Category: climate change

Tuscan Water District to levy fee that will finance operations Large landowners who favored fee had more voting clout

photo courtesy of Tuscan Water District
Approved TWD map

by Leslie Layton
posted Feb. 13

The recently-formed Tuscan Water District (TWD) is now in the budget planning stage after winning the right to levy a special assessment fee on landowners within district boundaries.

In an election held last month, TWD won the support it sought for a fee of up to $6.46/acre to be paid by landowners whose votes were weighted based on the number of acres owned. That was in accordance with California law that allows weighted voting in special districts, said TWD General Manager Tovey Giezentanner. read more

Controversial Tuscan Ridge rolls forward County supes vote in favor of Skyway housing project

photo by Yucheng Tang
Butte County’s Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to move forward with Tuscan Ridge, but developer Mark West still has to meet conditions of approval.

by Yucheng Tang
posted Jan. 3

Butte County’s supervisors have approved the controversial Tuscan Ridge housing project on the south side of Skyway, but the developer must still jump hurdles related to water, sewer and drainage.

The supervisors voted 4-1 Dec. 10 to move a project forward that will plant 165 single-family homes where the Tuscan Ridge Golf Course was once located between Chico and Paradise. After the Camp Fire, the site housed the PG&E base camp. The entire 163-acre project area will include six commercial lots and houses that are between 3,000 and 20,000 square feet in size. read more

Safe Space works to overcome hurdles to intake Unhoused people may be stranded during storm

photo by Karen Laslo
Safe Space volunteers checked in people who needed shelter during an intake held near the municipal center last winter.

by Leslie Layton & Natalie Hanson
posted Nov. 20

The nonprofit organization Safe Space is working to get emergency night-time sheltering available by Christmas Day as unhoused people struggle with this week’s downpour.

Forecasts were indicating that up to 10 inches of rain were possible in Chico between today and the end of the week, as well as localized flooding. Safe Space Executive Director Hilary Crosby said outreach teams were on the streets handing out tarps and making sure homeless community members “knew about the storm coming through.” read more

Policy critics: Chico’s Climate Action Plan neglected Given weather-related disasters, does the City focus enough on climate change?

photo by Leslie Layton
The City’s updated Climate Action Plan.

by Natalie Hanson
posted Aug. 13

Butte County, facing the Camp Fire, the Dixie Fire, the Park Fire and extreme heat, has been on the frontlines of climate change in recent years. But the City of Chico has not made policies reflecting the urgency of these crises, some say.

Chico’s Climate Action Commission’s role has over time been cut dramatically, and the plans staff put together over years to help plan for a future of climate change have not been properly implemented, say some Chico residents. In their view, a lack of planning for climate change is symptomatic of the City’s unwillingness to make climate change the focus of policy or even fund the work to do so. read more

How the Park Fire became the largest active wildfire Changing climate produces night-stalking wildfires

photo by Leslie Layton
Sergio Arellano and Jahaira Zaragoza, representing Cal Fire’s public information office, explain the fire map at the agency’s Chico command center.

by Leslie Layton
posted July 29

By 11:30 p.m. on July 24 – the day that some Chicoans heard that a fire had started near Upper Park’s Alligator Hole, an area that hadn’t burned in a very long time – the blaze had devoured 6,465 acres.

The next morning, Cal Fire reported that by 6:46 a.m. the scorching-hot fire, driven by south winds, covered 45,550 acres. The fire had moved at a speed so stunning that while most Chico-area residents slept, it had covered on average almost 6,000 acres an hour. read more

Park Fire rages; thousands evacuate Vice mayor: Evacuation planning for homeless encampment underway

photo by Karen Laslo
The Park Fire

12:30 p.m. update July 26: Cal Fire says the Park Fire has burned 178,000 acres and 134 structures. Evacuation orders have been expanded and can be checked here.

by Leslie Layton
posted July 25

The Park Fire in Upper Bidwell Park east of Chico city limits reached almost 71,500 acres by midday today with only 3% containment.

It continues to be hot and windy, thousands of people are under evacuation order or warning and air quality for most city residents has slid from good to moderate. read more