RMA
hears plan to build hundreds of homes adjacent to Murieta
Published
Thursday, January 18, 2007
A plan
to develop property located outside Rancho Murieta’s
boundaries and the county's urban services boundary took
center stage at the Rancho Murieta Association board meeting
Tuesday.
Using
large poster boards and computer slides, resident John Sullivan
placed the development goals of the local property owners
he represents in the context of county planning for an update
of the general plan through 2030.
According
to Sullivan, the general plan update provides an opportunity
for the development called Murieta West Planning Area to
be included in the urban services boundary, and all of the
landowners have filed applications requesting inclusion.
Sullivan
said planning staff is working to provide additional information
on what the county calls “the Jackson Road visioning,”
which includes “35,000 homes that are going to be
between Sunrise Boulevard and downtown Sacramento in what
is called Jackson Road South and Jackson Road West …”
“That
creates enormous impacts on the people of Rancho Murieta,”
Sullivan said. He urged the RMA board to form a political
action committee to secure road improvements for Scott Road
between Rancho Murieta and Folsom and Highway 16 from Rancho
Murieta to the areas slated for road improvements.
Sullivan
said the Murieta West landowners -- he has previously
identified them as Rancho Airport Inc., the Murieta Equestrian
Center, PDA Trust, Carol Anderson Ward Trust, the Frank
family trust, the Gonsalves family trust and the Hoberg
family trust -- want
"to build out Rancho Murieta to its full potential.
… We want Sacramento County planning to interface
these important transportation, open space, infrastructure
issues into the current general plan and we would like
Murieta West Planning Area to be part of the 2030 general
plan (environmental impact review) process."
Sullivan
described the Murieta West development plan as “density-neutral”
with the county general plan and the community’s master
plan, which set build-out for the community at 5,200 residential
units.
Although
the Mutual Benefit Agreement between the RMA and the Pension
Trust Fund for Operating Engineers reduced densities planned
for Murieta North and capped the development number at about
4,200, the county build-out figure remains at 5,200.
Based
on the MBA figure and other proposed development, the current
estimate for build-out is 4,345. This does not include the
Murieta West development, which Sullivan estimated at 550
units at the RMA meeting and the Community Services District
estimates at 600 for planning purposes. The CSD has responded
to the prevailing uncertainty about the final build-out
figure by planning for three tiers, with 5,200 recognized
as the high build-out tier.
The
services boundary -- the county's effort to contain development
-- presently comes no closer than just east of Grant Line
Road. Rancho Murieta development began in the early 1970s,
two decades before the boundary was drawn, and Murieta is
designated as an island of development outside the boundary.
In addition
to requiring a change in the urban services boundary, the
Murieta West proposal needs the Community Services District
to expand its sphere of influence in order to provide water
and sewer services for the development. This would require
approval from the Local Agency Formation Commission.
Sullivan
points out that most of the property – the Equestrian
Center, the airport and the 200-acre agricultural reserve
– is within the district and already receives CSD
services, although this area was not planned for the residential
and commercial development that’s being proposed.
Sullivan
pointed out changes and refinements in the Murieta West
plan that include moving a hotel from the 220-acre Frank
property on Stonehouse Road, where a church and the new
elementary school are planned. The new location for the
hotel is across from the equine center on Lone Pine Drive,
which would become a new commercial center. A multi-level
structure is planned for Lookout Hill, the towering knoll
across from the North Gate.
The
connectivity Sullivan proposes between the community and
Sacramento Valley Conservancy property adjoining Rancho
Murieta on the north utilizes the existing county park area
by the airport, loops around development proposed next to
the airport and skirts the present gated community to link
up with the 4,000-plus-acre Deer Creek Hills conservancy
property.
Sullivan
has met with RMA, Country Club and CSD officials to generate
support for the project. He talked about annexation at the
RMA and presented a proposal for a $20 million reservoir
for drought needs to the CSD last week.
On Tuesday
night, Sullivan also talked about solving the wastewater
issues in the cease and desist order, saying Murieta West
proposals to use recycled wastewater in “purple pipe”
applications would address the excess.
The
CSD’s current wastewater storage problems are attributed
to carryover storage from 2003 and the Country Club’s
cutback in water use for the golf courses over the last
few years. The club uses treated recycled wastewater to
irrigate the two courses.
Long-term
wastewater storage and disposal needs and costs are now
being evaluated by a consultant to the CSD. The report is
due in July.
At the
conclusion of Sullivan’s half-hour presentation, Rancho
Murieta Development Concerned Citizens Committee member
Candy Chand disputed his interpretation of the general plan
update process.
“There
is no one who has given any indication that they’re
giving even close to a green light towards changing the
urban service boundary in Rancho Murieta. ... It flies in
the face of all planning logic,” she said, noting
that housing presses out from the city into the countryside,
not the other way around.
Skatepark
opponents ask for board response
Evelyn
Caudill told board members she was disappointed they hadn’t
acknowledged the packet of information about the proposed
skateboard park she hand-delivered to them weeks ago.
She
said the material included a request for a survey of the
membership on the topic of the skateboard park proposed
for Stonehouse Park, a petition against the park signed
by 138 homeowners, and information about parks in the area.
“I
have served on two boards and several committees and if
there’s one thing that I have learned it’s that
communication with the members of an association is very
important,” she said.
Mary
Lou Craig also asked the board for a survey and provided
them with a Sacramento Bee story about problems at an area
skateboard park.
The
skateboard park appears on the community’s parks master
plan as an unfunded project. A site at Stonehouse Park was
identified for the project more than five years ago.
Last
year, the Kiwanis Club donated $9,400 and the Parks Committee
provided $600 from the parks fund to pay for a $10,000 skateboard
park design.
There
were three meetings devoted to the project, two of which
were conducted by the designer. The third meeting, held
in late September, consisted of opponents and supporters
of the project offering their opinions to the Parks Committee.
Questions about liability and insurance costs raised at
that meeting were supposed to be researched and addressed
at a future Parks Committee meeting.
Update
on RMA cable plan
John
Weatherford said the RMA’s cable TV plan is “off
to a rocky start” because it wasn’t in place
by Dec. 31 and has lost 13 subscribers. General Manager
David Stiffler responded that the business plan projected
a loss of 15 to 20 percent of the premium channel customers
in the changeover to digital programming and the loss to
date is 4 percent.
The
digital start-up is stalled due to delivery delays for several
pieces of equipment. Director Mel Standart, chair of the
Communications Committee, said the digital operation is
expected to be in place 45 days after the equipment is received.
RMA
asked to broadcast county meetings
The
RMA board hopes to broadcast the Sacramento County Board
of Supervisors Jan. 10 meeting on Channel 5. RMDCCC member
Candy Chand requested the broadcast and was told the association
was planning to air the tape of the 3½-hour session
on the Retreat and Residences of Murieta Hills developments
proposed for Murieta North. The hearing has been continued
to April.
Former
RMA director Julie Sams requested that another item from
the Jan. 10 meeting be included in the broadcast -- the
supervisors' approval of an amended wastewater plant permit
for the CSD. The archived recordings of the supervisors
meetings are available here.
Governing
Documents Committee needs members
General
Manager David Stiffler said the Governing Documents Committee
is in need of members. The committee is charged with the
task of overhauling the CC&Rs. Anyone interested in
being on the committee can contact the RMA at 354-3500.
