Caltrans street sweeping taking place on I-215 through Murrieta and Menifee

Tony Ault Staff Writer

This week motorists may be seeing California Department of Transportation street sweeping crews performing work operations on Interstate 215 in Murrieta and Menifee.

Work will occur through Friday, March 24 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The following are planned work and alternating closure locations: northbound and southbound I-215 right shoulder and No. 3 lane from I-15/I-215 interchange to McCall Blvd.; northbound and southbound I-215 center median, left shoulder and No. 1 lane From I-15/I-215 interchange to McCall Blvd.

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Serving the communities of Temecula, Murrieta, Wildomar, Menifee, Sun City, Lake Elsinore, Hemet, San Jacinto, and Anza weekly.

Hemet Caltrans work continues on State Route 79 in Hemet. The project will modify and upgrade a traffic signal, reconstruct and upgrade sidewalks, curb ramps and driveways to current Americans with Disabilities Act standards. This will take place at the intersection of E. Latham and Florida avenues. Crews continue with digging, set up and installation of foundations for signal posts.

Temporary pedestrian access will be provided as soon as weather conditions allow. Use caution in and around the construction zone through Friday, March 24 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

San Jacinto Caltrans continues work on the $4 million safety project to construct a median concrete barrier and rumble strips on State Route 79 near San Jacinto, weather and temperature dependent. The schedule is Monday through Friday, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. All work will take place in the median behind the k-rails. Crews will sawcut, break existing asphalt, and excavate for the installation of a new drainage pipe.

Moreno Valley

The City of Moreno Valley, in partnership with Caltrans, is replacing the Moreno Beach Drive two-lane bridge with a sevenlane bridge and reconfiguring the north side of the interchange to allow easier access to and from State Route 60. Improvements will include a new westbound auxiliary lane, as well as a dedicated southbound Moreno Beach Drive to westbound State Route 60 on-ramp.

Palm Springs Caltrans continued work on the project to construct and upgrade curb ramps to ADA standards and modify signal and lighting systems on State Route 111 in Palm Springs, weather permitting. Crews will continue work from Lawrence Crossley Road to West Gateway Drive. A minimum of one lane will be open in each direction at all times through Friday, March 24 from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily.

Desert Center

The California Department of Transportation continues operations on a pavement rehabilitation project from Desert Center to west of Wiley’s Well Rest Area (PM 134) on Interstate 10, weather permitting. Daytime closures are Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Crews will be removing k-rail and relocating k-rail on the eastbound I-10. Lane 1 will be closed (quarter mile closures) from Corn Springs Road to Wiley’s Well Road.

San Bernardino Caltrans continues its work to rehabilitate 59 miles of lanes, ramps and drainage systems on Interstate 15 in San Bernardino County. The project spans from Oak Hill Road in Hesperia to just south of Bear Valley Road in Victorville. Be alert for work trucks entering and exiting from the center median in the project area.

To avoid delays, use SR-138 to SR-18 in Phelan back to I-15 as a detour. Please use caution and remember to reduce your speed when approaching and driving through the construction zones.

RCWD endorses Gonzales-Brady for LAFCO position

Joe Naiman Writer

Carol Lee Gonzales-Brady is on the Rancho California Water District board, and she is also seeking a seat on the board of Riverside County’s Local Agency Formation Commission. A 7-0 RCWD board vote March 9 gave Gonzales-Brady the RCWD vote for the position.

“We need to unite our voices and find common ground and not work against one another,” GonzalesBrady said. “You can either sit back and complain, or you can step up and participate in the process.”

LAFCO handles jurisdictional boundary changes including incorporations, annexations, consolidations, latent powers expansions and detachments.

The LAFCO board consists of two county supervisors, two city council members, two members from special districts and one public member. LAFCO commissioners have four-year terms.

Special districts include independent special districts, which have independently elected directors, and dependent special districts, whose members are the Riverside County Board of Supervisors or in some cases a city council. The boards of independent special districts choose the two special districts’ representatives on the LAFCO board. One of the Riverside County special districts’ commissioners is from the Western Region and the other is from the Eastern Region.

The Eastern Region commissioner elected will serve a term through May 6, 2024, while the elected Western Region commissioner’s term will expire on May 4, 2026.

Gonzales-Brady is one of six candidates for the Western Region seat. The others are Stephen Corona of Eastern Municipal Water District, Angela Little of Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District, Steve Pastor of Lake Hemet Municipal Water District, John Skerbelis of Rubidoux Community Services District and Larry Smith of San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency. Each class of commissioners has an alternate and Pastor is currently LAFCO’s alternate special districts member, so if he is elected, the alternate special districts member seat will become vacant and a subsequent election will choose that alternate commissioner. Ballots must be received by March 27.

The mission statement of LAFCO includes encouraging public involvement. “I think that’s a component that could be improved upon,” Gonzales-Brady said.

Sometimes that need for more involvement includes considering the situations of agencies other than the larger ones. “It would be a huge plus if there’s an emphasis on the part of LAFCO to encourage that engagement,” she said. “Listening is going to be a very important aspect as well.”

That would bring her to Temecula in 2004. “I want to be on land,” she said.

Her parents bought land in Fallbrook in 1962. Her father had been a U.S. Customs agent who was in charge of San Pedro Harbor, and the plan was for her parents to move to Fallbrook after her father retired. “My dream was to move to Fallbrook and have horses,” Gonzales-Brady said.

Although her parents never moved to Fallbrook, GonzalesBrady planted vines on the Fallbrook property. When she and her husband moved from Irvine to Temecula in 2004, she sold the Fallbrook property to Homes for Our Troops, which builds houses for severelywounded veterans. Gonzales-Brady grows several red varietals on her De Portola Wine Trail property.

Gonzales-Brady had previous utility experience prior to being elected to the RCWD board. She worked for Southern California Edison for 15 years, including the Mission Power and Energy subsidiary which produced geothermal energy.

Her personal experience as a grape grower also contributed to her water background. “I had always been in some regards in the water world,” she said. “I never really dreamed that I would become such a part of water.” is a member of the Temecula Winegrowers Association and the California Farm Bureau Federation, was appointed to serve on the Temecula-Elsinore-Anza-Murrieta Resource Conservation District’s board before she ran for the RCWD office.

At one time, RCWD board members were elected in oddnumbered years. The Nov. 2017 election was for a five-year term, as the transition to even-numbered years would take place during that time.

“I was ready to do something in the service arena,” Gonzales-Brady said. “It just started to become a real passion.”

She was encouraged to run for the RCWD board. “I got to thinking about it, and the rest is history,” she said.

The Rancho California Water District has at-large seats which are staggered. Four board positions were subject to the Nov. 2022 election. Gonzales-Brady had the highest vote total of the five candidates and was thus elected to a second term.

When Gonzales-Brady stresses transparency and public involvement she notes that customers should initiate participation when warranted. “The communication goes both ways,” she said. “I appreciate hearing about their concerns.” to valleyeditor@reedermedia.com or by fax to (760) 723-9606. All correspondence must be dated, signed and include the writer’s full address and phone number in order to be considered for publication. All letters are submitted to editing to fit the the publication’s format.

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Both special district seats are currently vacant. Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District director Phil Williams passed away Nov. 20. Nancy Wright had been on the board of the Mission Springs Water District (Desert Hot Springs) but lost her Nov. 2022 re-election campaign.

Gonzales-Brady was raised in El Monte and attended Arroyo High School before majoring in business administration at Pepperdine University. After she completed college she lived both in South Pasadena and in the Chapman Woods area of unincorporated Pasadena. “I always grew up on wide open spaces,” she said. “I always had a love for open space and land.”

A resource conservation district does not have regulatory power but is classified as a special district. Resource conservation districts were formed to control water runoff and prevent soil erosion. They are now also involved in watershed management, recreational area management, urban and agricultural irrigation and water use, water quality, forest land productivity, and public education for children and adults. Gonzales-Brady, who

Riverside County is in Region 9 of the Association of California Water Agencies. The Region 9 board has five members, and she is one of those. She is also on the board of the Southern California Water Coalition and the Urban Water Institute.

Gonzales-Brady is also involved in various equestrian activities. She and her husband have three children, six grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren.

RCWD to seek desal, recharge feasibility grants

Joe Naiman Writer

The March 9 meeting of the Rancho California Water District board included a 7-0 vote to approve two resolutions in support of grant applications. Both grants would be awarded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. One resolution expresses support for a grant to help fund the Western Riverside County Regional Desalination Feasibility Study while the other resolution acknowledges the RCWD interest in a groundwater recharge feasibility study. The board action also approved negotiation between staff and the Bureau of Reclamation and authorized RCWD staff to execute cooperative agreements for the grants if awarded. Both grants seek $1 million with the amount being divided equally among the partners in each project.

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The feasibility studies would explore opportunities for enhancing regional water supply reliability.

The Western Riverside County Regional Desalination Feasibility Study would be developed by Rancho Water, Eastern Municipal Water District, Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District and Western Municipal Water District. The study would evaluate potential options for conveying desalinated water from the Pacific Ocean to western Riverside County for use by the partnering agencies’ customers.

The Regional Desalination and Groundwater Recharge Feasibility Study involves Rancho Water, Fallbrook Public Utility District, Rainbow Municipal Water District, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and city of Oceanside and would evaluate options for advanced recycled water treatment, including brine disposal and storage of water in local groundwater basins for later potable use.

Rancho Water hopes to implement an indirect potable reuse project to maximize the use of recycled water, to reduce the amount of recycled water disposed outside of the Santa Margarita Watershed, to increase water supply reliability and to reduce the salinity and thus improve the water quality of supply from the Santa Margarita River Watershed. The RCWD project requires the disposal of brine from the demineralization of recycled water, and the district desires to dispose of the brine to the Pacific Ocean by utilizing available capacity within the Oceanside and Fallbrook outfall lines.

The grants would be funded through the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Water Recycling and Desalination Planning Grant program which has a 1:1 match requirement. The $1 million match would be divided equally between the partners in each project, so Rancho would be responsible for a $250,000 match on the Western Riverside County Regional Desalination Feasibility Study grant and a $200,000 match on the Regional Desalination and Groundwater Recharge Feasibility Study funding. The match amount may include staff time and may also include state grant money.

A November 2022 RCWD board action approved a grant application to the state Department of Water Resources for a groundwater banking feasibility study which would be a decision support tool for potential groundwater banking in the Temecula Valley Groundwater Basin.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at jnaiman@reedermedia. com