandy Flat, Sebastopol, , Delirium Tremens. Volume 39 Number 4 10 Cents A Copy Published Thursdays, Nevada City January 28, 1965 What This City Needs Is A Good Cat State Report Due On Rat Pack State health officials called in at the request of the city this week unearthed a miner's legacy along Deer Creek --a healthy population of roof rats, Obviously some kind of war is going to have to be declared on the rats, But which agency of the city, state or county will be mobilizing an army, and what weapons will be used, is unknown at’ this time. Two officials of the California State Department of Public Health were in town Wednesday at the request of City Manager Henry Roese to check on the city. rat population along the route of the proposed Nevada City-Grass Valley Freeway. The survey was requested because of complaints of rats and because of the nagging question ‘of where were all the rats going to go when the bulldozers started clearing away their berry bush homes along the creek. The two officials put out traps on Deer Creek south of the Plaza, at GoldRun Creek at Sacramento Street, at Manzanita Street andin a marshy area off Gold Flat Road. As of this morning they had checked two areas and found a good quantity of healthy rats. It was expected that the results would be the same at the rest of. the check areas. Joe E. Brooks, Vector Control Specialist with the state Department of Public Health, explained that roof rats (rattus rattus) are not native to North America, They were-brought to California first in Spanish ships and carried to the gold fields in the freight and supply wagons. Brooks said he can remembe. hearing stories of the miners lying in bed shooting at the rats in their cabins, It is doubtful that there will be much shooting going on here, at least not at the rats, One local wag suggested that the problem of eliminating the ratsin the city is really no problem at all, He pointed out that i JOE E, The rat survey was made at the reque freeway route, when the proper time comes for the start of freeway construction, the rats will all desert the sinking ship andhead over Town Talk for Grass Valley. BROOKS, Vector Control Specialist with the California Division of Public Reverses Reversal To Give Zoning Variance Nevada City Council found itself in the unhappy position of having to reverse itself Monday night, but went ahead and on a 3-2 vote to grant a variance for a gas station in a residential zone on Coyote Street. The appeal hearing before the city council Monday night was the culmination of several weeks of debate, two appearances before the city planning commission and two before the council, The matter was resolved in a strange, sometimes heated, reif ~~ Health, shows off one of the roof rats trapped by the state along Deer Creek by the Plaza in Nevada City this week. st of the city manager to determine the rat population along the County Counsel’s Report Blasts Planners Nevada County Planning Commission was given araking broad~side shot by County Counsel Mrs, Dean Lawrence at the regular ‘meeting Monday night. The long awaited report of conditions drawn up by a committee of the commission for use permits granted by the supervisors for Brunswick Timber Products was scheduled to be presented, but before it could be read, mis, Lawrence read a lengthy prepared speech in which she accused the commission in general and the committee in particular of several charges, The charges included the following things: Failure.ofthe committee drawing up the conditions to invite the county counsel or inform her of meetings in time for her to attend; The fact that the committee disagreed so much on the conditions to be imposed that Chairman Earl Dewing finally wrote thereport thus making it not a committee report but a personal opin_ion of the chairman; Thatthe committee had acted in violation of the Brown Act by holding meetings without giving proper notice; And that Dewing, who was chairman of the commission at the time the committee was formed was no longer a resident of the county. Dewing replied he felt "like I've been drawn and quartered, " Questioned about his status as a resident. of the county, he noted (Continued on Page 3) counting of a variety of factors economic, esthetic and legal and the coining of a new reason for granting of variances--hardship to the city. ‘ Theterm hardship has been the key to the controversy over the variance request for hardship, as defined by the city zoning ordinance, explained by city attomey William Wetherall and defended by City Councilman Dan O'Neill, is the only basis on which a variance can be granted. Theterm “hardship to the city" was coined Monday night by Councilman Beryl Robinson, him self a displaced gas station owner. In explaining why he was making a motion to grant the variance, henoted that three service stations had been displaced in the city by the freeway and people were going out of town to obtain their automobile service needs. He said when business was being sent outside the city, the situation could be called a hardship to thecity. He felt the Coyote Street _ location was about the only place in town where a service station could be constructed. Realestate broker Jim Harding appeared before the council to present the appeal, The request for the variance had previously been approved by the city planning commission, overturned when appealed to the city council, returned to the planning con~ (Continued on Page 24) Planner Says He Now Finds No Nevada City's continuing discussion of a zoning variance for a gas station on Coyote Street took an unusual turn Monday night when former planning commission chairman Albert Johnson wrote to the council to inform them that he believed there was no cause for a claim of hardship in the case. The matter was being appealed to the city council on the hardship claim that the freeway would come so close to the properties involved that the owners would suffer loss of property values. The variance had already been granted by the planning commis-~sion but the decision was reversed by the city council on appeal. Johnson's letter was read to the council Monday at the request of Coyote Street property owner Bill Lambert who maintained that Johnson's opinion on the lack of ~ hardship should help the council to rule against the variance re~ quest. (Continued on Page 24) “7o 2S ~ Qar > iat od oS Ss e @ sm c ct o 82 ct oOo @ 2 pe So em OS re © a he . ° & Hardship Evidence 184 + ‘ ‘ UOTZO9S ST BOTPO

0 ae RAT . NEVADA ESN aN eo Serving the communities of Nevada City, Grass Valley, Red Dog, You Bet, T Talk, Glenbr: i ie Omega, French Corral, Rough and eae, Graniteville, North sis Foals, Herth f veal chius Nedial Selby Flat, Grizzly Hill, Gold Flat, Soggsville, Gold Bar, Lowell Hill, Bourbon Hill, Scotch Hill, North Columbia, Colum 4 ~ Juan, North Bloomfield, Humbug, Relief Hill, Wa sald Flat, Sweetland, Alpha, ington, Blue Tent, LaBarr Meadows, Cedar Ridge, Union Hill, Peardale, Summit City, Walloupa, Gouge Eye, Lime Kiln, Chicago Park, Wolf, Christmas Hill, ibe rty Hill, Sailor Flat, Lake City, Quaker Hill, Willow Ve alley, Newtown, Indian Flat, Bridgeport, Birchville, Moore’s Flat, Orleans Flat, Remington Hill, Anthon: s Brandy Flat, Sebastopol, , Delirium Tremens. Volume 39 Number 4 10 Cents A Copy Published Thursdays, Nevada City January 28, 1965 What This City Needs Is A Good Cat State Report Due On Rat Pack State health officials called in at the request of the city this week unearthed a miner's legacy along Deer Creek --a healthy population of roof rats, Obviously some kind of war is going to have to be declared on the rats, But which agency of the city, state or county will be mobilizing an army, and what weapons will be used, is unknown at’ this time. Two officials of the California State Department of Public Health were in town Wednesday at the request of City Manager Henry Roese to check on the city. rat population along the route of the proposed Nevada City-Grass Valley Freeway. The survey was requested because of complaints of rats and because of the nagging question ‘of where were all the rats going to go when the bulldozers started clearing away their berry bush homes along the creek. The two officials put out traps on Deer Creek south of the Plaza, at GoldRun Creek at Sacramento Street, at Manzanita Street andin a marshy area off Gold Flat Road. As of this morning they had checked two areas and found a good quantity of healthy rats. It was expected that the results would be the same at the rest of. the check areas. Joe E. Brooks, Vector Control Specialist with the state Department of Public Health, explained that roof rats (rattus rattus) are not native to North America, They were-brought to California first in Spanish ships and carried to the gold fields in the freight and supply wagons. Brooks said he can remembe. hearing stories of the miners lying in bed shooting at the rats in their cabins, It is doubtful that there will be much shooting going on here, at least not at the rats, One local wag suggested that the problem of eliminating the ratsin the city is really no problem at all, He pointed out that i JOE E, The rat survey was made at the reque freeway route, when the proper time comes for the start of freeway construction, the rats will all desert the sinking ship andhead over Town Talk for Grass Valley. BROOKS, Vector Control Specialist with the California Division of Public Reverses Reversal To Give Zoning Variance Nevada City Council found itself in the unhappy position of having to reverse itself Monday night, but went ahead and on a 3-2 vote to grant a variance for a gas station in a residential zone on Coyote Street. The appeal hearing before the city council Monday night was the culmination of several weeks of debate, two appearances before the city planning commission and two before the council, The matter was resolved in a strange, sometimes heated, reif ~~ Health, shows off one of the roof rats trapped by the state along Deer Creek by the Plaza in Nevada City this week. st of the city manager to determine the rat population along the County Counsel’s Report Blasts Planners Nevada County Planning Commission was given araking broad~side shot by County Counsel Mrs, Dean Lawrence at the regular ‘meeting Monday night. The long awaited report of conditions drawn up by a committee of the commission for use permits granted by the supervisors for Brunswick Timber Products was scheduled to be presented, but before it could be read, mis, Lawrence read a lengthy prepared speech in which she accused the

commission in general and the committee in particular of several charges, The charges included the following things: Failure.ofthe committee drawing up the conditions to invite the county counsel or inform her of meetings in time for her to attend; The fact that the committee disagreed so much on the conditions to be imposed that Chairman Earl Dewing finally wrote thereport thus making it not a committee report but a personal opin_ion of the chairman; Thatthe committee had acted in violation of the Brown Act by holding meetings without giving proper notice; And that Dewing, who was chairman of the commission at the time the committee was formed was no longer a resident of the county. Dewing replied he felt "like I've been drawn and quartered, " Questioned about his status as a resident. of the county, he noted (Continued on Page 3) counting of a variety of factors economic, esthetic and legal and the coining of a new reason for granting of variances--hardship to the city. ‘ Theterm hardship has been the key to the controversy over the variance request for hardship, as defined by the city zoning ordinance, explained by city attomey William Wetherall and defended by City Councilman Dan O'Neill, is the only basis on which a variance can be granted. Theterm “hardship to the city" was coined Monday night by Councilman Beryl Robinson, him self a displaced gas station owner. In explaining why he was making a motion to grant the variance, henoted that three service stations had been displaced in the city by the freeway and people were going out of town to obtain their automobile service needs. He said when business was being sent outside the city, the situation could be called a hardship to thecity. He felt the Coyote Street _ location was about the only place in town where a service station could be constructed. Realestate broker Jim Harding appeared before the council to present the appeal, The request for the variance had previously been approved by the city planning commission, overturned when appealed to the city council, returned to the planning con~ (Continued on Page 24) Planner Says He Now Finds No Nevada City's continuing discussion of a zoning variance for a gas station on Coyote Street took an unusual turn Monday night when former planning commission chairman Albert Johnson wrote to the council to inform them that he believed there was no cause for a claim of hardship in the case. The matter was being appealed to the city council on the hardship claim that the freeway would come so close to the properties involved that the owners would suffer loss of property values. The variance had already been granted by the planning commis-~sion but the decision was reversed by the city council on appeal. Johnson's letter was read to the council Monday at the request of Coyote Street property owner Bill Lambert who maintained that Johnson's opinion on the lack of ~ hardship should help the council to rule against the variance re~ quest. (Continued on Page 24) “7o 2S ~ Qar > iat od oS Ss e @ sm c ct o 82 ct oOo @ 2 pe So em OS re © a he . ° & Hardship Evidence 184 + ‘ ‘ UOTZO9S ST BOTPO