What follows is a letter which NRWMAC drafted and is presently circulating. to the owners of properties directly impacted by the Interlake Tunnel

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "What follows is a letter which NRWMAC drafted and is presently circulating. to the owners of properties directly impacted by the Interlake Tunnel"

Shawn Tucker
5 years ago
Views:

1 What follows is a letter which NRWMAC drafted and is presently circulating to the owners of properties directly impacted by the Interlake Tunnel Project. I am forwarding it to you, the members of the Oak Shores community, for your information. Note that the letter speaks of a meeting on September 15, 2017, at the Senior Center at Heritage Ranch. I encourage each of you to attend. Representatives from Monterey County, which is building the tunnel, will be there from 2 pm to 4 pm to explain the progress of the tunnel as well as the required modifications to the Lake San Antonio Dam spillway. If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact me by cell: (805) , or by bingsmith@me.com. Respectfully, Bing Smith, Director, NRWMAC The Nacimiento Regional Water Management Advisory Committee[i] P.O. Box 398 Paso Robles, California (805) nrwmac.org savethedragon@nrwmac.org Dear Landowner: As the owner of real estate on or near Lake Nacimiento and/or Lake San Antonio, you need to be informed of developments in both Monterey County and San Luis Obispo County which may adversely affect your

2 property rights, including, but not limited to, the continuing viability and availability of your well water. The Monterey County Water Resources Agency ( MCWRA ) is moving rapidly forward with its plan to construct the Interlake Tunnel to connect these two lakes. This is an ambitious project, costing tens of millions of dollars, and may disrupt the use, as well as the quiet enjoyment, of your property for years. Preliminary to the start of the construction of the tunnel, MCWRA identified six properties in your immediate vicinity to which they have demanded access for purposes of geotechnical and soils testing. On two of these properties, MCWRA intends to drill boreholes, which will be three inches in diameter and up to 500 feet deep. (On the other four properties, the agency requires access in order to get to the sites on which they intend to drill the boreholes.) The owners of these six affected properties have refused permission to MCWRA to proceed. They have cited as their reason to withhold consent as, among other things, MCWRA s inability and/or unwillingness to satisfactorily indemnify them against property damage and the loss of their wells as a result of MCWRA s tunnel-related activities. Although MCWRA has provided them with a resolution which purports to allay their fears concerning the impact on their wells, the resolution states that these impacts must be proven to result from construction or operation of the tunnel project. [ii] Just how long it would take a landowner to provide such proof in the event of a well running dry, or what method of proof would be required, or what cost to the owner of obtaining such proof, is not specified in the resolution. Nor is the cost of obtaining alternate water supplies. What

3 is suggested by the language in the resolution is that the answers to these questions would require a court s intervention. MCWRA has announced that they intend to invoke eminent domain against these recalcitrant owners. This threat can be interpreted to mean that MCWRA will file a legal action to either force them into granting access to their land, or to relinquish the land altogether. Attorneys with the office of San Luis Obispo County Counsel have researched the issue of eminent domain under these circumstances, and believe MCWRA may have the right.[iii] As hard as that may be to accept, this so-called extraterritorial eminent domain (where one county seizes private property in another county) is legally justifiable when, as here, it involves water storage. Most importantly, if MCWRA can do this to the owners of the six properties described above, it s likely they will do the same to any property owner who stands in their way. That s the bad news. The good news is that any such condemnation action in San Luis Obispo County will require the cooperation of this county. District One Supervisor, John Peschong, has informed NRWMAC that he is opposed to the taking of property by eminent domain and, moreover, that he, along with at least two other county supervisors, will vote against providing any such cooperation should it come to that. On September 15, 2017, MCWRA will hold a Public Information Meeting from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the Senior Center at Heritage Ranch. At this meeting, MCWRA will provide information on the Interlake Tunnel and the modifications to the San Antonio Dam spillway necessitated by the tunnel project. NRWMAC urges you to attend this meeting in person, or to send a representative on your behalf, to gather more information and to have your

4 voice(s) heard. Many of the Directors from NRWMAC will be there. Also, Supervisor John Peschong has informed us that he will attend. Your property is one of approximately fifty in the vicinity of, and likely to be affected by, the current tunnel alignment. You are receiving this because NRWMAC has your contact information in our database. However, we do not have up-to-date information, including s, on each and every affected property owner. Please forward this to as many of your nearby neighbors as you can, or at least discuss its content with them. We hope to see each of you at the meeting on September 15. Respectfully, Bill Capps, NRWMAC Director Bing Smith, NRWMAC Director [i] The Nacimiento Regional Water Management Advisory Committee ( NRWMAC ) was organized in 1989 to represent Lake Nacimiento-area property owners in dealing with Monterey County, who owns and manages Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio. We hold a seat on the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Reservoir Operation Committee. This committee meets monthly to address lake operations and maintenance, and other issues regarding both lakes. At least one NRWMAC Director travels to Salinas to attend this monthly meeting. We have a strong voice on your behalf because of the support and donations that you provide. [ii] To read Resolution No. 16-R03," please go to our

5 website: nrwmac.org or click here: [iii] To read the opinion of SLO County counsel, please go to our website: nrwmac.org or click here:

Trio Petroleum, Inc. (PLN010302)

LYNNE MOUNDAY ZONING ADMINISTRATOR STATE OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF MONTEREY RESOLUTION NO. 010302 A.P.# 424-091-021-000 In the matter of the application of Trio Petroleum, Inc. (PLN010302) FINDINGS & DECISION