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Loomis Mayor Tom Millward, left, chatted with Granite Community Bank CEO David Kaiser and fellow Loomis Vice Mayor Russ Kelley during last week’s quarterly “banking to business” forum. Photo by Don Chaddock.
It was a day of learning about the diversity of Placer County for more than 130 business and community leaders during last Wednesday’s “Banking to Business Quarterly Forum” hosted by Granite Community Bank.
John Marin, the director of the Community Development Resource Agency for Placer County, organized a presentation featuring the diverse communities that comprise the county.
“Diversity is what we deal with on a daily basis,” said Marin.
He went on to explain that everything from neighborhoods to businesses
to towns is unique and that diversity should be seen as an asset to
Placer County.
Lincoln Vice Mayor Primo Santini, a third generation Lincolnite, said
that there are two historically significant moments in his town’s
history – the day Roseville was selected as the switching hub for the
trains and when clay was discovered, both in the late 1800s. He said
Lincoln’s current growth spurt is equally significant.
With booming residential and commercial construction, Santini said Lincoln is trying to maintain its rural roots.
“We are trying to preserve our open space,” he said. “People really like living in a town with a lot of open space.”
The sprawl happening between Roseville and Lincoln has many worried,
but Santini said the town is being proactive to head off the kind of
big development that could threaten the Lincoln area.
“We have entered the stage (when we have to look at) what south Placer
will look like 40 to 50 years from now, so we’re updating our General
Plan,” he said.
Rocklin City Councilman Peter Hill discussed the future of his fair city and their plans to capture more sales tax revenue.
“We plan to stop Auburn residents as they head down to Roseville to shop and get them to spend their money in Rocklin,” he said.
That plan includes a new $33 million retail center at the interchange of Sierra College Boulevard and I-80.
According to Hill, mega-retailers such as Wal-Mart and Kohl’s will be a part of the new center.
Turning his attention to the heart of the town, Hill said the downtown area is beginning to show progress.
“We hope to develop a thriving downtown,” he said, “with the railroad station as the centerpiece.”
Loomis had its turn at the microphone with Mayor Tom Millward and Vice Mayor Russ Kelley.
Touting businesses and events (such as the Loomis Eggplant Festival on
Oct. 6 and the town’s free summer concerts), Kelley said the new
multimodal station, commonly referred to as the Loomis Station Plaza,
will get a boost when the town finally does something with the historic
train depot building.
Currently sitting on blocks, and having been relocated numerous times,
Kelley said the town is looking at restoring or rebuilding the station.
Currently, the South Placer Heritage Foundation owns the deteriorating
building, but they’ve put most of their efforts into restoring the Blue
Goose Fruit Packing Shed on Taylor Road (which Kelley called a “focal
point of downtown.”).
“We’re going to do something and it’s going to be a lot quicker,” he said.
Millward discussed the town’s heritage and Secret Ravine, a small creek that runs through part of Loomis.
“Many people in Loomis learned to fish in Secret Ravine,” he said. “Salmon still make it up there to spawn.”
Colfax Mayor Sharon Geiras, explaining that she’s no politician and
would keep her remarks brief, discussed her town’s progress on
restoring the historic train depot, an effort that received recognition
by Gov. Schwarzenegger last year.
Auburn Mayor Bob Snyder invited folks to “come up the hill” and spend some time in his city.
He discussed public art projects, new restaurants such as the Auburn
Alehouse, and the new shopping center on Nevada Street near the movie
theater.
The forum is by invitation only and Granite Community Bank CEO David
Kaiser said they hold the forums to help give back to the community.
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