Foothills Sentry August 2023

Page 9 Foothills Sentry August 2023 Enderle Center’s SUMMER CONCERT SERIES @ ENDERLE CENTER Select Fridays every month, All Summer! 5pm-8pm JUNE 23 U.S. 99 - Oldie’s JULY 21 SLIGO RAGS - Celtic Music AUG. 25 THE FUN GHOULS - Soft Rock Bring your family & friends! FREE SHOWS Orange condo complex residents living without gas and hot water By Carrie Graham Residents of the La Veta Mon- terey Condominiums complex, near CHOC, have been without natural gas since June 2 -- and there’s still no clear answer when it will return. Around May 29, a gas leak was detected near the complex’s K building. However, what was initially expected to be a simple repair, replacing a single section of pipe, has now evolved into a complex-wide renovation. “They started excavating, and I sent out an email that the gas would be turned off on the fifth of June to lay the new pipe,” says Andrew Marques, association manager for property owner Huntington West Properties. “Plumbers started to put in temporary rubber clamps to stop the leak so the gas could stay on for everyone to use, but not be a threat to anyone while they made repairs.” But Marques says that just as work was getting underway, of- ficials from SoCal Gas turned up. And they were anything but helpful. He says they have made the process more difficult at nearly every turn, requiring extra valves be installed, pipe sizes be changed, and refusing to turn the gas on, even temporarily, to de- tect the leaks. The line leading into the property is owned by the gas company, but the pipes within the complex are owned by the association, making the HOA financially responsible for any repairs and maintenance. Because the leak occurred on the association’s side of the line, Marques says SoCal Gas refused to check the line once it was repaired, because it wasn’t their responsibility. The plumber turned the gas back on June 12, but two days later the gas company was back at the complex to shut it off again. Marques says he was told that while they had no evidence a leak was still present, it was being shut off again because they hadn't been given an opportunity to test the system. Life in the no-gas lane Meanwhile, residents like Sara Morales are suffering. Morales, who was hauling clothes and two small children home from a laun- dromat in a wagon, says she has to try and bathe her kids earlier in the day when it's warm, since they have no hot water. Even feeding them has become a challenge. “I bought one of those little stoves that use the cans of gas so I could cook something,” Morales says. ”It’s hard to get take-out three meals a day, and I can't just feed them cereal all the time.” Others, like Theresa Sandiego, have expressed safety concerns over rebar left uncapped in the construction areas and ever-wid- ening trenches. City Councilman John Dumitru, who represents District 2 where La Veta Monterey is located, was also critical of safety in the com- plex, comparing the trenches of uncapped rebar to “Vietnam War traps” at the July 11 city council meeting. Although Marques is frustrated with SoCal Gas, Dumitru defended the company’s actions as necessary. A long time coming “When you have leaks and fail- ures, and I'm not putting this all on the property manager’s head, it comes from years of inefficient repairs, substandard repairs … when you see duct tape and zip ties as repairs, it's inappropriate,” he says. “The gas company had to take swift action. And I know it was terrible, but it had to happen.” SoCal Gas did not respond to a request for comment. Marques says it isn’t a result of lax maintenance, the current situ- ation is a result of poor planning in the original construction. When the community was built in 1972, it was constructed with only one gas line and no way of isolating an individual area in the event of a leak. Now, the entire community will be repiped, with a total of six lines coming into the complex, as well as the addition of isolation valves so that future leaks won’t have such a severe impact on residents. “The lines are 51 years old. We might get more leaks somewhere,” says Marques. “We might as well bite the bullet and replace all the pipes, otherwise we might just be chasing our tails.” No end in sight That bullet is a big bite, though. The project is expected to cost around half a million dollars, and will be completed in four sec- tions, or quadrants. While the first was originally expected to come back online by July 17, that date has now been moved back. Another factor setting back project completion was the absence of plans for the complex on file with the city. An engineer had to be hired to draft new plans. All of the condo community's utilities, including cable, electricity, water, phone, and gas lines, runs underground. The location of those utility lines had to be mapped out by those providers before work could begin. The other three quadrants, in- cluding Morales’s unit, still have no estimate of when their gas will return. ”The emails they’ve sent have been vague,” she reports. “They sent an email saying some of the buildings might be back online at the end of the month, but for the rest of us, nothing.” Villa Park High’s Allison Mann, a senior, left, and Lucy Flynn, a soph- omore, made the All-American Swim Team 2022-23; their names were placed on the pool's Wall of Honor. Mann made All-American in the 100m freestyle, and Flynn in the 500m freestyle. Trenching and exposed rebar bearing caution tape has turned the La Veta Monterey complex landscape into a construction zone – with little construction actually taking place.