At the October 10 Redwood Valley MAC meeting, Caltrans engineers detailed plans for a new bus stop at West Road and North State Street, local officials reflected on the 2017 Redwood Complex Fire’s anniversary, and Sheriff Matt Kendall raised alarms about rising mail theft. The meeting touched on public safety, upcoming projects, and community challenges, with a focus on fires, infrastructure, and animal control.
There was no Zoom available for this meeting. Hopefully it will be available for the November meeting.
This was the 7-year anniversary of the 2017 Redwood Complex Fire. MAC Chair Dolly Riley paused the meeting for a moment of silence in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the fire. A memorial stone with a brass plaque sits in Lions Park, installed by the South Ukiah Rotary Club, with funding from several local businesses.
The guest speakers were Lucy Kostrzewa, Engineer with Ghirardelli Associates, and Brian Winter from Caltrans. They are supervising the construction of the new bus stop on the corner of West Road and N. State Street. Kostrzewa is a licensed civil engineer, and Winter is her boss at Caltrans. The new bus stop will service riders going both inbound and outbound from Ukiah. The dirt turnouts on West Road in front of the freeway are owned by Caltrans. Caltrans and the CHP have decided to block those off from public use. The bus stop is expected to go live on October 26. The turnouts will be posted with no parking signs starting two weeks from now. There will be 8 to 10 parking spaces at the bus stop. The turnouts on N. State Street will not be blocked off, as those are managed by the County Department of Transportation.
Local company Valley Paving is doing the construction work for the new bus stop. There is a large area filled gravel in front of the new bus stop that is designed to be an infiltration for groundwater to perk during the rainy weather. Winter said Caltrans is installing these bio swales when creating projects with asphalt surfaces, to allow rainwater to percolate underground and replenish the water table.
There was a question from the audience about the work being done with heavy equipment on the west side of the freeway, in the grassy area on the southbound onramp towards Ukiah. That is not a Caltrans project, and Winter didn’t have any information about it. There was a discussion as to whether Caltrans can alleviate the congestion on this busy intersection. Winter said there is a multi-year pipeline for new projects, and he is not aware of plans for this intersection. Mendocino Transit Authority and the CHP worked with Caltrans on designing the new bus stop. Winter also said the project has an encroachment permit with the County Planning and Building Department . The MAC was never notified of this permit. Winter said Caltrans does not hold public meetings for small projects, and the bus stop is a small project. Winter said he will check with the future projects planning department at Caltrans about possible projects in Redwood Valley.
Regarding the redesigned entrance to Highway 20 at Road 144, Vice Chair Jini Reynolds asked if Caltrans could reimburse the County Transportation Department to provide funds to repair all the potholes on local roads that were caused by the freeway offramp closure. The closure diverted many large trucks onto small rural roads that normally would not see that much traffic. Caltrans has a web page with instructions on how to submit claims.
Sheriff Matt Kendall called into the meeting on speakerphone. He had been interviewed earlier in the day on KZYX, where he spoke about the need to train jail inmates for a trade, so they can be released with skills to find a job. At the MAC meeting, Kendall said the jail expansion is on track, and concrete trucks are on site. There has been a lot of theft in the past month, especially mail theft. He asks that people pick up their mail every day. If you are going to be out of town, you can ask the post office to hold your mail. He also urged everyone to sign up for the USPS Informed Delivery program, where you receive an email message showing your day’s mail.
Reynolds mentioned that very early on two mornings this past week, she has seen a vehicle that looks similar to a mail delivery van. The driver puts one piece of junk mail in every mailbox. She thinks this may be a ruse to open the mailboxes and look for mail to steal. She called the post office to report this, and she hasn’t heard anything back. Kendall said he is reliant on the community to report issues.
Riley told Kendall that she was very grateful to the Sheriff’s deputies who drove along the road past her house at 1:30 am on October 3 to alert her and other residents along the road that there was a fire close by, and to evacuate immediately.
MAC Member Chris Boyd, who is also on the Board of the Redwood Valley-Calpella Fire Department, asked Kendall about the Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services department. She wanted to know the status of the emergency sirens. One siren has already been purchased by the Fire Department, using money from the PG&E settlement. The siren was publicly demonstrated over a year ago in Redwood Valley, yet has never been deployed. The OES has since taken over the duty of emergency notifications from the Fire Department. Boyd asked that OES provide training for deployment of the siren, and provide funding to purchase more sirens.
Boyd reported that RV-Calpella volunteers spent a lot of hours fighting the fires in Redwood Valley on October 2 and 3. The Fire Department Board meets on the second Thursday of each month at 6:00 pm. The meetings are open to the public. The Department is giving away McCleod tools and go-bags. You can also pick up old pieces of fire hose to use to cover trailer chains to prevent sparks while towing. Information is available at the RV Calpella Fire Department web page.
First District Supervisor Glenn McGourty reported on the new noise ordinance approved by the Board of Supervisors. McGourty remarked that “Redwood Valley is really a hot pocket of noise.” The ordinance is being reviewed by County Counsel before being published. Violators will receive an administrative citation. The fines for the citations will escalate for each offense. The fines can stack up if code enforcement is called out multiple times on the same date.
McGourty said the new jail construction wing will be focused on mental health treatment, using Measure B funds. Some major projects have been funded through Measure B: the Behavioral Health Training facility in Redwood Valley, the PUFF unit, and the crisis residential facility on Orchard Avenue, a transition facility for people who are coming out of locked up psychiatric facilities.
On water issues, McGourty reported that the Ukiah Valley Basin Sustainable Groundwater Agency fees will appear on the soon to be mailed property tax bills. This is a state-mandated fee. The Ukiah Valley Water Authority, managed by the City of Ukiah, is consolidating several smaller water districts, including Redwood Valley. It should take about five years for the infrastructure to be fully built out. Instead of the familiar Willow County Water District trucks, residents may now see City of Ukiah trucks checking water meters. The rates should not change for Redwood Valley at this time.
Alternate Member Marybeth Kelly asked McGourty if the County could do anything about all the stray animals being dumped in Redwood Valley. There is a veterinary shortage, making it hard to get spay and neuter appointments. She asked him if it is true that the BOS approved money for the Animal Shelter’s purchase of a new Care-a-Van to provide low cost spay and neuter. The purchase has been approved, but the van is not yet on the road.
Kelly reported on upcoming events at the Grange. The Grange has a flea market every second Saturday. The Grange will host a fundraising Harvest Dance on November 16. Tickets are $20. Food, beer and wine will be available. The dance is for ages 21 and over. The Winter Craft Fair will be held on December 14. The kitchen remodel is moving along. Unfortunately, it won’t be done until the first quarter of 2025, when the Grange will have an approved commercial kitchen available for rent.
The Redwood Valley Recreation Center Steering Committee is expecting a waiver to be issued from the State Board of Education in November, to allow Ukiah Unified School District to issue an RFP to sell or lease the Redwood Valley School property. The UUSD will need to vote on the matter at its December meeting. The Steering Committee will be ready to respond to the RFP when it is issued.
The Cannabis Policy Subcommittee discussed an administrative permit application at 10550 East Rd. The property is already fenced. The owners have applied for a side fenceline setback reduction for their cannabis grow. The MAC Members discussed this, and decided that if the neighbors had received personal notice by mail (as opposed to notice being published in the newspaper), and if the neighbors did not object to the permit application, then the MAC would not object. A Subcommittee member will contact the Cannabis Department to inquire about the procedure of giving notice to neighbors.
Caltrans has not yet responded to gas station developer Faizan’s second traffic study. The County Planning and Building department will most likely send this to the Board of Supervisors if Caltrans does not approve the traffic study within a reasonable time. Without approval from Caltrans, the permit application for a new gas station in Redwood Valley is unlikely to be approved. There were no new building permits issued for Redwood Valley this month.
The Redwood Valley Community Action Plan is under review by County Counsel. After review, the CAP will be submitted to other County agencies for comment.
MAC Member Patricia Ris-Yarbrough announced that Estelle Clifton will give a presentation about the new management plan for Jackson State Demonstration Forest on October 22 from 5 to 7 pm at the Ukiah Saturday Afternoon Clubhouse.
Reynolds announced that she is resigning from the MAC. Reynolds devotes a lot of her time to working with United Disaster Center of Northern California, which is currently helping Lake County fire victims. Reynolds also volunteers for Meals on Wheels and for the Grange. She hopes to recruit younger, diverse Members for the MAC, someone who can run the Zoom equipment, with instructions from the county IT department.
Jay Epstein, State Farm agent, announced that he is running for Area 3 Trustee of Mendo-Lake Community College. Epstein is currently serving his twelfth year on the board of the Mendocino College Foundation. Epstein’s goal is to build housing for students. The Foundation has already committed $2 million to purchase land for student housing. The Foundation is looking for a suitable lot in Ukiah for the housing. If Epstein wins the election as Area 3 Trustee, he will have to resign from the Foundation, as you cannot serve on both boards at the same time.
As far as prohibiting new gas stations in Mendocino county, Gizmo Henderson reported that the BOS has declared that Mendocino County is in a climate emergency. This will allow funding from the state to combat climate change. This may garner support for prohibiting new gas stations.
There is one opening for an alternate member on the MAC. Sonya Pio is a newly appointed MAC member.
The next meeting is November 13 at 5:30 pm at the Redwood Valley Grange.
