| CUSD sends County of Orange a letter regarding Los Patrones Parkway construction project and the potential harmful effects of the road on school children. |
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This letter contains factual errors. CUSD has a legal obligation to protect students and staff from the long-term, irreparable health issues that will result from having a Toll Road less than 100 feet from the school. CUSD has an obligation to file a Petition for Injunction to force a Temporary Stop Work Order to determine the health and safety risks to staff and students with the road in its current alignment.
Factual Correction Number 1:
The TCA is building the Oso Bridge Connection, but the County is the Lead Agency for CEQA for the Oso Bridge Connection Project. CalTrans or TCA should be the Lead agency for CEQA. Source: http://www.ocpublicworks.com/civicax/inc/blobfetch.aspx?BlobID=65775
Source: http://www.ocpublicworks.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=64727 page 1-1 The County of Orange is the Lead Agency for CEQA for the F Street project being built by Rancho Mission Viejo. Factual Correction Number 2:
CUSD originally denied owning parcel 82 until the issue was challenged at the June 28, 2017 BOT Meeting (see: https://cusdwatch.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/276-capistrano-unified-school-district-makes-false-representations-to-the-public). A formal request was made to the County to issue a Temporary Stop Work Order to check the alignment of the road as it is being constructed with the alignment in the approved FEIR 584 & 589. A substantial change in alignment would require a new environmental review. In the County's response, Satinder Verma's letter referred to a "Temporary Construction Easement" for which CUSD would have received compensation. (For details see: https://cusdwatch.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/301-cusd-publishes-toll-road-faq)
Did CUSD give permission to the Ranch /County of Orange to grade within 100 feet of Tesoro High School with out a "PROTECTIVE BARRIER"? The original EIR required a wall 10' high and 3,700' long to be built to protect Tesoro High School a known "SENSITIVE RECEPTOR". There is no wall protecting Tesoro High School as required.
Factual Correction Number 3:
F Street and the Oso Bridge Project are already underway. The County lied in documents in order to obtain approval of the F Street Project permits. In the Addendum to final EIR NOs 584 and 589 The Ranch Plan "F" Street Alignment (Cow Camp Road to Oso Parkway Permit ST140005 the TCA/County/Ranch/ changed the document to state that THERE ARE NO SENSITIVE RECEPTORS WITHIN THE RANCH PLAN AREA, and proceeded to grade the extension to the 241 Toll Road 800' closer to Tesoro than originally planned. ALL SCHOOLS ARE, BY DEFINITION "SENSITIVE RECEPTORS". "Prior to issuance of a Grading Permit a vegetative buffer zone, including trees and shrubs, will be placed between grading sites and residential areas or other locations where sensitive receipts can be reasonably expected." http://pcpw.ocpublicworks.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=64727 Appendix A-7
Even with the original alignment 800 feet father away from Tesoro- the original EIR mandated that to protect the students and staff a 10' high wall 3,700' long be built between Tesoro High School and the road. The Ranch was NOT suppose to get a Grading Permit without a protective barrier. The site has NO PROTECTIVE BARRIER AT ALL. Factual Correction Number 4:
Clark is missing the point that the California Water Board denied the TCA discharge permits for the 241 Toll Road Extension on June 19, 2013. The TCA appealed and the denial was up-held on March 16, 2015. So what the Ranch did was file an application for a wastewater discharge permit for F Street (a FREE arterial road). The permit that was granted was for the grading of Los Patrones as a Free Arterial Road and explicitly stated that this permit was NOT for the 241 Extension. The Permit granted to the Ranch specifically states at page 2: "The Applicant proposes to construct a new County of Orange arterial road called "F" Street that will extend approximately 5.5 miles from Cow Camp Road north to Oso Parkway, at the current terminus of State Route-241 (SR-241 ). In the future, "F" Street will be renamed to Los Rancho Mission Viejo - 2 - "F" Street from "A" Street to Oso Parkway Project Certification No. R9-2014-0144 June 4, 2015 Patrones Parkway. "F" Street is not the Tesoro Extension of SR-241 that was denied waste discharge requirements by the San Diego Water Board in 2013 (in the proceedings on Tentative Order No. R9-2013-0007) or a facility related to the SR-241 and the Tesoro Extension is not covered by this Certification. "F" Street will be operated by the County of Orange as a free road . "F" Street is proposed to be a County of Orange Rural Secondary Highway, modified to include a raised median and a future community trail on the west side. "F" Street supports development of the Applicant's Planning Area 2 and Planning Area 3 projects, provides an alternate route to Antonio Parkway, and improves vehicle throughput to the SR-241 . On June 24, 2014, the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement for Grant of Fee Credits with the Applicant, which will allow the County to grant fee credits to the Applicant and accept the road right-of-way and improvements if the Applicant constructs "F" Street. As a modified Rural Secondary Highway, the roadway will consist of two twelve-foot through lanes, eight-foot shoulders in both directions, and a fixed median between approximately stations 1 05+00 and 230+00 that is 1 0-11 feet wide and widens to accommodate connections to "A" Street and Oso Parkway. South of "A" Street the median is up to 58 feet wide. "F" Street will have a design speed of 70 mph and a posted speed limit of 65 mph. This is consistent with the approved Letter of Geometric Alignment Recommendation and Geometric Approval Drawing referenced in the above-mentioned Fee Credit Agreement. At its northern terminus, "F" Street will connect to Oso Parkway at the at-grade existing intersections of the on and off-ramps from the SR-241. Local access to the north end of the Applicant's Planning Area 2 project from "F" Street will be via "A" Street, with access to "A" Street provided via a grade separated half-expressway-interchange, with access to and from the north. At its southern terminus, "F" Street will terminate at Cow Camp Road as an at-grade signalized tee intersection." The Ranch lied in its application. The grading of a Toll Road instead of a Free Arterial Road violates the application which should stop all construction uuntil a new environmental review is completed.
Factual Correction Number 5:
The measurement that should be taken is from the road construction to the school property boundary, not the school. CUSD denied owning lot 82 until recently so the road is even closer to CUSDs' property boundary than CUSD originally thought. http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/schoolsiteguide.asp Proximity to Major RoadwaysThe California Code of Regulations, Title 5, Section 14010(e), states: "The site shall not be adjacent to a road or freeway that any site-related traffic and sound level studies have determined will have safety problems or sound levels which adversely affect the educational program." Trucks traveling on public roads - including interstate freeways, state highways, and local roads - often contain the same hazardous materials that railcars on railroads contain. Although the quantities of materials being carried on trucks are smaller for a double trailer or tanker in comparison to a railcar, trucks have a greater incidence of accidents, spills, and explosions than do railcars. Moreover, the protective enclosures of a truck are not as strong as are those of a railcar. When evaluating a site near a major roadway, a school district needs to ask questions similar to those used in evaluating risk from rail lines:
County road departments are also a good source for traffic flow and accident information in the local area. The school district may wish to consult the city or county general plan "Noise Element" to help evacuate school sites near major roadways. Like railroad setbacks, highway setbacks from schools are not established in law. However, experience and practice indicate that distances of at least 2,500 feet are advisable when explosives are carried and at least 1,500 feet when gasoline, diesel, propane, chlorine, oxygen, pesticides, and other combustible or poisonous gases are transported. In the absence of specific, legally defined setback distances for schools, the Department reviews each case individually. NoiseNoise is unwanted or harmful sound; sound that is too loud is distracting or, worse, injurious. The loudness of sound is measured in decibels. Each decibel level equates to the amount of acoustical energy necessary to produce that level of sound. The decibel scale is exponential. A person's whisper may be measure at 20 decibels. The sound measured at 30 decibels is ten times as loud as the 20 decibel whisper. The normal range of conversation is between 34 and 66 decibels. Between 70 and 90 decibels, sound is distracting and presents an obstacle to conversation, thinking, or learning. Above 90 decibels, sound can cause permanent hearing loss. The California Department of Transportation considers sound at 50 decibels in the vicinity of schools to be the point at which it will take corrective action for noise generated by freeways. (See Streets and Highway Code sections 216 and 216.1.) If the school district is considering a potential school site near a freeway or other source of noise, it should hire an acoustical engineer to determine the level of sound that location is subjected to and to assist in designing the school should that site be chosen. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASLHA) guidelines recommend that in classrooms sounds dissipate in 0.4 seconds or less (and not reverberate) and that background noise not rise above 30 decibels. Factual Correction Number 6:
The permits were based on the construction of a roadway will consist of two twelve-foot through lanes, eight-foot shoulders in both directions, and a fixed median between approximately stations 1 05+00 and 230+00 that is 1 0-11 feet wide and widens to accommodate connections to "A" Street and Oso Parkway. South of "A" Street the median is up to 58 feet wide. "F" Street will have a design speed of 70 mph and a posted speed limit of 65 mph. This is consistent with the approved Letter of Geometric Alignment Recommendation and Geometric Approval Drawing referenced in the above-mentioned Fee Credit Agreement. At its northern terminus, "F" Street will connect to Oso Parkway at the at-grade existing intersections of the on and off-ramps from the SR-241. Local access to the north end of the Applicant's Planning Area 2 project from "F" Street will be via "A" Street, with access to "A" Street provided via a grade separated half-expressway-interchange, with access to and from the north. At its southern terminus, "F" Street will terminate at Cow Camp Road as an at-grade signalized tee intersection." This is not what is being graded. A Toll Road is being graded and that violates the permit application.
Factual Correction Number 7:
Mitigation was suppose to be a10' tall wall 3,700' long. There is NO PROTECTIVE BARRIER- not even a vegetative barrier. Source:
Factual Correction Number 8:
Unfortunately Grading has been on-going since last Fall with no ability for people to call and report fugitive dust. Grading is almost complete and paving is about to begin. |
