[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATER QUALITY - 6/5/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

June 5, 2007

 

4. Water Quality

 

Tri-W parcel to be considered for Los Osos sewer plant to avoid suit; Tensions run high over land in the middle of town, but officials say they legally must probe all options

San Luis Obispo Tribune – 6/5/07

By Sona Patel, staff writer

 

County officials say they are legally required to consider a contentious midtown parcel as a possible site for a Los Osos sewer plant —a location that has for years been at the heart of the battle over the town’s wastewater woes.

 

The so-called Tri-W site is the only parcel in town being considered for a sewage treatment plant among multiple out-of-town locations, according to Paavo Ogren, the county’s deputy public works director.

 

County officials are examining a number of parcels near Los Osos Valley Memorial Park southeast of town.

 

Work toward building at the parcel off Los Osos Valley Road and Palisades Avenue started in August 2005. The Los Osos Community Services District halted work there two months later after local voters ousted a majority of the agency’s board in a September 2005 recall election.

 

Whether to proceed with a treatment plant at Tri-W was at the heart of the recall.

 

Vocal critics of the Tri-W parcel point out the site is next to the town’s library, across the street from its only park and the community center and near a number of churches.

 

Its supporters say the central location makes it ideal because it would require less piping than an out-of-town site. They also note that the services district already owns the parcel and that it has obtained all needed permits.

 

Critics urge the county to drop the site, arguing that the community exercised its will when, by a very narrow margin, voters approved an initiative that precluded the Tri-W parcel for a sewer plant.

 

Others urge the county to move forward with a project regardless of where a treatment plant is located.

 

Meanwhile, county officials say California environmental-review laws require that they nearly start from scratch and look at every possible option before moving ahead.

 

Excluding Tri-W from analysis, they add, could make the county vulnerable to lawsuits from groups who want the site considered for a sewage treatment plant.

 

Much of the technical data outlined in the services district’s previous environmental reports for Tri-Wcould be used in another analysis of that location, Ogren said.

 

Ogren said they’ll be making efforts to gauge the community’s feelings about that site and use them as part of environmental reports that would be crafted next year.

 

Whether the county moves ahead with a detailed environmental analysis of any plant sites depends on whether Los Osos property owners approve a tax to pay for a project in an election set for this fall.

 

“The document and the findings have to reflect an independent judgment of the agency making the findings,” said Mark Hutchinson, environmental project manager for county Public Works, referring to California Environmental Quality Act requirements.

 

That law requires public agencies to produce environmental reports for major projects. #

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/58814.html

####