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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.