Morro Bay pushed through discussions about 17 possible locations before it finally pinned down the South Bay Boulevard and Highway 1 site for its water reclamation facility. But the location is unacceptable to a group of residents who are petitioning the city’s decision to purchase the site of the future facility.
City officials say the petition won’t halt the project, but it could cost residents more money.
Morro Bay Mayor John Headding started the Oct. 8 City Council meeting by addressing the petition and the group behind it, Citizens for Affordable Living.
“I believe their true purpose however is not to stop the annexation, it is a bad-faith, last-ditch effort to stop the project,” Headding said. “This reflects the disturbing trend by Citizens for Affordable Living to delay the project and make it more expensive.”
In August, the City Council adopted an ordinance to annex 27.6 acres of the South Bay Boulevard and Highway 1 site (SLO County-owned property) to the city and zone it as a public facility for construction and operation of the water reclamation facility. Then the city would have complete control of the project site and wouldn’t have to pay taxes to the county.
City Manager Scott Collins told New Times that Morro Bay has been working on moving this project forward since 2003, before his time with the city. The facility now has approval from the city, county, and California Coastal Commission.
“So basically, this whole thing was wrapped up in a bow,” Collins said.
In September, Citizens for Affordable Living filed a referendum petition against the approved ordinance and handed the city more than 1,100 petition signatures.
In response to the referendum, the city is currently working with the SLO County Office of Elections and Voting to count and validate the signatures. Ten percent of registered voters or 748 valid signatures are needed in order for the city to consider axing its adopted ordinance or putting the repeal on the ballot.
Collins said if the facility site isn’t annexed, the city will still locate and operate the water facility at the approved location, but it will raise the project costs and affect property taxes. The city is currently investigating how much more it would cost.
New Times reached out to Citizens for Affordable Living but did not hear back before press time.
“Some of the concerns they were saying is it’s going to pollute the [Morro Bay National Estuary] and there’s better lower-cost options somewhere else. Some mythological other project, that’s out there that no one’s ever been able to put on paper and show us in the community that actually would be less,” Collins said. “Those were some of the things we’ve heard people were told when they were signing these petitions for referendum.”
Collins acknowledged that the approximately $126 million water facility as well as recent additional water and sewer surcharges ($41 a month per single-family household) aren’t cheap.
In an effort to help, the city is one of two agencies in the county offering a utility discount program to qualified residents for a 10 percent reduction in their bill. The program was extended to residents who live in apartments and mobile homes.
The point of the water treatment facility project, he said, has always been to provide clean, safe, and reliable water; it’s what the project will deliver.
“This is a needed project for current and future generations that could supply up to 80 percent of our drinking water needs,” he said.
The project would also provide a buffer against a potential future drought. Collins said the State Water Project delivers ample water to the city currently, but in a drought situation, that could cease to exist.
Slowing down the project or changing its location could also jeopardize millions of dollars in federal and state funding. Morro Bay’s current sewage plant doesn’t comply with state requirements, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board mandated the city to construct a new wastewater treatment facility at an inland location by 2023. If the city doesn’t meet that deadline, the agency could fine Morro Bay $50,000 per month.
“Folks, I’m going to tell you that [Citizens for Affordable Living] is not working for you or to make this project more affordable,” Headding said at the City Council meeting. Δ
This article appears in Oct 17-27, 2019.
Citizens for Affordable Living (CAL) has always promoted clean water, a more affordable sewer system at a less expensive site in addition to its concern for the polution of the estuary which the South Bay Boulevard site presents.
The vast majority of public comment regarding the sewer project has been against the South Bay Boulvard site due to its extreme expense and proximity to the estuary knowing that all sewer pipes do leak over time. A leak from the sewer conveyance system would cause irreparable harm to our estuary.
Unbeknownst to much of the community, the city of Morro Bay signed a secretive Memorandum with the Tri-W Corporation giving them a sweetheart deal, to provide a market appraised value for the 27 acres that the actual sewer would be built on, paved steet on on their property, water to the 400 acres of their property as well as application to LAFCO applying for all of the Tri-W property to be included in Morro Bay’s “spere of influence”, a not so hidden half step to becoming annexed into city limits. All advantages within this MOU were to the advantage of the Tri-W Corporatiion. The most obvious conclussion was to benefit Tri-W toward development of their 400 acres, all at the expense of city ratepayers! CAL does not believe it is fair for city water and sewer ratepayers to pay the costs of developing that property.
In 2015, Morro Bay initiated 5 water and sewer rate increases with the written promise of repairing sewage pipipes, which are leaking raw sewage into our groundwater, and building a new sewer plant for $75 million dollars. Morro Bay collected the rate incrrases but did not keep its promise to repair sewage pipes nor to even begin construction of a $75 milliond dollar sewer plant. Instead they delayed, implepenting yet a sixth rate incrrase since 2015 and increasing the price tag to $126 million dollars. It is understandable why the majority of Morro Bay Citizens are upset paying $200+ water/sewer bills per month.
Cayucos has set the example building a sewer project for a mere $25 million dollars at the Torro Cdeek site, which is much more affordable, does not endanger our estuary and does not require Coastal Commission approval. Furrher there is additional land available at this site for purchase, which would not encroach upon any neighbors and Morro Bay Citizens would not bare any burden for deveoping this property for any corporation.
Morro Bay is still not ready to build the sewer system because it has not completed all required studies nor purchased all necessary easements nor sewer proprty, and has not obtained all governmental clearances yet.
As I mentioned previously, the majority of public comment in city council meetings has been agaianst the SBB site for reasons named above and that is why they favor a referendum vote by its citizens as our democracy allows. Morro Bay Citizens have been mislead and want their voices heard via a real election. Let Democracy ring!
Dan Sedley
Citizens for Affordable Living
roadrunner1_1@yahoo.com
Personally, I can’t understand why the residents of Morro Bay would wish to delay or modify the project any further. The site for the new treatment plant is settled. A referendum and ballot vote will not change this – it will only add costs to the residents of Morro Bay due to election costs and, if the ballot measure happens to pass, County property taxes. Why would you want to vote to pay more for the project?
Regarding yesterday’s comments from CAL, the entire Tri-W conversation (whether accurate or fictional conspiracy) is completely irrelevant. The treatment plant site has been settled and bought-off by the regulatory agencies. Now those agencies expect Morro Bay to move forward with the project to complete a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment and potable reuse facility. Again, delaying or modifying this only incurs additional costs to the residents and risks conjuring the ire of the regulatory agencies if 2023 construction deadline is missed, which could result in fines that the residents would have to end up paying.
I admit that I don’t live in Morro Bay and haven’t visited in 4 years and may be out of touch. But this just seems painfully obvious. If I’m missing something, please, someone enlighten me.
What you are missing Mr. Scholl is that you don’t live here. Did your sewer bill practically double as ours did? Will you be around after the Morro Bay estuary is polluted? The arguments by citizens of Morro Bay need to be heard. Let’s take a step back and listen to our fellow citizens of Morro Bay – those who live here year round. The estuary belongs to the citizens of Morro Bay and we are all responsible for being good stewards.