MEETING INFORMATION
NOTICE: The proposed boundaries of the road district have been modified and redrawn based on feedback received from neighbors in the Big Morongo Canyon area and the San Bernardino County Special Districts at our community meetings. Please refer to the new map posted below.
The San Bernardino County of Public Works has sent survey cards to property owners to assess the degree of support for the proposed road district. All matters concerning the proposed road district are now in the hands of the county, not the Rawson Road Improvement Group Non-profit board. All questions and inquiries regarding the proposed road district can be directed to Mr. Henry Mac, Special Districts Division Manager in Charge of Operations at henry.mac@sdd.sbcounty.gov or 909-386-8822.
Our board is aware that some of our neighbors did not receive a survey card. If you live within the proposed road district boundaries and did not receive a survey card, please contact the San Bernardino County Assessor’s Office at 909-386-8870 to verify your proper mailing address. This will help keep you informed about the proposed road district and give you a chance to share your views.
A Note From Rawson Road Improvement Group
The Rawson Road Improvement group has been made aware of social media comments
regarding the proposed road district made by many people who are not affected by this
road improvement proposal. These people are posting negative, inaccurate, and
incorrect information. To address this situation, below are some FACTS regarding the
most egregious statements.
First of all, NONE of our board members owns a single short-term rental/Airbnb in the
Morongo Basin, nor are there any plans to do so.
None of our board members is from Los Angeles. Combined, we have lived in the
Morongo Basin for over 98 years. Two of our members have been here in the same
homes for over 30 years.
The proposed road district does NOT include paving any of our roads.
The current width of each road will remain the same. It will simply have a smoother
surface. Property owners will not need to give up land or move fences.
Water runoff will be directed to the sides of the roads, into preexisting natural washes,
NOT INTO PEOPLE’S YARDS, as has been stated in some incorrect comments.
ADDITIONAL FACTS:
The board has exhausted every available possibility for free money. We have searched
for grants and asked for donations. To keep the costs down, we even considered buying
our own equipment with the money and hiring our own drivers. The liability of that was
just too much.
When the water company pipes break and tear up the roads with running water, the county
will restore our roads to pre-leak condition.
HOW DOES THE PROPOSED ROAD DISTRICT BENEFIT PROPERTY OWNERS?
- Reduced auto repair and tire costs
- Decreased response time for emergency vehicles. Life or death can be reduced to
seconds.
- Residents will not have to use their own tractors, trucks, and other equipment doing road
repairs. No physical labor for maintenance will need to be done by residents.
- Costs for road repairs will be shared by all residents, rather than the few who choose to
donate their time, equipment, and money.
About Us
Next Steps
Next Steps
Crappy Roads is an initiative created by locals to improve and maintain our local and feeder roads while maintaining our private road status. The current boundary roads under consideration are on the north side of Hwy 62 from Desert Willow to Northstar and potentially Big Morongo Canyon; these are the north and south running boundary roads under consideration. For boundary roads that run east and west we are considering Panorama, Cheyenne, and Northridge.
Next Steps
Next Steps
Next Steps
The County is hosting a meeting on September 24, 2025, at 5:30 PM in the Covington Park Community Center.
For locals, by locals.
Help Our Cause
Your support and contributions will enable us to meet our goals and fund our mission. This includes offsetting the costs of meeting rooms, website maintenance, and printing costs.
OUR GOAL HAS BEEN MET! Stay tuned or future donation opportunities.
FACTS
DO LANDOWNERS WANT THIS?
All parcels of land that will benefit from the road improvements will be assessed a tax by the county on the annual tax bill. All parcels will be affected, even parcels with no homes or improvements on them. Empty parcels will pay the same amount as parcels with homes. Government-owned parcels, county water parcels, and BLM land will not be taxed. A 2.5-acre parcel will be assessed at the same cost as a 5-acre parcel.
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
Before a single penny is spent, we must first figure out if there is a majority of folks who want to proceed. The county will not get involved unless a majority of people think it is a good idea. We then need to decide the boundaries of the road improvement district. The more included parcels, the less expensive it becomes for all of us. Once the boundaries are set, the county will give a “rough draft and cost” of what it could look like. Depending on cost, we would have to decide how many times a year the roads are graded. The residents make that choice based on cost. For example, six times a year will cost more than two times a year. Blacktop costs more than grading, etc..... If we have a majority of people who want to pursue this, we will need to raise a deposit for the county of $2,500. Upon receipt of that deposit, the county special districts department will figure out the final prices and present us with multiple options. At that point, we need to choose an option and pay an additional $2500 for the mail-in ballot election to all parcel owners. If the election is successful, the $5000 is refundable. If we are not successful, the county will not return the money. They use it to pay for all the time they spend doing research etc. Final costs should be less than $20 per month per parcel. The more parcels, the lower the cost for each one.
WHAT ARE THE CURRENT BOUNDARIES UNDER CONSIDERATION?
NOTE: The hard boundaries of the proposed special district/roads to be maintained by the County have not yet been determined.
The current boundary roads under consideration are shown on the map above.
WHERE ARE WE IN THE PROCESS?
We began this process by holding community meetings to gauge community support to repair the roads in our neighborhood. We formed a board and non-profit organization to facilitate gathering funds transparently through the community, and the County, and to seek grant funding for fixing and maintaining the roads. Over the past few months, we were able to raise $2,500 in community donations to start the process of forming a special district with the County to maintain our roads. Dawn Rowe's office generously donated an additional $2,500 for this project. The County has received $2,500 to start the process to assess the financial viability of maintaining the roads, review potential boundaries for the roads that may be maintained, and form the special district. As part of the County's assessment process, County representatives have already visited our community and driven the roads to review their condition. The County has now sent out survey cards to guage interest in this project.
ORDER OF EVENTS
- Decide if there is enough support from all landowners involved. If yes, then
- Decide on boundaries and scope of work.
- Have an initial meeting with the County. No $ given.
- Put up signs and build a webpage for information to the landowners.
- Have 2nd meeting with the County regarding a rough draft of costs and scope of work.
- Fundraising initial deposit of $2500.
- The county will get the final hard costs and final scope of work for the yearly tax assessment. We will then decide if we want to continue.
- A 2nd deposit of $2500 is given to the County.
- County mails out ballots to all affected landowners for a pass/ fail vote.
- If it passes, the $5000 is returned to the people who paid into it minus the cost of community donations and used as the people see fit.
- The roadwork begins!
Frequently Asked Questions
Please reach us at if you cannot find an answer to your question.
The County wants to be sure that we want this road improvement before they take the time to get hard bids and research the roads and their current conditions. If the improvement passes, the
money is refunded.
I spoke to Reyno Perez at the Water District, and he gave me two email addresses to contact him and/or another supervisor Tim Moore. If you are unhappy about a road repair after a water break, please email them. They asked that you put “Morongo Valley Resident” in the subject line.
Tim.Moore@specialdistricts.org, and Reyno.Perez@specialdistricts.org
The unfortunate answer is NO. Speed limits are 55 MPH on rural dirt roads. A road must be paved and maintained by the county to get a posted speed limit.
We can set up road maintenance any way we want and can afford. We can set it up on an “as needed” basis, we can set it up, so roads are professionally graded only twice, or three times a year, with additional “as needed”. We make the choice depending on costs!
All parcels are charged the same amount regardless of size because this is how the County charges according to their codes and rules. We cannot change how the county charges, but we are committed to keeping costs under $20 per month per parcel while also keeping our roads private.