Los Osos weighs its options as fines loom

It’s a new year in Los Osos, but sewer spectators can expect to see more of the same in 2006, as fines draw closer and lawsuits linger ever onward.
The State Water Board reconvenes today at 10 a.m. and is finally expected to announce a dollar amount in fines levied against the CSD for breaking its mandated sewer construction timeline. The water board has been threatening for months to issue a fine of around $11 million.
CSD President Lisa Schicker explained that her board is studying its options, but may have to sell the Tri-W and Broderson land parcels in order to remain solvent. That land was purchased in 2000 for $7 million, with the intention of building a sewer facility on it. The current CSD, however, refuses to resume construction on that midtown site, especially after voters approved a measure to move the sewage plant.
At a meeting Tuesday evening, the board approved plans to negotiate road repairs with Whitaker Construction. The county has demanded a full restoration of roads that were bulldozed when sewer construction began last summer. But Schicker expressed her concern that the county was asking sewer payers to bring the roads above and beyond their pre-construction condition.
The CSD also remains past due on its payments to Whitaker, Bernard Construction, and Monterey Mechanical, the three contractors originally hired to build the wastewater facility. All three contractors have received only partial payment at this point, and the balances due will depend on the outcome of several lawsuits and inspections being conducted by state and local agencies.
Amidst all the back-bay bedlam, the pro-sewer, anti-CSD faction continues conspiring to dissolve the CSD. Taxpayers Watch has yet to file their petition, but they have made their intentions clear. Schicker appeared undaunted by this threat.
“It won’t solve our groundwater problems any faster,� she said.
—J.H.