Playing with water
Despite warnings of rationing this summer, Paso Robles considers building a water park
Paso Robles city planners have green-lighted a large water park project proposed for the city's east side, even as they wrestle with a self-proclaimed "water crisis" in the midst of a lengthy drought.
December's earthquake damaged one of three one-million-gallon water storage tanks and city officials don't expect repairs to the structure to be completed before next year.
That repair job, coupled with five straight years of diminished rainfall, has officials scrambling to reduce water use in the city by 25 percent. Water rates recently were hiked to all city consumers, and rationing is being threatened this summer if current use is not curtailed voluntarily.
The park is being proposed by "Big John" Pehl and Brett Butterfield. They want to erect the park, which would be dominated by a high slide, in a ravine adjacent to the dry Huer Huero Creek bed on Airport Road off Highway 46. Plans call for the facility to be open by the beginning the summer of 2005.
Planning commission members approved the project 6-0 April 13 after conducting a brief public hearing. That clears the way for its construction; the city council would have become involved only if an appeal to the planning commission decision had been filed. None was.
"I'm sure I've had every bit of 1,000 positive telephone calls on this," said Butterfield this week. "The response has been great. People all over town are looking forward to this project. I can count the opponents on one hand."
The park would use treated city water and would recycle it, according to Butterfield. Because sewer service is not available at the location, septic tanks would be incorporated.
"We have tried to address all of the issues, including safety of our customers," said Butterfield, adding that he didn't think water supplies will pose a problem.
"If the water shortage keeps up," he said, "I would suggest to the city that it cut off supplies to family swimming pools. Those use a lot more water than this park will."
High water use, he argued, is not an issue.
"We recycle. Otherwise we couldn't afford it," he said, adding that treated "gray water" eventually will be used to irrigate trees lining the dry creek bed.
When completed, the water park will be the second in the county. One already exists at Lopez Lake east of San Luis Obispo.
Pati Nolen, a Paso Robles resident, calls the new proposal "a nightmare."
"Okay, let's just say it. We are going to build a water park next to a dry river, in California's fifth year of drought, after Paso Robles just raised the fees on city water because of both supply and storage problems," said Nolen. "It sounds silly just saying it out loud. It defies logic and deduction."
Nolen said city planners told her an immediate water problem doesn't pose a major problem because the project isn't slated for completion until next year.
"They suggested that water won't be a concern by then," she said.
Nolen said she raised numerous issues with planners and with the proponents, but she said her comments have been largely ignored.
She cited potential landscaping design problems and disputed the would-be developers' contention that the park will be shielded from public view.
"Exactly how do you hide a five-story plastic structure?" Nolen wondered. "The water park would be 50 feet above Airport Road. How 'aesthetically appealing' can you make a ton of plastic in a rural setting like Paso Robles?"
Park developers Butterfield and Pehl told planning commissioners they anticipate 400 visitors to the park every weekend.
Traffic conditions at the intersection of Highway 46 and Airport Road, said Nolen, "are horrible at best." She called the locale "a deathtrap."
"This part of Highway 46 is a well-known hazard to Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol, yet our planning commission seems oblivious to the problem," she said.
Plans are in the works to improve the intersection, but no date for construction start has been established.
Thomas Hardwick, another city resident, told commissioners before their unanimous vote that he worries about water supplies for the park.
"Location is not a problem to me," he said. And he said he is confident that traffic won't become a major concern "if the intersection is reworked like [city officials] are planning."
Hardwick said he believes that providing treated city water for the facility is inappropriate.
"But they can't just sink a well," he said, "because the city only allows wells for vineyards and golf courses."
Hardwick said he is "all in favor of family-oriented recreation in Paso Robles. It keeps people in town. But is this the right time for something like this?"
"The developers seem hurt that anyone would question their facts or their use of city water," said Nolen. "It is obvious that they haven't done a lot of research into water parks, water re-circulation, water evaporation rates, and health standards regarding fecal-bacterial contamination in water park systems. Paso Robles is to be their guinea pig. Lucky us."
Butterfield disputed Nolen's contention.
"We have researched water parks for the past four years," he said. "[Nolen] hasn't talked to me yet." ³
News Editor Daniel Blackburn can be reached at [email protected].
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