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Published Friday, December 7, 2001

If the 1,200 properties Murieta Holdings plans to develop on the North were being built today, would they hook up to the Rancho Murieta Association's cable system for broadband Internet access?

That was John Weatherford's question at Thursday's "town hall" meeting.

Developer Gerry N. Kamilos answered, "I don't know. ... If it's an adequate and appropriate system, and it's something the larger population is comfortable with, absolutely. There's no reason to duplicate those type of facilities in the community."

Kamilos said the developers are currently working with San Diego-based technology consultant ITPrisms "to do a complete evaluation of what all the potential opportunities are in developing a premier telecommunications system that is attractive to consumers, potential homebuyers."

He characterized the RMA's plan for broadband Internet access, expected to begin operation by May 1, as a startup solution. "It gets the community engaged into Internet service," he said.

By bringing ITPrisms in, "(Murieta Holdings) is investing the capital today to bring in a company that specializes in developing long-term plans for communities five, 10, 15 years from now," Kamilos said. "What we want to do is go through that process and ... sit down and share that information with the RMA. The intention has always been to create a program that the entire community can benefit from. ... Hopefully, we can work together to make sure whatever system is developed, short term and long term, is the best we can come up with."

Weatherford asked Kamilos and his partner, Robert J. Cassano, if development plans for the North could go forward without resolving the issue of using the Yellow Bridge as the connection between North and South. Kamilos said the developers were "willing to participate in a solution," but development in the North was "not dependent on having access to the South."

Earlier in the 50-minute meeting, Kamilos said two subdivisions, The Crest and The Greens, had been sold, which "basically concludes the land the PTF (Pension Trust Fund of the Operating Engineers) owns on the South." Murieta Holdings is the agent for the PTF. South developers are responsible for providing a river crossing under the terms of the development ordinance.

John Kershaw, another member of the audience of five, voiced several recurring community concerns. The first was the developers' plan to make their projects sub-associations with their own master homeowner association, instead of being part of the RMA.

Since not all the projects will be production homes, some would meet the RMA requirement for custom homes on the North and be eligible to join the RMA, Kershaw pointed out.

Kamilos said the vineyards, the wine business and the open space envisioned for the Lake Calero project required a separate sub-association. He said the developers reviewed RMA documents and found there was "no provision for a sub-association."

He added that the architecture of the custom home projects would conform to themes -- Old World or Craftsman or Frank Lloyd Wright -- "to maintain a certain integrity of the project."

Kershaw asked what will prevent the projects with production homes from looking like the same house over and over. Cassano said there would be "a diversity of architectural looks" achieved through the use of "different colors and different materials."

Kamilos said the streetscape -- curvilinear streets and open space between homes set on larger lots -- produces "a much different feeling than the flatlands" of Elk Grove, which had been cited as an example of development sameness. Three or four elevations would be typical in Rancho Murieta, he added.

Kershaw was elected to the board of the Consumnes Community Planning Advisory Council last month. CCPAC is the first stop in the public hearing process for area development proposals. Kamilos said he expects the tentative maps for The Retreat projects and The Residences at Murieta Hills to begin this public hearing process next February or March.

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