New Plans and Public Funding Restart Rambla
Road Work
• Residents Feel Pressure to Move
Quickly Because of Current Fire Danger
Rambla Pacifico area homeowners were
all set to see a plan for a private/public road become reality
until the construction bids returned with price tags about
double what their budget was.
Despite the setback, the Lower Rambla
Pacifico Road Owners Association is moving ahead with a new
plan within its budget and has increased its efforts to get
some kind of access in quickly because of the current high fire
danger.
The separate issue of an emergency
accessway is still under negotiations with the La Costa
Homeowners Association, according to LRPROA president
Scott Dittrich.
That is just part of the plans that will
require more permits from the city and homeowners hope there
will be needed cash as well from municipal officials who last
week renewed their promise of $200,000 for the private/public
road, which would connect lower Rambla Pacifico with the upper
portions of the road, thereby saving residents a seven-mile
trip for a two-mile distance.
Residents emphasize it is not just a matter
of convenience, but also the larger issue of safety, especially
during disasters.
Dittrich said the new roadway winds down
from upper Rambla and will connect in a different location with
lower Rambla than originally planned and permitted by the city.
Current plans call for the roadway to
switchback from the top of the slide where it will connect with
the existing intact portion of Rambla Pacifico and continue to
switchback along the slide mass to connect to the existing
paved portions of lower Rambla just inland from Pacific
Coast Highway.
During a short on-site inspection, Dittrich
showed a reporter how one section of the roadway that would
have required expensive caissons for reinforcement will be
abandoned and bypassed—an area known as Pop’s
Pass.
Currently, bulldozers and other
construction equipment are clearing out some of the brush and
outlining a swath that would be followed by the newly planned
roadway. Dittrich said the work is being undertaken for aerial
surveys to determine if the new plans will fly.
The road owner’s spokesperson pointed
out how the group had purchased many of the lots in the slide
area and the underlying easements that will allow them to
control access.
The private portion of the roadway will be
gated at each end where the public street then picks up again.
The Rambla Pacifico Road redo got the green
light from the city last December.
When the construction contract was put out
to bid, all of the bids were a million dollars or more over the
association’s budget allocation.
Certain sections of the road are not
considered “geologically acceptable,” and
consequently those sections are being designated a private road
with gated restricted access.
The number of motorists is limited to the
people who join the road association. At last count, there were
57 homeowners—most in the city—who belong to the
association.
