M I N U T E S
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
ENGINEERING COMMITTEE
APRIL 13, 2005

 

Call to Order and Roll Call 

The meeting of the Santa Rosa Community Services District Engineering Committee was called to order by Director Roy, commencing at 6:00 PM at the District Office.  The following individuals were present: 

            Director Bob Roy, Committee Chairman
            Director Steve Rubin, Committee Member
            General Manager John B. Rogers
            Chief Inspector/Designer Rob Holmes

 A.        Public Comment: 

None 

B.        Approval of Minutes of the March 9, 2005 Engineering Committee Meeting. 

The minutes of the March 9, 2005 meeting were approved as submitted.

Because Mr. Crandall was delayed in traffic, the Committee moved to Item D in the agenda.   

D.        Request for Variance, Fence Location on Morning Glory Circle, Property Owner Jeff Steber 

Rogers distributed copies of the plan and photographs submitted by Mr. Steber in support of his application to place a decorative fence 4’ feet from the AC berm in front of his property at 27590 Morning Glory Circle.  Mr. Steber explained that the physical configuration of the property is such that people driving on the cul-de-sac can look directly down into his house, which is located below and very close to the road on a narrow lot.  The slope between the road and the driveway is so narrow and steep that it would be impractical to try and screen the house with plants.   

After reviewing the submitted material, the Committee found no reason to oppose the requested variance, with the condition that the fence be reduced in height to 4’ above pavement grade (3½’ above the top of the existing berm).  According to the Ordinance Code, the permit incorporating the variance can be issued by the General Manager without further Board action.  They stressed that this variance should not be construed as setting a precedent for other locations, and other fence installations should still comply with Ordinance setback requirements 

After Mr. Crandall’s arrival, the Committee returned to the published agenda.    

C.        Status Report: Rancho California Road / De Luz Road Repair and Maintenance Funding Study 

Consultant Charles F. Crandall, C.P.A., Bureau Veritas/Berryman & Henigar, presented a first draft of his report outlining the County’s budget and spending plans for maintenance or repair of these two roads.  He also provided the Committee with copies of excerpts from the County’s “Transportation improvement Program”, 2003-2004 Edition, supplemented with an update for De Luz and Rancho California Roads, projecting an expenditure of $3.384M in fiscal year 2009/2010 on Rancho California Road. $818,000 was shown to be planned for 2009 on De Luz Road.  A copy of the draft information is included with these minutes.   

With all of the demands on the County’s budget, Mr. Crandall felt that the likelihood of the County accelerating the timing of the two projects is not very good, particularly in light of the State’s budget situation.  He offered three potential scenarios for the District and its residents to follow:

            1.  Continue with the current schedule.

            2.  Establish an assessment district to obtain the necessary funds and “loan” it to the County, with the stipulation that it would be paid back over time and the County would apply its budgeted money, when it became available, to pay off all or part of the assessments.  This would leave the road in the County’s maintained system

            3.  Similar to 2. above, except annex the roads into the District and assume full control over them.  This would likely have to be accompanied by some sort of annual payment from the County to compensate for the traffic passing through to Fallbrook but using the District roads. 

Mr. Crandall was asked to continue working on the report and return to the Committee at the May 11 meeting, with the intention of presenting to the full Board at the subsequent regular meeting on May 19.   

E.        Storm Damage Report 

Holmes and Rogers showed the latest versions of the Project Worksheets and draft estimates for both major and minor projects.  The small individual items have now been broken into thirteen “projects” totaling an estimated $445,000; there are eight major projects worth an estimated $932,000.  We have had numerous meeting with our FEMA reps to complete the application process.  Deadline for filing all application is May 1.  There has been a second disaster declared for the February 16-23 storms, and some of our work will be submitted under the later event.  We are actually making repairs on a number of the sites where roads became impassable or unsafe; some of this work has been on a time-and-material basis, while other items have actually been approved through an informal bid similar to the purchase order process.   

Thirteen applications have been submitted to the California Department of Fish & Game; more will be required for some of the future repair sites.  Corps of Engineers and Water Quality Control Board applications have not been submitted, but will need to be completed before any of the stream-bed projects are started.   

No new storm-related consultant work has been accomplished in the past month.   

There are eight purchase orders outstanding and one pending on various pavement repair items.   

E.        Project Report 

Rogers and Holmes reported that the weed spraying for the crack fill project has already been done, and the actual crack fill work on this $144,000 contract is scheduled to start on or about April 25.   

At the request of General Manager Rogers, an additional item was added to the agenda. 

F.         Tree Trimming Policy 

Rogers and Holmes asked the Committee for direction on “tree trimming.  The Ordinance Code requires property owners to be responsible for trimming all of the vegetation along the road frontages of their land.  Staff puts considerable effort into notifying and ensuring compliance from all owners, particularly with respect to avocado trees.  Each year the budget contains a small line item in each zone for trimming; historically, this has been used for emergency purchase order work to clear oaks or other trees that have fallen into traffic lanes.  However, there are numerous cases where trees large enough to require professional attention need to be trimmed or removed.  These are generally oak trees that are hanging over or protruding into traffic lanes.  Staff would like to be able to use their discretion in contracting for this work on a case-by-case basis, when it appears, for example, that a tree is or may become a hazard to traffic, when the area as a whole would benefit if a particularly prominent tree were professionally pruned, or when the work would be a significant burden on an individual property owner. 

The Committee agreed with this proposal in concept, and felt that no further action would be required other than a report to the Board. 

F.         Adjournment. 

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM to 6:00 PM on Wednesday, May 11, 2005, or to a substitute date established by the Engineering Committee, at the District Office.

 

                                                                        ________________________________
                                                                        John B. Rogers, P.E., General Manager

ATTEST:

 

____________________________
Robert Roy, Chairman
Engineering Committee