HomeMy WebLinkAboutCT 93-09; Ocean Bluff; Tentative Map (CT) (12)August 12, 1996
To: City Manager
From: Assistant City Engineer
BLACK RAIL COURT ISSUES AND CONSTRUCTION TIMING
The following is a brief summary of the issues and potential construction timing
for Black Rail Court:
1. There are, as yet, no public road easements dedicated to the City over
any portion of Black Rail Court including that portion of Black Rail Court
within the Aviara Information Center site (See item 3 below for further
clarification of the easement rights). I misspoke at the last Council
meeting when I stated that the City had accepted the offer of dedication
for Black Rail Court from Aviara. Apparently, I mistook a waterline
easement for the road easement. Upon further review, I was unable to
locate any evidence within our files that Aviara made the offer of
dedication as required pursuant to their original conditions of approval for
the Info Center CUP.
I contacted Aviara and requested that they research their title records to
verify whether or not such a document was ever recorded against the
property. They were also unable to find any record of the required offer;
therefore, I will prepare a memo to Council recommending that a new
condition be applied to the CUP extension requiring the offer of dedication
within 30 days of the extension approval or the approval will be nulified.
2. Opening the gate along the north boundary of the Aviara Info Center site
and allowing farmer and resident traffic to access Aviara Parkway
(formerly Alga Road), even on a temporary basis, would not be
recommended without additional drainage and grading work and the
installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Black Rail Court and
Aviara Parkway. Presently, the only route available for vehicles to access
the Info Center driveway is via a route which extends outside the
proposed Black Rail right-of-way through Aviara's private property.
If it were Council's desire to allow a temporary connection, either
additional temporary easements would be necessary or a new road cut
would be required along the route of the future Black Rail road extension
within Aviara's property.
August 12, 1996
Black Rail Court
Page 2
Full construction of the road within Aviara's property would not resolve
the issue without extensive grading onto the adjoining property to the
north. The future Black Rail Road grade at the Aviara property line is
approximately ten feet lower than the existing dirt road. A transition of
approximately 200 feet off the Info Center site would be necessary. This
would also require the relocation of two 1 8 inch waterlines and one 12
inch water line. The cost to relocate the waterlines and to construct Black
Rail Court across Aviara's property including the transition grading and
traffic signal installation would be approximately $400.000.
3. Aviara appears to have adequate easement rights to grade and construct
road and utility improvements over that portion of Black Rail Court
extending from the Aviara property line north to the water tanks. The
exact boundary of this easement has not been plotted or verified by the
City at this point in time. The easement document which granted such
rights to Aviara was originally granted by Mr. and Mrs. Olton to Frank
Ayres & Sons in 1959. Aviara obtained the rights as successor in interest
to the Ayres property. The easement document gives Aviara the right to
re-grant all or any portion of the easement to others.
Aviara subsequently dedicated waterline easement rights to the Water
district but nothing has been dedicated to the City up to this point in time.
In addition to dedicating easement rights to Ayres & Sons, the easement
document states that such rights extend to the public in general;
however, there is no evidence that such rights have ever been accepted
by a public agency. The public rights dedicated by such document may be
construed to allow the surrounding landowners and farmers the right to
utilize the easement up to the Aviara property line. If this assumption is
correct, it would eliminate staff's concern regarding farmer and resident
access rights north of Aviara's property line.
4. The City is currently processing improvement plans for the construction of
Black Rail Road from Poinsettia Lane to Aviara Parkway. The plans were
first submitted for processing by the Black Rail property owners when it
was their intention to construct the road by themselves through a
cooperative agreement. For various reasons the property owners dropped
the idea of constructing the improvements on their own and never
resubmitted the plans for second check. The recently reactivated
Cobblestone Sea Village project, located north of the twin reservoirs, has
decided to construct Black Rail Court from their project site to Aviara
Parkway to satisfy their secondary access needs. Additionally, the Ocean
Bluff project, located south of Cobblestone and north of the water tanks,
August 12, 1996
Black Rail Court
Page
was recently conditioned to install a one half street plus 12 foot portion
of Black Rail from the Cobblestone property to Aviara Parkway.
The Black Rail improvement plans have been re-worked by the engineering
consultant for Cobblestone and are currently undergoing plancheck with
the City. In addition, it is our understanding that Cobblestone is seeking
to acquire the necessary road easements from the Black rail property
owners. For various legal reasons, Cobblestone believes new easements
are needed regardless of the previous easement rights held by Aviara.
Through my conversations with Jack Henthorn, who represents the
property owners for both Cobblestone and Ocean Bluff, the owners wish
to begin construction on their projects as soon as possible. Cobblestone
has indicated a desire to start grading work this year while Ocean Bluff
intends to begin construction in the spring of 1997. Of course, these are
developer schedules and could be changed any time at their discretion
depending upon market conditions and available financing. It is also
possible that one or both of the developers may opt to revise their
secondary access to another alignment.
Presupposing that Aviara obtains Council approval to revise their
secondary access to Cassia Road and that they build their project first,
Cobblestone and/or Ocean Bluff may decide to extend Poinsettia Lane
west from Aviara Phase III to Black Rail Court and thence north into their
project sites to obtain secondary access. The advantage of this route for
the developers is that such connection is shorter in distance and the cost
for such work is reimbursable under the proposed Aviara
Parkway/Poinsettia Lane Bridge and Thoroughfare District.
The Cobblestone developer is working with the residents and City staff on
a reimbursement program for the Black Rail Court extension. The cost to
build full width improvements including utility relocation is estimated to
cost in the neighborhood of $800,000. Without a reimbursement
agreement, the developer has indicated their intent to seriously consider
requesting the alternative access route discussed above
5. There is no publicly dedicated access from El Camino Real or Poinsettia
Lane to Black Rail Court. The current access rights to Black Rail Court
occurs along a prescriptive right unpaved road extending from Cassia
Road west to Camino De Las Ondas. This unpaved road generally follows
various water district easements and is known as La Costa Boulevard.
The road is not maintained by the City or the water district. The district
has, along various locations, placed recycled asphalt material and gravel
August 12, 1996 ^, ^ —r
Black Rail Court
Page t * »[
to improve accessibility during inclement weather. The condition of the
unpaved road is fair to poor.
In December of 1995, the developer of Sambi Seaside Heights severed
the western connection of La Costa Boulevard to Camino De Las Ondas
during the construction of the extension of Aviara Parkway north of
Poinsettia Lane. The residents were left without their western access for
approximately three weeks due to the construction activities. Temporary
access was restored in mid January and has been in place ever since.
Upon receiving several complaints about the access road, staff reviewed
the design and determined that additional work should be done to
enhance the safety and driveability of the access. Staff is presently
working with the developer and their engineering consultants to improve
upon the design of this access.
Ultimately, the unpaved access west of Aviara Parkway to Camino De Las
Ondas will be eliminated. Public access will be provided from the
intersection of Poinsettia Lane and Aviara Parkway north along Aviara
Parkway to a right in/out driveway which will serve the La Costa
Boulevard farm access road. The developer has scheduled this access
conversion to occur at the end of this month. Paving of Aviara Parkway
along this stretch is scheduled to be complete in December of this year.
Staff will work with the developer to assure all weather access along this
portion of the access way before the rainy season begins.
If you have any further questions or comments regarding this matter, please give
me a call at X4362.
David Hauser
Assistant City Engineer
City Attorney
Community Development Director
Planning Director
Associate Planner - Grim
City Engineer
APPROVED- DEVELOPMENT CONDITION
CAMINO DE
LAS ONDAS
LEGEND^
COBBLESTONE
TWIN 'D1
RESERVOIRS
EXISTING PAVED ROAD
PROPOSED PAVED ROAD
UNPAVED ROAD
v f '
N.T.S.