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Enchanted Heights Project: Revitalizing a Perris Community. |
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About the ProjectThe City of Perris and its partners at the county, regional and state level have embarked on a building a sewer project which will improve the lives of Enchanted Heights residents and increase their property values. The community of Enchanted Heights is located on the western edge of the city and has experienced conditions which include failing septic tanks which spew raw sewage and spill on to the streets. It is not unusual to see children picking their way through sewage on their way to school. The community of Enchanted Heights was built in the early 1970’s as a retirement community. The homes were originally designed to house one or two persons. Over time, families moved into the community creating a greater impact on the septic tanks. For many years, the City of Perris sought a solution to the problem to no avail. In 2010, the opportunity arose to pursue funding which would allow a mainline sewer system to be built with a grant from the California Department of Public Health. The city then partnered with the County of Riverside and Eastern Municipal Water District to pursue the opportunity. The California Department of Public Health awarded the partners a grant for $10 million. Because of the disadvantaged status of the community, the partners then sought a $5 million grant from the State Water Resources Control Board to fund the onsite work as well as pay for the connection fees. With the funding secured, the city moved forward with building the sewer system. The city realized early on that public education and outreach was a critical factor in ensuring the success of the project. The city launched a multimedia campaign which included Public Service Announcements in both Spanish and English, formal community meetings at the local elementary school, one on one conversations with the residents of Enchanted Heights, a bilingual media campaign and a dedicated bilingual webpage on the City’s website. The residents of Enchanted eagerly embraced the sewer project and directly engaged in the outreach efforts. The children of Enchanted Heights also begin to take notice of the outreach campaign. It was not unusual to see them also engage in the outreach process. The children began to pass out flyers in the neighborhood. Those same children also explained to their Spanish-speaking parents how the City of Perris and its partners planned to improve the quality of life in their community and encouraged them to support the project. The project broke ground on August 22, 2011, and is now well underway. It is expected to be completed in late 2013. The City’s signature-gathering and public outreach efforts resulted in the project being constructed without cost to the residents of Enchanted Heights. Upon completion of the sewer system, the community will no longer have contaminated run-off in the streets and fields. Finally, the City has set out to share the lessons learned by this project. It has conducted informational sessions and workshops at various events including the 2011 WEFTEC conference which was held in Los Angeles. The City of Perris is committed to ensuring that public outreach will always take center stage in everything they do.
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Project ContactsPlease call the contacts below if you have any questions.
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