Mark Your Calendar for This Year's Spring Eggstravaganza

Bring your kids and baskets to the 13th Annual Spring Eggstravaganza at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve on  Saturday, March 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The event features continuous egg hunts for children up to age 8.  Egg hunts are staged at two zones: one for small children and another for kids from ages 4 to 8. There will also be games, carnival rides, a pony ride, a petting zoo, inflatables, face painting and crafts.  Primo DJ will entertain with music and games.

Parking is $6 per vehicle. Tickets for rides and activities will be sold for $1.00 each.  Egg hunt wrist bands are also $1.00 each.

Last year, more than 10,000 people attended the event, including 2,700 children who scrambled for treats at 42 egg hunts. Spring Eggstravaganza is co-sponsored by the City of Santee and the Padre Dam Municipal Water District, which operates the 190-acre preserve.

 The preserve is located  in Santee at 9210 Fanita Parkway. For more information, call the event hotline at (619) 258-4100 ext. 201 or visit the event page here.

 

US Race Walking Championships Here on Nov. 22

America’s best race walkers will be in Santee Nov. 22 to compete in the USA Track & Field Race Walk National Championship.  The fast walkers will vie for the national title as well as a chance to represent the USA in international competitions.

The competitors will walk a 1.25 kilometer loop course on Mast Boulevard between Magnolia Avenue and Jeremy Street, which is south of Santana High School.

Race organizers are expecting about a dozen athletes to compete in the 50-kilometer (31-mile) race, which begins at 7:30 a.m. and will conclude around 2 p.m.

 Santee was previously the site of the U.S. national championship race walk in 2009 and the US Olympic race walking qualifying trials in January 2012.

To accommodate the upcoming race, the westbound lanes of Mast Boulevard between Magnolia Avenue and Jeremy Street will be closed.  The eastbound lane will remain open. Watch for detour signs on Jeremy Street and Second Avenue.  Race organizers will have amplified sound during the event from 7:20 a.m. to 2 p.m. Information on the event is available on the USA Track & Field website at www.usatf.org

Recycle Your Christmas Tree in Santee

Help divert green waste from the landfill by recycling your Christmas tree at the end of the season.

 

Trees will be picked up for recycling the first two weeks following Christmas through Jan. 11, 2016.

Residents with curbside collection can recycle their Christmas trees by placing the trees in their yard waste bins on their regular pick-up day. Trees must be cut into maximum four-foot sections and must fit into the green yard waste container. Ornaments, tinsel and tree stands must be removed before being recycling.

Flocked trees cannot be recycled, but will be collected if cut into four-foot sections and placed into the regular trash cart.

Santee residents without curbside collection, primarily those living in apartment complexes, can drop off trees, from Dec. 26th through Jan. 11, 2016, at the Waste Management Recycle Center in El Cajon, located at 925 O’Connor Street, one block south of the West Bradley Avenue and Johnson Avenue intersection. The recycling center will be open 7:00am to 7:00pm Monday through Friday, and 7:00am to 12:00pm on Saturday.

For more information contact Senior Management Analyst Ed Ruiz at (619) 258-4100 ext. 128.

 

Santee Awarded Major Grant for Mast Park Upgrade

Santee's Mast Park

The City of Santee has been awarded a grant of $1.2 million to aid in the redevelopment of Mast Park, including drainage, stormwater treatment and habitat improvements.

The grant reinforces the city’s commitment  be an integral part of a 52-mile-long river park and trail system envisioned to someday parallel the San Diego River from the Cuyamaca Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

The funding was approved Nov. 13 by a unanimous vote of the board of the San Diego River Conservancy, a state agency charged with enhancing the river’s ecology and to help create the crest-to-coast trail. The grant funds originated from Proposition 1, a ballot measure approved by voters in November 2014 to pay for water infrastructure and ecosystem and watershed protection projects.

The grant awarded to Santee will supplement city funding earmarked for a $7.2 million project to upgrade facilities, parking and other amenities covering 31 acres of the park on the north side of the San Diego River. The city plans to begin engineering and design work in 2016.

The grant funds are specifically targeted to pay for water quality, habitat and public access improvements. These include:

·        Replanting 13 acres at the east end of the park with low-growing native vegetation to create a stormwater infiltration area;

·        Creating a dry retention basin to capture and treat stormwater runoff that enters the park from adjacent residential uses;

·        Re-grading the park to create a system of bioswales and vegetated creek beds to capture runoff, reduce flooding and improve drainage;  

·        Removing an existing asphalt path and replacing it with a pervious, decomposed granite surface;

·        Moving the trail away from the river and planting a vegetated buffer consisting of 5.1 acres of riparian habitat;

Updated Slurry Seal Schedule

Slurry Seal Application to Trigger Temporary Street Closures

Temporary street closures will be required between Oct. 13 and Oct. 22 in four Santee neighborhoods to accommodate the application of a two-step slurry seal on the streets.

The application of slurry seal, a preventative maintenance aimed at extending the lifespan of a street, is part of a citywide pavement repair and rehabilitation project that began earlier this year.



click on map to enlarge
 

The affected streets include Ganley Drive, Kerrigan Street, Princess Sarit Way, Michala Place, Trechard Street, Wycliffe Street, Celita Court, Settle Road, Settle Court. Gaslton Drive, Highdale Road, Bellagio Road, Carita Road and Carita Court.

Residents will receive advanced notice of when the work will occur on their street along with a map showing which adjacent streets are available for alternate parking.

The slurry sealing is done in two layers, the first containing large aggregate and a second with finer aggregate to provide a smoother finish.

Streets scheduled to receive a slurry seal will be closed to all traffic from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. to allow the slurry seal to dry.  Residents who need to use their vehicles should park on adjacent streets prior to 7 a.m. on the morning of the application to ensure they are not blocked in.

The fire department has been notified of the street closure schedule and access will be provided in the event of an emergency.

click on chart to enlarge
 

Questions can be directed to Senior Civil Engineer Toby Espinola, P.E. at (619) 258-4100 ext. 174

Prospect Avenue Project Update

Work continues on removing overhead wires and installing  undergrounding utility lines along the mile-long project from Cucamaca Street to Magnolia Avenue.

SDG&E, Cox Cable and AT&T are coordinating with property owners with the goal to complete the electrical conversion work by November.

Once the underground utility system is functioning, the overhead wires and wood power poles will be removed. This is expected to take six to eight weeks.

After the wires and poles are removed, workers will restore the disturbed areas with concrete and asphalt and should be finished in two or three weeks.

Additional landscaping, including shrubs and decorative rocks, will be installed after the undergrounded utility lines are functioning.  In the meantime, the trees planted earlier this year are being hand watered.

Questions about the project can be directed to Senior Civil Engineer Toby Espinola at (619) 258-4100 ext. 174.