County says Rainbow Water damaging roadway

Representatives of the County of San Diego Department of Public Works (DPW) have stated their concern over damage occurring to Pala Mesa area roads that they attribute to an increased number of Rainbow Municipal Water District (RMWD) trucks traveling it in order to work on the six million gallon Pala Mesa Tank Project at 2374 Wilt Road.

“It’s the tremendous increase in [Rainbow Water] truck traffic and the weight of the trucks that are causing problems and road degradation on Pala Mesa Road,” said Michael Drake, communications officer for the County’s Land Use & Environment group. Drake said the County intends to sit down with RMWD this month in an attempt to address the issue.

“A meeting between the two parties, DPW Director Richard Crompton and Rainbow Water District officials is scheduled for mid-June to hopefully resolve this issue,” said Drake.

RMWD general manager Dave Seymour said he isn’t convinced that his agency’s trucks are completely at fault for the problem with the roadway.

“We feel we are abiding by the law in regards to the weight of our trucks,” said Seymour. “The issue is one small section of the road that was redone by a developer and it wasn’t built to any kind of county specifications; as a result, it’s falling apart. If it had been designed and built to specification – it wouldn’t be an issue.”

Drake said the County’s primary concern is the safety of the roadway for the traveling public.

“We just want to ensure the safety of residents, that’s our primary concern,” said Drake. “It’s mostly residential properties up there.”

Drake explained that Public Road Standards establish minimum Traffic Indexes (weight volume per vehicle) for various types of roads.

“Roads that are typically designed for light traffic are often negatively impacted by sudden increases in truck traffic that can occur if they are being used for construction-related haul roads or detours for more heavily traveled roadways,” said Drake.

Seymour said Rainbow Water trucks began hauling dirt out of the project site on January 12.

“The total number of trips to date is 7,450” said Seymour. “The average number of trips per day is about 75. Phase One hauling will be completed this month.”

Seymour said the “maximum legal limit is 60,000 lbs per truck” and that as far as he is aware, his agency is within the law.

“To date, we have been inspected by the CHP on numerous occasions and we have not received a citation,” he added.

Drake said heavy truck traffic won’t be gone soon.

“In August, Rainbow will start with concrete trucks going back and forth working on the project,” he said.

In the Pala Mesa Drive and Wilt Road area, some of the roadways are considered “county-maintained” and fully funded by county road funds and others are designated under the Permanent Road Division (PRD) which are repaired and maintained out of a budget comprised of property taxes collected from residents with properties in that vicinity. Those funds are held within special assessment districts.

Both the County and Rainbow Water agree that the water district has been very proactive about fixing damage to the roadway sections that come under the PRD since the tank project began.

“Apparently Rainbow Water has been repairing the PRD roads, but not the County roads that are being damaged,” said Drake.

Seymour said the water district knew some road issues would crop up during the Pala Mesa Tank project.

“We made contingency plans for some of the road issues we knew would crop up; there’s no way you can move that much dirt without causing some problems,” said Seymour.

Seymour said he “believed” $100,000 had been budgeted in the (approximate) 10 million dollar project for repair to the PRD roads; but no funds have been reserved for county road repair.

“We will make the PRD roads whole when we are done,” said Seymour. “When it comes to the other, we have a difference of opinion with the County on the subject.”

In a letter Richard Crompton, director of the DPW, wrote to Seymour, he stated, “To date, the DPW has spent over $17,000 in staff time and materials for our patching/oversight efforts, and these repair efforts are directly related to and necessitated by your project. The DPW needs your help and cooperation to repair roadway damage on an ongoing basis to ensure the continued safe operation of these roads, to reimburse DPW for any costs incurred to address these repairs, and at the conclusion of the project, to return the roads to their pre-project condition.”

Drake added, “For the safety of the traveling public, some repairs [to the county roads) need to be addressed as they occur; specifically, pot holes are a problem.” But the problem is greater than that, he said. “Some of these repairs have gone well beyond fixing the typical pothole and have required dig-out, and then resurfacing; and several areas have had to be done more than once.” Drake said an assessment of the damage to the roadways will have to take place at the conclusion of the tank project as well. “There is no point in completely repaving the roads right now; it will have to wait until their project has been completed,” said Drake. Seymour said the Pala Mesa Tank project is expected to be completed in early 2012 and will provide a “much-needed covered reservoir to replace Beck Reservoir.” Beck Reservoir is an open-air, 204 million-gallon reservoir that no longer meets health department standards. RMWD is under mandate by the California Department of Health Services to complete the project. “At that time, Beck Reservoir will be removed from service,” he explained. “The long-range plan for Beck includes construction of an ultraviolet disinfection plant to meet health standards. When that is completed, the Pala Mesa rank will store the finished water from the new disinfection plant.” When asked what the timeline is for that, Seymour wasn’t certain. “We do not have a schedule for the Beck project yet because we do not have a source of funding,” said Seymour. “In May, [RMWD] was invited to apply for a State revolving fund loan for the project and the board of directors authorized staff to submit the application. If we are fortunate enough to be selected for a low-interest loan, we will need to obtain voter approval prior to accepting the offer.”

Seymour also stated Rainbow Water isn’t the only agency that has truck traffic on the affected roadways that could be causing damage.

“San Diego Gas & Electric has a maintenance yard right below our tank project site and their trucks are traveling up and down the same roadways every day,” he said.

Area residents have noticed SDG&E trucks traveling Pala Mesa Drive loaded down with the new steel poles as the electric company works on its Orange Grove Transmission Enhancement Project and Pala to Monserate Wood-to-Steel Pole Project that runs through that area. And that’s not all, Seymour said.

“Also, right now, there are avocado-hauling trucks with full loads of bins traveling those roads,” said Seymour.

With a variety of factors involved, the County and Rainbow Water have both said they will work towards a reasonable solution to the problem.

“’We are working to resolve this problem in a fair way for both the County and Rainbow Water,” said Drake. It should be noted, however, that the DPW’s correspondence to Rainbow Water is being copied to County [legal] counsel.

Seymour said the county “hasn’t indicated they intend to take legal action; it’s just common practice to keep them in the loop.”

“Hopefully, we can reach a consensus and not have to spend any money [on a legal situation],” said Seymour. “We have an agreement to disagree with the county; we will work it all out in the end.”