The developers of a retail center that would include a Major Market think Valley Center Municipal Water District figures for building a sewer to serve it are too high. On Wednesday, Nov. 19, they plan to unveil their own cost estimates.
Wednesday’s informational meeting on the South Village Wastewater Service Area Project will occur at 6 p.m., in the VCMWD district boardroom.
District staffers will discuss the projected costs for the $14.3 million project. These costs were included in a package mailed to interested parties on Nov. 7.
It lists estimated assessments and includes a copy of the wastewater service agreement that asks participants to signal their commitment to pay funds for the projects’ design phase.
They are asked to make a decision by Dec. 5.
If enough land owners commit to go forward, the district will proceed to the next step. If not, the larger assessment district project will be stalled. However, private developers could decide to go forward with a privately funded expansion. This was how the original Woods Valley Reclamation System was built.
Cost estimates range from $21,700 per EDU (equivalent dwelling unit), for treatment only, to $105,000 for treatment plus extensive collection lines.
The median cost per EDU is estimated at $39,000. The more who participate in the project, the less the cost per EDU.
The project was started at the request of several property owners, including Village Development, LLC, which includes the Bell and ALTI properties. They want to get started building their project as soon as possible and don’t want to wait until the County completes its general plan update. They asked to move ahead of other land owners who are waiting to see what the final approved densities will be.
These same parties are objecting to the projected costs.
Wayne Hilbig, of Village Redevelopment, LLC, this week told The Roadrunner, “Sewer plants today are very expensive. I realize the district is making a big effort to analyze the elements, but I do not yet understand why the projected staff time, as currently stated, exceeds $1.1 million dollars.”
According to Hilbig that cost is more than twice the design cost than estimated by the design engineer who will likely design the expansion.
“He also designed the existing Woods Valley plant,” said Hilbig.
He added, “If staff is paid $60/hour, that provides for 12 people working 40 hours/week for an entire year. If they are paid $120/hr that means six people working 40 hours/week for an entire year to total $1,136,944 (their current number).
Village Redevelopment LLC, created by Bell and ALTI, is to be the entity designing the plant and signing the construction contract plus providing an independent expert(s) to oversee construction with building plans pre-approved by the VCMWD.
“I cannot imagine what one staff member would do for 40 hours per week, not to mention several people. I am hopeful the high per EDU cost can be reduced by re-visiting the staff time and cost,” said Hilbig.
Gary Arant, general manager of VCMWD, reacted to Hilbig’s comments: “I agree with Mr. Hilbig, the per EDU costs are high.
“If we move forward with a small scale expansion as Bell Enterprises and Alti Corporation insist that we do at this time, then the per EDU costs are going to be high.”
Arant said that one option to reduce costs would be to delay the project until the County’s general plan update is completed and the economy improves.
“With more certainty about the new zoning, and improved housing and commercial market, we might get more properties to participate which would bring down the per edu price.”
He said the district and staff is open to that approach and something the board, “should seriously consider prior to making the final commitment to move forward at this time.”
He noted that in 1997 the Board of Supervisors terminated the County Assessment District project because many people thought, at $18,000 per EDU, it was too expensive.
“Today, eleven years later, we are estimating the average cost at $37,500 per EDU and we are hearing that it is too expensive. “
The costs will only climb with time, Arant said.
The general manager conceded that $1.1 million “seems like a lot” for staff time, but added, “We arrive at that number, not on a detailed estimate of hours to be charged to the project, but based upon a well accepted factors used in estimating project costs.
“Remember, the actual project cost will be what the actual project costs will be when we have paid all of the related soft costs(legal, financing, etc.) and we open the bids for the project.”
The district’s numbers are based on estimates from various sources, such as financial advisors, law firms, engineering consultants and VCMWD staff. They are conservative numbers, according to Arant, rather than “overly optimistic.”
“If people plan on and can accept the conservative number, and the number come in at the conservative number, then no one is surprised and we move forward. However, if everyone does their economics on a optimistic, low number, and actual costs come in higher, then we risk having the project turned down at the protest hearing stage, and all the money spent planning, design, and legal costs to that point goes down the drain.”
He added that “staff” expensive actually include all project management costs over a period of between 2-2.5 years. It includes district staff time, specialized engineering review, project management, and inspection services that might be used to complete the project.
“The actual project management costs may be less, they may be more, but at the end of the day, these costs are what they are for the project, and the project has to pay its own way,” said Arant.
He said the district is open to any cost saving suggestions.
“However, we are just wrapping up the Woods Valley Ranch Water Reclamation Project and the Live Oak Ranch Water Reclamation Project design and we have some pretty current numbers to base our estimates on for the expansion project, but we'll see.”
One expense that the developers are trying to get the district to decrease is the redundancy of building two treatment modules, each capable of treating about 50,000 gallons per day, but which can, if pushed to the maximum, treat 100,000 gpd for short periods. If one shuts down for whatever reason, the remaining module could pull the load until the first one is back on line.
According to the presentation to the board Monday by District Engineer Wally Grabbe, Bell and Alti have argued with staff for building a single module to add to the two that are already there to treat the homes of Woods Valley Ranch.
Grabbe said, “If I lose one module I have another module that can take the flow. That’s important because I have to treat the flow. I can’t store it and save it. It would take eight trucks a day to pump and haul that much away.”
If a module does the work of two, its treatment membrane will wear out sooner.
Membranes will last their full life at the normal capacity, but at 100,000 gpd they will wear out faster.
One reason that Bell and ALTI want to proceed now, in a poor economic climate, is that they expect construction costs to be lower.
Grabbe said that if more property owners sign up for the sewer, that will bring down the cost. That might include bringing in owners along the lines who haven’t yet committed.
“There are a lot of gaps of people that lines are going by. We can get a lot more EDUs in without more cost.”
They can’t go beyond current land use densities, even though the County is contemplating higher densities.
“It’s a little bit of a gamble,” commented Arant. “You buy the EDUs hoping than you can use them.”
Arant added that once a property owner makes the decision to opt out of the sewer, that owner will have to wait probably many years for the next expansion.
If enough property owners decide to participate in the sewer expansion, staff will come back to the board in January and ask for the go ahead to design the facility. That will take six months, and will be followed by bids and awarding of the project to a contractor and forming the assessment district. Those actions could be completed a year from now. Bond sales would follow and would probably be completed by March of 2010, with the plant being completed by late 2010.
“I would hope that the property owners would see the wisdom of going forward,” said Arant.
Three members of Light of the Valley Lutheran Church working on the construction of their “Live Nativity” setting. LOV will take part in the Country Christmas at Bates Nut Farm Dec 12 – 14. Shown are Jim Walker, John Buerfeind and Bob Carlin.
The Miss Valley Center Scholarship Pageant is seeking contestants for the 2009 pageant, which will be held March 21 at the Maxine Theater.
The pageant comes after a one-year hiatus. There were not enough contestants to hold the event last year.
The event provides the opportunity for one talented, intelligent, and well spoken young woman to become Miss Valley Center.
The deadline and orientation day is Saturday, Jan. 17, at noon at Ann’s School of Dance. It is mandatory that each contestant attend.
Miss Valley Center serves as an ambassador of the community throughout the San Diego area, gains the admiration of fellow residents and has the opportunity to win a scholarship, cash, and prizes. This will be the 41st year the unincorporated area of Valley Center will crown a queen.
Entries for the pageant, which will happen on March 21, 2009 are available from the high school, Mimi’s Nails, or call Debra Jockinsen, the pageant director.
You can mail your entries to the Valley Center Pageant Assn., POB 2177, Valley Center, CA 92082-2177. Contestants must be 17 years old by Jan. 17, 2009 and no older than 25 by May 1, at least a junior at an accredited high school, never married or pregnant and of high moral character.
Also this year the organizers will be adding a Junior Miss Pageant. Contestants must be 14 by Jan. 17, 2009 and no older than 16 by January 17, 2009, never been married or pregnant and of high moral character.
The pageant includes opportunities for personal growth, scholarship funds, many prizes and experiences that last a lifetime.
Brittany Byler, Miss VC 2007, has spent her reign attending many high profile community and charitable events throughout San Diego.
The Miss Valley Center Pageant is produced by the Valley Center Pageant Assn., a non-profit organization, committed to providing opportunities for the education and personal growth for young women in Valley Center.
Donations of goods, services and education funds help improve the program. For more information, call Mrs. Jockinsen at 751-1051.
Normally you think of a cast and director “bringing a play to life,” however there are others that perform a role in the magic of theater.
Among the most important is the set designer. Recently Ira Goode, who has built literally dozens of sets for plays in Chicago, Escondido, and since 2002 in Valley Center, completed the set for Mr. Scrooge’s Christmas, a production of the Valley Center Community Theater (VCCT), which will play at Bates Nut Farm under a large white tent, Dec. 12, 13 & 14 for five performances.
Goode, a professional carpenter and electrician by trade for 50 years, got involved in theatrical set building with The Music Man for Music On Stage, in Palatine, Illinois in the spring of 1994 when daughter Allison was cast in a role.
His wife, Carrie, bragged about his abilities so much that they hired him on the spot! Since then, he has worked on many productions such as Summer Stock Murders (also as set designer), Sweet Charity, Bye Bye Birdie, Cinderella, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof and Meet Me In St. Louis.
His set for VCCT’s production of The King & I won an award two years ago, but only after it was borrowed by Patio Playhouse for their production of the same play!
Goode is a man who has never stopped learning how to be better at his trade, even though he is retired. Several years ago he took Palomar College’s woodworking class, which he highly recommends to anyone who wants to feel more confident around woodworking tools.
Using some of those skills, he is currently working on a vanity for his Cole Grade Road home’s bathroom.
Despite his obvious love of the theater, Goode says he has no interest in acting, although a director was able to persuade him to play an extra once, in the stage adaptation of TV’s ER: Emergency Room.
Goode likes to build modular sets that can be used and reused and cannibalized for other productions.
He leaves the painting of the sets to someone else.
The biggest set he has worked on was for the aforementioned The King & I.
“That took me four months to build. THAT was a big set!”
* * *
Charles Dickens’s timeless classic A Christmas Carol has been reworked slightly and retitled Mr. Scrooge’s Christmas combined with a low-cost, family-oriented event called “A Country Christmas.”
It is scheduled for Dec. 12, 13 & 14 under a big tent at Bates Nut Farm. There will be a total of five performances.
The event is being put on jointly by Valley Center Community Theater (VCCT) and Bates.
Check out www.vcct.org for more info. Buy tickets from individual performers and at Bates Nut Farm on the days of the performance for $10 apiece.
Despite pleas and attempts to keep the Palomar Mountain trash bin site open once a month, Allied Waste Services will close it at the end of this month.
It will also close similar bin sites in Boulevard and Julian.
Critics expect that this will result in Backcountry highways being littered by those who don’t want to drive their trash 20 miles or more to the nearest sites in Ramona and Borrego Springs.
Others are blaming the County’s Board of Supervisors for creating the situation when they privatized the County’s landfills several years ago, and then when it sold them to private parties but didn’t require that they keep the bin sites open.
According to residents who talked with representatives of Allied, the bin is being closed for financial reasons. It wouldn’t matter how many petitions are turned in, the company is done with that site.
According to these unnamed representatives of Allied, the company would have closed the bin sites ten years ago if they could have.
These residents were told that the reason they can't be open one weekend a month is because “there is a state law that requires that people dispose of their trash once a week.”
So it remains to be seen whether old refrigerators, sofas and broken chairs will begin appearing along Backcountry roads.
Since the bin site is actually on Cleveland National Forest land, although leased to Allied, some residents are exploring the possibility that the National Forest Service may have an interest in ensuring trash collection to avoid trash building up on forest land.
Some are also looking at the possibility of renting bins through Ramona Disposal Service.
For those hardy souls who want to transport their own trash bags, the following locations are sort of in the area:
The Ramona Dump located at the end of Pamo Road.
Fallbrook Transfer Station, Edco operates, 550 W. Aviation Rd. 760-728-6114
Escondido Transfer Station
1440 W. Washington Ave.
Dorothy Mallett Slusser of Valley Center, known to her many friends as “Dottie,” died, Nov. 16, after a lingering illness.
She had recently been residing in the Life Care of Escondido nursing home where she died due to the aftermath of pneumonia.
Mrs. Slusser was born May 26, 1922 in Wichita, Kansas but lived most of her youth in and around Joplin, Missouri.
She moved to live with her aunt in Kansas City (KC) after her parents’ death. In KC she attended high school, graduating second in her class of 500.
She studied aviation in Tucson, Arizona and got her federal license to teach aerial navigation and celestial navigation.
She was hired by Braniff Airways in Dallas to teach navigation. One of her students was future husband Gerald “Gerry” Slusser.
In late 1942 Braniff was awarded a contract with the War Department to teach advanced flying in Brownsville, Texas. Dottie was transferred there to teach navigation to military pilots. That assignment lasted until her marriage to Gerry Slusser on Nov. 24, 1943.
They honeymooned in Acapulco and were transferred to Dallas where they lived until 1948. They decided that he should quit flying (he was then an airline captain) and go into the Presbyterian Ministry.
That meant four years of school for Gerry during which Dorothy was the breadwinner. Both had been active in a large Presbyterian church in Dallas.
She established a well-baby clinic in West Dallas and became a secretary in their church. He finished up his BA at SMU.
After his graduation they moved to Austin, Texas, where he attended the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary for three years and she started a business as a professional typist mainly typing doctoral theses for students.
Together they started a new church in a Dallas suburb.
That same year their first son, Peter was born, followed by Andrew.
As Gerry became the co-pastor of a large wealthy suburban church in North Dallas, Dottie became a foster mother to a series of half dozen children who had come under the care of the Presbyterian Child Care Agency.
In 1958 they left for the University of Texas for two years where he got his Ph.D. in preparation to teach at the seminary.
Dottie there began her writing career. She wrote her first book, titled Bible Stories Retold For Adults, published by Westmin-ster Press in 1960.
They were given a year’s sabbatical to do post graduate study in theology at the University of Glasgow, where they resided for a year. Then Gerry became Asst. Professor of religious education for the next three years at Hartford University.
There she finished her second book: At The Foot of the Mountain subtitled Stories from the book of Exodus.
Their next call was to Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, where Gerry was given a full professorship titled professor of theology and education. She finished her third book, co-authored with Gerry, titled The Jesus of Mark’s Gospel.
They also co-wrote Technology, the God That Failed published in 1971.
Her interests in ecology led her to be active in the local St. Louis group. She organized and led the first Earth Day there, one of the earliest in the nation.
After moving to Valley Center following Gerry’s retirement, Dottie started to work in the library. For several years she wrote reviews of new books for The Roadrunner. After the new library building was completed with its place for a Library Friend’s Bookstore, she helped get that project running and served on its continuing staff until her stroke in August 2006.
This paralyzed her left side, making it impossible for her to do further writing or to follow her most joyful aspects of life, reading and listening to music.
She lived most of the time since her stroke in the Life Care Center of Escondido.
The family is deeply grieved at her loss and plan a memorial service for early December at Valley Center Library.
Send memorial gifts to your favorite charity, to Doctors Without Borders, to the local Salvation army or to any environmental group e.g. Sierra Club.
Longtime school board trustee Wendy Zeugschmidt, holding memento, says goodbye to members Lori Johnson and Henry Van Wyk Thursday night. She is retiring after 18 years on the board.
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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