How to resolve AdBlock issue?
District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown asked the board to consider doing just that at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.
Such an action would impact not just the city of Clearlake but also Lower Lake, officials said Tuesday.
Brown raised the matter after an update on the system delivered last week, during which Clearlake City Administrator Dale Neiman suggested that other than a $5 million repair option that's the favored alternative, the county could implement a hookup moratorium.
Brown said he had spoken with the regional water quality control board about the matter, and suggested that, while the Board of Supervisors needs to be careful about taking such a step, he didn't see other alternatives.
He added that a high-ranking official at the water board wasn't aware of the plans for a Lowe's shopping center at the site of the city of Clearlake's Pearce Field, which would be affected by the moratorium.
“Now is the time to take that action and not further add to a system that is already heavily overtaxed,” he said.
Lake County Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger said he hasn't had much time to fully consider the idea.
Dellinger, who previously had asked the board to implement a moratorium for the Kelseyville area, said regulatory agencies don't take imposing moratoriums lightly.
Brown said the moratorium would impact any project that negatively impacts the system, regardless of whether Lowe's was in the mix or not. The system is already having problems without further development, he said.
Board Chair Anthony Farrington said the sewer system in the Lakeport area at one time also had spills of treated flows, which Dellinger said occurred before treatment plant upgrades were made, and were “orders of magnitude” larger than what has been happening in the Southeast Regional system.
Looking back as far as 2001, Dellinger said his department has spent more than $432,000 for pumper trucks to remove sewage from the system in order to prevent spills. They spent the most in the 2003-04 fiscal year, when $165,000 was paid out for pumper trucks.
Farrington said action should probably have been taken years ago. “The lightning rod issue is the Lowe's, that's the reality,” he said, adding, “I don't take this decision lightly.”
Farrington said he felt they needed to err on the side of public safety, the lake and the environment. However, they needed to be cognizant that implementing a moratorium will have repercussions, including no growth or development.
District 2 Supervisor Jeff Smith, however, didn't think the moratorium was the right step.
“If this was totally for the right reasons I'd appreciate it more,” he said.
Smith said it has happened twice in a month now that another supervisor has done something in another district without notifying the supervisor of that district. Brown said he had asked County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox to notify Smith of the discussion so as to avoid a Brown Act violation.
“I almost did call you to find out why you weren't putting this on,” Brown added.
Smith said a moratorium would affect every lumber yard in the county, and added that the system isn't all bad.
Pointing to a pond at the county's landfill that pumps 650,000 gallons of water into the system, Smith said if all of that went into the system in one day, it's the equivalent of 3,000 single family dwelling connections.
“Yes there are things that we can look at and get done right away, within the next month, without a problem,” he said, explaining that inflow from rainwater – not sewage – is the problem.
Public Services Director Kim Clymire said the landfill pumps the water at night, and only when the pond reaches a certain level. From the last series of storms they pumped 133,000 gallons.
Following the first storm they had a surge, which Smith said to him was a “flash flood” that crossed Highway 53 with water 6 inches deep and 150 feet wide.
“Whether you believe this or not, I don't care if there is a development in the forefront or not,” he said.
Smith said he wanted them to hold a meeting to further discuss the situation in Clearlake, so residents there could more easily attend.
Brown said he spoke with Supervisor Denise Rushing about placing the item on the agenda rather than Smith because he wanted to talk to someone who would give him an objective view.
“I'm telling you right now, I don't want a Lowe's in there, but I don't want crap in the lake either,” he said, adding that neither he nor Farrington received notification about the Lowe's project from Smith, and it will affect their districts.
Rushing said she wanted to challenge a few economic assumptions around growth and economy, one of them being that development pulls an area out of an economic slump. She said there are economies growing right now because they're doing things differently.
She suggested that putting a moratorium in place will spur creativity. On the Northshore, where there have been hookup moratoriums, it made hookups very valuable.
As the board of a wastewater district with significant challenges, “We need to use our existing capacities and resources as best we can,” Rushing said.
She said she supported doing tests of the sewer system as well as implementing a moratorium.
Farrington said the local economy has been struggling for a number of years, and he said a no growth mentality is not a good model. “In life you either grow or you decay,.”
Rushing said Lake County isn't a no growth community. However, she said its infrastructure is inadequate, and a moratorium is needed.
Farrington was concerned about the value of parcels, and said he was leaning toward commercial growth. Rushing asked if he thought they lacked commercial property. He said the county doesn't have enough jobs, and Rushing agreed.
Supervisor Jim Comstock asked about how many connections could be permitted in the Southeast Regional system currently. Dellinger estimated there were 3,000 or more parcels that could hook up.
Comstock supported testing of the system. “Let's get after that right now,” he said, and decide on a moratorium based on those results.
He said that he believed a moratorium should be the last resort due to its deleterious affects on the county. “Our problem is not going to go away, but it is going to be mitigated.”
Brown asked County Counsel Anita Grant about the moratorium process. Grant said the board can declare an emergency, but it must be supported by a four-fifths vote, or the board can hold a public hearing to discuss it.
Smith said a moratorium is a huge step, and suggested other options, including looking at every connection application before approval, and pumping landfill water to a different manhole.
“Is this a big sewer emergency or not?” Rushing asked.
She said pumping and spills suggested that it was.
Pointing to the cease and desist order placed by the state against the city of Lakeport a few years ago because of a treated wastewater release, Rushing said the worst case scenario is that the county doesn't implement its own moratorium, and asked if it's possible that the state might put one in place.
“We don't know what they're going to do and how they're going to respond to this latest series of events,” Dellinger said.
He said if the board is willing to declare an emergency, he can get to work on the situation faster.
“We don't want a situation where a moratorium is put on the system for us,” because it will be harder to get out from under, Rushing said.
Smith said spilling wastewater on the ground is just as bad as spilling it into the lake as far as he's concerned, and he supported finding an emergency, but he believed the problem can be addressed through smoke testing the system.
“The Lowe's project is a big driving factor in this,” said Brown, and the sewer situation is one reason why he believes a full environmental impact report needs to be done on the project.
Brown asked if there was any action of substance that could be taken that day.
Farrington said they can direct staff to bring back an emergency item. He said he liked Smith's idea of meeting in Clearlake, and thought it was appropriate to invite the regional water board.
Grant said she wanted to make sure she was clear on the board's direction.
Smith said he favored declaring an emergency, because he believed spills were imminent if more rain occurs.
Grant said they can declare the circumstances leading to the emergency, and they don't have to do a moratorium.
“If we're going to do something like this, now is the time to do it,” Brown said. “We don't want to be dealing with this kind of stuff when there is a development boom.”
Farrington asked Grant to work with two board members on the emergency. Smith said he and Comstock should be involved because the spills are happening in their districts.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .
