The Point San Pedro Road Coalition’s Roadway Committee has been working with the City and their median maintenance contractor to resolve a number of issues regarding the Point San Pedro Roadway medians.
In 2011, East San Rafael area residents approved creation of a Point San Point Road Median Landscaping Assessment District. The Assessment District includes the areas adjacent to the 29 roadway medians that run from Union Street to Biscayne Drive. Property owners within the Assessment District are assessed a yearly fee. Monies collected were used for the initial construction work on the medians, which included removal and replacement of old soil and the old broken irrigation system, installation of a new irrigation system and the planting of trees and plants on the medians.
The revenues from the assessment also funds an annual contract with a company to maintain the medians. The maintenance contractor is hired and supervised by the City and is responsible on-going landscape maintenance and trash removal from the medians.
During the past several years, there have been a lot of problems with the maintenance of the medians. These problems included many median plants dying due to severe changes in weather (heavy winter rains and hot summer temperatures), problems with some plants not adapting to the soil conditions, water restrictions caused by the drought, problems with the irrigation system damage caused by utility companies and project contractors who have to access the medians, and the failure of the City’s maintenance contractor to perform as required.
During the past five months, The Roadway Committee has been working closely with City Staff and their median maintenance contractor to address these issues.
I am happy to report that we have an agreement with the City on the following:
- The City’s new landscape maintenance contractor, Gardner’s Guild (since June 2018) will service each of 29 medians once a month. They will provide the City and Roadway Committee a monthly schedule that will identify which medians will be serviced each week. The work will include weeding, trimming and removal of dead or dying plants.
- The City’s maintenance contractor will inspect and remove large pieces of trash from all 29 medians on a weekly basis. Smaller liter will be removed when the maintenance crew services each median.
- The City will provide adequate supervision of the median maintenance contractor to ensure the contractor is complying with provisions of their contract.
- The City’s maintenance contractor along with City staff have inspected the system irrigation system and have identified problem areas and have either repaired them or are in the process of repairing damaged lines or equipment. Moving forward, the median maintenance contractor will perform an annual inspection and test of the irrigation system. Repairs to the irrigation system will be done as necessary.
- The City will coordinate with utility companies and other project contractors who need to access the medians to make sure, when these companies access the medians, that they replace plants and repair irrigation lines that have been damaged as part of their work.
- The Roadway Committee and City Staff will monitor the conditions on the medians on ongoing basis and will hold periodic meeting as necessary to address issues as they arise.
Additionally, during the balance of 2017, to restore the medians to their original standards:
- The City’s maintenance contractor will remove all dead or dying plants from the medians by November 15.
- City staff and their maintenance contractor will by November 30, conduct an inspection of all 29 medians and prepare a plan to replace plants that have died over the past several years.
The new plants chosen will include variety of plant types with different colors, shapes, textures and heights that are currently thriving on the medians.
- The City will submit the planting plan to the Roadway Committee by December 1. The Committee will review the plant plan and provide their comments to the City no later than December 8.
- The City will review and incorporate the Roadway Committee’s comments into the finalized the planting plan.
- The City will purchase the new plants and have the maintenance contractor install them by December 31.
The Point San Pedro Road landscaped medians are a major asset to those of us living in East San Rafael. The medians need to be maintained on a consistent and appropriate basis. The Roadway Committee believes that we have a good working relationship with City staff and their median maintenance contractor to ensure the medians are properly maintained.
I want to acknowledge and thank the following people who worked together on this plan: Jim Dickson and Betsy Saunders from the Roadway Committee’s Subcommittee on Median Maintenance, Talia Smith, Dave Davenport and Brendan Mitchell from the City’s Department of Public Works and Travis Bradley from Gardner’s Guild, the City’s median maintenance contractor.
Kevin Hagerty
Chairman, Roadway Committee
Point San Pedro Road Coalition