Escondido on hold until March 4

MEEKER — In unfinished business, Meeker’s Board of Trustees re-opened a public hearing for the proposed Escondido subdivision. After the initial Jan. 17 hearing, property owners Regas and Pegge Halandras withdrew the original design amid questions and concerns from surrounding residents in the Sage Hills subdivision. For the hearing, property owner and town trustee Regas Halandras was asked to leave the room to avoid a conflict of interest.
The Escondido subdivision would be located north of the existing Sage Hills subdivision. Property owners expressed concern about access to the new lots, unstable soil problems in the area and septic drainage. The revised sketch plan consists of seven lots instead of the original four, as well as the addition of a new road to access the lots.
“He addressed a lot of the issues from the original plan,” said Town Planner Denise Sheridan. Questions about septic and soil have yet to be answered. Town staff recommended to the board that they wait to offer any kind of approval on the proposed development until letters from utility companies, geotech engineers and the sanitation district are received.
“It’s been a year and a month now since we started this project,” said Jim Joy of Joy Surveying, representing the project for Halandras. “That seems a bit extreme. Time is money from a developer’s point of view and we haven’t even gotten off first base.”
Town Manager Sharon Day said the town didn’t receive a completed application until late October or early November and that they still haven’t received necessary documentation concerning the revised plan.
The board opted to continue the public hearing until the March 4 meeting to give staff and the planning commission time to review the plan and get the required documents in place.
The board also discussed prioritization of 2008 capital projects and renewed a request for the 3.2 percent beer retail license for Watt’s Ranch Market, Inc. and approved Pat Daggett’s nomination to the library board.