Al Fonzi has hit upon a novel solution to the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area air pollution problem (“Under siege,” July 4): Just move all the Nipomo residents in the path of the plume! That’s much easier than planting vegetation.
Let’s follow his logic to its conclusion: 1) San Luis Obispo County owns the portion of the riding area that is emitting the air pollution. 2) SLO County would condemn homes that its degraded property made unhealthy. This may fall under the legal definition of “take.” Therefore, 3) SLO County would need to pay each homeowner fair market value for their home. The homes on the Nipomo Mesa run about $750,000 to more than $1 million. There are several thousand homes in the plume, according to the Air Pollution Control District map. This buyout would cost $750 million or more, dwarfing the $150 million to $243 million of “economic activity” from off-highway vehicle related purchases. 4) Those homes could not be resold. The county would forever lose millions of dollars in property taxes. 5) The empty homes would become magnets for crime. 6) The people left living next to vacant homes would see their home values plummet. They would want to move away too.
I know of people who have moved due to the air pollution. I, for one, would gladly sell my house to the county for fair market value. I think I would move to another county, where they don’t pollute my air and then condemn my property. Dream on, Al.
Rachelle Toti
Nipomo Mesa
This article appears in 55 Fiction 2019.
Why would anyone get compensation for a pre-purchase existing condition? Were they tricked? Were they unaware of the giant sand dunes? Why do they feel entitled to change the situation now? Why would state parks pay for improvements to a neighborhood, that doesn’t contribute to fund those improvements? Why would you make permanent changes to the ODSVRA without at least testing them first? Why would you weight the interests of a few thousand residents higher than a few million visitors?
Were these sand dunes created when cars were invented. More importantly if all vehicles are restricted from them will they disappear? When the tide goes out and the wind howls across the beach will sand still blow creating dunes. I don’t think so. I think a billion years ago environmentalists did not like the desert and trucked it here and dumped it on our back porch.
I believe that any homes within the plume area of the mesa should be condemned and purchased for the tax accessed value. I would like to point out to Ms. Toti that $750 million in land only amounts to $4.35 million per year in tax revenue. (median taxation charged in San Luis is .58%).
While $226 million lost revenue amounts to $16.26 million in lost taxes. We have to look at the greater good for the overall community. Restricting use of the dunes is just a guess for fixing the existing problem in the area. These houses can be removed and, in their place, we can put sanctuaries for birds and wildlife. Purchase of this property at accessed market could be recouped in less than three years.