Sunnyslope votes to upgrade, not connect to city
After considering hooking up to the City of Hollister’s sewer
and water system
– which concerned some Ridgemark residents who felt they would
have no say in the rates they’d be charged – the Sunnyslope County
Water District instead is moving forward with making $9.5 million
in Phase 1 improvements to its wastewater treatment facility.
Sunnyslope votes to upgrade, not connect to city
After considering hooking up to the City of Hollister’s sewer and water system – which concerned some Ridgemark residents who felt they would have no say in the rates they’d be charged – the Sunnyslope County Water District instead is moving forward with making $9.5 million in Phase 1 improvements to its wastewater treatment facility.
The district’s Board of Directors last week chose not to act on two proposals involving the city: one which would have had the district connect to the city’s wastewater plant and have recycled water pumped back to the Ridgemark area and another that would have not brought the recycled water back but would have instead relied on water from the Central Valley Project.
By not acting on either of those proposals, the board let stand a plan approved in 2008 which calls for the building of the Ridgemark Wastewater Treatment Plant in three phases, retaining local control of its water supply.
The issue of local control was a central theme of the board meeting, at which representatives of the golf and country club as well as members of its homeowners’ associations spoke out against connecting to the city’s system.
“There was a lot of peer pressure from the customers that showed up from Ridgemark,” said Dave Meraz, president of the Sunnyslope County Water District board of directors and maintenance and operations manager for the San Benito County Water District. “There has been a lot of debate. We’re been preparing for this for the last three or four years.
“It came down to (residents of) Ridgemark and (representatives of) the golf course showing up. They wanted it and that’s what we did. We’ll see five to 10 years from now if that’s a wise decision. A lot of customers didn’t want the city having a say regarding their reclaimed water.”
Ken Girouard, Sunnyslope’s district engineer, said the construction of the plant should take about a year-and-a-half at the site of an existing wastewater plant on Ridgemark’s west side.
“Local control is a large issue,” Girouard said. “The city owns the city’s wastewater plant and the voters it serves vote on the city council. If you have a direct vote with the members who supervise that, you have more direct representation.”
Some residents were concerned that connecting to the city’s supply would leave them without a say in future rate increases.
Having a reliable and affordable supply of water available to Ridgemark was also a concern, as expressed by the country club’s president and owner, Alex Kehriotis, as well as course superintendent, Eric Boyd.
“The golf course is the back yard for many of the homeowner associations’ residents,” Girouard said, noting that some critics were concerned about the reliability of the Central Valley Project supply, “which is contingent on many factors which are outside of the control” of the district.
“The inherent reliability of that blue valve supply was a question,” he said. “Is it as reliable as recycled water? Some people recollect that Stonegate [a housing development south of Ridgemark off Airline Highway] ran out of water, period. That was brought up in the meeting. For the golf course to have a secure supply of recycled water is definitely advantageous compared to an alternative where the future supply is from the Central Valley Project, which could potentially be disrupted by habitat issues that are outside the control of local agencies and contingent upon the Endangered Species Act.”
“The staff here at the water district doesn’t have perfect vision 30 years down the road, but you can safely say the alternatives were very close,” Girouard said.
Cost estimates varied regarding the financial impact of the three alternatives that were discussed, though the district said it would be 10 percent to 20 percent less expensive to build the Ridgemark alternative than to connect to the city.
Sunnyslope customers who advocated for the Ridgemark alternative noted that they had already paid nearly $2 million through increased rates toward the design work on the local plant.
“That was mentioned by the public in a very significant way,” Girouard said, adding that it is too early to make estimates regarding future rate increases to fund the Ridgemark wastewater plant expansion.
Current rates are paying for the project’s first phase, and “future phases will have to be analyzed at the end of the construction of this project,” he said.
Tarasa Bettencourt, president of the Ridgemark Homes Association, said the 664 homeowners she represents “felt really strongly about having their resources stay local.”
“This was all presented to us three years ago, and we graciously accepted the increased fees,” she said. “There really weren’t any determining factors that would override the commitment from the past three years. The board just needed to hear from us. When you can’t present a cost savings and you have a prior commitment and have a contract ready, there really was no reason not to move forward.”
County Supervisor Jerry Muenzer, whose district includes the Ridgemark, Quail Hollow and Oak Creek areas, attended the meeting.
“I was getting calls from constituents that live in Ridgemark that were kind of concerned about the fact that if the Sunnyslope Water District voted to abandon the water treatment plant up there and connected with the city they would not have any representation for any fee increases,” he said. “They wouldn’t be a part of voting for council members and they felt that any time you don’t have representation or a vote on the issue then you feel like you’re a second-class citizen.”
Acknowledging that residents “were frustrated,” Muenzer said “the people of Ridgemark said they wanted to stay on their own. They were a little frustrated because they felt some of the other alternatives were going back to first base and starting all over after $2 million had been spent on initial plans and environmental impact reports. All that was going to be wasted.”
