Published Thursday, May 15, 2003 The current version of the Mutual Benefit Agreement has been made available to the public by the Rancho Murieta Association board. This version of the MBA -- the document that will guide the final development of the community -- was negotiated in early March and declared the “final, final, final” version of the document by Mike Schieberl, president of the RMA board of directors. At that time, it seemed only a matter of a few days before it would be signed by the RMA and the Pension Trust Fund of the Operating Engineers, accepted by the court, and released to the public. As things turned out, it has yet to be signed and it wasn’t released to the public until last Friday. By Monday, the RMA was providing copies of the MBA, the Grant of Easement Agreement and the MBA exhibits to any resident willing to pay the 10-cents-a-page copying fee. (The core document is 33 pages; with all related documents, the package runs to more than 100 pages.) As for when the MBA will become official, that’s another story. Undisclosed legal differences between the RMA and PTF have delayed the signing, and another court date is set for June 29 in Sacramento Superior Court. The MBA is an addendum to the Letter Agreement, the settlement of decade-old litigation between the RMA and the PTF.

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How much difference is there between the March 3, 2003, version of the MBA and the version that was released last fall? “I don’t think there are any material changes,” said RMA General Manager Greg Vorster when asked to comment.

As for why it wasn’t released sooner, Vorster said, “We assumed it was going to be signed off fairly quickly.” The RMA board’s thinking was, “Let’s get the final copy signed and then release it,” he explained.

The deal points that have been talked about in the community for several years now are indeed still there. New development on the North is obligated to pay RMA dues, although the homeowners will belong to a separate homeowners association.

The North Gate would be rebuilt by the developer when 333 lots are sold to builders and $1.4 million is deposited in a neutral escrow account. The RMA will own the new gate.

The developer would pay up to $75,000 toward a new gate on Escuela Drive but would not build the gate or make any improvements to Stonehouse Road if the county required that as a condition of opening the gate.

The park sites would be deeded to the RMA. A 20-acre site located near the existing Lake Clementia Park would become a tree mitigation area and be deeded to the RMA.

As far as changes go, some references to the Community Services District in regard to the North Gate have been dropped.

No longer in the agreement is a land swap to relocate the proposed aquatic complex and community center from a park site at the north end of Murieta Parkway to property around the RMA Building that is now zoned for high-density development.

When asked about those deletions, Vorster said, “It doesn’t make sense to bind them to an agreement they’re not a signatory to.”

The property next to the RMA Building belongs to real estate investor Frank Stathos, not the PTF. The swap could still take place, but, if so, it would be a separate agreement.

The earlier version of the MBA is available here for comparison.

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