Tag Archives: Temescal Valley

Freeway monument is official!

And, the ribbon is cut! From left, Jeffrey Van Wagenen, EDA managing director; Eric Werner, TV Municipal Advisory Council chairman; Sandy Isom; Deni Horne, representing Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, and Supervisor Kevin Jeffries. Photo by Rob Mucha.

Ribbon-cutting ceremonies were held Feb. 5 for the long-planned and even longer-anticipated I-15 freeway monument, alerting motorists driving south that they’ve crossed the northern boundary of Temescal Valley.

: Sandy Isom, a long-time Temescal Valley resident.

About 40 people attended the event with ceremonies being handled by the county’s Economic Development Agency, which contracted for and had the monument built based on a concept in the county’s 2007 Temescal Valley Design Guidelines.

The work to begin the planning process for the monuments began years ago under the leadership of then-Supervisor Bob Buster and Sandy Isom, his local legislative assistant. The drive to make the monuments a reality was continued by Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, who was elected in 2012, and his legislative assistant Kristen Huyck.

Jeffrey Van Wagenen, EDA managing director, welcomed attendees to the event and introduced dignitaries. He was followed by Eric Werner, Temescal Valley Municipal Advisory Council chairman, whose remarks included a thank you to Isom for working with the MAC on the monuments for so many years. Isom, a long-time Temescal Valley resident, was honored with a proclamation from Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez that was presented by Deni Horne, Melendez’s field representative.

: Candy and Manny Sousa, the Weirick Road community residents who gave permission to the county to place the monument on their property.

Also recognized were Manny and Candy Sousa, who live in the Weirick Road community and gave permission to the county to place the monument on their property.

Vincent Coffeen, EDA assistant director of facilities management, said work has begun on the northbound I-15 monument at Indian Truck Trail on property donated by Speedway Development.

Learn how the monuments are funded HERE

: After opening remarks and introductions, the group of 35 to 40 folks attending head up the hill to the monument to cut the ribbon. Photo by Rob Mucha.

Jeffrey Van Wagenen, Riverside County EDA managing director. Photo by Rob Mucha.

Eric Werner, Temescal Valley Municipal Advisory Council chairman. Photo by Rob Mucha.

Sheriff’s staff meets with residents

Capt. Leonard Hollingsworth (back row, blue tie), and seven deputies from the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station, meet with Temescal Valley residents to discuss community concerns. Also pictured: Tracy Davis, Wildrose Ranch; Julian Gonzales, Sycamore Creek; Rob Mucha, The Retreat, and John Watson, Wildrose Ranch.

Community policing at its best was witnessed this morning as eight representatives from the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station met with Temescal Valley residents at the Starbucks in Sycamore Creek.

: Capt. Leonard Hollingsworth chats with Martin Lange and Dave Davis about illegal off-roading in the Spanish Hills community.

The Coffee with a Cop event featured Lake Elsinore station commander Capt. Leonard Hollingsworth and seven deputies, who discussed Temescal Valley concerns with about the dozen residents who attended.

Coffee with a Cop is a national program aimed at improving relationships between community residents and law enforcement officers. Discussion is one-on-one — no formal speeches, just casual conversation.

The deputies, ranging from corporals to lieutenants, represented divisions including patrol, detectives, community resources and schools.

Wildrose Ranch resident John Watson talks to the deputy in charge of school safety about traffic issues when parents drop off and pick up students at Temescal Valley Elementary School.

Many of the conversations focused on the need for a stronger Neighborhood Watch presence throughout the 19 communities comprising Temescal Valley. Residents also voiced concerns about trespassing, speeding, illegal off-roading, graffiti and burglaries.

Residents sharing a cup of “Coffee with a Cop” all agreed the event was highly informative and were impressed with the number of sheriff’s personnel who attended. According to Rob Mucha, We Are Temescal Valley Public Safety Committee chairman, “The only disappointment was in the poor attendance by residents.”

Landfill meeting answers questions; raises others

Concerns raised by the El Sobrante Landfill Citizens’ Oversight Committee were discussed July 16 during a marathon three-hour-plus meeting at the Lee Lake Water District office.

The purpose of the five-member committee appointed by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors is to review the El Sobrante Annual Monitoring Report and provide comment to the supervisors on the report, including issues or concerns.

Committee members at a meeting held in April questioned the landfill’s appearance, acceptance of incinerator ash, truck traffic on the freeways during peak hours and expansion.

Addressing those concerns at Wednesday’s meeting were General Manager Hans Kernkamp and Principal Planner Ryan Ross – both with the Riverside County Waste Management Department, and Greg Reyes, with the county’s Local Enforcement Agency. The LEA is certified by the California Integrated Waste Management Board to enforce state laws and regulations at solid waste facilities. The landfill, owned by Waste Management, Inc. (WMI), was represented by Mike Williams, district manager.

TRAFFIC CONGESTION

Rob Mucha, chairman of the Citizens’ Oversight Committee (COC), said when the landfill’s hours of operation were expanded in 2009, Waste Management indicated it would ensure that peak hour traffic on SR 91 would not be impacted. He said Temescal Valley residents were told that congestion on local roads would decrease.

Mucha presented a report he compiled based on the county’s traffic numbers that he said shows truck traffic during peak hours is increasing. He said of the 737 weekly trips transfer trucks made to the landfill using the 91 freeway in 2011, 120 trips were between the hours of 6 to 8 a.m. In 2012, 131 of the 706 weekly trips were made between those hours.

Williams said a letter was sent in January to all trash haulers asking that trips not be made during peak traffic hours. Additionally, 60 percent of the trucks using the landfill are Waste Management haulers and those trucks have been equipped with GPS which can be monitored. WMI drivers caught on the 91 during peak times will be warned, fined and could be terminated, Williams said.

COC member Paul Rodriguez suggested that the county determine how “peak hour” was defined in the environmental impact report (EIR), required by the California Environmental Quality Agency (CEQA), when the landfill’s hours of operation were expanded in 2009.

Rodriguez also noted that the statement from WMI to Temescal Valley residents implying traffic congestion on local streets would be reduced was correct. “It was the same number of trucks over a longer period of time, thus reducing congestion,” Rodriguez said.

County representatives responded their attorneys are already attempting to ascertain how CEQA defined “peak hour” in the EIR and that the results would be shared with the COC.

Increasing the price per ton for haulers who continually travel on the 91 during peak hours was suggested by Mucha.

INCINERATOR ASH

Mucha said that when El Sobrante was originally permitted, incinerator ash appeared on a list of excluded items not to be accepted at the landfill, but now is being accepted. He presented a 2012 document from the city of Long Beach Gas & Oil Department to its City Council recommending adoption of a resolution allowing the department to haul incinerator ash to El Sobrante. The ash was being taken to Puente Hills, but with that landfill’s closure in 2013, a new disposal source was being sought. The department also noted El Sobrante was willing to charge the city a negotiated rate below its usual rate for non-county waste.

Williams responded that El Sobrante had been receiving “treated” incinerator ash from Long Beach since November 2013 at a rate of about 450-500 tons a day, and that permits were received a year earlier. He said the city pays the same tonnage rate as other non-county haulers do. He said state law is very strict regarding the acceptance of incinerator ash, requiring that it be treated by a process that renders the toxins inert. An acceptable method is the “wet treatment,” which mixes the ash with cement. Ash treated in this manner is still required to be tested, Williams said, noting that Puente Hills accepted treated incinerator ash for 20 years, using it as a base for roads. “We’re using it as a trash cover, Williams said.

When questioned by COC members why the ash was excluded in earlier permitting, county representatives said that years ago the popular consensus was “to stay away from incinerator ash.”

Kinne asked if incinerator ash was going to county-owned landfills. Both Kernkamp and Ross said treated incinerator ash would be accepted at the county-owned landfills, is not harmful and does not create a hazardous waste stream.

The county is asking the Environmental Health Department to “weigh in” on the issue and asking the county legal department to determine, because incinerated ash in original permits was excluded, is this inconsistency a minor infraction. It was noted that the county could issue a cease and desist order to El Sobrante or update the contract to allow treated incinerator ash at the landfill.

Rodriguez said the county’s report on the issue should contain suggested remedial actions.

LANDFILL APPEARANCE

Mucha questioned whether more could be done to “green up” the front-facing landfill berms which have been hydroseeded but not watered based on the opinion of a WMI biologist that irrigation would produce shallow-rooted, weak plants. Mucha pointed out that the area has been in drought for several years, and a little water to promote growth wouldn’t hurt.

Williams said 3,000 cactuses have been planted and the area flagged for “significant” placement of boulders within the next 30 days pending the approval of the biologist. He said the hydroseed has been checked for viability – it’s good and rain will bring growth.

Mucha presented an opinion he sought from a county ecological specialist that advocated watering because of the drought. Mucha said non-potable water was available for irrigation.

Williams said watering would not only promote the hydroseed’s native plant growth, but weeds as well. He said the problem with the front of the landfill is that it faces south. The north face that was hydroseeded at the same time is green and growing.

Amie Kinne, COC vice chairman, said the former Synagro property that sits at the base of the landfill and currently is owned by WMI, also needs landscape attention.

EXPANSION

Kinne questioned how El Sobrante could build two stormwater retention basins outside the landfill’s footprint. “Dawson Canyon resident Regina Cook’s kitchen window looks out over one of those ponds,” she said.

COC members claim the basins did not receive the necessary permits when El Sobrante relocated them from within the landfill’s footprint to outside of it.

Williams has said the ponds are on property that allows for that type of usage outside the footprint. He was quoted in a story which was published April 17 on The Press-Enterprise website, that the ponds were approved by the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control board. That agency told The Press-Enterprise reporter only the ponds’ designs, not location, were approved. (Read the PE story HERE)

The issue now is being investigated by county, state and federal agencies including the county’s Department of Environmental Heath, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and both California and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Kinne questioned if permitting was necessary, would the public have the opportunity to comment. “Who looks after the residents,” she asked.

Cook, who attended the meeting, said she feels “pushed aside” and asked the landfill to “buy my property.” She said she lived in Dawson Canyon years before the landfill was approved, having paid $145,000 for her home. “What’s it worth now — $45,000?” She said the least El Sobrante should do is pay to have her well water tested now that the basin is adjacent to her property. She also asked about vermin control, saying she found a “really big thing” in her back yard – gesturing with her hands, “a rat the size of a raccoon.”

Committee members were concerned that the county, as the lead agency, has no process in place to notify Dawson Canyon residents of changes being made at the landfill.

Kinne, who lives in Dawson Canyon, said she had requested updates from the county but was told she couldn’t have them because she was a COC member. Kernkamp said that would be corrected.

It also was noted that while the regulatory agencies could do a better job communicating with the residents, the agencies needed better communication with each other.

ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW COMMITTEE

Ross explained the county’s process in preparing El Sobrante’s Annual Monitoring Report. After WMI prepares the report, it’s given to the county’s Waste Management Department for review and comments, and then passed on to the county’s Administrative Review Committee (ARC). That committee includes Ross, who represents the Waste Management Department, and a representative from the county’s Executive Office and Planning Department. The report goes back and forth between WMI, county waste management and ARC, where comments are added, and then eventually is given to the COC. At this point, the COC receives the Annual Monitoring Report which also includes a status report on mitigation monitoring and a conditions of approval compliance report. (View the 2012 report HERE)

COC members wanted to know when they will receive the 2013 report. Earlier in the meeting, Ross mentioned the county is investigating a possible violation of the Brown Act, the state’s open-meeting law. No one elaborated on the possible violation, but Ross said the 2013 report has been delayed because of the investigation.

Ross was asked when the ARC meets to provide its input for the report. Ross said ARC members do not meet face-to-face but email each other instead.

LOCAL ENFORCEMENT AGENCY

Reyes said the LEA works with the state’s water and air boards to enforce laws governing landfills. He said unannounced inspections are held at El Sobrante at least once a month. “We get very few complaints about El Sobrante and it is one of the better landfills,” Reyes said.

When asked about specific complaints, he said they are usually about the trash trucks littering the I-15. “We call El Sobrante and they respond immediately.”

In her closing comments Kinne said, “We must realize this landfill isn’t for 15, 20 or 30 years. It will exist forever.”

The COC will next meet in October to begin review of the 2013 report.

Committee cleans up tanning vats

Helping out at the cleanup were, from left, John Watson, Karla Cortez, Tracy Davis, Bob Hafner, Martin Lange, Barbara Paul, Dave Davis, Ken Brooks and Rob Mucha. Not pictured are Melissa Deleo, Jannlee Watson and Adam Eventov.

Twelve people turned out early Saturday morning to assist the Beautification Committee in a mini-cleanup of the area surrounding the historic tanning vats, said to be the last visible remains of the Serrano legacy in Temescal Valley.

But first – a little history lesson.

: Bob Hafner and his committee begin work clearing the weeds.

Almost 200 years ago, a priest at the San Luis Rey Mission sent a soldier north to an area largely populated by Native Americans and grizzly bears. A first-generation Californian, Leandro Serrano was told to befriend the native tribesmen, who favored the area’s natural hot springs, and to eliminate the bears. He was given a “paper” – a permit or license to graze cattle on about five leagues of land – roughly 34 square miles.

Serrano found the area abundant with flowing water and lush vegetation that attracted bees which produced honey (that likely attracted the bears). He built an adobe in the early 1820s and called his home Temescal Rancho. That adobe was the first home built by a non-Native American in what would later become Riverside County.

A marker denotes the vats as being built in 1819 and as a restored site.

Through the years, Serrano raised livestock, planted orchards and vineyards, married twice and fathered 13 children. As the family grew, Serrano built other adobes, as did his sons and sons-in-law.

Serrano died in the early 1850s and more than a decade after his death and many legal attempts to prove ownership, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the family’s claim to the land. The court ruled that Leandro had been given permission to graze cattle, not a land grant. The family was given 160 acres surrounding the current adobe in which they lived. The court decision paved the way for others to claim mining and water rights in the valley.

This plaque notes the third adobe built by the Serrano family in about 1867 as being “nearby.” Leandro Serrano died in the 1850s. It says Leandro’s widow Josefa’s ownership of the land was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court.

This story of the Serrano family is based on historians’ accounts of early Temescal Valley. They say Serrano’s second wife died penniless in the 1890s. The last of the Serrano family – two sisters, had to mortgage the family home to pay the burial costs, and the two left the valley in the 1898 to live in Los Angeles. Through the years, very little of the Serrano legacy has been preserved. What can be seen are the two tanning vats situated east of the I-15 and Temescal Canyon Road intersection, across the street from the Shell Station. This isn’t the original location of the vats, which were moved and reconstructed at this site years ago.

The vats and two historical markers have been neglected. Yellow cement stanchions surrounding the area keep truckers, who park there, from running over the vats. Weeds flourish; trash accumulates. A sand berm has been placed to deter the illegal dumping that occurs.

One of two Serrano tanning vats located east of the I-15 and Temescal Canyon Road intersection, across the street from the Shell Station.

Saturday’s work party cleared the weeds and used pick axes to remove roots. Trash was collected and the bags hauled away by Waste Management, which also lent tools for the cleanup. Adam Eventov, with Toscana, couldn’t work because of recent hip surgery but brought sunscreen, hand sanitizer, insect repellant and doughnuts! Wielding picks and rakes were Barbara Paul, Karla Cortez, Melissa Deleo, Tracy Davis, Rob Mucha, Martin Lange, Dave Davis, Ken Brooks, Bob Hafner, and John and Jannlee Watson.

According to Hafner, Beautification Committee chairman, the cleanup was the first phase of a project that will eventually spruce up the area with landscaping and appropriate signage. The next committee meeting is 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 7 at Senor Tom’s restaurant. Anyone who wants to get involved or would like notification of upcoming projects should contact Hafner: bob.hafner@verizon.net

Read a related story HERE

View more photos below.

: Work party displays bags they collected a cleanup.

: Although he couldn’t work because of hip surgery, Adam Eventov furinshed sunscreen, hand sanitizer, insect repellant and doughnuts for the work crew.