Moraga Town Council members Michael Metcalf and Dave Trotter appealed a March 3 Planning Commission decision to approve the Hetfield Estates General Development Plan and Conditional Use Permit. They acted separately, but for similar reasons - both want the question of an Emergency Vehicle Access to the Sanders Ranch development, which the Planning Commission replaced with a simple walking path, to be studied de novo and for residents to be given the opportunity to express their views on this safety issue.
Metcalf would also like to see the number of parking spots reviewed. The Town Council is tentatively scheduled to discuss the appeal at its April 23 meeting.
Developer John Wyro initially proposed an Emergency Vehicle Access in his plan for the Hetfield Estates, as a public benefit, but the Planning Commission removed it when it appeared to commissioners that its construction might be challenging and that the Sanders Ranch Homeowners Association was not interested in an EVA. Opting instead for a trail connecting Hetfield Estates to the Old Moraga Ranch Trail, the commission decided that an easement should be maintained in case the Moraga-Orinda Fire District ever required an EVA.
"When Sanders Ranch was built in the late '70s and early '80s, the Moraga Fire Protection District determined that the response time to the new development would be unacceptable and imposed as one of the conditions of approval the construction of an EVA connecting the development to Sanders Drive," recalled Dick Olsen, who served on the fire district's board at the time. As construction continued, Olsen noticed that no EVA was being built. He remembers being told that the property owner of the land the EVA would go through would not give a free right of way. "The compromise was then to have every home equipped with inside fire sprinklers and to post guards 24/7 at the entrance of the property who would be trained in emergency medical response," added Olsen. "From my perspective, the compromise solution was much less effective than an EVA," he said.
According to Stan Ross, a Sanders Ranch Homeowners Association board member, when Wyro contacted them about the project there was as much interest in the EVA as there were questions. "How will the roadway impact neighborhood security and prevent unauthorized access into the development? How will the roadway be constructed? What would be the cost of the maintenance? Those were some of our questions," said Roth, "and we never got answers from the developer."
Roth himself is passionate about emergency response time. He was one of the leaders of the effort to remove the speed tables on Camino Pablo a few years ago on the grounds that the traffic calming features would increase response time. "I am interested in the concept of an emergency second exit from the development, and I'm interested in the concept of emergency response vehicles being able to access Sanders Ranch directly from Sanders Drive, but my concern is if the thing would actually work," he said.
Trotter suggested that the issues of funding and the actual construction of the EVA could be discussed separately. "Even if the construction of the EVA is delayed until a complete EVA linkage to Sanders Ranch Road is achieved, the Town can still require the developer to fund the estimated costs of the construction now," he wrote in his appeal.
"I appealed this decision (suppression of the EVA), because I want to give the people in Sanders Ranch an opportunity to have a say," said Metcalf, who also appealed the Planning Commission's decision to suppress three on-street parking spaces. "It is not a good idea to displace the parking from a neighborhood to another street," he said. "I'd like to give the opportunity to find out more about this."
Metcalf would also like to see the number of parking spots reviewed. The Town Council is tentatively scheduled to discuss the appeal at its April 23 meeting.
Developer John Wyro initially proposed an Emergency Vehicle Access in his plan for the Hetfield Estates, as a public benefit, but the Planning Commission removed it when it appeared to commissioners that its construction might be challenging and that the Sanders Ranch Homeowners Association was not interested in an EVA. Opting instead for a trail connecting Hetfield Estates to the Old Moraga Ranch Trail, the commission decided that an easement should be maintained in case the Moraga-Orinda Fire District ever required an EVA.
"When Sanders Ranch was built in the late '70s and early '80s, the Moraga Fire Protection District determined that the response time to the new development would be unacceptable and imposed as one of the conditions of approval the construction of an EVA connecting the development to Sanders Drive," recalled Dick Olsen, who served on the fire district's board at the time. As construction continued, Olsen noticed that no EVA was being built. He remembers being told that the property owner of the land the EVA would go through would not give a free right of way. "The compromise was then to have every home equipped with inside fire sprinklers and to post guards 24/7 at the entrance of the property who would be trained in emergency medical response," added Olsen. "From my perspective, the compromise solution was much less effective than an EVA," he said.
According to Stan Ross, a Sanders Ranch Homeowners Association board member, when Wyro contacted them about the project there was as much interest in the EVA as there were questions. "How will the roadway impact neighborhood security and prevent unauthorized access into the development? How will the roadway be constructed? What would be the cost of the maintenance? Those were some of our questions," said Roth, "and we never got answers from the developer."
Roth himself is passionate about emergency response time. He was one of the leaders of the effort to remove the speed tables on Camino Pablo a few years ago on the grounds that the traffic calming features would increase response time. "I am interested in the concept of an emergency second exit from the development, and I'm interested in the concept of emergency response vehicles being able to access Sanders Ranch directly from Sanders Drive, but my concern is if the thing would actually work," he said.
Trotter suggested that the issues of funding and the actual construction of the EVA could be discussed separately. "Even if the construction of the EVA is delayed until a complete EVA linkage to Sanders Ranch Road is achieved, the Town can still require the developer to fund the estimated costs of the construction now," he wrote in his appeal.
"I appealed this decision (suppression of the EVA), because I want to give the people in Sanders Ranch an opportunity to have a say," said Metcalf, who also appealed the Planning Commission's decision to suppress three on-street parking spaces. "It is not a good idea to displace the parking from a neighborhood to another street," he said. "I'd like to give the opportunity to find out more about this."
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA