::: COMMUNITY NEWS

This aerial view of the new bridge was captured late last month by neighbor Larry Simpson.

Bridge opening will be delayed until spring

Published Tuesday, January 16, 2007

The pedestrian bridge is in place, but work on the trails leading to it will delay the opening past January and into spring, according to community officials. No date has been set for the ceremony that will open the bridge to pedestrians, bicyclists and golf carts.

Rancho Murieta Association General Manager David Stiffler said the association has been working with developer Reynen & Bardis to establish the south section of the trail in the yet-to-be-built Riverview subdivision next to Riverview Park.

"It will be a temporary path until the development gets built," said Stiffler. "Then we'll incorporate a portion of (Riverview subdivision) streets as a part of the trail path over to the bridge. We want to get everything in place before we open it."

The path will connect to the levee road leading to the bridge. The trail will not use existing golf cart paths and there will be measures in place to prevent trespassing on the golf courses before the bridge opens.

Other trail work involves completing the installation of post and cable fencing. Paving work for the bridge approaches was planned to take advantage of a few days when temperatures topped the 50-degree threshold and is now complete, Stiffler said.

Several options for security cameras have been discussed but a final decision has not been made on the purchase, the Joint Security Committee was told Monday. Community Services District General Manager Ed Crouse said the goal is to have the cameras function as "a deterrent" for vandalism and other problems. The bridge will be included in security patrols by patrol officers.

The following is an update on various other projects.

South Gate remodel and repair

The Community Services District's remodeling work at the South Gate is almost complete, Security Chief Greg Remson told the CSD Security Committee last week. The window overlooking the visitors' lane was remodeled so gate officers can hand out passes as they already do at the North Gate. The $32,000 remodel has made the gate operation "much better" for both staff and residents, Remson said. The project was paid for by the CSD.

The work triggered a requirement to update the facility to current Americans with Disabilities Act standards and two of the three existing parking spaces are now required for handicapped parking.

Remson said RMA Maintenance Manager Rod Hart is making arrangements to add another parking area that "should work out well" to remedy the resulting parking shortage.

The RMA is responsible for the other South Gate project that involves the overhead structure that spans the two residents' lanes. It was removed after the arch was hit by a truck last August and the four supporting columns were damaged.

Replacement of the supports has been complicated by the discovery that they were "not built according to the blueprints," said RMA General Manager David Stiffler.

Stiffler said the need to "re-engineer" the supports has delayed the project, but the cost will still be met by the approximately $20,000 the association received from the truck's insurer.

Sewer repairs

The CSD board approved spending $56,000 last month for a sewer repair project that's expected to begin soon along upper Guadalupe Drive near Rio Oso.

The work involves the replacement of 320 feet of sewer line. The 6-inch line was installed in the 1980s without proper soil compaction, which allowed dips to develop over time, according to CSD staff.

The pipe is 12 feet or more below the street surface, and the trench is expected to be about 15 feet wide.
The eight households affected by the problem will continue to have sewer service during the week and a half it is expected to take to accomplish the repair.

The work will cause considerable traffic disruptions on Guadalupe, which the CSD is working with the RMA to address.

RMA cable system

The RMA is awaiting delivery of the last few pieces of equipment needed for a digital TV programming upgrade of the cable system, RMA General Manager David Stiffler said last week. The association's original goal was to have everything in place by the end of December.

Once the equipment is installed, the premium channels will be moved to a digital format and tiers of digital and high-definition programming will be available to cable customers.

Basic cable service will not be affected by the changeover to digital.

Rio Oso tank rehabilitation

The repair and renovation of the 1.3-million-gallon Rio Oso water tank has been delayed while the CSD looked for a way to take the tank off-line and still meet the water needs of the Murieta North residents and fire flow requirements.

With the help of engineering consultants, the district has developed a plan using the Van Vleck water tank that is estimated to cost about $300,000. A bid proposal is expected to be prepared next month, and the contract will be awarded in March.

Two months of testing are planned before the Rio Oso tank is taken off-line.

The tank would be shut down Oct. 15, which is past the peak water use period and marks the end of the fire season. Work would be completed in mid-March 2008.

Corrosion was found in the roof supports of the 30-year-old metal tank about five years ago. The rehabilitation project will address corrosion issues, provide seismic upgrades, and recoat the tank.