El Dorado Hills
El Dorado Hills : The Case for Cityhood
El Dorado County ’ s most populated region is not a city yet but efforts to incorporate are underway
by Graham Womack
In recent years , El Dorado Hills has
undergone significant growth from nearly 6,400 people in the 1990 census to more than 45,000 today . “ It ’ s one of those things if you were a martian flying back from space , you ’ d squint and say , ‘ That ’ s a city ,’” says El Dorado Hills resident Chris Nicholson . But it ’ s not a city — yet . Despite being the most populated region in El Dorado County , accounting for roughly 25 percent of its population , the majority of residents have resisted cityhood . A ballot initiative to incorporate in November 2005 , Measure P , didn ’ t pass with 56.4 percent of voters opposing the measure . But a new effort to incorporate El Dorado Hills is underway .
Better services , more local dollars
John Hidahl has a delicate line to balance . He represents El Dorado Hills as the District 1 member of the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors , which receives property and sales tax dollars that would flow to El Dorado Hills if it were to attain cityhood .
“ There are definitely impacts that will occur if any area within El Dorado County were to incorporate at the county level because it involves a transfer of municipal services that the city has to take on or the town has to take on that currently are being provided by El Dorado County ,” says Hidahl .
Those municipal services include road maintenance , law enforcement and infrastructure , though the latter is sometimes paid for by developers .
78 comstocksmag . com | November 2020