About Cambria

Per Capita water use (in gallons) 1960-2000

This graph was included in a report by the Public Policy Institute of California. The July 2006 report is called “Lawns and Water Demand in California” . Download it from the AboutCambria.com Library

A few other interesting facts used in this well-cited report include a statement that 1 acre-foot is the amount of water used by 5 to 8 people in one year. Have some fun with water demand. Conversion factors

1 acre-foot = 325,900 gallons

748 gallons = 1 ccsd billing unit

Over the past several years, the CCSD has pumped roughly 800 acre feet per year. About 25% is used by commercial accounts (20% is the minimum commercial use allowed by the Coastal Commission). There are roughly 4000 connections, 25% of which are vacation rentals. The average number of people per household is given at either 1.6 or 2.2.

GO!

I’ve looked into the issue relating to the weed abatement notices vacant lot owners got recently. Check out the original post for the updates. I’d like to once again thank Director Clift for his attention to this matter

The CCSD has finally begun adding the Board Packets to their agendas page. Bravo! Currently, you can download the Board Packets for April and May. I was at the CCSD yesterday reviewing some public records and Kathy Choate said that getting the agendas and minutes up online is one of the highest priorities in the planned document management policies and projects. The stumbling block to getting previous board packets is mainly the naming and labeling of e-files. It won’t be anytime soon though, considering the time and related expense and the importance the District assigns the project of digitizing the archives.

In my estimation, having the board packets available online, especially ahead of the meeting, will decrease the number of “stupid” questions while increasing the quality of the public participation overall. No small number of people in this community have a had hard time trusting the CCSD. Every step we take toward performance accountability, not just fiscal responsibility, is a step in the right direction. AboutCambria.com says thanks to those of you at the CCSD who help get the documents and information on the website in a timely manner.

Ahh! Nothing like surfing on a Sunday afternoon. I discovered some interesting things: I was delighted to discover the California State Fire Marshall and the Assistant Fire Marshall are both women. Chief Fire Marshall Kate Dargan, who is a Cal Poly grad and 30 year veteran of CalFire, became the 14th State Fire Marshall since 1923 and the first woman to have the position. She had served as Napa County’s Fire Marshall from 2002-2005 before her appointment in 2005 as Assistant State Fire Marshall and she started her career as a firefighter in Santa Cruz in 1977. All of this is interesting to me (and her probably) and I am glad to see a woman (one who knows my neighborhoods past and current) in a top postion, and doing it well. I explored the Fire Marshall’s site, which has just been re-vamped, and found some interesting information relating to Building Codes and the Wildland Urban Interface.

At the April CCSD meeting, the Board considered a Cambria Wildland Fire Protection ordinance (Read more about it here.) Someone raised the issue at that time about the overlap of or confusion about the jurisdiction of the Cambria Fire Department Versus CAL FIRE (formerly CDF). Director Sanders even asked the staff to bring back that information at a later meeting. Interestingly, the State Fire Marshall’s website has the entire state mapped to show where the areas of State responsibility (CAL FIRE) and what are areas of Local responsibility (city and other fire departments). I could be wrong, but it seem that the state considers all of Cambria an SRA (State Responsibility Area).

Click this image to see the larger view of this image

Then there is this map of the LRA, SRA, FRA for san luis obispo county.

Click this image to see the larger view of this image

To view the fire risk of any address in the state, visit the special site set up to allow people to search by address the Fire Hazard Severity Zones.

None of this is meant to diminish the important job Chief Putney, Assistant Chief Miller or any of our firefighters. Actually, the conclusion I came to is that perhaps instead of “Pines by the Sea” we should be “Fire-Free by the Sea”. Tune in tomorrow for more on fire and safety.

Yesterday, I found a bright green half-page postcard notice from the CCSD labelled “Official Notice to Remove Vegetation”. All Cambria lot owners were sent one. Here’s mine:

Now, I’m completely in support of doing whatever we can to minimize the risk of the town having a runaway fire. I also like living in a forest and understand the risks of living here. But what I’m concerned with here isn’t the arguements for or against the clearing of lots to reduce the fire hazard. That is best left for another day. What I want to point out here is that I DO NOT OWN THE LOT ON THIS NOTICE.

To protect the privacy of the lot’s actual owner, I obscured part of the number. The lot is about 15 blocks from my lots, on a different street. Since I was able to get the address of the owner of record, I did a bit of detective work and was able to find a name and number. If the County’s information is correct, I left a message for the owner to call me back.

I DO own two lots in town. But I didn’t recognize the APN on the notice, so I went to the County website to check it. The San Luis Obispo County website has a very useful Interactive GIS mapping tool anyone can use to get information about any legal parcel in the county. By entering a street address or an APN # (like the one on your notice), you can get quite a bit of information about the property. For privacy protection, the site doesn’t list an owner’s name, only the address of record. You can get names and phone numbers from the County, but you have to go into their SLO office in person for that.

The GIS mapping tool doesn’t necessarily have the most current information. There’s a lot of time involved in keeping the system current and the county is understaffed and still playing catch-up from when the system was first implemented. But you can enter the APN on the notice YOU got to make sure it is the lot you own. If the number is incorrect, you might want to let the district know. Or the owner of the property….who will be billed through the tax assessor of SLO County for the cost of abatement plus the $400 administrative charge.

UPDATE:

This issue may be more widespread…if you get a notice, PLEASE check the APN against the one on your property tax notice. Yesterday I was able to confirm another Cambrian who received the notice had the wrong APN listed. This could become a bigger story. If you get a notice with the incorrect APN contact the CCSD about correcting it and please email amanda at aboutcambria.com or call me 927-4191.

UPDATE:

I contacted CCSD Board Member Muril Clift about the issue. He sent an email indicating he’d check on in. Less than an hour later, I got an email that said, in part:

“There was a mistake made in the initial data input that resulted is APNs and names not matching on a significant number of cards sent. A letter correcting the mistake and confirming the appropriate APN is being sent to all people who received a card. Those letters were being signed today and should be in the mail later this week.”

Thank you to Director Clift for taking such quick action to address this issue. His appointment to the Board when Director Villeneuve retired is one of the best decisions the Board has made for our community.

From the CCSD’s website: A notice to everyone who received the weed abatement notices: Download it Here.

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Today’s CCSD meeting addressed quite a few important issues and the Board made some decisions that may affect all of us. I wasn’t able to get there until almost 2:15 – while they were finishing up the item to conduct Twelve Month Review by CCSD Board of Directors of Conditionally Approved Extension of Intent to Serve for Multi-Family Units, J E Lindsey, Applicant. They declined to extend the intent to serve to Mr. Lindsey as he hadn’t met all the conditions set a year ago by the CCSD. 18 multi-family meters taken out of the pipeline and placed on the wait-list for when the moratorium is lifted.

After a brief break, the next order of business was to Adopt Resolution 17-2008 Approving Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement between the Cambria Community Services District and the Cambria Community Healthcare District Creating the Cambria Coastal Public Safety Joint Powers Authority. District legal council Art Montandon recommended that they adopt the agreement in concept, but not in fact, so the CCHD and CCSD could work out the necessary details. A final agreement will be brought back to the board to approve next month or the month after.

What is a Joint Powers Authority, you ask? Why should I give a good gosh darn? Director Sanders’ answer was that they are trying to save the community some money and to move the ambulances closer to Highway One, to reduce response time.

“Joint powers” is a term used to describe government agencies that have agreed to combine their powers and resources to work on their common problems. Joint powers agreements (JPAs) offer another way for governments to deliver services, but sometimes the public does not understand JPAs.

The Senate Local Government Committee of the State of California put out an informational paper called “Governments Working Together A Citizen’s Guide to Joint Powers Agreements”. At just over 30 pages, this citizen’s guide explains JPAs, outlines their advantages and disadvantages, and describes how public officials use this special government arrangement to deliver better services and facilities. In addition to deciphering the world of JPAs, this guide provides a better understanding of how JPAs fit into local and state government operations. You can download it here here or from the Aboutcambria.com Library.

More on the rest of the meeting (mainly the discussion and questions about the budget) in my next post.

(Please consider clicking the little icon below and donating to AboutCambria.com to help support my on-going maintenance and updates on this site. I am hoping to hire a gardener – and anyone who’s driven by my house knows I need one badly! Thanks. Amanda Rice)

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Worldwide there is a growing, severe problem of water availability. It is reaching crisis proportions. In the Southwest of the U.S., and here in California, the situation is bleak.

In a recent Los Angeles Times article, Timothy Quinn, Executive Director of the Association of California Water Agencies said, “I have not seen a more serious water situation in my career, and I’ve been doing this 30 years.”

Despite the situation in most parts of the world, the CCSD’s Water Master Plan is calling for a 50% “Quality of Life” increase for Cambrians, a reward for conservation which all of us should practice all the time. That suggested reward seems to be one of the justifications, if not the major reason, for pushing a horrendously expensive — to build and to operate — desalination project for a town of only about 6,200 homeowners.

It is ludicrous if not irresponsible to advocate a 50% increase in local water usage when the planet’s total water supply is in deep trouble. The current Directors seem to have blinders on, driving non-stop for desal and failing to consider other, cheaper alternatives such as increased storage and recyclilng.

The Building Reduction Program, touted by consultants, of course, could cost as much as $39 million according to their conservative estimates. The whole idea is to reduce buildable lots and thus “manage” Cambria’s population growth.

A member of the County Planning and Building Department says, “The BRP is pie in the sky. One successful lawsuit demanding a water meter by someone not on the list will kill the BRP and growth will be rampant” — once there is desal.

CAMBRIA COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2008– 12:30 P.M.
VETERANS MEMORIAL BUILDING, 1000 MAIN ST., CAMBRIA, CA
AGENDA
This agenda is prepared and posted pursuant to Government Code Section 54954.2. By listing a topic on this agenda, the District’s Board of Directors has expressed its intent to discuss and act on each item. In addition to any action identified in the summary description of each item, the action that may be taken by the Board of Directors shall include: a referral to staff with specific requests for information; continuance; specific direction to staff concerning the policy or mission of the item; discontinuance of consideration; authorization to enter into negotiations and execute agreements pertaining to the item; adoption or approval; and disapproval.
Copies of the staff reports or other documentation relating to each item of business referred to on the agenda are on file in the Office of the District Clerk, available for public inspection during District business hours. If requested, the agenda and supporting documents shall be made available in alternative formats to persons with a disability. The District Clerk will answer any questions regarding the agenda.
I. OPENING
A. Pledge of Allegiance
B. Establishment of Quorum
C. Report from Closed Session
II. AGENDA REVIEW: ADDITIONS/DELETIONS AND PULLED CONSENT ITEMS
(Estimated Time: 5 minutes)
III. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS/PRESENTATIONS
Cambria Historical Society, Jack Breglio, President
IV. SPECIAL REPORTS
A. SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT REPORT
(Estimated Time: 5 minutes)
V. MANAGER’S AND BOARD REPORTS
A. MANAGER’S REPORT
(Estimated Time: 10 minutes)
B. MEMBER AND COMMITTEE REPORTS
1. Executive Ad Hoc Committee
2. CCHD/CCSD Co-Location Project Ad Hoc Committee
3. Utilities Ad Hoc Committee
VI. CONSENT AGENDA
All matters on the consent calendar are to be approved by one motion. If Directors wish to discuss a consent item other than simple clarifying questions, a request for removal may be made. Such items are pulled for separate discussion and action after the consent calendar as a whole is acted upon.
A. Approve Expenditures for Month of April 2008
B. Approve Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting, April 24, 2008
C. Approve 12-Month Extension of Intent to Serve for Senior Care Facility, M Clark, applicant, APN 024.191.052
D. Approve 12-Month Extension of Commercial Intent to Serve for Eady Hotels, LLC, APN 022.381.002 (Cambria Shores Inn)
E. Adopt Resolution 18-2008 Approving Scheduling a Special Meeting for July 14, 2008
F. Adopt Resolution 13-2008 Authorizing Amendment to Army Corps of Engineers Project Cooperative Agreement
(Estimated Time: 15 minutes)
VII. REGULAR BUSINESS
A. Conduct Twelve Month Review by CCSD Board of Directors of Conditionally Approved Extension of Intent to Serve for Multi-Family Units, J E Lindsey, Applicant, APN 024.191.060
B. Adopt Resolution 17-2008 Approving Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement between the Cambria Community Services District and the Cambria Community Healthcare District Creating the Cambria Coastal Public Safety Joint Powers Authority
VIII. HEARINGS AND APPEALS
A. Public Hearing to Adopt Resolution 16-2008 Adopting the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2008/2010
B. Public Hearing to Consider the Adoption of Resolution 15-2008 Confirming the Itemized Report of Water and Wastewater Standby or Availability Charges to Owners of Improved Property and Unimproved Property that has been Issued an “Intent to Serve” Letter or Connection Permit by the CCSD and to Direct the Collection of Said Charges on the Tax Rolls of the County of San Luis Obispo
C. Schedule Public Hearing Date of June 26 for Mission Country Disposal Proposed Base Year Rate Adjustment in the Amount of 2.94%
(Estimated Time: 90 minutes)
IX. PUBLIC COMMENT
Members of the public wishing to address the Board on any item not listed on the agenda and within the jurisdiction of the Cambria CSD may do so when recognized by the President. Public comments during this and other portions of the agenda will be limited to 3 minutes per person.
X. ADJOURN TO CLOSED SESSION, 1316 Tamson Drive, Suite 204, Cambria
1. CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS
Agency Designated Representatives: General Manager
Employee Organization: IAFF Local 4635, Cambria CSD

Ok. So everyone’s got an opinion on rates and the CCSD budget. The temptation to micromanage and review every planned penny of expenditure is great. What may be useful is this tidbit from a report of a Working Group from 2003. The Working Group’s directive was evaluating the benchmarks used by the EPA to determine if a new regulation will be too expensive to implement. In the course of their examination, the work group asked for an analysis of the percent of Median Household Income spent on water. The consultants studied data from over a thousand water systems (enough to extrapolate to the 31,000 systems the EPA counts). What they found was not a single water bill greater than 2.0 percent of the Median Household Income. In fact, only 1% were greater than 1.5 percent, with the majority being under 1 percent MHI. (See quoted passage below or the complete report for more details.)

This information is useful in comparing our proposed rates to those paid by others around the country in an apples-to-apples manner. Most households pay between .5 percent and 1.5 percent of the Median Household Income for their community (or state, depending upon size). Cambria’s current Median Household Income is about $53,800 (Source: US Census Bureau + US Department of Labor Inflation calculator.) Doing the math:

I leave you to draw your own conclusions and invite your feedback (and arithmetic corrections).

From the National Small Systems Affordability Criteria Work Group:Recommendations to the
National Drinking Water Advisory Council:

Therefore, the Work Group asked consultants to use their database and information sources to try to determine if the SAB concern was justified. The consultant’s database was created from the 2000 U.S. Census and the 1995 Community Water Systems Survey. Included in the database are income and population data for 465 systems serving 25-500 people, 380 systems serving 501-3,300 people, and 211 systems serving 3,301-10,000 people. From these observations, water bill information is available for 163, 208, and 112 systems, respectively (by size class). Analyses of these systems can be extrapolated to the total population of small systems, which according to U.S. EPA includes 31,327 systems serving 25-500 people, 14,149 systems serving 501-3,300 people, and 4,458 systems serving 3,301- 10,000 people.
The consultants did not find a single system in the database whose water bill now exceeds 2.0 percent of MHI. Only seven systems in the database exceed 1.5 percent of MHI: two in the smallest size class, four systems in the next size class, and one system in the largest size class. These systems represent about 1 percent of all systems in each size class.3