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COMMUNITY NEWS
Stalled opening of Murieta bridge is tied to developers' legal dispute
Published
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
With spring fast approaching, there's still no opening date for the pedestrian bridge.
Rancho Murieta Association officials have said they are working with South developer Reynen & Bardis to put the last piece in place -- a path from Riverview Park and the un-built Riverview subdivision to the levee road leading to the bridge.
But an ongoing legal dispute over ownership of property has complicated matters.
"At the present time, RMA is negotiating with Bruce Palmbaum," Community Services District President Wayne Kuntz told the CSD board at Wednesday's meeting. "The reason it's not moving forward as fast as everyone would like it to is because of the fact it's in litigation right now. … There is litigation between (the Pension Trust Fund of Operating Engineers) and Bruce Palmbaum regarding the ownership of the property."
Kuntz said a court ruling was expected this week.
In 2005, the Superior Court of California rejected the first PTF challenge to Palmbaum's purchase of property worth $6.5 million for $2,000 at a sheriff's foreclosure sale held in February 2004.
According to court documents, Palmbaum was acting for Corinthian Homes, a development company affiliated with Reynen & Bardis, when he made the only auction bid. The PTF had planned an opening bid of $6 million, but its representative arrived late and didn't get to bid.
Reynen & Bardis submitted the subdivision map to county planning for processing in 2004.
At the CSD meeting Wednesday, Director Dick Taylor made a distinction between the South developer and Palmbaum, faulting RMA officials for not contacting Palmbaum about the trail easement. Taylor said he thought the PTF should also be consulted about the trail.
"We were told (the RMA) was negotiating with the two parties," Kuntz told him.
Taylor noted the bridge was not on the agenda or discussed at the RMA meeting the day before. "A reason I think this needs to be addressed further by us is we chose to become involved in this river crossing issue," he said. "We have spent some tens of thousands of dollars doing so. We now have almost a $2 million bridge that is constructed sitting there doing nothing … and there is nobody telling the community why it can't be used. … I just think … some governance unit here in our community really needs to be doing something."
"I can't fault you for your way of thinking in regards to that," said Kuntz, adding he would "contact the appropriate parties" about the trail.
The Parks Committee agreed not to open the bridge until the access trails, post-and-cable fencing and security measures were in place. CSD officials report the RMA has since rejected having security cameras at the bridge unless it proves necessary.
The bridge is a Parks project, which the RMA is responsible for carrying out.
The CSD was the lead agency for the environmental document for the bridge, and addressed liability issues to resolve the impasse between the PTF and RMA that delayed the project for a year at a cost of over $100,000. The committee will use the parks fund to meet cost overages that aren't covered by the developer funding for the bridge.
On Friday, RMA General Manager David Stiffler said the association was working with a representative of Reynen & Bardis for "at least a temporary pathway so we can open the (bridge). … We're attempting to get a meeting scheduled with Bruce (Palmbaum). … We don't know who is the property owner. This is a part of the litigation that's going on." He said he had not talked with the PTF about the trail.
The Riverview property turned up in another context at the CSD meeting when the board passed a resolution authorizing foreclosure proceedings to collect more than $200,000 in bond payments owed on the property for 2004-2006.
Since title to the property is clouded, no one has made the Mello-Roos bond payments, said General Manager Ed Crouse.
The board is acting in its capacity as the administrators of the bond district in taking the action, and all those with interests in the property will be sued. If no one pays, there could be another sheriff's foreclosure sale, although the CSD views that as unlikely.
How infrastructure is funded
The district is currently negotiating an agreement with developers to supply infrastructure and services for projects totaling 700 units that are now in the county planning process -- Lakeview and Riverview on the South, the Residences and Retreat projects on the North, and Murieta Gardens, a mixed-use development proposed for the area across from the Plaza.
The agreement would cover an $8 million expansion of the water treatment plant to provide domestic water for the new subdivisions, as well as wastewater storage and disposal.
The goal is to reach agreement and bring the terms to the board for approval in March, General Manager Ed Crouse said.
At the request of Director Bobbi Belton, Crouse provided the board with a history of infrastructure development in the community and an overview of CSD policies.
The CSD owns and operates the community's utility operations for water, sewer and drainage.
"All of the infrastructure out in Rancho Murieta at one time was built by the Pension Trust Fund or its subsidiary, and it was a private infrastructure funding arrangement," said Crouse. "They built the facilities, they owned it, but they contracted with (El Dorado Irrigation District) to operate and maintain it. … All the money went to EID. The water, the wastewater, the pipelines, the manholes, the pump stations -- everything was built by the Pension Trust Fund and operated by EID."
The CSD was formed in 1982 to provide local management and control for the facilities and keep the money they generated in the community. Voters gave the CSD "a broad range of general powers" when it was formed, Crouse said.
In the early 1980s, developer Jack Anderson purchased the Rancho Murieta development from the PTF.
In 1986, at Anderson's request, the CSD formed an improvement district and sold bonds to purchase the existing facilities and expand some water facilities, Crouse said.
"Since then, all new, major infrastructure has been funded by developers on a pay-as-you-go, up-front financing (basis), or, in the case of the developers on the South, they started the financing, sold bonds," Crouse said.
In practical terms, this means facilities needed for development are paid for by developers or by the property owners who benefit from them.
"The other choice is for the district to go out and pre-fund construction of those facilities" by raising rates or by borrowing money and "seeking reimbursement at a later date when developers are ready to commit," Crouse said.
In 1991, that option was deemed "a real iffy scenario" because of the district's small size and the debt it would take on for major infrastructure.
"As long as the developers were willing to pay, we were willing to assist them … They would put up the money but we would have control over the design and construction so that it met our specifications."
Crouse said the policy has been in place since the 1990s, and "that's the policy we adhere to today. … That's the over-arching philosophy."
Cease and desist order
Under the order issued to the CSD and the Country Club last year, both entities had responsibilities for problems having to do with wastewater operations.
The club is responsible for nuisance odors related to golf course irrigation and seasonal overflows of recycled wastewater from golf course lakes and Bass Lake.
The odor issue has been "put to rest," according to Crouse, and the club is continuing work on a diversion plan to address the overflows by rerouting runoff and storm water around the lakes.
The CSD's plan for a no-spill solution using a tank instead of the lakes to hold the recycled water used for golf course irrigation is dead, Crouse said. He said it was predicated on developer support and financing that didn't materialize because of increasing costs and diminishing benefits.
Since the club has cut back on its use of recycled water, the tank solution doesn't benefit developers by providing sufficient storage at the wastewater treatment plant to accommodate their projects' needs. Cost estimates for the single tank solution were "creeping up" from $8 million initially to between $10 million and $12 million, according to Crouse.
The CSD will support the club's diversion solution if the club works with the Rancho Murieta Association to take over the CSD's easement to put recycled water in Bass Lake. The RMA owns Bass Lake.
RMA President Mike Martel reported on a closed-session meeting with Country Club officials at Tuesday's RMA meeting, saying he wants to be a "good citizen" but also wants to protect RMA interests.
The CSD continues to face cease and desist order issues concerning storage and capacity at the wastewater treatment plant, although there are 100 fewer acre-feet of wastewater at the plant this year compared to last, Crouse said.
At the start of Wednesday's meeting, President Wayne Kuntz reported closed-session negotiations for the purchase of land to use as spray fields for the disposal of excess recycled water.
After three months, groundwater monitoring for degradation caused by the wastewater treatment ponds is inconclusive, said Crouse.
