Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 21, 2008
5. Agencies, Programs, People -
Editorial:
Water board's free spending reflects need for term limits
Mercury News- 5/20/08
Wetlands prove murky for council
Contra Costa Times – 5/20/08
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Editorial:
Water board's free spending reflects need for term limits
Mercury News- 5/20/08
The board of the Santa Clara Valley Water District today will discuss whether to impose term limits on its members. The answer should be yes, and soon.
Term limits can be counterproductive, but the seven-member water board is a prime example of why they sometimes are needed. Its longest-serving member has been there 28 years; two others have served 22 and 15 years. Expertise is important, but so is fresh oversight.
The agency that supplies water to 1.8 million county residents has a history of lavish spending and bloated staffing. Its board failed to adequately oversee former General Manager Stan Williams, who was forced to retire after hiring a board member for a $184,000-a-year staff job.
Term limits can help ensure accountability and prevent entrenchment. Three four-year terms, like the limit on county supervisors, would be reasonable for this board.
The limits would have to be approved by district voters. It could be done through a signature-gathering drive, but it would be far better for the board itself to admit the need and put this much-needed reform on the November ballot.#
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_9319402
Wetlands prove murky for council
Contra Costa Times – 5/20/08
By, Julia Scott
HALF MOON BAY — A City Council discussion about the nagging inconsistencies in what the city defines as wetlands Tuesday night ended without consensus on a way to resolve the issue, which has dogged city planners for years.
Protected as they are under all circumstances, wetlands are the frontline in the ongoing battle between conservation and development on the coast. A review of the city's four "conflicting" definitions at Tuesday's City Council meeting prompted some pointed disagreement from council members over whether the city's planning documents deserved to be rewritten.
Defining what is or is not a wetland is important because it could make the difference in whether a house, or an entire subdivision, gets built or not. The prime example that was on the tip of everyone's tongue Tuesday was Beachwood, the property that launched a flurry of lawsuits after the city denied its developer a coastal development permit based on the presence of wetlands.
The controversial question of what language is the right language has given the city headaches for decades, resulting in four different definitions written into city planning documents that often cause appeals to the Coastal Commission and even lawsuits, according to city Planning Director Steve Flint.
"It's a matter of whose biologist is right. There are cases where professional biologists have looked at a property and said, 'This is a wetland," and there have been times the Coastal Commission will say, 'We don't believe you.' And ultimately we wind up in court, and that's what has been happening," he said.
On the
The language in each case varies slightly, leading to the "confusion" some City Council members have read into it. Some of the definitions exist in the city's Local Coastal Plan, a document that allows the city to approve development instead of the Coastal Commission. Some of the definitions exist only in Half Moon Bay's Zoning Code.
All the agencies describe wetlands as seasonal areas (pools, marshes, mud flats and other types of shallow water bodies) that form in low areas and support the growth of wetland vegetation, such as cattails.
In his first lawsuit against the city in 2000, Beachwood developer Charles Keenan argued that the city's wetlands definition could not legally include the Beachwood property, a 24-acre tract of land between two existing subdivisions east of Highway 1.
His lawyers argued that although wetland vegetation was known to have been growing in seasonal ponds on the site for some time, a certain kind of nutrient-rich soil usually associated with wetlands had not been found. A San Mateo County Superior Court judge sided with the city on appeal in 2005, upholding the wetland language the city used to justify blocking development of Beachwood.
That court decision did not clarify the question of wetlands to the satisfaction of City Councilwoman Naomi Patridge, who agreed with a suggestion by Mayor Bonnie McClung that the issue merited further discussion at a strategic planning meeting in July.
"When you're looking at details and you're having conflicting definitions "... you pick the first one you see not knowing whether the it's the right one," he warned.
In an earlier telephone conversation, Patridge blamed Coastal Commission rules that don't differentiate between man-made and natural wetlands for many of the city's ongoing headaches. Exhibit A is the Kehoe ditch, a drainage corridor that absorbs storm runoff for an entire neighborhood and prevents flooding in people's backyards. When the Kehoe ditch developed wetland-like characteristics several years ago, the city was prevented from repairing or helping to drain it even though they had done so for decades, said Patridge. As a result, flooding and erosion are now common in the properties along it.
"They're not what you call a creek or stream. If they're not cleaned out, (they back up into) people's backyards and create a hazard," said Patridge by telephone. "If it stays wet, you are going to create man-made wetlands."
Councilman Jim Grady agreed that areas not known as historic wetlands should not be considered wetlands later on, no matter how the weather affected them. However, he strongly disagreed that the language needed a substantial change.
"I don't think we have conflicting definitions. I agree it's different for the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Army Corps, and others "... but like it or not, it's our coastal program. If we want to modify it, that's a long process," he said.#
http://www.contracostatimes.com/environment/ci_9328569
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