SqCWD Enacts Building Moratorium

Mandatory Water Rationing in District to Take Effect This Fall
Twin Lakes Church Project put in Limbo By Board

By Noel Smith

A de-facto building moratorium has been declared by the Soquel Creek Water District Board of Directors. Five projects that had met all the technical and policy criteria the district requires, including Water Demand Offsets (WDOs), and were recommended for approval by staff, were put on hold by the board on Tuesday, April 1.

Board Vice President, Bruce Daniels, had the five projects pulled off the consent agenda. They were then made part of the Administrative Business portion of the agenda, “6.1 Discussion of Will Serve Approval prior to Moratorium Hearing Expected to be Held in June.”

After two hours of public testimony pleading with the board to approve the projects, and whose approval were backed up by advice from district staff and the district’s legal counsel, the board instead voted 3-2 to put on hold approval of any “Conditional Will Serve Letters” until after their Moratorium Hearing.

According to architect Cove Britton, whose project was one of the five, this decision by the board is in effect, a de-facto building moratorium. The consequence is that no water service will be approved by the SqCWD for new or remodel building projects until a future decision is made by the board to make the moratorium official.

At the same meeting on April 1, the board also enacted a district-wide water-rationing program. On the SqCWD website is the following (Bold italics are the editor’s):

“Beginning this fall a mandatory, year-round Water Use Reduction Program will take effect and continue beyond the drought.”

“Each residential Soquel Creek Water District customer will be allocated a monthly water budget based on 75 gallons per person per day.”

“Residential water budgets can be adjusted based on the number of people in a household. If you exceed your water budget, there will be financial penalties.”

Director Rich Meyer said “The 75 gallon limit will reduce our pumping rate from our aquifers by about 500 acre feet per year or about one-third of our reduction goal.”

During public comment on the “Will Serve Letters,” it was pointed out that the water savings on the Twin Lakes Church Project would be more than required by the Mandatory Water Conservation Program. Board member Daniels responded that the district would get its water usage reduction even if they didn’t approve the Twin Lakes Project – so it made no difference!

Board Members Don Hoernshemeyer, Richard Meyer and Bruce Jaffe also voted for the building moratorium with Jaffe changing his vote later when Board President Thomas LaHue asked for a clarification of the vote. LaHue was the only board member who seemed to be concerned about enacting a building moratorium without proper public notice and a report from the staff.

According to District General Manager Kim Adamson, the state requires that declaring such a moratorium can only be done for serious health and safety reasons and that it had not yet been determined if such a situation existed that would allow the Board to declare a moratorium.

When asked about the five projects – including the Twin Lakes remodel project – that were all denied “Conditional Will Serve Letters” which prevents them from getting building permits from the County Planning Department, Adamson said that the staff recommended the board grant the letters because they met all the district’s planning and mitigation requirements. The district’s WDO mitigation standards require that the project use less water when it is completed. In the case of Twin Lakes, the reduction was estimated to be 35-40 percent less water usage than at present.

Pastor René Schlaepfer of Twin Lakes Church provided us with this statement. “The church I pastor, Twin Lakes, has a small school now scattered across six buildings on our property. Four are portables and two are aging 40-year old buildings.

The need for a single, technologically advanced, water-and-energy efficient building is dire. We raised funds from our congregation for just such a building, got our Water Demand Offsets approved by the Soquel Creek Water District, made plans to meet the WDOs, ran them by SCWD staff, and the SCWD staff then recommended that the SCWD board send us on to the county planning department with a “Conditional Will-Serve Letter”, usually a matter of procedure. We dotted all the i’s we could dot. The last one only the board could dot!

“Regardless of Kim Adamson’s comments or the comments of many who pointed out that with the WDOs our school’s water usage drops from 8 acre feet to 5.4 annually, our request for a letter was still denied.

“I know we are small potatoes in the water story, but it’s a little maddening when we take a lot of time and effort to meet every Water Offset Demand — and then the board will not even take action on our time-sensitive plans. I sincerely wish to cooperate as a member of the community to find solutions for our water problem. In my view, replacing six old classroom buildings with one modern building that lowers our water usage is a socially responsible way to do just that. Not to mention the spectacularly effective megaphone a 5,000-member church can be on any social issue, including water conservation. But somehow it wasn’t enough.”

After the board voted to delay the issuance of any “Conditional Will Serve Letters” until discussion of a moratorium, they then voted to reconsider their delay at special meeting to be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29. At that meeting, the board is also expected to grant unconditional will-serve letters for new water service to the city of Capitola for its new multi-purpose McGregor Park and to the county for restrooms at Polo Grounds Park.

To accommodate the expected turnout at the April 29 meeting, it will be held in the Seascape Room, Seascape Beach Resort, 1 Seascape Resort Dr, Aptos, CA.

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