Nacimiento Lake property owners’ lawsuit against the Monterey County Water Resources Agency is no longer on hold, following a Nov. 17 court hearing in Paso Robles.
“The purpose of the hearing was to lift the stay that has held our lawsuit from proceeding until that report was adopted,” Charles Viescas explained.
The hearing was one of the final steps in getting the Nacimiento Regional Water Management Advisory Committee‘s lawsuit back on track and heading toward trial, according to Viescas, who serves as a board director for the organization.
Originally filed in 2019, the lawsuit was brought forth by Nacimiento residents who take issue with the way the Monterey County’s Water Resources Agency manages the lake’s water levels, preventing residents from accessing the water from their lakefront properties.
To assess whether the claims made by the advisory committee held any merit, the judge ordered a report from the State Water Resources Control Board, which was the subject of the Nov. 17 hearing, according to Viescas.
“The main questions were how to view the report as [either] a final report, or a work-in-progress,” he said. “And then how to view the findings of the report as [either] a piece of evidence to be argued or as final evidence [that would not have to be argued].”
Initially, Viescas said, the advisory committee—which disagreed with a majority of the report’s findings because it felt they were the opinion of one anonymous water board staffer—wanted to request a new report, but that changed the evening before the Nov. 17 hearing.
“The evening before the hearing, the judge issued a tentative ruling that made it clear he also had serious doubts about the findings of the report and was not about to consider it final evidence,” Viescas said.
However, despite the judge and the advisory committee agreeing on the iffy nature of the report, both parties chose to confirm its findings, because requesting a new report would likely delay the case for at least another year—something none of the involved parties were interested in.
With the report accepted, Viescas and his group are excited to enter the new year with the next hearing lined up for Jan. 12
“We have a lot of work to do and this case is heating up,” he said. “Our legal team needs to prepare to be back in court in under two months to continue holding Monterey County accountable and make a difference.” Δ
This article appears in Nov 23 – Dec 3, 2023.
