From the archives of

::: COMMUNITY NEWS

Supervisors delay action on Murieta development

• Pop-up window: Click for a six-year archive of development coverage -- news, maps, photos and more

News brief published Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Story published Thursday, April 12, 2007

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday night continued the hearing on development plans for Rancho Murieta and instructed the county planning staff to "scope out" a possible process for updating the master plan for the next session, three months away.

The hearing for the Residences of Murieta Hills East and West and Retreat projects began in January, six years after the projects were submitted to the county. The continuation is scheduled for 6 p.m. July 18.

The delay gives county counsel time to respond to a lengthy, last-minute legal challenge to the environmental document for the projects. The 25-page letter and numerous attachments were submitted by an environmental lawyer working for the Rancho Murieta Development Concerned Citizens Committee, which opposes the development plans.

The RMDCCC rallied the troops for Wednesday's meeting, almost filling the supervisors' chambers with supporters, as they had in January.  

 Supervisor Don Nottoli, board chairman, pursued the issue of updating the community's 1984 master plan. Some RMDCCC members nodded in emphatic agreement when Nottoli said it was up to the county to determine how to pay for it and how to go about doing the plan to avoid continuing the development debate on a "piece by piece" basis.

Supervisor Susan Peters estimated the master plan update would cost between $500,000 and $1 million, and she questioned who should bear responsibility for the cost. She was also skeptical about what could be accomplished at Wednesday's meeting, since it was apparent from the outset that no action would be taken. Nottoli supported holding the public hearing since there were people signed up to testify. Most of the 14 speakers were Murietans; all spoke in opposition to the plans.

Nottoli kept the public hearing open so public testimony will take place again in July.

Peters, Nottoli and Jimmie Yee were the only supervisors present at the start of the two-hour-plus meeting. They were later joined by Supervisors Roger Dickinson and Roberta MacGlashan.

Yee said he had concerns about the adequacy of water and sewer services for the 282 single-family homes that are proposed.

In response, Community Services District legal counsel Steve Rudolph addressed the cease and desist order issues and the $200,000 fine the CSD has received for violations. The CSD is now negotiating the fine with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Rudolph said no new lots would be served until the regional board is assured there is adequate wastewater storage capacity available. Facilities for spray fields on neighboring ranchland could be in place in 18 months to two years for the wastewater generated by the projects, Rudolph said.

The water issues will be revisited in July.

Comments made by county staff and by speakers showed there is confusion about the types of man-made lakes that exist in the community and their purposes, an issue that was recently addressed by the CSD's water rights lawyer at a CSD meeting.

Much of the public testimony revisited topics that have been discussed often over the years -- a master plan update, annexation and architectural control, open space, lake levels, drainage, grading, and the inadequacy of the environmental impact report for the projects.

Michael Corbett received enthusiastic applause when he made comments about achieving unity under one homeowners association.

RMDCCC member Terry Hanson challenged county counsel Krista Whitman's statements about annexation. The RMDCCC maintains that annexation is required, or can be required by the county, and claims the state Department of Real Estate agrees. That conclusion is not supported in a legal opinion on the Mutual Benefit Agreement that the Rancho Murieta Association obtained at the request of the RMDCCC in 2005.

RMDCCC member Candy Chand told the supervisors she was concerned about the impression she'd gotten that testimony didn't matter because a vote wasn't going to take place at Wednesday's meeting. "It matters to us," she told the supervisors.

Realtor Karen Hoberg, a resident since 1978 and owner of Rancho Murieta Homes and Land, was one of the few new Murieta voices to be heard. She told the supervisors that Ray Henderson, the original development agent for Rancho Murieta, directed the sales staff "to stress the importance of … the lakes, the recreation, and the large amount of open space. These specific amenities were promised …"