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trees along the north side of new Vineyard Avenue to screen, to the fullest extent possible, the views to the quarry operations. Staff contacted Thomas Baak and Associates about preparing plans for the trail, but it became apparent that the primary scope of work would be engineering the design of the trail, rather than the landscape design. RJA worked with Thomas Baak and Associates to prepare the conceptual trail plan. Therefore, staff solicited a proposal from RJA to prepare the improvement plans for the trail design and to have Thomas Baak and Associates act as asub-consultant to RJA for the landscaping portion of the trail. DISCUSSION In order to proceed with the design of the trail, staff requests approval for the City Manager to execute an agreement with RJA to provide contract documents to go out to bid for construction. However, recently the City has received numerous calls regarding the scope of work and concerns related to the closure of Old Vineyard for a trail between Mingoia Street/Heinz Ranch Road and Machado Place. In September, 2007, residents submitted an application for a Vineyard Avenue Corridor Specific Plan Amendment, and PUD modifications for the Centex Avignon and the Heinz Bordeaux projects. The residents in these two developments are requesting that the trail not be closed off per the VACSP, but allow the reduction of the trail length by approximately 300 linear feet resulting in the trail beginning at the intersection of Mingoia Street/Heinz Ranch Road intersection. The impacts of this request have not been fully identified. Staff is aware there are several residents in opposition to this proposal. The City needs to engage in community outreach before the item is agendized to the Trails Ad Hoc Committee, the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Planning Commission or the City Council. The neighbors within the Avignon Development do not want the traffic from the Heinz Ranch development to travel through their development to get to Vineyard Avenue, and the Heinz Ranch residents would like to keep their more direct access to Vineyard Avenue through the portion of Old Vineyard Avenue located between Mingola Street/Heinz Ranch Court and Machado Place, rather than having to travel through the Avignon Development. Staff has looked at several alternative designs to consider if both the trail and vehicular access could be provided, thus meeting the residents' requests. However, due to limited street right-of-way width, there does not appear to be an alternative that would allow sufficient width for the trail and still provide vehicular access without removing the heritage trees on the south side of the trail and/or removing the newly planted landscape along the north side of the trail that was planted by the developer to help screen the trail from the residents' backyards. The residents were notified of the trail and its usage before purchasing their homes and staff has confirmed that they were all provided disclosures which clearly identified the trail limits. Unfortunately, due to the need to develop and analyze the various alternative street/trail designs, the item has not been scheduled for a Planning Commission hearing for consideration and recommendation to the City Council. Page 3 of 4