Housing Element Rezone Program Implementation

Board of Supervisors Action

On October 27, 2015, the Nevada County Board of Supervisors considered the Planning Commission's August 27, 2015 3-1, (1 abstention) vote recommending that the Board of Supervisors certify the EIR and re-designate Tier 1 sites. The Board of Supervisor's after taking public testimony and reviewing the entire record before them, certified the project's Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and re-designated Sites 6, 11, 12, 14, 15 (substituted for Site 18) and 16 to create the potential for 532-units of new multi-family housing in the unincorporated area of Nevada County. The Board subsequently held off on rezoning Tier 1 Sites 3 and 5 (189-potential units) and directed staff to work on potentially rezoning two sites along East Bennett Road (APNs 09-560-33 and 09-560-05) to replace Sites 3 and 5. The final EIR Resolution (Number 15-503) (PDF), General Plan Land Use Amendment Resolution (Number 15-504) (PDF) and Zoning District Map Amendment Ordinance (Number 2401) (PDF) are available to download. Further action on either Sites 3 and 5 or the targeted East Bennett Road sites will be scheduled before the Board of Supervisors at a duly noticed public hearing on a date yet to be determined.

Planning Commission Hearing

On August 27, 2015, the Nevada County Planning Commission voted 3-1, 1 abstention to recommend that the Board of Supervisors certify the EIR and redesignate Tier 1 Sites to provide for high density residential zoning . The project staff report (PDF) may be downloaded and is available for review at:
Nevada County Planning Department
950 Maidu Avenue
Suite 170
Nevada City, CA.

Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRP) and CEQA Findings are available for public review and can be downloaded from the links below. A duly noticed public hearing will be held before the Nevada County Planning Commission to consider a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors for the project including the complete Environmental Impact Report (the Draft EIR, Technical Appendicies, Final EIR, the MMRP and the CEQA Findings).

Final Environmental Impact Report

  1. Complete FEIR (PDF)

Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program and CE

  1. CEQA Findings (PDF)
  2. Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (PDF)

Individual Sections

  1. 0.0 Cover-Title Page-Table of Contents (PDF)
  2. 1.0 Introduction (PDF)
  3. 2.0 Errata (PDF)
  4. 2.0 Errata, Final Draft Revised August 7, 2015 (PDF)
  5. 3.0 Response to Comments (PDF)

Comment Letters & Responses

  1. Letters 1 to 7 (PDF)
  2. Revised Response to Letter 6 (PDF)
  3. Letters 8 to 14 (PDF)
  4. Letters 15 to 20 (PDF)
  5. Letters 21 to 25 (PDF)
  6. Letters 26 to 36 (PDF)
  7. Letters 37 to 60 (PDF)
  8. Letters 61 to 90 (PDF)
  9. Letters 91 to 115 (PDF)
  10. Letters 129 to 132 (PDF)
The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) is available for public review. The public review period is September 12, 2013 to November 12, 2013 (60-days). For more detail, please review the Notice of Availability (PDF) and Notice of Availability-Addendum (PDF), or download the DEIR below.

Project Description

  • Rezone (Z12-002)
  • General Plan Map Amendment (GP12-002)
  • Certification of the EIR (EIR12-002)
The project proposes changing the General Land Use and Zoning Designation for 18 selected properties to Urban High Density/high density residential zoning (UHD/R3) and adding the Regional Housing Need (RH) Combining District (LUDC Sec. L-II 2.7.11) to accommodate the future development of high density housing, as mandated by the State Department of Housing and Community Development.

The project sites are located with the Grass Valley Sphere of Influence (PDF), Penn Valley Area (PDF) and the Lake of the Pines Area (PDF).

Draft Enviromental Impact Report

  1. Complete DEIR (PDF)
  2. Complete Technical Appendicies (PDF)

Technical Appendicies

  1. Appendix A. Notice of Preparation and Public Comments (PDF)
  2. Appendix B. Site Analysis Report (PDF)
  3. Appendix B.1 Site Analysis Report Addendum 1: Revised Candidate Site Maps (PDF)
  4. Appendix C. Air Quality Modeling Data (PDF)
  5. Appendix D. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Modeling Data (PDF)
  6. Appendix E. Biological Resources Report (PDF)
  7. Appendix F. Cultural Resources Technical Report (PDF)
  8. Appendix G. Geotechnical Report (PDF)
  9. Appendix H. Hazardous Materials Databases (PDF)
  10. Appendix I. Noise Modeling Data (PDF)
  11. Appendix J. Water Supply Assessment (PDF)
  12. Appendix K. Service Availability Letters (PDF)
  13. Appendix L. Traffic Modeling Data (PDF)