Drivers should expect possible delays along Fairview Road from
now until Sept. 10, according to a statement from Mark Nicholson,
Inc.
Drivers should expect possible delays along Fairview Road from now until Sept. 10, according to a statement from Mark Nicholson, Inc.
There will be construction along the San Benito County road between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. It started Monday and will last until Sept. 10., according to the company.
The work is related to the widening of Fairview Road for a new turn lane at the Maranatha Drive intersection. Leal Vineyards is responsible for the construction costs. The addition of a turn lane is required as part of a use permit for the business, said Arman Nazemi, deputy director of public works for the county.
Nazemi noted that while vineyards owner Frank Leal is responsible for the costs, a county engineer is assisting him with obtaining necessary permits and providing traffic data.
The county has had the project on the books for many months, Nazemi said.
In September 2010, supervisors had given Leal 30 days to post a bond necessary for construction of a left-turn lane off Fairview Road near the property. That came five months after the planning commission in its initial approval of a use permit had been set to allow the business to forego the road work required under an original agreement from 2004.
Supervisors in their decision about a year ago upheld an appeal – to that same planning commission’s April decision – from a neighbor who had complained about Leal Vineyards’ disregarding of an array of requirements under the county’s agreement with the business.
The neighbor, Bill Lee, had appealed the planning commission’s decision while contending that Leal had failed to comply with such matters as noise, fire-code and traffic issues. Those violations included often surpassing the county’s noise limit after a 10 p.m. curfew, lacking permits for structures on the property and a wine cave built in recent years, and the left-turn lane at Fairview Road and Maranatha Drive.
The bond for the turn lane had to be for 150 percent of the estimated cost.
