First, most of the new citizens don’t know that EDH is an unincorporated area of the county. EDH is presently governed by representatives from South Lake Tahoe, Placerville, Shingle Springs, South County, and one from El Dorado Hills. These are the folks that rule on your land use (think golf course and housing), put tax increases on your ballot, and take marginal care of your roads.
How should we approach this issue? Citizens for Cityhood, formed in 2018, turned the cityhood process over to the EDHCSD in January of 2020. The CSD has ordered and received one document, the Preliminary Feasibility Study Notice on page 3 it describes that EDH is well suited to become a city.
The EDHCSD received that document in August 2021 and has done nothing since to move this process forward. Senate Bill No. 137 of 2005 says on page 4 that a CSD is: (3) A form of governance that can serve as an alternative to the incorporation of a new city. Or is (4) A transitional form of governance as the community approaches cityhood.
I will give you one reason today to support cityhood. The Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) has assigned 4,994 units of new housing to be built in El Dorado County by 2030 of which 4,073, 81%, have been assigned to EDH. 1,763 of those homes are to be Very Low or Low Income properties.
By incorporating the citizens of the new City of El Dorado Hills will have a seat at the SACOG table and get the opportunity to mitigate these determinations. Because we will have legal status we can then renegotiate with the county to get the housing allotment changed. Until we have legal status, become a city, we are at the mercy of the County Board of Supervisors.
Over the next few weeks I will give other examples of why EDH should be The City of El Dorado Hills.
I hope El Dorado Hills becomes a city soon.