Thursday, August 9, 2007 

Larry Farinha

MAC chairman nominated for planning commission seat

By: Jim Ruffalo, Journal Correspondent

The Placer County Planning Commission's vacant Fifth District seat moved a step closer to being filled Wednesday afternoon with the nomination of Larry Farinha to that position.

Farinha not only is a member of the multi-district North Auburn Municipal Advisory Council, but was elected its chairman in June.

He's been nominated to fill a planning commission seat vacated in June with the unanimous vote by the county's Board of Supervisors to sack commissioner Michelle Ollar-Burris. Ollar-Burris was let go after finding herself in the midst of a major investigation into possible irregular or even illegal lot splits in the Foresthill, Weimar and Colfax areas.

On Wednesday, Fifth-District Supervisor Bruce Kranz informed county government of Farinha's nomination, saying that the North Auburn resident had the perfect credentials for the job.

"He pays a lot of attention to these sort of county matters, and I've been impressed with the way he takes that information in forming an opinion about them," Kranz said.

Farinha, who operates Aero-West Engineering Construction from his North Auburn home, was one of two finalists, the other being from Foresthill.

"I opted for Larry because he had a much better handle on local issues than did the other finalist," Kranz said.

Kranz said that he vetted the name with Third District Supervisor Jim Holmes - who also has responsibility for areas in the North Auburn MAC's purview - and "Supervisor Holmes gave Larry high marks."

Farinha expressed surprise that he was the nominee, but said he was looking forward to working on the planning commission, although fully realized what a tough assignment it would be.

"Hopefully, I'll bring the sort of logic to the commission that a person who works with his hands can," Farinha said, adding that he has spent quite a bit of time monitoring the commission and the zoning process.

"I truly believe the county has a good system in place, and I'm going to try very hard to make it better," he said.

The nomination now must go before the Board of Supervisors for confirmation and, if appointed, Farinha will join the commission just in time to see the Third District seat open. That seat, currently occupied by Jim Forman, becomes vacant with Forman's resignation effective after today's commission meeting.

Jim Ruffalo can be reached at jmruffalo@yahoo.com, or comment online at auburnjournal.com.