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On Road to Roundabouts, Board Votes to Update EIR
Author: RSF Post
Date: February 16, 2016
At its February meeting, the RSF Association Board voted unanimously to provide an additional $60,000 to update the Environmental Impact Report for roundabout construction.
“It took the County awhile to get back to us and it turns out the EIR… is outdated. To close that part of the project, the EIR needs to be updated,” Association Manager Bill Overton explained.
The County has $15,000 remaining to fund an EIR that’s total cost is $75,000. In order to certify a new EIR, the board agreed to fund the last $60,000 with the assurance that the EIR will remain certified in the years to come.
“I think there is precedent for this as the Association gave $100,000 in past years to help with the traffic study and EIR at that time,” Overton explained. “A 73 percent vote is compelling community support and it would be reasonable to use the CEF to complete this project and carry out the survey,” he added.
It was proposed that the decision to fund the remaining $60,000 for the EIR could wait until next year because the County might have more of a budget at that time.
Overton stated that LeAnn Carmichael, a county program manager with the department of public works, explained to him that the County budget is shrinking and it is unlikely the County will be able to provide the $60,000 in the next fiscal year.
The timetable for construction if the Association funds the remaining cost of the EIR is at least five years.
“I think it’s important that the membership knows in reading this letter from the County how tragically flawed our decision-making process has been,” Eggleston said. “When you read that letter from the county and they’ve got every detail and every misguided mission that this board undertook from 2002 on...I think it is important to get this behind us, give them the money and do it,” he concluded.
The board voted unanimously to fund the updated EIR study with the condition that the EIR will be certified in the future so the Association is not back in the same position five years from now.