The Build-Out Reduction Plan is not an easy way out, but it is a solution to some of the concerns about Cambria and its growth. Absolutely there will be great difficulties carrying out the plan. And it will be expensive. But the basic premise of the plan is that the cost is split between existing ratepayers and the few lot owners who would be allowed to get a meter and build. I admit I cannot recall the ratio and don’t have time to look it up right now. Suffice it to say that the applicants pay an outsized share. I think the connection fee is about $65,000. We have also offered to form a Mello-Roos District of the vacant lots only that would charge us a special property tax assessment to help pay for whatever infrastructure impact there is, be it desal or whatever.
If you throw the plan out, how do you plan to deal with the vacant lots? Ignoring it won’t make the problem go away. What you’re left with is the existing ratepayers pay 100% of the cost of retiring ALL the lots, instead of all the lots minus the ones allowed to build. You like that bill better?
By telling the 666 CCSD waitlist applicants to go away, you are killing the proverbial goose that could lay the golden egg. We’re the only ones willing to spend the money you need. You are also throwing millions in property value down the drain.
I never advocated including lot retirement costs in a water bill. It seems misplaced. There should be an assessment district with a special property tax assessment. That way, theoretically, renters don’t have to pay it.
But hotel guests absolutely should pay a portion, and I am sure they would not complain about a room surcharge for such a cause.
As to the lot counts, I have painstakingly counted myself off of the parcel maps, and I have gone over the numbers with both John Hofshrorer at SLO and the engineers at RBF who used far more sophisticated tools than John did to arrive at their numbers. RBF is correct, and SLO is wrong. Simply put, John took the gross acreage within the Urban Reserve Line and divided it by an average lot size of slightly above 3,500 sf (a standard double lot) to arrive at his buildout figure. That means to achieve it you would have to level EVERY house in Cambria, record a new tract map for the whole place (ignoring terrain), and build all new again. It cannot happen, and the water would never be there even if it was possible.
UnLOC has maintained a “no lawsuit” position since CCSD has been indicating the desire to solve the problem and they have admitted they owe us water. We are not involved in any of the suits being threatened by individuals, but we are aware of them. They, along with the ratepayers refusal to fund the district adequately, present the potential of CCSD going bankrupt and power reverting to the county. That is the last thing you want, as it removes any chance of local influence over growth.
Last 5 posts by Deryl Robinson
