News Flash

Seeking to Appoint Two New Members to a Board and Commission

Building & Accessibility Standards Board of Appeals

The Building & Accessibility Standards Board of Appeals (BASBOA) is tasked with considering community members’ appeals regarding discretionary orders, decisions and determinations made b...

Neighbors Helping Neighbors in Cascade Shores

Nevada County’s Building Director Craig Griesbach shared with me a special experience he had while working to address green waste cleanup needs around the county: “This past month, I met a disabled veteran and his neighbor in Cascade Shores. The veteran n...

Continued Aftermath of Winter Storm Debris - Conversations with AT&T

Many AT&T customers experienced serious landline and cell phone disruptions during Snowmaggedon and its aftermath in late December / early January. Because of the volume of issues and length of time it took AT&T to address these issues, we tracked...

Looking Ahead in 2022

From January 19 through 21, the board engaged in its annual workshop to review progress on its prior year objectives and establish objectives for the new year. So many great things came out of the workshop, so I’ll just highlight a few:

•  Recreatio...

Racial Equity and Social Justice

At our 2022 Board Workshop planning meeting, we agreed to bring forth the following additional statement to our vision and mission, in recognition of the importance of social and racial justice goals. Supervisor Bullock and I worked with representatives f...

Broadband

Large infrastructure projects, like expanding internet service, never move as quickly as we’d like. Even so, we made notable progress expanding high-speed internet (i.e., “broadband”) in Nevada County in 2021. The County dist...

Snowpocalypse 2021

Most prominently in all our minds is the major snow event and subsequent damage – including downed trees and powerlines – that hit Nevada County in late December. 

My heart goes out to everyone who endured an extended outage, d...

Highway 174

I’m sure many of you will be relieved to hear that Caltrans’ work on Highway 174 is nearly done. On Thursday, November 18, Caltrans issued a press release stating that they have “completed major roadway improvements with minor construction items remaining...

Redistricting Changes

Nevada County Board of Supervisor district boundaries must be redrawn every 10 years using U.S. Census data to make the county’s five districts as equal in population as possible. The County hired a specialist to perform this assessment and reco...

Community Resiliency Grants

Back in April, the board carved out 30% of its federal COVID relief funds, $5.8 million, to promote community and economic resiliency. Up to $2 million of that was set aside for a “Community Resiliency” grants program to help respond to the negative econo...

Quarterly Report on Board Objectives

In October, the County Executive Office released the Third Quarter Report, which summarizes the initiatives and performance measures used to track progress toward the Board of Supervisors’ 2021 policy objectives.

Below are our 2021 objectives, followed by ...

Housing

There is so much happening in Nevada County on the housing front. 

The Cashin's Field development, at the intersection of Gold Flat Road and Zion Street in Nevada City, is visibly progressing. This multi-family low-income housing developm...

Expanding High-Speed Internet Access

President Biden’s infrastructure bill, which just recently became law, includes a total of $65 billion in funding for broadband infrastructure. According to USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development Xochitl Torres Small, who joined us on a monthly NACo ca...

Outdoor Recreation

At the November 16 board meeting, we voted unanimously to approve the $100,000 contract for the environmental impact report (EIR) on the proposed Pines to Mines multi-use trail, which will connect Nevada City and Truckee. The trail, once completed, will b...

Fire and Disaster Response

In late October, an atmospheric river drenched Northern California, bringing unusually heavy rains over a short period of time. There were concerns – and even a severe weather advisory – that they would result in flooding in the River ...

Public Health

Between August 5, 2021 and today, the number of COVID deaths in Nevada County increased from 75 to 109 – a 45% increase. This is a very clear sign that the pandemic is not over and that public health measures, including masking and getting vacci...

Workforce Housing and Housing the Homeless

On August 5, I joined officials from Nevada City, Nevada County, the Regional Housing Authority, and the Affordable Housing Development Corporation to officially break ground on the Cashin’s Field Affordable Housing Development. Located at 170 Ridge Road ...

Expanding High-Speed Internet Access

In late July, Governor Newsom signed SB 156, authorizing a $6 billion infrastructure investment to supply high-speed broadband internet access to unserved or underserved (i.e., slow internet connection) homes and businesses statewide by building a statewi...

Outdoor Recreation in Nevada County

In June, I attended the National Association of Counties’ (NACo) annual conference in Maryland. One of my goals at the conference was to advocate for our federal land managers, including the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, to be provi...

Cannabis

With the cannabis season in full swing, County staff have been extremely busy processing permits, conducting inspections, and responding to neighborhood complaints.  Cannabis staff have recently collaborated with the Sheriff’s Office and State ag...

Wildfire

As we all knew might happen, we have seen a major uptick in fire activity in August. There have been numerous vehicle fires that extended into nearby vegetation – a great reminder to be prepared with your go bag ready. On August 2, we saw a three-acre fir...

COVID-19 and Vaccines

Nevada County has seen a dramatic surge in COVID-19 cases, the majority of which are the new Delta variant, which is twice as contagious as the original COVID strain. In fact, the week of August 2, Nevada County saw its highest weekly count of new cases f...

Nevada County Relief Fund Awards $192,500 to 79 Small Businesses

Thanks to an allocation of $250,000 by the Board of Supervisors to promote post-pandemic economic recovery, all the eligible small businesses who applied will receive a micro-grant of up to $5,000 from the Nevada County Relief Fund. 

The Nevada Co...

Local History and JEDI

Finally, I want to let you know about two subcommittees I serve on alongside District 5 Supervisor Hardy Bullock: the Historical Landmarks Commission Ad Hoc Subcommittee, and the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee. The first is examinin...

COVID-19 and Vaccines

Over 75,000 vaccine doses have been administered here in Nevada County. That’s fantastic news. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, and you are 12 years old or older, there are now even more places to get your COVID-19 vaccine. Nevada County Public Health has...

Severe Drought and Emergency Preparedness

Last week, the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services launched a new zone-based evacuation tool called Zone Haven. Go to ReadyNevadaCounty.org/KnowYourZone to look up your evacuation zone (and those where you spend a lot of time, like work or school)....

Expanding High-Speed Internet Access

At the end of April, the Board of Supervisors awarded $500,000 in Last-Mile Broadband Grants to four local internet service providers (ISPs). “Last-mile” refers to the final leg connecting the high-speed internet (or, "broadband") service provid...

Outdoor Recreation in Nevada County

This beautiful season in our county is an excellent time to get outdoors and enjoy our many recreational amenities, from trailheads to lakes to river crossings. Those outdoor amenities are the very reason many of us live here, and drive tourism into Nevad...

Support for Local Microbusinesses: Nevada County Will Open Microbusiness Grants on February 23rd

Nevada County will disburse $107,500 in relief funds to up to 43 microbusinesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Microbusinesses in Nevada County may be eligible for $2,500 in grant funding. Applications will be open Wednesday, February 23^rd at 9:00 a....

Nevada County’s 2022 Homeless Point-In-Time Count Set for February 24th

The Nevada County Regional Continuum of Care (NCRCoCC), in coordination with Nevada County and the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras (HRCS), announced Nevada County’s annual point-in-time count of homeless individuals and families will take place o...

Call to Action: Check-in on Neighbors Without Power and Help Report Unmet Needs to 211

Over 15,000 Nevada County PG&E customers are going on day six without power. During times of need, Nevada County has a history of coming together to support each other. This once-in-a-lifetime storm event calls upon us all to act. 

Yesterday, ...

Firewood Available for Residents without Power

Priority Permitting and Fee Waiver for Winter Storm Damage

Residents with storm damage repairs will receive priority permitting and have local fees waived for repair permits through the Nevada County Community Development Agency (CDA) for serious repairs needed following the December 27, 2021 winter storm.

&nb...

Nevada County Superior Court Seeks Volunteers for the 21/22 Grand Jury

The Superior Court of California, County of Nevada is seeking applications from Nevada County citizens interested in serving on the 2021/2022 Grand Jury.  If selected, you would serve until the end of this Jury year (June 30, 2022). We are also r...

Notice of Availability of Idaho-Maryland Mine Draft EIR & Public Meeting to Provide Comments

Nevada CountyNotice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and Notice of Public Meeting to Provide Comments on the Idaho-Maryland Mine Project EIR 

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT A 60-DAY REVIEW PERIOD HAS BEGU...

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. As part of Suicide Prevention Awareness Month the county has planned a number of activities, including training opportunities for community members (see below for details) and a virtual Suicide Prevention T...

California to Offer Pfizer Booster Shots

With the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup review and approval of the CDC’s recommendations regarding COVID-19 vaccine boosters, California is now cleared to follow the federal recommendations that certain individuals can receive a booster...

Nevada County Awarded FEMA Grant Funding for Defensible Space Assistance

September 28, 2021, Nevada City, CA— On Tuesday, September 28, the Nevada County Board of Supervisors passed two resolutions accepting grant funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). The two prog...

Officials Break Ground on Cashin’s Field Affordable Housing Development

Officials from Nevada City, Nevada County, the Regional Housing Authority, and the Affordable Housing Development Corporation ceremoniously broke ground on the Cashin’s Field Affordable Housing Development on August 5th. Cashin’s Field is slated for 51 un...

Support for Local Microbusinesses: Nevada County Will Open Microbusiness Grants on February 23rd

Nevada County will disburse $107,500 in relief funds to up to 43 microbusinesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Microbusinesses in Nevada County may be eligible for $2,500 in grant funding. Applications will be open Wednesday, February 23^rd at 9:00 a....

Nevada County’s 2022 Homeless Point-In-Time Count Set for February 24th

The Nevada County Regional Continuum of Care (NCRCoCC), in coordination with Nevada County and the Homeless Resource Council of the Sierras (HRCS), announced Nevada County’s annual point-in-time count of homeless individuals and families will take place o...