Virginia Graziani

Redwood Times

Garberville Sanitary District and the California Department of Public Health cleared a major hurdle in their efforts to provide the Kimtu subdivision with water when the Humboldt Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) approved GSD’s request to extend service outside district boundaries following a public hearing at its Wednesday, July 21, meeting.

Because of concerns about growth inducement, LAFCo made the approval conditional, asking for a change to GSD’s ordinances restricting use of the new pipeline to the 20 existing homes in the Kimtu subdivision.

For several years Kimtu residences have been subject to a CDPH boil order because of serious water quality and availability issues with the current system, which is owned and managed by the Kimtu Mutual Water Company.

CDPH, the lead agency for the project, determined that the best solution is to have GSD pipe water for domestic use and fire protection from town to the Kimtu subdivision.

LAFCo’s staff report, prepared by executive director George Williamson, recommended approval of the out-of-service extension with three initial conditions: that GSD adopt a policy of no further connections along the pipeline, that any request for exceptions to that policy come back to LAFCo, and that when the project is completed, GSD must report back to LAFCo.

Williamson’s report noted that by the end of 2010 LAFCo will review GSD’s current and future capacity and plans, and consider a request to expand its sphere of influence (SOI). An SOI is the area outside district boundaries that might be annexed into the district in the future. Growth issues can be further addressed at that time.

Williamson displayed a map showing a possible SOI expansion to include the Kimtu subdivision and the area along Sprowel Creek Road past the airport to a point opposite Kimtu. The current SOI already includes the Southern Humboldt Community Park, as well as properties owned by Steve Dazey and Sanford Goldeen.

All three of these owners have expressed interest in developing housing on their properties. Directors of the community park have often discussed a possible large event site at the park.

Williamson reported that CDPH and GSD had agreed to remove two “T” connections in response to public concern, one at the Sprowel Creek bridge and another near the north edge of the Southern Humboldt Community Park.

Following the staff report, LACO Engineering’s planning director Mike Nelson made a Power Point presentation on the project and answered questions from the commission.

Nelson explained that extension of GSD water service via a 2.5-mile-long, 8” in diameter pipeline between Garberville and Kimtu was chosen as the best alternative because of cost, questions about Kimtu Mutual Water Company’s rights to river water, and the lack of an adequate site for a storage tank at Kimtu.

When considering funding, CDPH favors consolidation of small private water companies with public water districts for increased reliability of service and better control over water quality.

Nelson said that the funding process is competitive. CDPH also favors projects that alleviate health and safety issues, such as the Kimtu project, but which are also “shovel ready.”

After the hearing, Nelson told the Redwood Times that while money is available and the project has high priority at CDPH, funding is not a sure thing. “They keep telling us it’s right around the corner,” he said.

Nelson reported that CDPH completed its environmental documents and revisions based on comments from agencies and the public, issuing a Notice of Determination on July 16.

He explained that LACO specified an 8” diameter pipe to provide adequate pressure for fire flow as well as domestic use. In case of fire, 750 gallons per minute would be required in addition to 50 gpm needed for household use for 20 homes.

An 8” pipe will provide a total of 850 gpm, leaving a surplus of 50 gpm, enough for an additional 20 homes, which has added to concern that the project will induce growth in the area along the pipeline. But the next smaller pipe size, 6” in diameter, can provide only 420 gpm, well below fire flow requirements.

During the public comment session, farmer John LaBoyteaux pointed out that the approximately 100 acres in the flat area of the community park is “the single largest contiguous piece of farmland on the South Fork Eel.”

GSD already has two out-of-service connections in the area, one to the yellow house near the northwest edge of park property and the other to the old Tooby house in the park, he said.

LaBoyteaux also told the commission that after SHCP successfully applied to the California Department of Fish and Game for a 50 gpm agricultural well in the river, they built an intake gallery capable of producing several hundred gpm and extended a pipeline across the park property. He asked if it was possible for the park to share water from this source with GSD, a possibility that the SHCP board has mentioned publicly in the past.

Commissioner Jill Duffy responded to this point later in the hearing, explaining that a long review process and new procedures are required before a district can use a new water source. “Strange things happen when you mix waters,” she said.

LaBoyteaux also asked how much water GSD is allowed to take from the river and how much water is used daily, on average.

During his turn at public comment, Sprowel Creek Road resident Donald Courtemanche said that his research showed that the state Water Resources Control Board allocates 425 acre feet per year to GSD. An acre foot is approximately 326,000 gallons.

GSD general manager Mark Bryant stated that in warm weather GSD uses approximately 200,000 gallons per day, about 50% of their WRCB allocation.

Working with the Department of Fish and Game and other agencies, the GSD board of directors “has identified real limits on water use,” Bryant continued, pointing out that the district has called for water conservation from its users.

”We are guarded on our use of the resource,” Bryant concluded, although he did not state how much water they had determined they should be using.

Commissioner Kevin McKinney asked Bryant about the current out-of-service connections referenced by LaBoyteaux. Bryant replied that those were very old connections with deteriorating pipelines that can’t be repaired; therefore they will probably be connected to the new pipeline.

Regarding future growth of the district, Bryant announced that GSD will begin holding a series of five public meetings in August to give the public opportunities to discuss how and where they would like the district to grow. These discussions will be part of the process of determining expansion of the SOI.

When the public comment period closed, Williamson observed that questions about GSD’s water allocation and production capacity will be addressed with the application to expand their SOI.

”The best safeguard is LAFCo’s review and approval process. Prime ag land is always taken into consideration for decisions and we will apply the same rigorous tests when this [application] comes before you,” he assured the commissioners.

Commissioner Clif Clendenen moved to accept the resolution prepared by LAFCo staff.

Duffy added a “friendly amendment” that approval be conditioned upon GSD’s adoption of an amendment to district ordinances that would prohibit any connections to the new pipeline other than the 20 existing Kimtu residences. She explained that a condition requiring an ordinance would be much stronger than simply a GSD board policy prohibiting new connections.

Clendenen accepted the amendment, and the commission unanimously passed the resolution approving the project.