As you all are aware, Rio Vista Hills was hit on July 21st with a major thunderstorm that has left our roadways covered with mud and debris with severe edge-of-road damage in many areas.  3 inches of rain fell in a span of 2 hours.  People in the neighborhood say they have never in 20 years experienced such a storm.  Since then, there have been additional downpours adding to the problems. 

Following is our status report regarding clean-up and repair actions.  Residents wishing to volunteer their assistance with these activities are urged to contact Brett Gerasim.  There is much to do.

Road Clean-up

Clean-up activities will begin later this week with most areas expected to be cleaned of mud and debris no later than Friday, July 30, 2021.  As more rain is expected in coming weeks, we anticipate additional clean-up work to be performed as needed later-on.

Cactus Asphalt will perform the clean-up activity this week and will utilize a crew with two kick brooms and two smaller tractors each equipped with a front loader bucket and a Gannon.  The tractor operators will set the Gannon to about ½ to 1 inch above the road.  The tractors will move mud, larger gravel and rock off the road.  The kick brooms will follow and will clean the remainder of the mud and gravel.  It has been emphasized that the tractor operators be very careful with the grading equipment to not damage our asphalt road surfaces.  With this crew, it is believed the bulk of the RVH roads can be cleaned in one day.  The highest travel areas of the road system will be top priority.  Second priority will be lesser traveled areas that have the most problematic debris.  There may be some roads with minimal debris that will not get serviced in this first phase of work.

Please drive with extra caution while the road debris is present and be especially careful and alert when the work crews are on-site later this week.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation and care.

Erosion Damage on N 296^th

This serious erosion site is located along N 296^th Avenue just up the road North of Stevens’ driveway entrance.  Sandbags have been placed around the damaged area to slow further erosion while we await a permanent solution.  Warning signs are also in place.  Traffic reduces to one lane nearest the hillside when passing this area.  Unless we have another unusually heavy rainstorm, we believe significant further erosion is unlikely at this site and we believe the lane nearest the hillside is safe for use.  Please drive with care and be respectful of oncoming traffic in this zone.

Design concepts for a permanent solution are in work and are expected to be completed by July 30.  We expect a formal bid from Cactus Asphalt no later than August 6.  Our goal is to start the permanent repair work as soon as we are satisfied with the design and related costs.  Our goal is to have all the work at this repair site completed within the month of August.

Other Road Damage and Edge Erosion

Our priority has been to have clean-up activities in place and to have design concepts in work for fixing the N 296^th erosion site.  There are a vast number of additional areas along our roads where edge erosion is serious and must be dealt with.  In coming weeks we expect to have a list of these additional areas needing work and will start to prioritize and plan for those repairs. 

We will keep you updated regarding our additional repair plans and activities. 

At this time, while the costs of all the clean-up and repairs are expected to be considerable, we believe the HOA will have sufficient funds to stay on schedule with the major road resurfacing project planned for April/May 2022. The damage caused by this storm has made it even more important to keep the resurfacing project on track for 2022.

Regards and please drive with care,

Brett Gerasim

RVH HOA President

In the last 72 hours RVH residents and neighbors have experienced 2 extended power failures. In both cases an underground cable suffered a failure. The first failure occurred between the first intersection and the transformer at Miller’s driveway along 294th Avenue. The second failure took place between the transformer across from Nicoulin’s residence and the transformer at the first intersection along 295th Avenue.

Nearly 1/2 mile of temporary power cable has been laid above ground at these failure locations. There is one cable crossing 295th Avenue near the intersection.

Residents are asked to reduce speed and use caution when driving in these locations.

Please be watchful for APS work crews at either location. The power cables that serve our community are now 50 years old. When we receive information regarding line replacement action and planned interruption of service you will be informed.

Thank you,

Brett Gerasim

RVH HOA President