Contera given contract for Bautista Creek Channel Basin sediment

Removal

Joe Naiman Writer Contera Construction Corporation has been given the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District contract to remove sediment along the Bautista Creek Channel Basin.

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors, whose board members comprise the board of the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, voted 5-0 May 2 to award Contera Construction Corporation, which is headquartered in Temecula, a contract for $2,745,350. The board action also approved an addendum to the plans and specifications and approved a mitigation and funding agreement between the flood control district and the Western Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority.

The sediment removal area is south of Florida Avenue, east of Fairview Avenue, and immediately north of Bautista Canyon Road in the Valle Vista community. The project will excavate and remove accumulated sediment to the original grades of the existing basin, which will restore the basin’s capacity and function. The basin is currently at 25% remaining capacity and is thus in need of immediate maintenance to prevent damage to downstream levees,

Supervisors approve Harvest Valley rezone and plot plan

Joe Naiman

Writer

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved a rezone and plot plan for a 3.53-acre property in Harvest Valley.

The supervisors’ 5-0 vote May 2 also approved the environmental Mitigated Negative Declaration for the project. The zoning was changed from Rural Residential (R-R) to General Commercial (C-1/C-P). The plot plan allows for a recreational vehicle storage facility including a 1,200-square foot office building and two water quality management basins.

The property consists of two legal parcels north of Haddock Street, south of Willard Street, west of Winchester Road, and east of Columbia Avenue. The facility would provide 222 recreational vehicle and boat storage spaces. The office building would include the

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The building is anticipated to be a prefabricated modular building. A 100-square foot storage space with masonry walls, a metal trussed roof, and a propane filling area would be adjacent to the site entrance. The sale of supplies is expected to occur between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday through Tuesday while customers would be able to access the vehicles stored in the lot 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Access to the facility would be from Willard Street. Two employees typically will be on the site.

The new zoning is consistent with the current general plan land use designation of Commercial Retail (CR), which is intended to allow for the development of commercial retail and service uses within a community. Vehicle storage is a permitted use in areas with C-1/C-P zoning if a plot plan is approved. farms, businesses and residences.

The conditions of the project include turn lanes from Winchester Road to Willard Street. A right turn lane will be constructed for southbound Winchester Road traffic and a left turn lane will service those traveling north on Winchester.

The Mitigated Negative Declaration found potentially significant biological resources, cultural resources, noise and paleontological resources impacts. The mitigation measures will reduce all impacts to less than significant.

The county’s Planning Commission recommended approval of the rezone, plot plan, and Mitigated Negative Declaration on a 5-0 vote March 22.

On Jan. 10 the flood control district board voted 5-0 to authorize the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors to advertise the project for construction contract bids, to approve the Bautista Creek Channel Basin – Sediment Removal, Stage 90 Project and authorize flood control district staff and contractors to proceed with the project, to approve the plans and specifications and the contract documents for the project, to set a Feb. 14 bid opening date, and to find the emergency maintenance project to be categorically exempt from California Environmental Quality Act review. The maintenance work will be limited to restoring the facility to its original design capacity and will not result in an expansion of the existing use beyond design lines and grades. The impacts on local residents and businesses are considered minimal although residents and businesses could experience general construction noise or dust from heavy equipment.

Nine companies submitted bids.

The Contera Construction Corporation bid of $2,745,350.94 was the lowest and the only one below the engineer’s estimate of $2,775,000. MDB General Engineering Inc., of Irvine had the second-lowest bid at $3,438,000.

The Contera Construction Corporation bid package included the necessary bonds and insurance documents, and the bid was found to be responsive.

The work will temporarily impact approximately 25.16 acres of Los Angeles Pocket Mouse habitat, which requires the flood control district to fund five years of enhancement on approximately 25 acres of Los Angeles Pocket Mouse/San Bernardino Kangaroo Rat habitat in the San Jacinto River as mitigation. That mitigation land is managed by the Western Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority, and the agreement funds $141,226.44 for the mitigation.