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Friday's Internet Edition, September 03, 2010.
RMA holds meeting to discuss community center
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Photo by Sheri Barile
Rancho Murieta Association General Manager Nick Arther fields questions from about 40 residents at an open meeting about a proposed community center held Aug. 21.
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By Sheri Barile
River Valley Times Reporter
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Rancho Murieta Association held the first of three tentatively scheduled meetings on Aug. 21 to hear public comments and questions about a proposed recreation and aquatic center and to provide more information about conceptual plans.
Plan concepts for the $3.8 million proposed facility were presented to residents in the form of a survey/brochure mailed out last month.
Approximately 40 people turned out to participate in the discussion led by RMA General Manager Nick Arther and RMA board Director Randy Jenco. Topics discussed included potential sites, funding and resident opinions about the potential economic and environmental impacts of such a facility.
Arther opened the discussion by reminding the public that the plans in the brochure are conceptual and that specifics will be developed once RMA gets a good read on what the community wants. “Our goal is to find out (first) if the community wants a recreation/aquatic center,” Arther said. “Once we figure that out, we’ll start getting into the real specifics and actually come up with a design, specific location and exact funding – although we think the funding is pretty close.”
Preliminary funding projections outlined in the brochure established four options for resident assessments including a one-time payment of $1,100.
Resident George Roper asked about the funding projections. “How sure are you of the numbers you came up with, because I really like the numbers,” he said. “I think it’s very doable.”
Jenco expressed confidence. “In this economy, we’re building things for the same prices we were 10 years ago, and these numbers were good six or seven years ago,” he said. “So we’re proceeding under the assumption that they’re still good.”
In addition to questions about funding, residents asked about potential sites for the center. The conceptual plans in the brochure place the center adjacent to the RMA building on property bordered by Murieta Parkway and Highway 16. This land is currently zoned for low-income housing by the county.
Arther mentioned other potential sites including property adjacent to the 11th hole on the North golf course and the original school site on Escuela Drive (across from Stonehouse Park).
Jenco offered another possibility, which would involve striking a deal with RM Community Services District to move the current RMA maintenance yard to property near their offices and build the new center where the maintenance yard is located now.
In addition, Jenco said that locating the center near the pedestrian bridge, possibly on RM South, would make it more accessible to the community. “In my mind, access to the South or actually putting it on the South, would make a lot of sense,” Jenco said. “There is property over there by Riverview Park, but there are a lot of question marks on that because it was owned by a developer, and we’re not even sure the developer is still in business. It may be owned by a bank.”
Opinions shared by residents at the meeting were diverse. Many favored the concept of a recreation and aquatic center including representatives from the RM Mom’s group. Jennifer Eathorne said the group has 120 members. “That’s 120 families that are represented in our group,” she said. “I just think it would be such a wonderful addition to our community. There are so many families with young children moving out here that need something like this.”
Others in attendance had the opposite perspective. “I’m not going to use it, and I don’t want to pay for it,” one woman said. “I’m not interested in supporting something that’s going to be for a lot of other people.”
Another woman agreed. “I moved here for the community we had,” she said. “I don’t want to see changes to the extent that we have more services than we need.”
A man in the audience questioned the timing of such a capitol project. “With 600-plus people in foreclosure in the 95683 area, would this be the time now to get into something like this?” he asked. “You’ve got to think ahead a little bit.”
Jenco responded. “We get monthly reports on who’s paying their dues and who’s not, and it’s not nearly that number,” he said. “By building it now in this economy, we’re going to get a lot more bang for our buck.”
Resident Frank Pumilia tried to put things in perspective for naysayers in the room. “Some of the people are concerned about our dues going up,” he said. “I don’t know if any of you have lived in other communities that have homeowners associations, but this place is the bargain of the century.”
Arther said that, as of Aug. 20, RMA had received 300 of the 2,319 survey response cards sent out, and 78% to 80% said yes to a community center. The member survey cards are due by Sept. 15.
The next open meeting on the proposed recreation and aquatic center is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 11 at 1 p.m. in the RMA building.
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