Despite one year of the coronavirus pandemic, Nevada County officials say there have been no significant service impacts. And in some cases, County CEO Allison Lehman says they’ve actually increased and improved…

One example is the local housing and building industry. Speaking on “KNCO: Insight”, County Building Director Craig Griesbach describes most of the last year as “crazy busy”, with the most permits processed since the mid-2000’s boom. He says many homeowners spent more time at home and got around more to deferred maintenance and other improvement projects. And he says they’ve adapted to having to close or minimize public traffic at their offices, with a streamlined and quicker process…

Meanwhile, the county has modified policies, in order to implement a new state program with the goal of accelerating affordable housing production, including granny flats. Those are small, self-contained living areas, usually on the grounds of a single-family home. The county has received a Local Early Action Planning or LEAP grant.