The Los Osos Community Services District won’t be fined for delaying the controversial sewer project – at least not in December.
The Regional Water Quality Control Board, which is expected to fine the district $11 million, postponed its next hearing on the matter due to legal arguments until Jan. 5. The board will at that time hear final arguments from staff members and district officials and then make a decision.
The board is objecting to the district’s decision to stop construction on the current site and to find a new location for the plant.
Meanwhile, it seems a settlement has been reached between the district and sewer activist Al Barrow, who sued the former CSD for trying to overturn Measure B. Lawyers representing Citizens for an Affordable Safe Environment, a group that supported moving the proposed sewer plant out of town, will receive legal fees in the amount of $125,000, according to a judges ruling.
Measure B, which was approved by voters in the Sept. 27 recall election, blocked any construction of a treatment plant on Palisades Avenue and LOVR.
-K.H .
This article appears in Dec 8-15, 2005.