At last night’s Town Council meeting, residents of Yucca Valley had the opportunity to voice their opinions on the town’s policy on dirt roads. Here is reporter Adeline J. Wells with more on the meeting.
The Yucca Valley Town Council opened the floor for public comment on the issue of the town’s dirt road maintenance, or lack thereof. Nearly twenty individuals voiced their opinions on the state of dirt roads, crediting heavy erosion caused by rain and increased traffic in the area as the main factors of their decline. Some residents, such as Andrea Staehle, noted the burden of maintenance falls on them despite paying the same taxes for services as any other resident living on a paved road.
“We recently approved Measure Y, which was a promise to our community for street improvements, repairs, and infrastructure. The combination of Measures Y and Z brings in over 2 million dollars of revenue into the town of Yucca Valley, yet Crestview Dr., who is parallel to Sunnyslope, who will be a main throughway when the Aquatic Center is built, is not paved. That is unacceptable.”
Kickapoo Trail and Crestview Drive were two of the most-discussed roads. Concerns ranged from children playing safely to emergency vehicle access, to one insurance company that would not insure a home because of the condition of its dirt road.
Yucca Valley has jurisdiction over roughly 100 miles of private, non-maintained dirt roads; aside from conducting emergency cleanup operations, the town has not amended its policy on maintenance since 1994. The council agreed that policy improvements should be made to enhance public safety; the issue was turned back to Town Staff for further research into potential options, to be revisited later this year.
In other news, the Town Council heard a presentation on air quality by Brad Poiriez of the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District and addressed the issue of graffiti. Per the passed resolution, individuals will now be eligible for a $500 reward for providing information that leads to the arrest of violators of the town’s graffiti ordinance.
