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Mystery solved: South developer Reynen & Bardis is conducting survey

Published Monday, September 20, 2003

South developer Reynen & Bardis on Monday said it is responsible for the telephone survey on development now being conducted in the community.

Residents began receiving calls from pollsters on Friday and, judging by e-mails and phone calls received by RanchoMurieta.com, many reacted with suspicion to what they regarded as leading questions about open space and development issues and vague answers to their questions about who was conducting the survey.

"That wasn't intended to be a secret," Mike Winn, vice president of Reynen & Bardis, said Monday afternoon. According to Winn, residents who took the survey were supposed to be informed at the end that it was commissioned by Reynen & Bardis. He said the company intends to look into the matter.

Phil Serna, community development manager for Reynen & Bardis, issued the following statement about the survey Monday:

"Reynen & Bardis Communities recently commissioned a phone survey of Rancho Murieta residents. The survey of 250 households was taken September 17th through the 19th and focused on acquiring community input about the Rancho Murieta Master Plan.

"In an effort to learn more about residents' disposition concerning the completion of the Master Plan, the survey polled respondents' satisfaction with various community amenities. The exercise was an honest attempt to obtain residents' input, and is not intended for marketing purposes, nor will results be available for immediate public distribution."

Residents were still being contacted by survey takers on Monday.

Winn characterized the survey as "a barometer" to gauge residents' attitudes, including "how deep the dismay and suspicions" about developers and build-out run, as well as "why people would feel that way."

"It's our business and we want to do a good job of it. … Two thousand people signing a petition is a strong statement," he said, referring to the anti-development petition circulated by the Rancho Murieta Development Concerned Citizens Committee.

The group recently provided the petition to county Supervisor Don Nottoli, whose district includes Rancho Murieta.

Winn acknowledged the Reynen & Bardis survey includes questions about Lakeview and Riverview, two proposed subdivisions, and questions about RMDCCC spokesperson Candy Chand and Supervisor Nottoli. "We're trying to gauge people's understanding of the issues," he said, adding that the survey is generating "more than a fair amount of feedback."

Winn declined to supply the survey questions.

He said he was "not sure" how Reynen & Bardis would use the information from the poll or if any of the information would be provided to the county for its workshop on land use in Rancho Murieta scheduled for Sept. 28.

"It's just information that we didn't have before the poll. … It's always good to know," he said.


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