RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - During the construction of Murieta Village in the 1970s, the Pension Trust Fund laid the water and sewer lines beneath the mobile home sites, an unusual configuration that has made repairing leaks both difficult and sometimes hazardous. Adding to the issue is the aging PVC pipes, which have failed five times in the past six months.

Fortunately for the mobile home park residents, the Rancho Murieta Community Services District is launching a new Capital Improvement Project to relocate the water and sewer mains to the streets and common areas. This project, likely to take several years and cost millions, will probably be implemented in phases to reduce the financial burden on the district's reserves and allow time to seek outside funding.

A project to fix the Village pipes may have been delayed for years if not for recent actions taken by Michael Fritschi, the district’s former operations manager, Dale Schell, a persistent Village landlord, and Mimi Morris, the district’s general manager

Fritschi sent a letter to the Village manager on Nov. 23, 2023, explaining why the district would no longer repair water and sewer lines that didn’t adhere to district code. None of the residents received the letter.

When Schell experienced a water leak in April, he had to pay a plumber to make the repair. Schell emailed the board in May, questioning why the district had reclassified water lines serving multiple homes as privately owned. These were the same tangled water lines the district had been repairing for years. 

Frustrated by the response from staff, Schell raised concerns to the July Board meeting. President Tim Maybee assured him that he would discuss the matter with Morris and have staff arrange a meeting.

While investigating the repair situation, Morris discovered that an $877,000 Capital Improvements Project to relocate the Village water lines had been included in the 2021 budget but was missing from the following year's budget.

After meeting twice with the Improvements Committee, Morris proposed an interim policy that would allow Village property owners to seek reimbursement for plumbing repairs to “a CSD-owned water line.” She also recommended a new plan to relocate both the water and sewer pipes in the Village. On Oct. 16, the board unanimously approved both recommendations, including the allocation of $100,000 into the plan for the preliminary design.

Sept. 18 Meeting

Morris first brought the Murieta Village pipe situation to the district’s Improvements Committee on Sept. 18.  The committee consists of two board members, Randy Jenco and Martin Pohl, Morris, the director of operations, and other staff. The committee looks at infrastructure issues in depth and reports its findings to the board.

One attendee was Rob McCloud, a former district utility manager who retired about 11 years ago and also owns property in the Village. McCloud pointed out that the code Fritschi referenced in his letter to the Village manager applied to a single home, not multiple homes on a shared line. “I don’t care if that pipe is a quarter or three-quarters of an inch. With multiple homes on it, it is a water main,” he said.

Morris also informed the committee that she had discovered a plan proposed several years earlier to relocate the water pipes, which would have solved the current problem. She planned to investigate it further.

Jenco vaguely recalled the project, believing the trenching was meant to coincide with the Village repaving of the streets. Travis Bohannon, the interim operations director, remembered discussing the project with the former operations director, Paul Siebensohn, who had estimated it would cost several million dollars.

Later at the October board meeting, Maybee mentioned that the 2021 Village project hadn’t been included in the following year’s plan because of fiscal constraints.

McCloud emphasized that the pipes should never have been laid under the mobile home sites. “It’s not the fault of the residents that it was put in that way by the Operating Engineers Local 3,” he said.  He added that, if he were still working for the district, he would have advocated relocating the water lines, but only one section at a time.

The two board members were open to the suggestions. Jenco acknowledged that the district should work on the issue, stating, “We need to do the right thing.” 

Pohl asked if the sewer lines could be relocated simultaneously, to which Bohannon agreed, noting, “Why dig twice if you don’t have to?” However, he also cautioned that much would depend on the location, adding, “The water and sewer lines need at least six feet of spacing between them.”

McCloud raised another issue, noting that cleanouts weren't installed during the original construction. The only cleanout he knew of was the one he had installed at his property. He also suggested that homeowners should be responsible for paying for their own cleanouts.

A cleanout is a pipe with a cap that allows a plumber access to the private pipe at the point where the private sewer line connects to a utility line. According to utility code, the district is responsible for maintaining the sewer pipe up to the cleanout, while the homeowner is responsible for any clogs or repairs beyond the cleanout.

Oct. 8 Meeting

Schell’s complaint and the relocation of the Village pipes were again discussed at the Oct. 8 Improvements Committee meeting. There was considerable debate about where the district's responsibility for the water lines begins and ends, with the consensus settling on the water meter as the boundary. Morris suggested referring to the unusual lines in the Village as sub-mains, while Eric Houston, the district’s new operations manager, explained that in larger city systems, these lines would be classified as water mains and distribution mains.

Schell pointed out that the issue began with Fritschi’s letter last November. Jenco asked Morris if the letter should be rescinded, given the angst it had caused. Morris responded that she didn’t think it was necessary.

Morris explained that staff had prepared an interim policy that allowed property owners, including Schell, to seek reimbursement for plumbing repairs to a district-owned mainline.

During the discussion, Jenco noted that while the water line issue seemed resolved, the sewer pipe cleanouts presented a separate challenge. “Number one, we have to figure out if they have cleanouts,” he said. “Then number two is, if there aren’t any, we need to come up with a proposal.”

Bohannon added that Utilities Supervisor Ron Greenfield should be part of the conversation. Village resident Richard Gehrs mentioned that most mobile homes in the area don’t have cleanouts, which had caused costly problems in the past. However, some newer residents installed cleanouts.

Jenco suggested continuing the discussion about sewer lines at the committee level until more information could be gathered. “I don’t think there is a lot of urgency here,” he said. Both he and Pohl agreed that the interim water policy should be immediately referred to the board.

After the Oct. 8 committee meeting, Village Board Member Richardson contacted the River Valley Times to express his support. He praised Schell for pursuing the issue and McCloud for his advocacy, and he was pleased the district was taking responsibility for the lines.

“So this is really great news although it is still going to cost the homeowners some money,” Richardson said.

Speaking  at the Oct. 16 board meeting, part-time Village resident Alexander Warrington also expressed his gratitude. “From my perspective, this is a win-win situation,” he said. “We will work with you on these water lines and water meters… I think I speak for the entire community on this.”