'No parking' signs replaced at Salmon Falls parking spot in El Dorado County

On July 20, the El Dorado Hills community was surprised to hear from fellow community members that a popular unpaved parking lot off Salmon Falls Road, used by locals to access the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area, was populated with "NO PARKING" signs, marking an official "no parking" zone. To them, this wasn't some random spot on the side of Salmon Falls Road, as it directly connects to a small maintenance path leading to Folsom Lake SRA. Residents had been using this small lot, able to fit up to 10 vehicles, to park as they used the path to access the lake. Therefore, the numerous signs banning parking was an unsettling surprise for most. The new signs seemingly came with no warning, and neighbors quickly took to online site Nextdoor to voice concerns about the legitimacy of these specific signs. Jeff Barker, El Dorado Hills resident and local biker, started a thread on Nextdoor that rapidly gained momentum. Barker reached out to the community to discover more about the signs, whether they were put in place by a legitimate authority (as opposed to it being a prank), who that authority would be and to gain perspective on what this means for the surrounding community. He quickly learned he was not the only local concerned about this sudden change, as neighbors were not reluctant to share their thoughts online, trying to discern what this means and why the signs were suddenly posted. Some neighbors were confused about whether the signs were meant for the dirt lot or just Salmon Falls Road, others supported the action, and even more expressed frustration that the closure of the lot blocked off the path used to access the lake. Barker told the Folsom Telegraph that without that spot to park, lake day users would have to make a 7-mile round trip to visit that part of the lake, forcing them to travel from the Monte Vista Trailhead or the Old Salmon Falls parking lot. "It just seems like that's always been a place where people have been able to park," Barker expresses. "... It's been a place where people access that part of the lake for so many years, and for anyone to say that you shouldn't do that, there's just nothing else close (to enable access to the lake). ... The problem with closing access, if the county did that, or even state parks, you're making it so that parts of the lake aren't going to be accessible to everyday people." Yet another surprise came when El Dorado County Traffic Superintendent Darryl Brown revealed to the Folsom Telegraph this had always been a no-parking zone - since 1984, when a resolution was passed for that specific zone. The resolution (No. 105-84) was passed by the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors on April 17, 1984. The signed resolution reads: "BE IT RESOLVED that Resolution No. 137-82 which establishes tow away zones pursuant to Section 10.12.080 of the El Dorado County Ordinance Code, is amended as follows: '(a) on Salmon Falls Road commencing at a point 250 feet south of the New York Creek bridge to 1/2 mile north of the New York Creek bridge.' " As if the signs and resolution didn't provide enough surprises, another point of interest in this case is what Google Maps helps reveal about the lot's past. A Google Maps drive-by of Salmon Falls Road in July 2007 does indeed show the location had a no-parking sign. While the ultimate fate of that sign remains unknown, the fact remains at some point in time, there were signs posted in obedience to the 1984 resolution. Nevertheless, the next Google Maps drive-by in May 2012 lacks a standing sign that bans parking. Looking carefully at the map in satellite view, however, it can be seen that part of the pole the sign was mounted on remains, appearing as if it had been hit and the sign (and therefore the top half of the pole) was removed from the immediate area. After whatever incident happened between 2007 and 2012, maps show there have been no signs restricting parking in that area for more than a decade. Brown said the county was never aware the sign had ever been taken down. He posed one possible reason as being a driver could have hit the sign and taken it home in an effort to avoid having to pay the replacement fee. He further explains there are 17,000 signs in El Dorado County, making it difficult for the county to notice every sign that gets hit or disappears. CHP had also never taken note that such signs were missing, according to Brown. The county's renewed interest in the lot in front of the maintenance path on Salmon Falls Road originated from a complaint made by a local constituent who expressed concern about people parking near their house, with people staying the night in a pullout on the road (the mentioned "parking lot"). The constituent mentioned cars were being parked just after the no-parking signs along the side of the road ended. Brown replied to the constituent by saying there is no parking allowed on both sides of the road from the New York Creek Bridge to about 2,500 feet north. The no-parking signs were actually supposed to still be there from 20-30 years ago. Asked why the county may have originally been interested in that zone, Brown clarifies the action to ban parking along that specific part of the road in 1984 was likely taken "due to public safety." A couple potential dangers of parking in that Salmon Falls Road zone includes drivers not expecting to slow or stop for pedestrians crossing the road, thus causing accidents resulting in injury, and people getting out of their cars and their doors getting hit by passing vehicles. The county investigated whether the no-parking signs would block a potential public access point to the lake but eventually discovered the path is not open to the public. On February 22, 2023, once the county became aware of the scope of the issue, it brought this no-parking issue to the Folsom Lake SRA and El Dorado County traffic advisory committee, which consists of representatives from the Sheriff's Department, CHP, El Dorado County Risk Management and DOT Management. The committee then instructed the county to replace the no-parking signs while Folsom Lake SRA would place some rocks on the lot to further discourage overnight parking.