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On The Trail Of Dust…
By Russell Betts (April 10, 2005)
Following yesterday’s severe dust event
coming from Skyborne and Mission Springs Water District
project along
Pierson Blvd.
, I spent the morning contacting some of the parties
responsible for the dust violations.
Those conditions in case you did not take
a drive out Pierson towards Route 62 or did not look to the
west to see the dust clouds on Sunday afternoon, amounted to a
literal whiteout condition for those driving Pierson and dust
that inundated homes directly west of Skyborne.
At one point along Pierson visibility was
so poor a car came to a skidding stop just inches from a car
in front of it that was forced to slow down by the blowing
dust and poor visibility.
Intersection of Pierson Blvd. and Indian
Avenue. Untouched photo.
At the intersection of Indian and
Pierson, several cars came to a stop and could not proceed
through the intersection until a dust cleared. One women out
for a Sunday drive in a convertible and stopped at the
intersection could do nothing more than bury her face in her
hands and wait for the dust to pass and the cars in front of
her to start moving again..
The dust was coming from two sources. One
was from the pipeline projects being installed along Pierson
by Desert Pipeline for Mission Springs Water District. The
other was from the 100 plus acre Skyborne housing development.
Both MSWD and Skyborne are this morning
pointing fingers at each other as the cause of the dust. City
officials are meeting with Skyborne and presumably will have
talks with MSWD as well.
For the record, both MSWD and Skyborne
were gross dust violators on Sunday.
Coming from the MSWD pipeline
installation were blinding, rolling clouds of dust that were
the cause of the near accident and inability of traffic to
proceed. From the Skyborne project were clouds of dust
inundating homes downwind and sending dust blowing across the
downtown.
This morning I contacted MSWD to advise
them of the problem and spoke to Executive Assistant Barb
Carr. She confirmed the grading along Pierson is work being
done by MSWD to install a sewer line. Carr said a water line
is also being installed but that the water line was a Desert
Hot Springs City project and not an MSWD project.
Desert Pipeline is the company doing the
actual sewage line installation work on Pierson. In a call to
them this morning, they advise that a water truck was out on
the project earlier in the morning but could not confirm if
they were watering more than once a day on weekends and on
Sunday.
Desert Pipeline was asked if there are
plans to seal the finished grade once the installation work is
complete. A common practice to control dust after grading is
complete is to apply a polymer binder or a vegetation
enhancing binder to control dust.
Desert Pipeline said they would talk to
MSWD about applying a binder to the finished graded areas but
that it is not contracted to apply the binder. They estimated
the cost to seal the finished grade to be about $35,000,
something the company said it can not absorb and that MSWD
will have to pay for.
A call has been placed to MSWD to see if
they have contracted with another company to apply a binder of
if the water district plans to leave the finished grade
unsealed. Without a binder, every time the wind blows,
conditions on Pierson will be as they were on Sunday afternoon
until vegetation naturally takes over, a process that can take
up to two years.
If a previous sewage installation project
along
Mission Lakes Blvd.
and completed nearly a year ago is any indication, it seems
the common practice is to leave the grade unsealed. The
Mission Lakes Blvd.
sewage line has been the source of high amounts of dust.
Gary Brockman, MSWD Director of
Operations & Maintenance said the
Mission Lakes Blvd.
line is not and MSWD project but rather was done by Century
Vintage for its
Mountain View
project. Brockman said that control of the
Mission Lakes Blvd.
sewage line will be turned over to MSWD but that that had not
yet occurred.
Brockman did not know if MSWD would
require Century Vintage to seal the finished grade prior to
MSWD accepted control over it.
On the dust coming from the Skyborne
project, reports of dust were first called into Desert Hot
Springs PM10 inspectors about 2 p.m. At that time, City PM10
inspectors were already on the scene and had called Skyborne
about the dust. Well after dust had started blowing, no water
trucks were operating on the Skyborne site.
Skyborne is saying this morning that
their trucks were watering all the way up to 7 p.m. last
night. But, at sunset, well after 7 p.m., large clouds of dust
could be seen rolling off the Skyborne project. If the trucks
were watering, they were not getting a handle on the problem.
And, they had not been on site prior to city code enforcement
calling them.
Immediately downwind of the Skyborne
project are houses located on West drive. Those houses took
the brunt of the dust from Skyborne and at times the
visibility of the homes was significantly impaired by the
dust.
Today winds are expected to be over 25
mph in the area.
Developers
Ignore City Warnings
November 30, 2005
A week after the city officials issued a warning to a
developer to clean up its dusty act, neighborhoods again awash
in dust. Story Here
Residents
Whose Homes Were Flooded Won't See One Dime of The Cities Largest and
Latest Road Building Effort
While downtown city residents mop up
their flooded homes and contend with the likelihood of more
flooding, the city council voted to spend $3.7
million on a new road with few homes on it. Flooded residents
will not see one dime of the city largest road improvement effort to date.
Story Here
Interim
Manager Turns Over King City Reins
King City
Rustler - April 6, 2005
Candidate
A Revisited
If Ann Marie
Gallant, Candidate A, had been offered the city manager
position, it would have been her third city manager position
in 2 years.
Mary
Stephens Resigns Controversial Employment
Finalist
For City Post Was Forced Out
Desert Hot Springs manager hopeful, introduced as
"Candidate B" but later revealed to be
David Lane by The Desert Sun, was forced to resign
a similar position he held in
Clearlake, CA.
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