San Vicente Road project comments due on June 9

When the meeting started, the number of county employees and consultants equaled the number of Ramona residents—10—but five more members of the public filtered in before county Department of Public Works (DPW) representatives finished their review of improvements planned for San Vicente Road.

The 2.25-mile project between Warnock Drive and 800 feet east of Wildcat Canyon Road is in the Notice of Preparation (NOP) stage, meaning the county is getting ready to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR). The public has until 4 p.m. June 9 to send comments via e-mail to gail.jurgella@sdcounty.ca.gov, by fax to 858-874-4043 or by mail to Gail Jurgella, Environmental Planner, 5469 Kearny Villa Road Suite 305, San Diego, CA 92123.

“We want to be able to get your input on what you think are important things we want to look at when we’re doing the environmental process,” said Ed Zielanski, capital improvement program project manager with DPW. “Also, to open it up for some discussion of the design features you’d like to see.”

Aesthetics, biological resources and cultural resources are project issues identified as potentially significant, said Julia Quinn, with DPW’s Environmental Services Unit, explaining the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and environmental planning process.

Project design is about 30 percent complete, and construction is scheduled from summer 2011 to late 2012. The project goal is to bring the road to current county standards by smoothing the curves for better sight distance, adding 5-foot bike lanes on both sides, adding 10-foot decomposed granite parkway on one side of the road and a pedestrian and equestrian pathway on the other, and adding turn lanes at Warnock and Wildcat Canyon roads.

Transportation Impact Fees and half-cent TransNet taxes will pay for the project, estimated to cost $26.6 million.

Ramona Community Planning Group will discuss the project at its meeting on June 4. The group’s Transportation and Trails Subcommittee will discuss it on June 2. Both meetings will start at 7 p.m. in the Ramona Community Center, 434 Aqua Lane.

Copies of the NOP are in Ramona Library and online at www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dpw/environment/envrnsvcs.html.