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County,
house builder, meet with fed up residents
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE — A group of more than 20 residents who live on Marshall Road, Marshall Way and Marshall Court in Alpine, met with county officials and a developer Tuesday morning to discuss concerns with a housing development in the area.
Mike Reynolds, owner of Reynolds Communities, the company that is building the new subdivision, and San Diego County Department of Public Works Project Manager, Ed Sinsay, joined residents, Alpine Planning Group Chair Mark Price and project engineers.
The construction, which has been ongoing for more than a year, has torn up the road on Marshall leaving only dirt and mud, and has negatively affected numerous area properties. It has prompted complaints from residents when its trucks were speeding through town and even shooting large rocks into business properties along the way. The project also resulted in illegal storm water run-off that flooded homes on Olivewood Lane last winter.
A few weeks ago, the road-working crew broke a sewer line and a water line on Marshall Way that allowed sewer water to flow into potable water in a Padre Dam line.
“They busted the water pipe when they were digging out front, and then they broke into my neighbors sewer line right next to it,” said Marshall Way resident Shawn Davidson. According to her, a gardener from the development project came up and patched the leaks.
“The pipes have so many patch jobs and PVC piping, that the integrity is compromised,” Davidson said. “I just don’t want to be liable when, in a couple years, those pipes break because they’ve been patched so many times.”
According to Sinsay, Marshall Way is a public road and county maintained, and Davidson should not be liable.
“Yeah, we really ripped it up at the beginning,” Reynolds admitted. “That’s what happens when you redo a road. But it’s going to be a lot better when it’s finished.”
Drainage is a major issue for many of the residents that live on Marshall. According to Reynolds, the roadwork will actually improve drainage and water flow in the area.
“The water that used to run right down the middle of the road here is going to be routed now down through our development,” Reynolds said. This would only leave runoff from falling rain running south to Marshall Court.
“The road is going to be pitched westward,” Sinsay said. This would direct runoff away from current residents and toward the project.
Residents were also concerned about the integrity of embankments on the road when the rainy season hits. Reynolds said the banks will be built with erosion control and planted with drought resistant plants.
“We’ll be putting that all in, and we’ll maintain it until it gets going,” Reynolds said. According to Sinsay, maintaining the banks will be the responsibility of the property owners they are adjacent to: the eventual owners of the corner house at Ponderosa and Vonnie Sanchez, who has lived in her home beside the new development for 40 years.
Sanchez’s concern, as well other residents on Marshall Court, is that drivers coming down the road could loose control and careen off the edge, landing directly on her home.
“I have lived in this house since 1967 and never worried about someone driving through or landing on my house until now,” said Sanchez.
The steep banks now form walls of dirt on the north and west edges of her property. According to Sinsay the road, upon completion, will have elevated curbs on either side.
“I really don’t think that people speeding down over that hill is going to be an issue,” said Bruce Robertson of REC Civil Engineering. “It will be all paved, and there is going to be an adequate dip at the top to slow people down.”
The steep road south of the project, besides causing a near blind hill for drivers coming north, has stranded some of the residents who are unable to bring their fifth-wheel trailers up the hill. The angle of the top of the hill is so sharp that Marshall Court resident Bob McFarland bottomed-out his fifth-wheel while trying to leave a couple of weeks ago. Reynolds said the road is graded at 20 percent.
Sinsay and Reynolds’ Phil Cunard agreed that the problems could be solved by lengthening the grade of the road to decrease its steepness. This however, would pile more fill dirt in around the Sanchez home, and likely block off its driveway.
Cunard said that the company will come up with a preliminary plan, and then will run it by the residents.
“We’ve drawn up five or six plans for this road,” Cunard said. “So we need to make sure that everyone is going to be on board.”
Residents north of the project, on Marshall Road, are concerned about the narrow road between Eltinge Road and Marshall Way, which will need to accommodate the 24 new families that will eventually live at Ponderosa Estates.
Until recently, construction vehicles were accessing the development on this portion of road, despite numerous signs directing them left onto Eltinge and around to the project via Marshall Way. Now, the road is closed, as the southern portion is under construction.
Some residents were concerned that the apparent curb being built at the southern portion of the road would mean that there would be no access. Reynolds said the work only addresses drainage and the the road will be opened upon completion.
Residents and officials spent more than two hours walking around the area on Tuesday morning. Many left the meeting satisfied with the answers from the county and Reynolds officials.
“I know these people are tired of making plans and having to deal with all of us,” said Sanchez. “But we’re just really sick of having bad neighbors.”
Reynolds said that he wants to work with the residents to take care of any concerns.
“Whatever you need, we’ll do it,” he said. “We will take care of all these problems,” Reynolds said. I want to get this project done, get these roads done, and I want to get out of these neighbors’ hair.”
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