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::: COMMUNITY NEWS
Landowners propose expanding and developing Murieta to the west Published Sunday, June 4, 2006 A proposal by local landowners to annex and develop hundreds of acres outside the western edge of Rancho Murieta was brought to the Community Services District Thursday. The proposal for a Murieta West Planning Area was offered at the CSD's Finance Committee by John Sullivan, a Murietan who represents landowner Paul Frank in negotiations over a site for a new elementary school. The Frank family is donating acreage for the school and a new Rancho Murieta Community Church. Frank's 220-acre tract, along Stonehouse Road, is among the properties in the proposal. Sullivan said the proposal also represents land owned by Rancho Airport Inc., the Murieta Equestrian Center, PDA Trust, Carol Anderson Ward Trust, the Gonsalves family trust and the Hoberg family trust. "…A number of landowners have decided to jointly plan the future of their properties at this time," said the nine-page document Sullivan prepared for the committee.
The plan, which CSD officials emphasize is in its very early stages, calls for developing property that's outside Rancho Murieta and the county's urban services boundary. The plan asks the CSD to expand its sphere of influence and provide water and sewer services for the development. Some of the property – the Equestrian Center, the airport and the 200-acre agricultural reserve – is within the district and already receives CSD services. Frank's land is among the properties outside the district. The CSD has agreed to contract with the Elk Grove Unified School District to supply only the school with water and sewer service, pending regulatory approval. According to Sullivan, the county's update of the general plan to the year 2030 provides an opportunity for the proposed land to be included in the urban services boundary, and all of the landowners have filed applications requesting inclusion. 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. Since the CSD provides infrastructure and utilities, "The reality is you're the de-facto planning agency," Sullivan told CSD President John Merchant, Director Bill White and General Manager Ed Crouse at the committee meeting. He pointed out the community's been planned for 5,200 residential units since the 1970s and has water rights and a sewage facility to accommodate that number. There are currently about 2,300 homes. Although the Mutual Benefit Agreement between the Rancho Murieta Association and the Pension Trust Fund of the Operating Engineers reduces the community's planned total homes number to about 4,200, Sullivan estimated the actual figure built will be "significantly" less. Sullivan said the difference in housing numbers between earlier plans and current projections would be sufficient to handle the housing in his proposal. The document Sullivan gave the committee states the plan "does not exceed the Sacramento County housing element in the general plan or the Rancho Murieta master plan density and provides for better utilization of infrastructure." The statement appears under the heading "Good reasons to be supportive." The plan proposes everything from trail systems to a hotel but offers no time frame for any of them. Among the proposals are:
Sullivan said he expects the Elk Grove Unified School District to accept Frank's plan to locate the school on 15 acres of his property that he's offered to donate. The school district is evaluating the plan at monthly public meetings, with the next scheduled for Monday, June 5. If accepted, the site would replace an alternative one on the Frank property that the school district was on the verge of seizing after failing to come to terms with the Franks to acquire it. Frank's school site plan involves relocating a section of Stonehouse Road to create a new intersection with Jackson Road at Lone Pine Drive, where the equine center is located. Sullivan said the realignment would solve traffic problems that now limit the center's potential for expansion. At the committee meeting, Sullivan said, "Jackson Road's going to become a huge expressway at some point in time. … We talked about potentially elevating Jackson Road in front of the front gate as part of maybe the long-range plan … (to) create a clover-leaf for Rancho Murieta." Sullivan, a long-time resident who has served on both the CSD and Rancho Murieta Association boards, addressed specific CSD concerns in promoting the development plan. He said the proposed lake could be used to provide water during drought years. This would address the district's need to provide additional water storage for a 200-year drought event like 1976-77 and community concern about converting Lake Clementia from a swim lake to a drinking water lake so it could supply water during lesser droughts, he said. The plan also proposes annexing residential development to the RMA. Sullivan told the CSD the RMA had responded to the plan with "wild enthusiasm" when he presented it there. Contacted the following day, RMA President Paul Gumbinger confirmed Sullivan had discussed the plan with him and Director Mike Martel. Gumbinger characterized it as "just an idea at this point." He said the urban services boundary and obtaining CSD services posed the biggest challenges, placing the plan's future "strictly between the CSD and county." At the CSD meeting, Merchant acknowledged he found the development proposal "interesting" and "certainly worth talking about," but "step one … is for you guys and the PTF to come back here and start talking to us with a concrete number we can work with." Sullivan remarked that, beyond the Residences and Retreat projects now going through the planning approval process, "the PTF does not have a timely vision of what they're going to be doing on their properties," and further development will be stalled for years. Merchant agreed, saying the PTF's reluctance to commit to a number of units means the CSD won't be able to negotiate "a global solution" for the remaining development issues, including expanding the water treatment plant, water augmentation and the wastewater issues contained in the cease and desist order. CSD infrastructure is funded by development. Asked to comment on this assessment in a telephone interview Friday, Murieta Holdings developer Gerry N. Kamilos responded, "PTF is spending a considerable amount of resources doing technical studies and review … to move forward with proposals (for) the balance of the property. … PTF's intention is that ultimately it will be developed and be consistent with the MBA." As to whether considerable time will elapse between the present phase of development and the next, Kamilos said, "That's not my understanding." He said he wasn't familiar with Sullivan's proposal, "so it's hard to make any comment," but added, "(Sullivan) probably should talk to the PTF since he wants to extract their units." Kamilos and partner Robert J. Cassano created the development plan in the MBA and represented the PTF in negotiating the agreement with the RMA.
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