About Cambria

The CCSD will hold its regular monthly meeting this Thursday (Jan 29, 2009) at the Vets Hall at 12:30pm. From reading the agenda, I’d say this meeting will, at the very least, be informative. The meeting will start, as usual, with the manager’s report  and the board committee reports. The consent agenda includes the usual approval of minutes and expenditures as well as a “resolution declaring 1988 FMC Type II Fire Engine 5787 as surplus inventory and approving its disposal by sale”; ratification of  Michael Thompson’s appointment to the Buildout Reduction Program Citizens Finance Committee; and a resolution approving joint use agreement between the CCSD and County of San Luis Obispo for connector trail development near Moonstone Beach Drive and Windsor Boulevard.

The “meat” of the agenda includes:

• a mid-year revision of the 2008-2009 fiscal year budget,
• consideration of  water conservation alternatives,
• a status report of the desalination project,
• and reviewing and approving the Board’s Bylaws and Committee assignments.

The last item for open session will be public comment, when anyone can speak for up to three minutes on items not on the agenda. (If you have something to say about something on the agenda, you should speak up when its being discussed.) If the agenda stays on schedule, public comment will be at about 2:45pm. That is, of course, only an estimate.

Then the Board will adjourn to closed session as follows:

A. PUBLIC EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENT
Title: District Counsel
Government Code Section 54957
B. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – EXISTING LITIGATION
Subdivision (a) of Section 54956.9 (1 matter) Landwatch/C Hawley
San Luis Obispo County vs. Cambria Community Services District

Download the complete official agenda and the informational  meeting packet from the CCSD website.

See you there!

“People of Earth, your attention please,” a voice said, and it was wonderful. Wonderful perfect quadraphonic sound with distortion levels so low as to make a brave man weep.

“This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council,” the voice continued. “As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and regrettably your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you.”

The PA died away.
Uncomprehending terror settled on the watching people of Earth. The terror moved slowly through the gathered crowds as if they were iron filing on a sheet of board and a magnet was moving beneath them. Panic sprouted again, desperate fleeing panic, but there was nowhere to flee to.

Observing this, the Vogons turned on their PA again. It said:

“There’s no point acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now.”

The PA fell silent again and its echo drifted off across the land. The huge ship turned slowly in the sky with easy power. On the underside of each a hatchway opened, an empty black square.

By this time somebody somewhere must have manned a radio transmitter, located a wavelength and broadcast a message back to the Vogon ships, to plead on behalf of the planet. Nobody ever heard what they said, they only heard the reply. The PA slammed back into life again. The voice was annoyed. It said:

“What do you mean you’ve never been to Alpha Centauri? For heaven’s sake mankind, it’s only four light years away you know. I’m sorry, but if you can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs that’s your own lookout.”

“Energize the demolition beams.”

Light poured out of the hatchways.

“I don’t know” said the voice on the PA, “apathetic bloody planet, I’ve no sympathy at all.” It cut off.

There was a terrible ghastly silence.
There was a terrible ghastly noise.
There was a terrible ghastly silence.

The Vogon Constructor Fleet coasted away into the inky starry void.

- Douglas Adams, The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy

[ download PDF version ]

Futuristic, barbaric, funny and starkly close to the modern day planning process. Every new project,  county ordinance or state policy can seem like a Vogon demolition order. It may be our elected representatives who write and ratify legislation but democracy doesn’t stop after the election. Every time wonderful new regulations are announced, why is it that great swathes of the electorate blink, pinch themselves and then wonder what the hell possessed “the Vogons” to think up of such ridiculous ideas – don’t they realize what the consequences will be? Representatives need open channels of communication to continue being representative after election, otherwise they might as well be on Alpha Centauri.

One of those “open channels” in Cambria is the North Coast Advisory Council. The NCAC (and other advisory councils like it in other communities) was created by the County Board of Supervisors, whose vision was to provide a way to get the input of various community interests and citizens about decisions they make that affect our community. It is a group of people, elected and appointed, who volunteer and serve in an advisory capacity on issues  at the county level.  (For the entire proclamation creating the councils, the NCAC bylaws and other information, visit the website at www.northcoastadvisorycouncil.org)

Members of the council are elected by their neighbors. Cambria is divided into seven neighborhoods or “Geographical Voting Areas” and San Simeon is represented by its own GVA. Residents vote for their own neighborhood’s representative. So, for example, I vote for who represents my Lodge Hill neighborhood, but not for representives from Park Hill or San Simeon. Elections are held the first Tuesday in May – even-numbered GVAs in even years and (surprisingly) odd-numbered GVAs in odd years. In addition, four members are appointed to serve the following interests: Hispanic, Business, Ag and Environmental. Check the map to see which are you live in. If you live in 1, 3, 5, or 7, visit the NCAC website for details on how to become a candidate.

The NCAC reviews projects, proposed ordinances, road/public works projects  that the county sends for our review. We look whatever it is over (sometimes in committee first), discuss with our friends and neighbors and at the monthly meeting and send our comments back to the county. The Council is currently reviewing the Conservation and Open Space Element of the County’s General Plan and will soon be reviewing revised policies concerning growth management, strategic growth and low impact development.

Democracy is a process and not solely the act of electing some people every couple of years. Many people aren’t able or arent interested in attending  public meetings on a regular basis, but many do try to catch part when they are broadcast on TV. AboutCambria.com strives to share the happenings of many of these meetings. The Cambrian prints details of meeting times, places and agendas, as well. There are many ways to be involved and informed. It doesn’t take much time or energy to be a part of your community and your participation ensures better leaders and a stronger community.

*Note: Amanda Rice was elected to the NCAC as representative for GVA 8 in 2006 and currently serves as Chairperson. The views presented here on AboutCambria.com are not necessarily those of the North Coast Advisory Council members or the council as a whole.

Cambria has been working on a solution to our “water shortage” and is now up against a resource shortage of another kind – a shortage of money. We’ve spent many years (and even more dollars) studying and discussing and even taking some steps toward “solving” our water resource constraints.  The CCSD continues to pour money into developing a desalination plant while almost neglecting conservation programs. ($750 per year on public outreach and a half time position, coupled with rebates for replacing older appliances and fixtures with more water efficient  models seems to be the extent of the efforts on behalf of conservation, if the UWMP is to be believed.) It is difficult, if not impossible, to get the right answer if you aren’t asking the right questions. And when the answer is a desalination plant that could exceed $10 million before it produces a single drop of water, I want to be sure we’ve asked the right question.
When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn’t work at zero gravity (Ink won’t flow down to the writing surface). In order to solve this problem, they hired Andersen Consulting (Accenture today). It took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.
The Russians solved the problem in a different way. They used a pencil!

Despite the fact that water supplies are undeniably constrained and climate change is likely to constrain them even more, there is more than enough water to go around — and that includes enough water to maintain the environmental and biological integrity of our rivers, streams, estuaries and wetlands.

In November 2004, the Planning and Conservation League (PCL) published “An Investment Strategy for California Water”. This publication (available online at www.pcl.org) concluded that new demands for water associated with California’s projected growth could not only be met, but could be met economically and without damaging California’s environment. The following year, the state Department of Water Resources essentially confirmed PCL’s findings in The California Water Plan Update 2005, Bulletin 160-05.

More people are echoing these opinions and strengthening this perspective as the severity of the current drought becomes more apparent. Peter Gleick of The Pacific Institute gave a very interesting Keynote Address at the UC Berkeley, California Center for Environmental Policy and Law Conference: California and the Future of Environmental Law and Policy. It was called “Can California’s Water Problems be Solved?”

The title of the speech is from a presentation titled “Can California’s Water Problems Be Solved?” but, in retrospect, this rhetorical question seems a bit ridiculous. Of course California’s water problems can be solved. The important questions to ask here are not about the possibility of finding a solution, but rather the probability of and strategy by which to do so: a more accurate title may have been “Will California’s Water Problems be Solved?” or “How to Solve California’s Water Problems” or “Does California Have a Water Problem?” or “A Sustainable Vision for California’s Water”  This short article will touch on all of these permutations.

Read the rest…Download the article adapted from the speech here.

Mr. Gleick revisits many of the assumptions policy-makers and leaders forget exist when they are making decisions and offers a different vantage point from which to examine the various water issues we face. Sometimes the way you frame a problem contains an assumption that prevents you from solving it. In Middle Ages the definition of astronomy was the ‘study of how the heavenly bodies move around the Earth’, i.e. the Earth was considered to be the center of universe which resulted in the chain of wrong explanations of various phenomena.

Frank R. Rijsberman argues the problem is not a water crisis, but a management crisis in his recent Alternet article “Our Water Problems are a Crisis of Management”

Safe drinking water in sufficient quantity, however, is not the whole story. Even the most water-scarce parts of the world — Egypt, for example — have renewable water resources on the order of 1000-1500 liters (264-528 gallons) per inhabitant per day.  The United Nations recommends access to at least twenty liters (5.28 gallons) of safe water per person per day as the minimum for a healthy life. When they have access to affordable water conveniently piped into their homes, people tend to use a great deal more: 200 to 400 liters (about 53-106 gallons)* per person per day, depending on whether they water their lawns or use dishwashers and similar water-guzzling conveniences. But even at that higher level of consumption there is no real scarcity of drinking water.

However, water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and all other domestic needs is only a small fraction of the requisite supply. A much larger amount is needed to grow our food as well as the fibers, such as cotton, in our clothes. On average, growing a single calorie of food demands a liter (a little more than a quarter of a gallon) of water. Plants need water for evapotranspiration, the process by which water evaporates from soil and leaves and transpirates from plants through the stomata, thereby transferring water from Earth’s surface into the atmosphere. A healthy diet of 3000 calories requires at least 3000 liters (792.5 gallons) of water to produce; a vegetarian diet requires the least amount of water, while a Western, meat-based diet rich in corn-fed beef can require as much as 15,000 liters about 3,963 gallons) of water per person per day. Roughly seventy times as much water is needed to grow the food that people eat as to serve domestic purposes.

Therefore, to understand the water crisis we need to distinguish two fundamentally different problems, which will require different solutions. The first, the drinking water problem, is about access to affordable water services: here we face a service crisis. The second is about the lack of the vastly greater water resources needed to grow food and maintain ecosystem services: here we face a problem of water scarcity, a resource crisis.

I submit that Cambrians could benefit from examining the assumptions underlying our quest for a supplemental water source. I still haven’t seen any actual numbers on water use by people in this community. The numbers used in the Kennedy-Jenks reports and those of other consultants are “composite” or estimated from models. General Manager Tammy Rudock has said “most of our customers use less than 12 units” per billing cycle. In a system the size of ours, even a small difference can have a real impact. (See November/December Water and Sewer Bills Reflect Changes to Rates for examples.)

I think the current plan to solve Cambria’s “water crisis”   smacks of a greediness and selfishness that was perhaps acceptable in the 20th century and is still identified so thoroughly with an American lifestyle of excess that I’m a little embarrassed. Cambria could be a model community, implementing new ways of managing and sustaining our resources or just another example of the old ways of trying to control every process and have everything we want, whenever and wherever we want it.I know what kind of community I’d rather be part of. I like pencils.

* 53 gallons per person per day (gppd) would be about  8  units per billing cycle for a two person home. A four person home using 106 gppd would be billed for 35 units. See the water calculator for more.

This week’s feature article on AboutCCSD.com focuses on the bills and water use. It ponders the real difference we can make with only slight modifications in our actions and how quickly the little things can add up.  Read more on AboutCCSD.com.

The CCSD is in the process of filling a position in  the wastewater department and replacing the District’s counsel. A new notice posted earlier today announces that CCSD is looking for “several” reserve firefighters. According to the announcement on the CCSD’s website,

Firefighters will work with a full-time or reserve officer on 24-hour shifts as part of a two or three-person engine company. This is a part-time, at-will position. Reserve Firefighters earn $9/hour, and typically are assigned 10 or 24-hour shifts. Overtime is paid at time and one-half, for time worked in excess of 182 hours in a 24-day period.

The filing deadline is February 11, 2009 at 4pm. No faxed or emailed applications will be accepted. Contact  Monique Madrid at 6117  and visit the website for additional information on qualifications.

It shouldn’t be news to you that the State of California is going through some serious financial stress. Legislators and the Governor are all calling for belt-tightening and special interests from social workers to teachers to unions to health care workers are all pitching fits when cuts in their industry are considered. The California Department of Finance published a list last Friday (January 16) of projects that will be shut down or suspended because the State lacks the funds to pay for them. Not surprisingly, there are a few in our area that will be affected.

The Guthrie-Bianchini House Restoration is already underway, as is the Santa Rosa Creek project. There will be no additional money for either project indefinitely. The Ferrasci Road  Bridge /Steelhead Barrier Removal Projects will remain in project never-neverland and SLO county will have to find another way to pay for the implementation of low impact development design standards for the County. The cash crunch is on and looks like no end in sight to the fiscal insanity. insolvency.

The North Coast Advisory Council will meet next Wednesday at Rabobank at 7pm to review several projects planned for Cambria. Among the items for discussion will be a proposed cell tower addition at the Catholic Church, home additions/remodels on Castle Street, Warren Rd, Trenton Ave and Windsor Blvd in Seaclift Estates, and finishing a parking area for the Harmony Headlands State Park, 7 miles south of Main Street/Ardath/Highway One.Visit the NCAC website for a complete agenda and reports.

The North Coast Advisory Council (NCAC)  serves as a forum for public review of matters identified with sound development including, but not limited to: land use, public services, circulation, zoning, public improvements and all aspects of orderly community growth. The Council provides comments on items and issues before it, and submits comments and recommendations that it has adopted to the Board of Supervisors, the Planning Commission, or other appropriate body.

The NCAC often reviews items and issues  (like the North Coast Area Plan & ordinance revisions and projects requiring “discretionary” permits) early in the process. The goal is to provide community input at a point where needed changes or obvious incompatibility can be incorporated. If you’ve ever experienced the fun of a major remodel nearby, or wondered what that thing is that’s being built somewhere, the NCAC has probably seen and discussed the plans and included comments on it months earlier.

The Council’s website is updated regularly with projects being reviewed, agendas and meeting minutes as they are approved. You can keep tabs on upcoming projects and issues by checking the website or looking for the agenda printed in the Cambrian the week before the meetings. NCAC meets the third Wednesday of every month (except December) at Rabobank at 7pm. Supervisor Gibson almost always attends, as does the Council’s  county planning department liaison, Airlin Singewald.

The county is currently accepting comments on its Conservation and Open Space Element (COSE) of the General Plan, an item of interest to many in Cambria. At this Wednesday’s meeting, an ad hoc committee will be formed to review the COSE draft and suggest comments for the full council to submit.  Committee members need not be regular elected members or alternates. Anyone in the community with an interest in what the committee is studying is welcome to participate.

If you have an interest in reviewing the COSE and helping shape the comments from the community, please attend the meeting Wednesday January 21 at 7pm. If you cannot attend the meeting, you may contact NCAC Chair, Amanda Rice by calling 4191 or sending an email to find out more. You can read the COSE draft using the link in the previous paragraph.

NOTE: NCAC elections are coming up at the beginning of May for geographical voting areas (GVAs) 1, 3, 5 and 7. See the map on the NCAC website to see if your neighborhood needs candidates. The deadline for applying to be a candidate is March 18, 2009.

The CCSD has recently posted an RFP to replace the District’s legal counsel. Read more on AboutCCSD.com

Yesterday the CCSD posted a progress report on the Build-out Reduction Program plan, specifically the lot merger part of the program. In May 2007, the CCSD implemented the Voluntary Merger Program as part of the Buildout Reduction Program (BRP).  Merging a lot means legally encompassing it with an adjacent lot or parcel, thus eliminating it from consideration as an individual legal entity. This program has been extremely successful with 280 out of the BRP goal of 394 buildable lots now merged.  Click on Lot Merger Summary for all the details.

While this is definitely good news , a review of the Buildout Reduction Report reveals

a total of 1,360 lots that are part of groups of lots that are in common adjacent ownership (CAO). If they assumed that ALL of these CAO groups merged into single lots, a total of 986 vacant lots would be merged. Based on an analysis of the various CAO ownership scenarios that exist (e.g., single vacant lots that are attached to built lots, vacant lot groups that have “odd” numbers of lots such that at they are unlikely to be divisible into more than one legal building site, etc.), the consultants have conservatively projected that 394 voluntary mergers would occur (i.e., 40% of the theoretical maximum of 986 lots).

According to the Buildout Reduction Report:

The Buildout Reduction Program seeks to retire or merge enough potential building sites so that there is a near match between those who are authorized to build under the cap of 4,650 existing and new residential water connections, and the number of suitable building sites. This will happen over a projected 22 years.

I’m still working out what this all means for the cost of the BRP and the future of Cambria development. Look for more on this soon. Until then, you can visit the CCSD’s website to download the Reports and information about the BRP. Below are some of the numbers:

Lots to remain undeveloped                                                                                     3,357
Lots already retired                                                                              289
Lots owned by conservation entities (but not retired)          36
Surplus lots owned by County                                                          30
Lots in Special Project Area  1                                                          579
Lots in Special Project Area 2                                                          337
Orphaned lots                                                                                         255
Total Non-buildable lots                                                                                             1,526
Remaining residential lots to be retired and/or merged                               1,831

Total lots to be retired, merged or acquired                                      1,831
Retirements contingent on transfer of commercial EDUs            16
Voluntary/Program retirements                                                            542
Mergers of vacant lots with existing built lots                                   394

Remaining lots to be acquired                                                                  879

This Thursday the school board will have its first meeting of 2009.  If you want to go, the meeting starts at 7:00pm at the Old Grammar School on Main.  This past November, Cambria voters re-elected  Robert Gong and Cindy Fratto. They have been joined by the newly-elected Victoria Dandurand, who edged out the next candidate,  Daniel McDonald,  by just over a hundred votes.  A recent invitation to the meeting from  Steve Kniffen  promises the meeting could be interesting.  The Board will be reviewing some “Williams complaints”. One board member has a Williams complaint on record with the district and may have to recuse herself from the discussion and/or decision-making on the complaints.

If you don’t have school-aged kids or pay close attention to California education, you may not know what Williams v California is or what that decision has meant for California Schools.I had no idea what it was, so I did some digging – starting on the Coast USD website and linking to decentschools.com to get the lowdown. Here’s how decentschools.com answers “What is Williams v California?”

On May 17, 2000, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), along with other civil rights organizations, filed a lawsuit against the State of California because of the terrible conditions in many of its public schools (the Williams v. California case). Parents, students, and teachers argued that the State is failing to provide thousands of public school students, particularly those in low-income communities and communities of color, with the basic necessities required for an education.

They argued that the State’s failure to provide these bare minimum necessities to all public school students in California violates the state constitution, as well as state and federal requirements that all students be given equal access to public education without regard to race, color, or national origin. In August 2004, a settlement (legal agreement) was announced.

The settlement requires that all students have books and that their schools be clean and safe. It takes steps to make sure that students have qualified teachers and that schools deliver these important resources to students. The settlement provides nearly $1 billion to accomplish these goals.

All public school students, parents and teachers are affected by this settlement. The upshot of the ruling and related legislation is affirmation that all students have the right to a clean and safe school; the right to have a book to use in class and at home; the right to have a qualified teacher. In addition to posting these rights in the classroom, schools are required to have a complaint form available and principals must respond to complaints within 30 working days. If the complainant  is unsatisfied with the remedy, they may appeal to the superintendent, who must respond within 45 days of the initial complaint date. If this does not result in a satisfactory outcome, the complaint is considered by the Board.

Apparently, there is at least one complaint at this last  stage of the process for the Board to consider at this week’s meeting. To get a taste of the issue, visit SanLuisObispo.com, the Tribune’s website, to read Kathe Tanner’s article.

The School Board holds their closed session before the regular meeting. At 7pm, they will resume open session and follow this agenda:

IV. RESUME TO OPEN SESSION

4.1 Call to Order
4.2 Pledge of Allegiance
4.3 Announce closed session item(s)/action
A. Board Action on Expulsion Recommendation for Student 08109-3
4.4 Approval of Agenda (ACTION)

V. HEARING SESSION
The Hearing Session is designed to afford citizens the opportunity to address the Board on non-agenda items. All persons desiring to address the Board are requested to identify themselves. Speakers are normally limited to 3 minutes each with a maximum of 12 minutes per topic.

VI. CONSENT AGENDA (ACTION)

6.1 Approval of Minutes of Regular Meeting, December 1 1,2008
6.2 Approval of Warrants: Batch Nos. 26,27,28,29
6.3 Acceptance of Cash Report as of December 3 1,2008
6.4 Acceptance of Enrollment Report as of December 3 1,2008
6.5 Approval of Consultant Contracts for 2008-09, available for review in Supt ‘s office:
Eric Schell (Schell Technical Services, Inc.), provide computer and technology services
6.6 Donations:
A Dell PC Computer, keyboard and mouse (value: $1,000) to Coast Union High School from Wade Lawrence, Templeton, CA
$500.00 to Santa Lucia Middle School Athletic Department, from Bob Begley, Porterville, CA

VII. PRESENTATIONS

7.1 Santa Lucia Middle School Student Representative: Report of Activities
7.2 Board Recognition: Bruce Gibson, SLO County Board Supervisor

VIII. INFORMATION/DISCUSSION

8.1 Santa Lucia Middle School Principal’s Report: Progress on School Areas of Emphasis and Goals

8.2 Governing Board/Superintendent

A. Superintendent’s Report

IX. ACTION SESSION

9.1 Personnel

A. Approval of Personnel: Potential Layoff, Appointment, Employment, Discipline, Resignation and Dismissal of District Employee(s), per Government Code 54956.9 (ACTION)
B. Discuss, Review and Approve Quarterly Report on Uniform Complaints (ACTION)
9.2 Facilities/Operations
A. Facilities Report, Denis de Clercq
9.3 Budget
A. Public Hearing: Review Annual Accounting for School Facilities Fees
B. Acceptance and Approval of Resolution 08109-5 – Annual Accounting of Development Fees for 2007-08 Fiscal Year in the following Fund or Account: Capital Facilities (ACTION)

X. ADJOURNMENT
The next regularly scheduled meeting is on Thursday, February 12,2009, at 6:00 p.m. Closed Session in the Superintendent’s Office and 7:00 p.m. Open Session in the Old Grammar School Designated Board Room.
I haven’t ever been to a School Board meeting other than when my Dad was Superintendent of schools in the Bay Area. I didn’t go to a single one during the 5 years I taught in New Orleans Public Schools. I plan to go to this one.