Commercial buildings discussed at IWD meeting

The Idyllwild Water District (IWD) Board of Directors spent some time discussing an item not on its Wednesday, Jan. 19, agenda — the new commercial buildings in Idyllwild.

Vice President Peter Szabadi brought up the issue toward the end of the meeting when he mentioned the Town Crier reporting several stories on Hotel Idyllwild Brad and Jacki Rechtfertig are planning to build on North Circle Drive next to La Casita and the apartment complex Shane Stewart is (or was?) planning to build on Oakwood Drive off Upper Pine Crest Avenue.

“I would like a sense of how do you determine what size of pipe or meter — but maybe this isn’t the time to discuss that,” Szabadi started off. “I would like you to cover that maybe in the next meeting.”

But IWD General Manager Leo Havener answered anyway and no one stopped the conversation which continued for some time. “I’ve done a little research and residentials [pipes/meters] are 1 inch. It’s over, it’s done,” Havener said. “Commercial properties and multi-uses and apartment complexes and things like that, they go through a little bit of a process.

“First, they have their engineer and a fire suppression company work together to figure out how many fixtures they have and what the fire hose is going to be, what that gallonage is and what size of a meter they’regoing to need.”

“All of that?” Szabadi asked.

Havener continued, “So it’s kind of a mathematical equation and, like in the case of both of these properties, they’ve already been done.”

“My understanding is that the property on North Circle has a well and is putting out more water than they are expecting to use,” added Director Steve Olson, “and my understanding from Brad Rechtfertig is that he’s going to give the excess to the Idyllwild Water District.”

(((APPEND)))Szabadi said, “He just needs to figure out how to tap into our system.”

Havener said Monday, “I have no knowledge of the hotel well water being offered to the district.”

“Just for the record,” said Havener at the meeting, “both projects already have meters in the ground. We already know what their meter size is. It’s 1-1/2 inches … It’s 5/8 [inches] in the ground right now. They’ve already been approved to upgrade to a 1-1/2 inch.”

“When was that?” asked Szabadi.

“Two years ago,” Havener said.

“They have to reapply for a will-serve letter, right?” asked Szabadi.

“Yeah,” Havener replied.

“But they haven’t purchased a 1-1/2-inch meter, have they?” Szabadi asked.

“No, they’ll pay the difference to put it in,” Havener added.

President Charles Schelly interrupted at this point and said, “We did far more than we should have for an item that’s not on the agenda,” and moved on to the next item that was on the agenda.

Later, before closed session, local resident Steve Moulton spoke up and said Stewart’s commercial property is on the market. Stewart, owner of Idyllwild Realty, is listed as the realtor/broker.

“Here it is. One of the last flat commercial lots in town on sewer with a 2” water meter and a 4” fire water meter for fire sprinklers is paid and installed. So may [sic] possibilities. Great HWY 243 access. Perfect location for an Inn, apartments or???,” is stated on the realty’s website.

Tuesday, Havener said, “I believe that is correct,” to a question regarding the meter sizes.

A public hearing to consider a proposed project on Stewart’s property is scheduled for 9 a.m. (or as soon as possible thereafter) Wednesday, Feb. 2 in the Riverside County Administrative Center, Board Chambers, 1st Floor, 4080 Lemon St. in Riverside.

To participate through teleconference, visit https://planning.rctlma.org.