New Plans and Public Funding Restart Rambla Road Work

• Residents Feel Pressure to Move Quickly Because of Current Fire Danger

BY BILL KOENEKER

Rambla Pacifico area homeowners were all set to see a plan for a private/public road become reality until the construction bids returned with price tags about double what their budget was.

Despite the setback, the Lower Rambla Pacifico Road Owners Association is moving ahead with a new plan within its budget and has increased its efforts to get some kind of access in quickly because of the current high fire danger.

The separate issue of an emergency accessway is still under negotiations with the La Costa Homeowners Association, according to LRPROA president Scott Dittrich.

That is just part of the plans that will require more permits from the city and homeowners hope there will be needed cash as well from municipal officials who last week renewed their promise of $200,000 for the private/public road, which would connect lower Rambla Pacifico with the upper portions of the road, thereby saving residents a seven-mile trip for a two-mile distance.

Residents emphasize it is not just a matter of convenience, but also the larger issue of safety, especially during disasters.

Dittrich said the new roadway winds down from upper Rambla and will connect in a different location with lower Rambla than originally planned and permitted by the city.

Current plans call for the roadway to switchback from the top of the slide where it will connect with the existing intact portion of Rambla Pacifico and continue to switchback along the slide mass to connect to the existing paved portions of lower Rambla just inland from Pacific Coast Highway.

During a short on-site inspection, Dittrich showed a reporter how one section of the roadway that would have required expensive caissons for reinforcement will be abandoned and bypassed—an area known as Pop’s Pass.

Currently, bulldozers and other construction equipment are clearing out some of the brush and outlining a swath that would be followed by the newly planned roadway. Dittrich said the work is being undertaken for aerial surveys to determine if the new plans will fly.

The road owner’s spokesperson pointed out how the group had purchased many of the lots in the slide area and the underlying easements that will allow them to control access.

The private portion of the roadway will be gated at each end where the public street then picks up again.

The Rambla Pacifico Road redo got the green light from the city last December.

When the construction contract was put out to bid, all of the bids were a million dollars or more over the association’s budget allocation.

Certain sections of the road are not considered “geologically acceptable,” and consequently those sections are being designated a private road with gated restricted access.

The number of motorists is limited to the people who join the road association. At last count, there were 57 homeowners—most in the city—who belong to the association.