Mark Dolson
Further Updates on the Five Mile Pipeline Replacement Project and Consolidations
The San Lorenzo Valley Water District (SLVWD) Board has met twice since my last report. Four topics stand out as most important for our community to be informed about.
First, the Board appointed Jeff Hill to fill the Director’s seat left vacant by the resignation of Lois Henry. Jeff is a retired marketing executive, with extensive experience in Silicon Valley tech start-ups, who resides in the Whispering Pines neighborhood of Scotts Valley. Since retiring in 2011, he has been active in a number of different volunteer roles and has been a member of the SLVWD Budget and Finance Committee for the past year and a half. The Board unanimously selected Jeff over another highly qualified applicant, Alina Layng, a biologist who has been a member of the Environmental Committee (recently combined with the Engineering Committee) for the past year and a half. This seat will be up for election this coming November (along with three other Board seats).
Second, the Board reviewed a first-draft updated version of the District’s budget for the coming fiscal year (beginning July 1st). Staff found a number of ways to save money on expenses and staff salaries so that there was a net decrease despite a significant, previously unbudgeted expense for continued participation in the Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency. Final budget approval is targeted for June.
Third, the Board continued to wrestle with the challenge of restoring access to surface water sources (i.e., creeks flowing down Ben Lomond Mountain) that are currently offline due to the destruction of the District’s Peavine and Five-Mile pipelines in the August 2020 CZU Fire. The Board formally accepted the previously completed Constructability Study by Freyer & Laureta with a requested addendum looking more closely at the differences between the recommended solution (based on buried HDPE pipe) and a less expensive alternative (above-ground HDPE pipe). Three key questions remain open: (1) How much of the estimated $60 million cost for the buried pipeline will FEMA reimburse the District for? (2) How much money could the District save (and with what additional risk) via some alternative solution? (3) What will be the response of the SLV community to both the costs and the environmental impact of the new pipeline? The District’s next step will be to seek a well-informed second opinion via a peer review with a local engineering firm with top engineering and geology professionals and an extensive background working in the Santa Cruz mountains. The environmental aspects will most likely be addressed separately in the required environmental review process.
Fourth, the Board unanimously approved two binding Letters of Intent (LOIs), one between the District and Bracken Brae, and the other between the District and Forest Springs. These are preliminary agreements that create the framework for more detailed consolidation agreements six months from now. Bracken Brae has received a FEMA grant that will help it to restore some of its own water delivery capabilities, but there is still some uncertainty about the final amount that the District will receive from the State for the construction of an essential connecting pipeline (which will also serve Forest Springs and, ultimately, Big Basin). The Board also unanimously approved a $343,205 contract with Sandis Civil Engineers for the initial design phase of this construction.
