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Home My WebLink About1994-11-22 - AGENDA REPORTS - IMPENDING CLOSURE COMET WAY (2)AGENDA REPORT WCitya�nagerApp�al- Item to be presented by: le Rich Henderson NEW BUSINESS DATE: November 22, 1994 SUBJECT: Impending Closure of Comet Way DEPARTMENT: Community Development BACKGROUND The City has received notice from homeowners on Comet Way that they intend to place a gate across the private easement portion of the paved connection from Comet Way to Oak Springs Canyon Road. Staff has attached recent letters regarding this issue.. The City Attorney is reviewing the files, to prepare for Council discussion. RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that the City Council discuss and provide direction to staff as appropriate. Attachments: Letter dated October 24, 1994 from Comet Way homeowners Signatures showing agreement to proposed compromise dated October 31, 1994 Letter dated July 28, 1994 from Rich Henderson to David Bando current\comets n.rh Agenda Item: 7-CEIVED NG'1 3 1994 Mayor George Pederson 24 October 1994 City Council Members Joanne Darcy Hamilton C. Smyth Jan Heidt Carl Boyer City of Santa Clarita 23920 Valencia Blvd. Santa Clarita, Ca. 91355-2196 The following letter is being written on behalf of all Comet Way Home Owners. This action is being taken with the full knowledge of all twenty(20) residents of Comet Way. We respectfully submit to the Mayor and City Council for the City of Santa Clarita the following. That a final determination as to the status of the private section of road that connects Comet Way to Oak Springs Canyon be made. We the residents, of Comet Way will return the road to it's originally intended and agreed upon usage as reiterated in a letter from Lynn Harris, Deputy City Manager and Rich Henderson, City Planner dated July 28, 1994, a private and emergency road a secondary access for the residents of Oak Springs. We take this action as a compromise to the road's status as an unintended, but nonetheless 24 hour a day primary access. It is in no way the intention of Comet Way's Home Owners to negatively effect the quality of life of the residents of Oak Springs Canyon. Oak Springs Canyon Road is passable all but a few weeks a year and had been used as the primary access in and out for almost 50 years. That road is now paved except for a small section that goes under the railroad trestle. We would like a compromise reached that the residents again use that as their primary access and would only have access to Comet Way in the event of an actual emergency or when the area under the trestle is impassable do to flooding. The following is a brief summary of why the residents of Comet Way are taking this action. First and foremost, this is a safety issue. Comet Way traffic has become extremely unsafe for the residents and especially the children. There are over 40 children that live on the street and the vast majority are under the age of 10. The road extension has been kept open for almost two years based solely on a private easement agreement. We have had the property surveyed, and it turns out that the road extension extends past the easement and onto private property.. Also the holder of this easement can not be located at the present time and may have abandoned his claim to the easement. This has allowed access to the easement to go way beyond what would be normal and reasonable use. The owners of lots #11 and #12 will simply not accept the liability forced upon them by having an un -accepted city road cross their property. Most of the traffic that uses Comet Way is not Comet Way residents, are not visitors to Comet Way or individuals providing service to Comet Way residents. Speeds on Comet 'Way are consistently reaching an absolutely unacceptably dangerous level of about 45 to 50 miles an hour. Commercial trucks of all sizes including eighteen wheeled tractor trailers fully laden weighing as much as 90,000 pounds routinely go up and down Comet Way. Comet Way is a narrow residential street on a. very steep grade. Comet Way has no streetlights or sidewalks and has become the primary access for all the commercial business' located off Oak Springs Canyon Road. A great deal of the traffic on Comet Way is generated by individuals who frequent the business' off Oak Springs Canyon. There are two high pressure 36" gas pipelines that run under the extended part of the street. The street was not built anywhere near City or County specifications. The extended portion of Comet Way has not been constructed to handle the volume of traffic nor the weight of heavy trucks. It was in fact constructed to driveway specifications. A purported maintenance agreement by the Oak Springs Homeowners Association to maintain the extended portion of Comet Way is unenforceable. There is no insurance. There is no bond in place to effect repairs if needed. No money is in place to maintain the road on a day to day basis(i.e. street sweeping, road markings,. etc.) We believe the reason for this is That there is no formal home owner's association representing the Oak Springs residents, Just a number of individuals acting on their own special interests. There have also been a number of attempts to place the 53 rural mailboxes and the accompanying newspaper receptacles for the homeowners of Oak Springs on Comet Way. This would make for a tremendous increase in traffic making the street even more dangerous than it is. Also the incredible mess that accompanies these locations (see photo) would make for a tremendous eyesore. Since there is no formal homeowner's association in place it is unlikely that they would be maintained any more than they are at their current location. It is a situation much like that of the . road extension maintenance agreement. By compromising and returning Comet Way to a private and emergency access there would not be a winner and a loser as the situation exists now. You will still have given to the Oak Springs residents what they wanted, a second way out, when they need it. Also at a recent City Council meeting it was stated that the City does not require secondary access when the question was raised regarding the proposed arcade and miniature golf course. You will restore the quality of life and the piece of mind of the parents of the children of Comet Way. It is a workable compromise that is long over due. We will close the private portion of Comet Way to through traffic effective December 1. We will however in the spirit of compromise allow access to the private portion of Comet Way in the event of an actual emergency. We have been told through our legal representation that The City of Santa Clarita had no legal authorization to force open the road and should not have forced it to remain open. Also, The City holds no legal position at this time to prevent the two owners of the non- dedicated portion of Comet Way from closing it. The City has by their actions effectively seized the property of the owners of lots 11 and 12 on CometWay for the past 2 years! We have included a packet of correspondence and photographs to perhaps help you better understand the position we have taken. Also enclosed is a signed document stating that the Comet Way homeowners concur on this matter. Thank You, Comet Way Homeowners cc Lynn Harris Rich Henderson Enc. 10/31/94 I have read and agree to the proposed compromise as to the status of the road at the end of Comet Way. LOT ADDRESS/HOMEOWNER 1 16189 COMET WAY BOB LEPORE LYNN LEPORE 2 16125 COMET WAY TOM HALL TERRY HALL 3 16115 COMET WAY' PHIL MCGOVERN CLAIR MCGOVERN 4 16105 COMET WAY RICHARD WILLIAMS KATHRYN WILLIAMS 5 16095 COMET WAY MICHAEL GILDEN TRINA GILDEN 6 16085 COMET WAY CRAIG HOSKING NIKKI HOSKING 7 16075 COMET WAY JEFF PRICE ANTOINETTE PRICE 8 16069 COMET WAY BOB GRABER LOAN GRABER 9 15059 COMET WAY PAUL SUSNJARA DARLENESUSNJARA 10 16047 COMET WAY GARY CHIURAZZI CATHY CHIURAZZI Ou_ Cgc on uS�n�s5 10/31/94 I have read and agree to the proposed compromise as to the status of the road at the end of Comet Way. LOT ADDRESS/HOMEOWNER SIGN UR 1 l 16019 COMET WAY SCOT RIDDLE RHONDA RIDDLE �( 12 16020 COMET WAY DAVID BANDO LESLIE BANDO 13 16044 COMET WAY rcoLCsk., STEVE BIAFORA 14 15 z 17 18 19 iC 16050 COMET WAY JOE SCHULMAN BARBARASCHULMAN 16060 COMET WAY KIRK MILLER CATHY MILLER 16072 COMET WAY FRANK GIBBS SHARI GIBBS 16086 COMET WAY JOHN SPRINGER PAM SPRINGER 16096 COMET WAY JERRY SPARKS MARILYN SPARKS 16108 COMET WAY DON MATERN CINDY MATERN 16128 COMET WAY NABIH MANSOUR MARY MANSOUR /�- .si.3