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| Tracy Press, Friday, January 11, 2002 |
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| AMENITIES TAKE SHAPE FOR NEW TOWN |
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Months before the first house appears for Mountain House, some of the amenities for future residents are taking shape.
San Joaquin County’s Board of Supervisors received a report this week on the town’s expected cable franchise, nearby roads, college campus and more.
“There’s two things going on right now,” said Paul Sensibaugh, manager for the Mountain House services district. “One is the infrastructure and building. The other is forming an administration and government. That’s what I’m doing.”
Construction crews won’t start work until fall for Mountain House’s first homes, and residents will start occupying those homes early next year.
But Sensibaugh said that taken-for-granted features of a town, like water from the tap and a local Internet provider, have to be there when the town’s residents arrive.
Sensibaugh’s report gave supervisors details on the following:
* San Joaquin’s Delta College’s campus just south of Mountain House.
Delta officials are studying an environmental impact report for the project and searching for money to build the school.
But construction is still a ways off. Bob Yribarren, a consultant to the project for Delta, said the timing depends on both a state school bond in November and a local college bond sometime in the next few years.
“By 2007, maybe late 2006, we’ll be ready if everything goes with no hitches,” he said. “(With) anything large like this, there’s a typical amount of hurdles and unknowns.”
Yribarren said he doesn’t expect any delays while Delta searches for a new president. The college will serve about 12,000 students from Tracy, Mountain House and other nearby towns.
* A new interchange at Interstate 205 and Mountain House Parkway.
The exit and entrance ramps there need some expansion and overhaul before they’re ready for about 45,000 Mountain House residents, Sensibaugh said.
The services district and Caltrans are finalizing plans for that interchange, with interim work to start by 2004 and the full interchange not for five years.
* Charter Communications, a Missouri-based company that will provide telecommunications services for Mountain House.
When the town was proposed, several companies expressed interest in that slot, Sensibaugh said. But the recent crash in high-tech caused everyone but Charter to back away.
Warren Mitchell, general manager for Charter’s services in the Central Valley, said his company’s work in the new town will make it one of the most technologically advanced communities in the state.
“We can design our system as the city comes along,” he said. “We can move in as soon as they open the trenches.”
What that means, he said, is that every Mountain House resident will have easy hook-up for high-speed Internet access and digital cable.
* Fire protection for Mountain House, which will come from Tracy Fire rather than from a newly formed company.
Current service will go from rural to urban over seven years, with several stations eventually centered in Mountain House.
* Operation and maintenance for water treatment plants, already under construction north of Byron Road.
Town managers need a company to operate the plants once they’re completed. A recommendation for a company is expected in March.
Work crews are installing sewer lines and treatment plants for the first neighborhood, known as Wicklund or Neighborhood “F.” But the supervisors will soon see plans for the next two neighborhoods, “E” and “G.”
Supervisor Lynn Bedford, who lives next to the future town site, said he’s noticed a slowdown in work with the onset of rainy weather.
“It’s going to be a big change,” he said. “I hope they keep us informed. But so far they’ve been very sensitive with working with their neighbors.”
As a city manager for a city that doesn’t yet exist, Sensibaugh said details like those he gave to the board of supervisors are both important and endless.
“Every day I think of something that we don’t have but that you have to have,” he said. It’ll be exciting — not to mention challenging.” |
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