Mill District Traffic Survey

At the request of a homeowner ACHD is conducting a traffic survey in the Mill District for the next two weeks. The opening of the last section of Sawmill Lane last fall created a short cut through the neighborhood from Eckert to Riverstone International School. Increased traffic and speeding was noticed on Sawmill in the morning and and mid-afternoon as parents ferried their kids to and from school. The devices can log direction, time and speed. The results of the survey will help ACHD determine what traffic mitigation actions, if any, should be taken.

Unfortunately, with the last day of school at Riverstone on June 4th the survey will not capture traffic from the school. It would make more sense now to delay the study until after East Junior High opens and any cut through traffic due to both schools can be evaluated.

Brighton Meeting June 4, 6:30PM

Brighton Corporation will hold a neighborhood meeting at the Mill District clubhouse to get input on Harris Ranch Phase 12. This is the area along Eckert Road near Lucky 13. The plan is to have mostly single family homes in the area with townhouses along Mill Station. To fit the homes in the space, Brighton plans to ask the city to reduce the street width from what was approved for the Barber Valley Specific Plan in 2007.

Some streets in Mill District, such as Mill Site Ave. and Barber Station Drive are reduced width which is why parking is allowed on one side only. The significance here is that the plan provided by Brighton has the garage as the only off-street parking available for the homeowners. For most of the homes, the alley driveway is only about 10 feet long -- too short to park most cars.

Keeping the street width as originally planned may force Brighton to propose higher density housing.

Irrigation System Overload at 6:30 AM

You may have noticed that the irrigation system was not working on several mornings this week. Hopkins, our landscaping company, determined that pumps shut down about 6:30 AM from too much demand for water. Our system is not very complicated and with good management, can easily handle Harris Ranch and more.

Irrigation water from the Penitentiary Canal and the Golden Dawn well flow into a suction chamber in the Spring Creek pump house. When the pumps draw more water out than flows in, the water level in the chamber drops and the pumps shut down to avoid damage. Restarting the pumps requires a visit from the landscaping company.

We can't control the amount of water flowing in, but we can control the amount coming out. For the past couple of years the HROA has not enforced an irrigation schedule. To avoid a schedule and the headaches that go with it, please ensure that you schedule your sprinklers at some time other than 5 to 7 AM. Try picking the hour that corresponds with the last digit on your house number.

With proper management, we can keep the water flowing for everyone.