In August, our BLAC Traffic Safety Committee (TSC) sent a letter to the County of El Dorado Transportation Department, regarding our concerns about traffic and pedestrian safety on Bass Lake Rd, from Serrano Pkwy to Magnolia Hills Drive. To date, we have not received a response from County DOT, but we have heard back from three County Supervisors, the County Auditor Controller, and members of the County Planning Commission.

In regards to Serrano J7, the project already has approvals for 71 multiplex homes (three-stories) but is seeking to change that to 65 single family homes. As an approved project, it will be built one way or another, and the community preference seems to be for this new 65 home alternative: BLAC agrees that it would be a better fit with the community, and we’re looking forward to welcoming these new neighbors. BLAC is only seeking to have the traffic impacts of left turns onto and off of Bass Lake Rd at the J7 gate at the Bass Lake Overflow restricted until Bass Lake Rd is improved. Our public comments for the Serrano J7 project:
Letter 1
Letter 2
Letter 3

The revised Serrano J7 project hearing has been continued to a third Planning Commission meeting, to be held on October 24th at 8:30AM in Placerville.

BLAC, and most area residents, do not believe that a single residential development project, especially a project this small, should be burdened with the requirement to build out the entire four-lane Bass Lake Rd alignment in this area around the lake. HOWEVER – cumulatively, all of the area residential developments (that we live in) contributed funds and fees to facilitate road improvements – it seems that over the past 25 years, these funds have not been used, or used for other transportation projects outside of the impacted area around Bass Lake.

County DOT has determined that there will be no requirement for a four-lane Bass Lake Rd between Serrano Pkwy and the future Silver Springs Pkwy – so Serrano J7 is not being asked to provide their Frontage Improvements to Bass Lake Rd (curbs, sidewalks, etc) which were required by the project’s conditions of approval. Instead, the County is just asking that the developer pay their frontage improvement fees, for *possible* future construction, if a Four-lane Bass Lake Rd is ever deemed necessary. In their findings for the Serrano J7 Project, DOT had indicated that since the four-lane alignment of Bass Lake Rd in the area between Serrano Pkwy and Silver Springs Pkwy is not needed “within the life of the current General Plan” that the frontage improvements are not needed at this time:

Many have asked when Bass Lake Rd improvements around the Lake may come. The County replies that “future developments” will fund those improvements. Since existing approved projects are not conditioned to pay for these improvements, the BLAC TSC feels that there is no remaining developable land between Serrano Pkwy and Green Valley Rd that could ever provide these improvements. Our goal is to see traffic and pedestrian safety improvements added, to correct the substandard Bass Lake Rd between Serrano Pkwy and Magnolia Hills Dr. The simplest items that could improve these conditions would be for the County to hold onto the right of ways that they have obtained for the Bass Lake Rd four-lane alignment between Serrano Pkwy and Silver Springs Pkwy, but abandon the four-lane alignment goals for the next 25 years, and simply provide some minor safety improvements until the four-lane alignment becomes necessary. These safety improvements would be:

• Prohibit Left Turns at the Serrano J7 Village entrance at Bass Lake Rd.
• Provide Right turn pockets at Madera Way, Bridlewood Dr, Whistling Way (Serrano J6, just constructed), and at Serrano J7.
• Provide a left turn lane and queuing area on Bass Lake Rd at Bridlewood Dr.
• Provide a combined pedestrian and bicycle pathway between Villages J6, J7, Bridlewood, and Woodridge to connect to the future Silver Springs Pkwy pedestrian facilities, the Sienna Ridge Shopping Center, and the proposed Bass Lake Regional Park.

These are large goals, but they seem to be based in common sense. If you would like to support this request, you  can add your name to a petition to the County of El Dorado using our online petition.

The Petition Platform we are using is ipetitions.com – it’s a free platform, but they do present an ad after the petition is signed, that prompts visitors for a small contribution to support their site – NO CONTRIBUTION IS REQUIRED to sign the petition.

The Bass Lake Action Committee, incorporated as a 501(C)(4) Non-profit organization, typically does not take advocacy positions, and we usually refrain from supporting specific ballot measures – our goal is to keep residents in our community informed, and to provide a voice for our community to El Dorado County, local agencies, and developers. However, the twenty-five year lack of road improvements on Bass Lake Road around the lake, where more than 900 homes have already been built, with hundreds more coming, has compelled our TSC to undertake this petition drive action.