Park could be ready by fall
On Night Heron Street in Plumas Lake, residents have had block parties in the street and Halloween parties in an empty lot. Just a traffic circle away sits a large grassy expanse good for growing weeds, but not much else.
This year's Halloween party, though, could find a new home in that lot, with the Olivehurst Public Utility District finalizing a design agreement to get a long-awaited park built for the Wheeler Ranch neighborhood.
"It's been a long wait," said Laura Luttrell, 28, as she and her husband's five children headed into the house Thursday after school. The conversation about a park stopped her daughter short, to ask a question: When can she play there?
For the delayed answer, Wheeler Ranch subdivision residents can thank a builder bankruptcy and a subsequent dispute between OPUD and bankruptcy trustees over who had rights to the land where the parks were supposed to be built.
In September, the OPUD board signed off on a deal to get the land and reduce property-tax payments to pay for public improvements. District General Manager Tim Shaw said the next step is finalizing a deal with an architect to design the parks.
Because the architectural firm, MTW Group, had done preliminary park design work for the bankrupt Empire Land Co., the district might not be starting from zero in getting the parks finally built, Shaw said.
"They may have the parks designed the way we want it designed already," Shaw said.
If the $102,000 contract with MTW can be finalized within the next few weeks, he said, work crews could begin grading soil on park sites when spring arrives. With luck and good weather, a park could be finished by late fall.
The large 5-acre lot in the subdivision's northwest area is likely to host a park first, Shaw said, though OPUD has title to four designated park lots in all. Two lots near the neighborhood's entrance are less likely to be built soon because they won't benefit as many residents, he said.
When construction equipment shows up to start work, one resident said she's going to throw another party.
"We do annual picnics every year, and we always say, 'maybe next year, we can do it in the park,'" said Sara Brown, who delayed moving from Texas to her home on Night Heron for a year while she waited for more of the neighborhood to be built.
She and her neighbors began agitating for the parks a year ago, so she's happy the end of the wait is in sight.
"A lot of people are really looking and hoping they come this time," she said.
