Residents at the Dec. 4 Hanover Park meeting urged the board for answers about a delayed bridge on Arlington and about recent parking-rule changes that have restricted overnight access for some homeowners.

An Arlington-area resident said the bridge had been expected to open earlier and described traffic and safety hazards for students and buses near the junior high: “the bridge was supposed to be done 2 weeks ago on Arlington ... it's terrible and now it's even worse and the bridge isn't open yet.” Neighbors said crews were on site only intermittently and expressed frustration that repeated excuses cited AT&T as the cause of the hold-up.

Engineering staff (Jonathan) responded that the project lost about three weeks in November while awaiting AT&T to move its equipment, and that cold weather and closure of asphalt plants limit paving operations: “because of AT and T, we lost 3 weeks in November ... with the snow and cold temperatures, they're limited to how much work they can do out there.” Staff said the department views completion as a high priority and is working on the schedule, but cautioned that paving may have to wait until asphalt plants reopen in spring if conditions remain unsuitable.

On a separate public-comment item, Mary Palacio described neighborhood parking problems after rule changes, saying blocked driveways and reduced guest parking have made daily tasks difficult and raised potential fire-safety concerns. Staff said the board would vote that evening on a revision that adds approximately 82 overnight spots across Apache, Bear Flag, Nugget and Sutter; staff also clarified that Sutter’s additional spots would be for odd-numbered days. The staff response was presented as a mitigation step to improve emergency access and plow operations.

Trustees thanked residents for raising the issues and asked staff to continue updates on contractor schedules and pavement timelines. Engineering staff said they will keep the board informed of progress and that they had been pressing AT&T to be more responsive.

The board took no separate action at the meeting beyond staff commitments to follow up and the planned regulatory change for additional overnight parking spots.