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::: COMMUNITY NEWS

Supervisors Don Nottoli and Illa Collin were among about a dozen and a half participants at Wednesday’s meeting, which was videotaped by the Rancho Murieta Association. The tape is being shown on Channel 5 this week.

County opens series of talks on RM development

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Published Monday, February 21, 2005 The facilitated dialogue between developers and development opponents began Wednesday at the Country Club and will continue for three more four-hour sessions in the coming weeks. About 60 people attended the initial meeting. At least that many are likely to attend the next meeting, scheduled for March 2, since one of the presentations will be how builders on the North plan to meet affordable-housing requirements in their projects as required by county ordinance. The fate of the meetings was in doubt after the Rancho Murieta Development Concerned Citizens Committee, which opposes current development plans, said it would not participate unless it was allowed six representatives instead of two. Other local organizations declined to send any representatives.

Previous coverage • County reschedules first development meeting and questions whether further meetings will occur (January 26, 2005) • CSD, like RMA, won't participate in county talks (January 22, 2005) • RMA won't take part in county talks on Murieta development (January 19, 2005) • Who will attend county meeting? (January 17, 2005)

The first meeting was held to see if development issues could be addressed with these changes in participation.

With the help of facilitator Carolyn Penny, representatives for North development projects, the six-member RMDCCC contingent and other participants identified issues and laid the groundwork to proceed with a civil exchange of views and information.

Aside from the impact of the new affordable housing ordinance, other issues identified for future discussion are familiar to most residents -- preservation of oak woodlands, open space, annexation, custom homes, the validity of the Mutual Benefit Agreement, and the adequacy of infrastructure for build-out.

The RMDCCC participants -- Ted Hart, Candy Chand, Brad Sample, Ray Tisdale, Ron Hand and Terry Hanson -- wanted issues the group has put forth in a 2,000-signature petition to be emphasized during the talks.

The RMDCCC contingent sat across the horseshoe-shaped conference table from property owners for the two Murieta North developments now going through the county approval process, the Residences of Murieta Hills and the Retreats, and developers for Murieta Gardens, a mixed commercial and residential development located on property outside the gates.

Also seated with the development group was land use attorney John Taylor, who said he represented Murieta Hills homebuilders Warmington Homes and Woodside Homes and Retreats homebuilder Cassano-Kamilos Homes. Gerry N. Kamilos said he was present as a property owner for the Retreats and he also represented the Pension Trust Fund of the Operating Engineers, owner of the remaining property on the North. Kamilos and his partner, Robert J. Cassano, produced the development plan for the PTF properties and work for the PTF as project managers.

South developer Reynen & Bardis was not represented at the table.

Alcides Freitas, the former director of the Sacramento Department of Environmental Review and Assessment, was one of several individuals who was invited to participate. Freitas brings to the table a long history of involvement in the development's early land use planning and resource protection efforts.

Freitas described Rancho Murieta as "a very special and unique place" and said the county has always "treated it uniquely" and allowed "more latitude for local interests, for good or bad." He said the challenge in developing the land was to match development to the terrain. "Clearly you are not going to be able to save the trees or the contours of the land if you develop single family houses in the conventional way," he said.

The group agreed to take a broad look at the issues instead of concentrating on the specifics of the individual development projects. County Supervisor Don Nottoli said this approach would have an impact on the specific projects. Supervisor Illa Collin said she favored taking a broad view and getting all the issues on the table because she didn't want to fight the same issues with every development project that came before the board of supervisors for approval. "Eventually these issues will have to come before the board," she noted.

Senior Planner Rob Burness, who did not sit at the table as a participant, introduced himself at the beginning of the last of two public comment periods as "your resource person." Burness is in charge of gathering materials and interpreting the community's governing documents for the group. He said he wanted direction to come out of the meetings.

The March 2 session will include a presentation on infrastructure and another on the documents that govern development in Rancho Murieta, including the 1984 master plan map.

Although they were invited by the county to take part, the Rancho Murieta Association, the Community Services District and the Country Club have declined to be represented at the talks. Staff members and directors from the organizations were present in the audience, however.