Some Elverta Residents Say County Never Asked Them For Input On Road Project
ELVERTA (CBS13) – Elverta residents say the closure of Locust Road will create an added headache to their everyday commute.
They claim Placer County officials never asked for the public for input on the project – and only notified them a few weeks ago about the closure.
Marshall and Pam Solem have lived in Elverta for more than 20 years. They take their grandkids to school down Locust Road to Rio Linda. But they won't be able to do that much longer.
"There was nothing ever sent to us or communicated to us," Marshall said.
Until they got a postcard.
"It says they're going to permanently close the road about September 23," Marshall said, reading the card.
Locust Road is scheduled to be closed down by Placer County.
But some neighbors say they were never notified until a month ago when signs went up and postcards went out.
The Solems say the road closure was pushed through by only a few residents and most it will be a big inconvenience.
"We have to drive up and over to Locust up to Baseline and around instead of going right now to school," Marshall said.
The closure area is part of the future Placer Vineyards housing development scheduled on either side of Locust Road in 20 years, which the Solems don't object to. But they wonder – why weren't they given any heads up on the road closure?
A county spokesperson tells CBS13 the county wasn't expecting angry residents to come out of the woodwork.
"The county thought they were doing something for the residents not to the residents," said a Placer County spokesperson.
No one from the county can say exactly where the communication breakdown occurred.
But not all residents are unhappy.
"I've lived here 28 years, all you have to do is look at all the skid marks coming around my corner and I've fixed my fence 15 or 20 times," one resident said.
The county is planning a meeting to go over the street closure this Wednesday.