𝑼𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝑨𝒍𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

I attended Dianne Jacob’s Alpine Revitalization Steering Committee this afternoon.  This is a committee of your peers coordinating with Supervisor Jacob on long term needs in Alpine. The group meets semi-annually and Supervisor Jacob brings along all the key County representatives of departments that impact us most often.  If you would like to attend, please email Tareq.Haidari@sdcounty.ca.gov.

Below are my own personal key take-aways from this important group’s meeting today. – George Barnett

Roads & Infrastructure:
For the 2^nd half of 2019 until today, the County has repaved 5.53 miles of roads and streets in Alpine.  This follows an earlier upgrade and paving improvement along Alpine Boulevard and the repair of potholes.

There are 6.18 miles of ongoing paving projects with an expected completion this spring.  Have you seen Arnold Way this week?

A further 4.86 miles of paving is targeted to begin in the coming summer.

Jim Bolz, Manager of Capital Projects, attended the meeting and presented a spreadsheet of road upgrade and repaving projects recently completed, underway, and planned.  It is attached.  Your street may be on the list!

After the meeting I took Jim to Boulder Oaks to see the cross walk there in operation.  We all appreciated the county’s rushing to install that last year.  But as parents and grandparents of students at Boulder, we all still have safety concerns.

Jim saw opportunities of potentially immediate improvements; ranging from “in the roadway” flashing alerts, better alert signage and so on.  Jim took photos and will discuss potential improvements with the county traffic specialists.  Travis Lyon, incoming Alpine Union board president, is working on ideas with the county regarding the cooperative training and district hire of certified traffic guide at that cross walk.

Supervisor Jacob is working with her Board of Supervisor peers on adding $28,000,000 more dollars to the County’s general fund for more road repairs across the county.  The goal is to upgrade 2,000 miles of county roads in the unincorporated areas.

Parks & Recreation:  (for record, I chair that sub-committee)

The Back Country Land Trust (BCLT) has received the donation of 16 acres of land in central Alpine quite suitable for an additional community park possibly including active sports facilities, trails, a pavilion, kiddie play area and so on.  That donation has been informed to the County group conducting the Alpine Community Plan Update; the process that is setting tone and character of Alpine for the next 20 years.  BCLT is committed to holding that land for the community’s use and enjoyment until the Community Plan Update addresses ingress and egress to the property, and solutions are found for the public’s use.

For record, I am an officer of BCLT.

An update was provided by County Parks on the program to develop an Alpine Community Park on a portion of the 98 acres of Wright’s Field purchased by the county last year. Environmental studies are still proceeding.  Please recall that the County has held two Alpine town hall meetings already inviting community input as to the needs and desires for parkland.  The project continues to move ahead and we urged County Parks to present back to Alpine an analysis of all of the input data as soon as feasible.

Travis Lyon, Alpine Union school board president, gave an update on the Joan MacQueen playing fields project.  The decision has been made to proceed on the basis of building a multi-use artificial turf field on the 2.1 acres of decomposed granite to the west of the auditorium.  A prospective donor for a water well and irrigation infrastructure seems to have withdrawn the offer.  The field is intended to serve all needs from football to soccer to softball, and others.

Final designs are anticipated by end February, and a potential final project funding and go-ahead in the fall.

Informal Information & Thoughts:

The County’s annual physical census of the Homeless was completed for Alpine.  I understand informally, that provisionally zero Homeless were found in Alpine.  Yes, there are casual day workers camping at known locations.  But that is with the approval of the private property owners.  Sheriffs do patrol those locations.  Those folks are not a problem, and they do provide a service to many private homeowners.

My overall take-away is two-fold:

One – that under Dianne Jacob, our roads are in better condition than ever; more work is planned and funded; and our Supervisor is promoting strengthening the County road repair budget in part to support upgrading 2,000 miles of roadway across the unincorporated areas – that includes Alpine and the Backcountry.

Two – due to a variety of reasons, Alpine does not have a Homeless problem.

Three – Jason McBroom, Fire Marshall at Alpine Fire Protection District and Jim Easterling, district president, informed us of the district’s purchase of a brand new “Brush Rig” fire truck to the tune of $575,000.  Jason also confirmed Alpine citizenry’s support to building defensible space against wildfire.  Not one ‘citation’ has been formally issued to compel private homeowner compliance.

Together with the district’s annexation of East Alpine, our supporting citizens, our dedicated district professionals, and it board, our ability to provide fire protection and fire-fighting is at an all-time peak.

Everyone in our Fire District is a Hero; and our fire-fighter / paramedics are just wonderful!!!

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