Citrus Heights PD announce holiday season DUI checkpoint this weekend

Sentinel staff report–
Another DUI and drivers license checkpoint will be conducted this weekend in Citrus Heights to kick off a holiday season enforcement campaign, police said in a news release on Tuesday.

Authorities said the checkpoint will be held at “an undisclosed location” in the city between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m., beginning Friday night, Dec. 14, and continuing through the early hours of the following day.

A prior checkpoint held in October on Sunrise Boulevard near Oak Avenue resulted in one DUI arrest and another arrest involving a misdemeanor traffic warrant. Police reported that during the checkpoint a total of 973 vehicles were stopped and 31 citations were issued for various offenses, including driving without a license or…

Public hearing set for controversial low-income housing proposal in Citrus Heights

Sentinel staff report–
Citrus Heights planning commissioners on Wednesday will hold a public hearing and take up consideration of a 47-unit low-income housing project proposed on Sunrise Blvd., which has drawn a mixed response from residents.

The project, called Sunrise Pointe, is proposed at the old Abel’s Christmas Tree lot at 7424 Sunrise Blvd. and seeks to provide permanent housing and on-site supportive services for those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, those with psychiatric disabilities, and those with very low-income levels of no more than 45 percent of the median income of the area.

According to documents included in the Planning Commission’s Dec. 12 agenda packet, plans call for two and three story buildings with a variety of one, two and three-bedroom units on a 2.35-acre lot. Eighteen of the units would be “set aside for eligible households in which at least one adult household member is living with a psychiatric disability,” according to a letter included in the packet from TLCS, the Sacramento-based nonprofit that has proposed the project along with developer Jamboree Housing Corporation…

Citrus Heights Water District passes new fee increase, despite opposition

Sentinel staff report–
Following a public hearing Wednesday night attended by about 15 residents, Citrus Heights Water District directors voted 3-0 to support a staff recommendation to increase service fees and water usage charges. 

Bi-monthly, fixed service charge fees are now set to rise about $4 for a typical 1-inch residential meter in 2019, with water usage charges rising about four cents to $1.06 per unit. That will bring fixed charges up to $78.18, with additional charges based on actual water use. In 2015, residents with a typical 1-inch meter paid $56.13 in fixed service fees and 77 cents per unit of water, with a unit of water roughly equaling 748 gallons.

The Dec. 5 public hearing was held at a community room at Rusch Park, where officials heard from a half-dozen ratepayers during the hearing, in addition to receiving a total of 16 letters of protest that were submitted in writing prior to the meeting.

Opponents argued that repeated increases in their water bills…