::: COMMUNITY NEWS

New North developments could face lag in water service, CSD says

Published Monday, May 6, 2002

The Community Services District will move ahead with expansion of the district’s water treatment facility to meet the needs of new construction on the South, but new projects planned for the North could be left high and dry, officials say.

CSD General Manager Ed Crouse told the Improvements Committee last week that based on water-use projections, the district will run out of treatment capacity in the first half of 2004.

That forecast includes projects that are planned but not yet built -- the Crest, Greens and Lakeview subdivisions on the South, and The Retreat projects and the Residences of Murieta Hills on the North.

“Based on this scenario, we cannot provide water commitments to those subdivisions until the (new) plant is online,” Crouse noted in a memo to the committee.

The community’s water system has three components, Crouse explained -- water, storage and treatment capacity.

The source of the community’s water is the Cosumnes River. The community has diversion rights adequate to supply the community’s water needs, Crouse said.

As for storage, the water that’s diverted from the river is stored in the community’s three reservoirs -- Lakes Clementia, Chesbro and Calero. At present, there is sufficient water storage to supply 3,500 units. The CSD is in the process of adding water storage to support a full build-out of 5,200 units. Two sites are being evaluated for an additional reservoir and plans are underway to drill a test well at another site.

On treatment capacity, Crouse told last week's meeting the district has been “holding off on moving forward” with the expansion of the water treatment plant so that the Phase 3 expansion for the South could be combined with the Phase 4 expansion required for North development. The goal was to “maximize treatment efficiencies and gain economies of scale,” he explained.

But two things have happened to change that plan. The pace of development in the South picked up, while negotiations for a development agreement bogged down.

The development agreement being worked out by the Rancho Murieta Association, developer Murieta Holdings and the Pension Trust Fund of the operating engineers, the owner of the property, defines development obligations for the North. The planned subdivisions won’t be annexed to the RMA.

Crouse said the CSD’s position is, “We’re not going to talk to the developers (on water supply and other utility issues) until they finish their negotiations with the RMA.”

In an interview after the committee meeting, Crouse said the developers were informed of the CSD’s position more than a year ago.

If the negotiation with the RMA had been wrapped up, “We would have been able to design (the expansion), we would have been in the middle of construction now,” said Crouse. He estimated a “realistic schedule” for the project as two years.

“We wouldn’t have the problem with capacity because it would be online by the time it was needed," he said. "As it stands, we won’t be able to commit to the properties on the North. We can’t make guarantees (the treatment plant) will be online and available when they need it. It probably won’t be."

“The North developers control their destiny and schedule for water plant capacity,” he said. “They know the issues that need to be resolved to move forward with the project.”

CSD comments to the county planning department on the two Murieta Holdings projects now being considered for approval include the statement, “No water service is available for these projects at this time.” As Crouse noted in his memo, the Murieta Hills and Retreat projects “will need water plant capacity commitments to gain their tentative map and improvement plan and final map approvals.”

Crouse said the comments about the lack of water for the projects will remain in effect.

“We’re moving forward to solve the long-term capacity issues of the South,” he said.

South developers Reynen & Bardis have already paid for water plant capacity, Crouse said. The developer has letters of credit in place and water treatment plant expansion is identified in the Mello-Roos-funded projects for the South.

Although plans will include provisions for Phase 4 expansion for the North, Crouse said it won’t show on the plans or go out to bid until the RMA negotiations are complete and the CSD negotiates with the Murieta Holdings developers. “We have the authority to provide water out here in the way that best meets the interests of the community,” he said.

At the developers’ “town hall” meeting Thursday, Murieta Holdings developer Gerry N. Kamilos said final RMA comments about the development agreement were being addressed by the developers.

Before the meeting, Kamilos commented, “To this date, (the CSD) has told us they won’t talk to us until the RMA development plan is signed. Nevertheless, development in the North needs to be planned for. … There is a community plan established here. They need to serve the entire community. Hopefully, they should include us in any dialogue they have about plant expansion and any funding program.”