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Rainbow MWD approves Rio Estrella time extension

The Rainbow Municipal Water District has approved a time extension for Development Solutions Bon LLC to complete the infrastructure for the Rio Estrella development.

A 3-0 Rainbow board vote, Tuesday, April 28, with Helene Brazier and Michael Mack not able to participate in the meeting, extended the expiration date for which the improvements must be completed from July 11, 2020, to July 11, 2022. The time extension agreement covers completion of water and sewer infrastructure improvements but does not require completion of the homes or other lot improvements themselves.

“That’s a fairly standard extension of time for a development that’s taken longer than anticipated,” Tom Kennedy, Rainbow general manager, said. “They’ve still got a couple of phases they haven’t started working on yet.”

The 11 legal parcels near Camino Del Rey and Old River Road were owned by San Luis Rey Downs Enterprises LLC and the development was known as Golf Green Estates when the county’s Planning Commission approved the tentative parcel map and site plan in 2013.

“The golf course is gone, so it’s no longer Golf Green Estates,” Kennedy said.

The property was also subsequently sold to Development Solutions Bon LLC.

A tentative parcel map becomes a final map after all conditions of the tentative map, other than those for which permits cannot be issued until a final map is recorded, are fulfilled. A final map is required for grading and building permits. The conditions of a final map include secured agreements to ensure that the infrastructure will be built and that payment for labor and materials used to build the infrastructure will be made.

In September 2016, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved the final map to subdivide the 29-acre parcel into 94 residential lots ranging from 6,000 to 19,113 square feet along with eight homeowners association lots. The county supervisors also approved a security agreement to cover completion of the infrastructure including water and sewer facilities. The on-site improvements will include approximately 5,475 feet of water main and 4,618 feet of sewer main.

The security agreement included a performance bond to ensure the improvements’ completion. The bond covered $814,200 for water faculties and $726,000 for sewer infrastructure. The security agreement does not cover capacity fees which are charged to developers to cover the new development's share of existing infrastructure. Rainbow anticipates to receive approximately $3.7 million from water and wastewater capacity fees.

Before the Planning Commission approval San Luis Rey Downs Enterprises LLC submitted a sewer permit application for 116 equivalent dwelling units. The November 2005 application also included a payment of $1,777,000. The sewer permit has been renewed periodically even though the development has not been constructed.

In 2015 Rainbow’s board approved a joint use agreement with the project ownership, the county, the Bonsall Unified School District and San Diego Gas and Electric which focused on utility rights. An agreement approved by Rainbow’s board in May 2016 focused on water and sewer infrastructure to be provided by the developer to serve the project and also addressed the realignment of existing facilities.

In December 2017 the Rainbow board voted to honor the $1,777,000 previously paid for 116 equivalent dwelling units of sewer capacity, to require payment of the full amount of sewer fees required to serve Rio Estrella, and to grant Rainbow the property rights for a lot at Old River Road and Calle de Las Estrellas in exchange for additional capacity credit equal to the lot’s $247,035 value.

That lot will be used for the Schoolhouse Lift Station, whose construction will also be funded by other projects’ capacity fees; Rainbow expects to issue a request for proposals for the lift station contract in late summer.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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