KDM Meridian to survey Rainbow MWD headquarters parcels

The Rainbow Municipal Water District headquarters property consists of four separate legal parcels, but no monument markers identify the boundaries of each parcel. KDM Meridian will be providing a Record of Survey for the Rainbow district to rectify that.

A 5-0 Rainbow board vote Dec. 4 authorized Rainbow general manager Tom Kennedy to execute a professional services agreement with KDM, whose office is in Lake Forest, for a Record of Survey. The action also appropriated $75,000 to Rainbow’s Capital Improvement Program budget for the project with $57,460 of expenses being for the Record of Survey and the remaining amount earmarked for implementation, administration and a request for proposals for the planning efforts which might lead to Rainbow selling portions of the headquarters property.

“The district is instituting a long-term plan for potentially getting a partnership for our property here,” Kennedy said.

The four parcels are contiguous, but the property has never been monumented. A Record of Survey documents the evidence and procedures used by a licensed land surveyor to determine boundaries and would show the new monuments set to define the boundaries as well as the easements on the property. A Record of Survey is reviewed by the county Surveyor’s Office and recorded with the county recorder.

A Record of Survey will also allow potential buyers of part of the property to identify available land for development uses, allow planners to analyze zoning and resolve other issues which require exact boundary locations.

The total property is approximately 34 acres.

“We believe we need 12, maybe 14, acres,” Kennedy said.

The headquarters office was constructed in the early 1970s.

“It’s well undersized for our needs,” Kennedy said.

Sale of part of the headquarters land would help to cover the cost of a replacement building.

“The cost of a new building wouldn’t be something the ratepayers would pay for,” Kennedy said. “We also feel that this property here on the corner would be an attractive place for commercial establishments.”

That would benefit nearby residents and visitors as well as the district coffers.

“I think the community would benefit from that,” Kennedy said. “We want to maximize the benefit of this.”

Rainbow’s five-year plan calls for the first capital expenditures for the new district headquarters during 2022-2023, although the appropriation of funding into the 2018-2019 budget allows the project planning to proceed.

“The first thing we have to do is to have the lots properly surveyed,” Kennedy said.

Rainbow staff released a request for proposals to provide land surveying services for a Record of Survey Sept. 26. Five firms responded by the Oct. 22 deadline. A selection committee comprised of staff from Rainbow's engineering department evaluated the executive summary, project description, consultant identification, project organization and experience, past performance and local experience of each bidder. KDM, which is already one of Rainbow’s three “on-call” surveyors, was deemed to be the most qualified to perform the work.