News Flash

State and Federal Issues

California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force Comes to Grass Valley

On September 27 and 28, I attended the Sierra Nevada regional meeting of the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, which was held at the Nevada County Fairgrounds.&a...

Halloween Spooktacular at the Eric Rood Center

Nevada County is thrilled to welcome trick-or-treaters to the Eric Rood Center on October 31st from 3:00 to 5:00 pm for a fun, family-friendly Halloween event.

We’re partnering with the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce to make Nevada City the spoo...

Eleven Micro-Grants Awarded to Firewise Communities in District 1

The Nevada County Office of Emergency Services (OES) recently awarded a number of micro-grants to support recognized Firewise communities in reducing wildfire risk. Congratulations to District 1, which submitted many applications for these funds and was u...

Race for Teen Mental Wellness

The Heart of Gold bike ride, founded by District 5 Supervisor Hardy Bullock, will take place on October 8 in Nevada City, starting and ending at the Rood Center. The race follows an exciting 46 or 74-mile course through the Sierra Nevada foothills, includ...

Fire Season is Not Over

I know we all breathed a huge sigh of relief during the recent spell of rain and cool weather. Not only did it help contain the Mosquito Fire and dramatically improve our local air quality, but it added some desperately needed moisture into our parched la...

New Affordable Housing Project Completed

On Monday, September 19, residents began moving into Nevada County’s newest affordable housing community, Brunswick Commons housing development, concluding four years of hard work to bring this project from concept to reality. 

Brunswick...

The Real Deal on Measure V

As wildfires become more frequent and more destructive, heat events become increasingly common, and climate uncertainties mean more risk of droughts, floods, and extreme weather events, Nevada County must be well prepared for ongoing natural disasters.

Mea...

Supervisors Place Wildfire Prevention Measure on November Ballot

On Tuesday, August 9^th, the Nevada County Board of Supervisors approved placing a “Wildfire Prevention, Emergency Services and Disaster Readiness” measure on the November 8th, 2022, General Election ballot. The purpose of the measure would be to save live...

South Yuba River Public Safety Cohort Celebrates 5 Years

The South Yuba River Public Safety Cohort, a multi-agency work group amongst its members as “The Cohort,” recently celebrated five years of meeting monthly to coordinate public safety efforts in the Yuba River corridor.

The Cohort, originally formed under ...

County Cooling Centers Extended Through Friday at the Grass Valley and Penn Valley Libraries

Due to the extended Excessive Heat Warning, Cooling Centers will remain open at the Grass Valley and Penn Valley libraries from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. through Friday, September 9^th. Air-conditioned space and water will be available. Well-behaved pets on ...

Supervisor Hall Represents Nevada County In the National Association of Counties

Nevada County is proud to announce that District 1 Supervisor Heidi Hall has taken on an even greater role in representing Nevada County’s interests before the National Association of Counties (NACo), an organization that serves to strengthen America’s co...

Nevada County Officials Celebrate Completion of Brunswick Commons

Nevada County Officials Celebrate Completion of Brunswick Commons 

Affordable Housing Units Expanded

 For Immediate Release:

 Grass Valley, Calif. (August 22, 2022)- Nevada County celebrated the completion of the newly constructed ...

Measure V Information

Measure V is designed to reduce the threat of wildfires and improve disaster readiness and evacuation safety to save lives.

Historical Plaque at Hirschman’s Pond Defaced

On Sunday, July 24, the Nevada County Historical Landmarks Commission reported that the historical plaque at Hirschman's Pond commemorating the Jewish community that helped Nevada County thrive during the Gold Rush Era was defaced. This is the only plaque...

State and Federal Issues

Cannabis Taxation Relief – Passage of AB 195

A bill that was signed by the governor and took effect on July 1, 2022 provides much needed relief to over-taxation that has negatively impacted the California cannabis industry for years. Assembly Bil...

Elections Integrity

As you may have heard, Randy Economy, a Southern California talk show host and key player in last year’s gubernatorial recall effort, recently requested a recount of the June 7 clerk-recorder race. Nevada County’s certified vote totals...

Historic Neighborhoods District Ballot Initiative in Nevada City

Nevada City has received a ballot initiative from proponents of a measure that proposes to create a Historic Neighborhoods District within the City. The City is not the sponsor of this initiative and presently does not take a position in support of or opp...

Summer Nights Event in Nevada City - July 27, 6 - 9:30 pm

This street festival of art and music has been an annual tradition in this quaint, scenic and, sometimes, quirky community for almost 30 years.

Summer Nights returns in 2022 with familiar and new vendors and activities such as face painting, balloon animal...

Summer Activities at Madelyn Helling Library

The library staff has put together an excellent summer learning program that will keep you and your family thinking and engaging in fun new experiences for the next few months. All events below are taking place at the Madelyn Helling branch’s outdoor amph...

Kudos to District 1 Community Groups

I recently attended community meetings hosted by Friends of Banner Mountain and the You Bet Firewise Community. I was very impressed by the organization and sophistication I witnessed in these groups. They articulated some important needs, including assis...

Fuels Clearing on Bureau of Land Management Parcels

Creating defensible space around our properties and along evacuation routes is on everyone’s mind. However, it can be quite frustrating to put many hours of hard work on your property – or spend thousands to hire someone else to do so ...

Thank You to Firefighters and First Responders

A structure fire near Rice's Crossing was first reported Tuesday, June 28, 2022 around 2 pm. It spread into surrounding vegetation and became what is now known as the Rices Fire. By July 7, it had burned 904 acres and 13 structures and – thanks to a very ...

New Web Domain for Nevada County

Have you seen the County’s updated website? It showcases beautiful scenes from Nevada County, it’s easier to use, and it offers helpful new features, such as a translation tool that can convert all of the text on the site into a langua...

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...

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...

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...

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...