Village group takes lead on repairs of Murieta Drive

The Rancho Murieta Association board caught up on the status of Murieta Gardens at a special meeting last week. When the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors held a hearing last month to consider approving the project -- a residential and commercial development proposed for 53 acres across from Murieta Plaza -- the issues that emerged included the condition of Murieta Drive, which is part of the property, and access to RMA parks for the residents of the 95 single-family homes that are planned. Although the RMA discussed the project at its May meeting, there were no RMA representatives at the county hearing.

Murieta Village President Guy Brown, who spoke at the hearing and brought the deteriorated condition of Murieta Drive to the supervisors’ attention, attended the RMA meeting Thursday. He told the RMA board that he is now working with developer Regency Centers to come up with a short-term and a long-term fix for the road at the direction of the supervisors.

The road connects the Village with Highway 16, and also serves the Plaza, churches, Rancho Murieta Airport, the Operating Engineers training center and other property owners, Brown pointed out, and the goal is to form an association of the 13 property owners in the area with oversight by the Rancho Murieta Community Services District to share the cost of a permanent fix for the road. “We’re a community. We all got to work together,” Brown said.

He said the developer is willing to do a short-term fix, a patch job that would be completed within six months, and the long-term fix would be a rebuild of the road up to the intersection with Cantova Way in three years, the target date to develop the project. Brown said the Village wants the road patched in three months, not six, so it will be ready for winter weather. Brown said he wants to have an agreement concerning the road in place by June 22, when the supervisors will consider approval of the project.

Brown said the Village homeowner association worked for over a year on the road issue and found the developer “very uncooperative” until the supervisors indicated they wouldn’t approve the project without a plan for the road. RMA President Jim Moore characterized the condition of Murieta Drive as the “most pressing issue” for the project, and said the Village now has a “hammer” to get it fixed.

Directors Roy Harmon and Randy Jenco suggested a similar strategy by tying access to RMA parks to annexation. Unlike Village residents, Murieta Gardens residents would not have access to the gated community and its parks unless the development met RMA architectural standards and adopted its CC&Rs, the five directors present agreed. (Directors Candice Koropp and Andy Keyes were absent.)

Director Scott Adams suggested elaborating on the brief letter about the board’s objections to the project that General Manager Nick Arther sent to the supervisors after the May board meeting.

Previous coverage and county planning documents for the project:

• County postpones action on shopping center and homes for RM (May 26, 2011)
• RMA will voice disapproval of shopping center to county (May 18, 2011)
• County planners approve Murieta Gardens development (Sept. 14, 2010)
• Planning documents for Murieta Gardens I and II
  • Final Environmental Impact Report
  • Planning Department Final Staff Report (Sept. 13, 2010)