After more than four years of planning, the Silver Dove Bike Park project in El Dorado Hills is now roughly $2 million over its original cost estimate, and district staff are recommending the whole plan be scrapped. The proposed park, located at Silver Dove Way and Bass Lake Road, was supposed to bring bike trails for all skill levels, a pump track, a nature walk and even a community orchard to the community — but a fresh staff review found the original plan underestimated the cost of nearly every construction element.
According to the Sacramento Bee, Principal Planner Daniel Savala said the planning department underestimated the Silver Dove Bike Park cost by around $2 million after he was asked to review the district's existing projects by General Manager Stephanie McGann Jantzen. Savala, who joined the El Dorado Hills Community Services District staff in March 2026, found what the Bee described as a red flag in the plan almost immediately. The conceptual plan, created by a consulting firm hired by the district and approved by the EDHCSD Board of Directors in November 2023, had estimated a total project cost of around $3.4 million.
McGann Jantzen was appointed general manager in June 2026 after serving in an interim capacity, and she told the Bee she was trying to correct the district's management problems. The district had already spent around $400,000 on planning, civil engineering and soil testing for Silver Dove, funded through park impact fees paid by new developments.
Bedrock, Sewer Lines and a Septic Tank Nobody Planned For
The cost blowout traces back to basic site conditions the original plan got wrong. Staff found there was no sewer main nearby, contradicting the original plan's assumption that the parcel had access to one, and a geotechnical report found shallow bedrock on the site that would require mechanical jackhammering or blasting just to grade the land — pushing the grading estimate from $40,000 to somewhere between $200,000 and $500,000.
The site also turned out to sit outside the El Dorado Irrigation District's service area, despite the original plan assuming otherwise, meaning the project would have needed a septic tank adding another $50,000 to $200,000 to the estimate, plus a county annexation process for public water service that would have added an estimated $101,000 to $201,000 in connection costs. The district has since paused that annexation process. On top of that, a 2016 El Dorado County ordinance requiring new development projects to improve property frontage — including curbs, gutters and sidewalks — pushed the original $106,000 road improvement budget up to an estimated $331,000 to $666,000, a range identified by the El Dorado County frontage-improvement requirements now affecting projects along the Bass Lake Road corridor.
Board Directors Call the Overrun Disappointing
Staff submitted their findings and recommendation in a report to the district's parks and planning committee. Board Director Michael Martinelli said the project's problems were disappointing, and he and fellow board member Noelle Mattock have directed the planning department to return with new ideas for the parcel. Any new proposal must put the land to use and stay within the original budget, according to the district's direction.
The Bee's reporting notes that the planning department failed to provide the board with complete project information before the 2023 approval, a gap that helps explain how the cost assumptions went unchallenged for so long. The episode adds to a pattern of scrutiny facing the district: an April 2024 El Dorado County Civil Grand Jury investigation found the district had accumulated approximately $50 million in cash reserves while failing to spend collected park impact fees on public projects in a timely manner, and separately found the district had overcharged the public in fees.
A District Still Rebuilding Trust
The bike park overrun surfaces amid broader turmoil at the district. Former General Manager Kevin Anthony Loewen was indicted by an El Dorado County criminal grand jury in October 2025 on two felony counts of perjury and one felony count of participating in a government contract with a financial interest, according to South Tahoe Now. Separately, the El Dorado County Auditor-Controller has withheld roughly $1.4 million annually in Landscape and Lighting Assessment District fees since 2022, citing legal concerns and discrepancies in the district's submissions, a dispute that has strained district finances and fed ongoing litigation, as reported by Placerville NewsWire.
McGann Jantzen's arrival and Savala's project audits appear to be part of a broader effort to get ahead of these issues. The district has also been pursuing other major initiatives during this same period, including up to $5.3 million in bank financing secured in September 2025 to complete purchase of the former Executive Golf Course parcel for open space, and a cityhood feasibility study released in July 2026 exploring incorporation of El Dorado Hills as an independent city. Development along the same Bass Lake Road corridor has also drawn county pushback over infrastructure limits, as seen with the revised Town & Country Village plan sent back to the drawing board in June over septic, sewer and traffic concerns. For now, the Silver Dove parcel sits without a finalized future, as the district's planning department works to bring back a park proposal that fits reality — and the budget — this time.
