Dear Neighbor,
Tomorrow (Wednesday) or Thursday, there will be road equipment working on our road, beginning at Rte 285 and moving the entire length of the road to the far west end. This work is being done by RedLine Excavating, with whom we have worked previously. The equipment will be grading, watering, and compacting the road, and also adding basecourse to some of the worst washboard sections near Calle Junipero. Unfortunately, we can not afford to make improvements on any but the very worst sections. The work will take several days to complete, so please be especially careful.
The segment between Rte 285 and the railroad tracks (the RoadPacker-treated segment) is being graded as a stopgap measure, pending the completion of that portion of the road by Mr. Bob Sherwin of Bionic Soil Solutions. According to a memo received from Mr. Sherwin last week (May 14):
"I understand everyone’s desire to complete the road as soon as possible. The monsoon season is July and August and we are still on track to complete it before then. It is now the middle of May and it was snowing just two days ago. The weather is just now warming up to where we can begin doing applications as we want to be out of the freezing temperatures at night.
As we have discussed in the past, we will need to do Spur Ranch Road in conjunction with another project in the area when we have all of the equipment already mobilized. As a result, I can not give you a firm start date at this time. Once we start, it will take about 4 days to finish. We will need to do one lane at a time and stay off of that lane for 24 hours as this product needs time to cure. I know there are street crossings and we will deal with those as needed. I hope this helps answer your questions."
On a related matter, I received a worrisome phone call yesterday from a realtor who is very concerned about the road's condition. There is currently a significant number of homes for sale in our community, and this person said that potential buyers are very worried about the road's deteriorated condition. Most, he said, have said they will not consider purchasing property along the road for this reason. He says home values have already been harmed, and that unless there is a significant investment by the community in road maintenance, home values will be further undermined. In addition, he said that lenders are increasingly reluctant to give mortgages to homes whose access is via poorly maintained roads. On the plus side, he felt that the existence of a road association was very important to protecting real estate values, but he felt that the association’s budget (about $12,000 per year) and dues levels ($200-$275 per year, depending on location) were far too low, and well below those of comparable neighborhoods. For comparison, keep in mind that adding one mile of basecourse to the road costs $100,000 - $150,000.
Finally, I received a report today of heavy construction machinery (including concrete trucks) using Spur Ranch Road to access Avenida Compadres (instead of coming south from Avenida Eldorado). The use of our road by construction vehicles violates an understanding between the county and developers along Compadres, who assured us that our road would not be used for that purpose. These vehicles seriously degrade the road’s already fragile condition. Please email me if you see inappropriate.
traffic along the road from construction vehicles. If possible note license numbers, type of vehicle, and any identifying information.
Thank you,
Jim Garland, president
Spur Ranch Road Association
466-8833
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