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Planners
review work of groundwater committee
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
CAMPO — Members of the Campo/Lake Morena Planning group began to see the fruits of their labors to get a comprehensive groundwater study for the
Back Country. The group recently received a letter from the Department of Planning and Land Use in response to its presentation to the San Diego Board of Supervisors in December.
“As we expected, their response was a denial of our request, stating existing information does not show an area of groundwater overdraft, or areas where there are significant groundwater quantity issues,” said planning group chairwoman Bev Esry.
Members had asked, via a planning group resolution, that, “...a formal request be made to the board of supervisors to approve a contract for a comprehensive groundwater study for our basins and delay approval of any projects in our planning area of five or more home sites or equivalent water usage functions, until such time as an acceptable study is completed, analyzed and implemented.”
At the Dec. 6 presentation, supervisors did not respond, as the item was not on the agenda for the day. Despite the inaction by the supervisors at that meeting, planning group members are now seeing some results.
“They do agree there is a legitimate concern of there being an adequate and long-term sustainable supply of groundwater for the basin to support the level of proposed development,” Esry said.
According to the letter from DPLU, county staffers are in the first stages of preparing a comprehensive groundwater study for the area. This study should be completed in the spring of 2006.
Groundwater subcommittee
The groundwater subcommittee of the planning group has begun working with the county’s new groundwater geologist, Jim Bennett, to move toward an official study.
According to Larry Johnson, planning group member and chairman of the subcommittee, after the December presentation, group members and county staff started working on the creation of a study model for the Campo area.
Using a former model for the Lee Valley area, county hydrologists are gathering information from various wells belonging to residents who have volunteered to allow officials onto their properties. They are looking for more volunteers to allow testing of active and dry wells on their properties.
Another avenue that the group had discussed was a white paper by Dr. Victor Ponce on groundwater utilization and sustainability.
Ponce is a professor at SDSU and a hydrogeologist. After a presentation by county staff and Ponc, at the November subcommitte meeting, he was hired by the Back Country Against Dumps board of directors to create the groundwater document. A Campo land owner donated the money needed to conver the Ponce’s consulting fees.
Since then, he has completed a white paper report on groundwater and how usage affects water availability to other users. The paper has passed peer review, and may be found on the web at groundwater.sdsu.edu.
At a recent meeting of the groundwater subcommittee, however, the motion to support the report was denied by a majority of voting members, according to Johnson.
Bennett plans to hold a meeting in February to discuss the upcoming groundwater study, which is planned as part of the GP 2020 process. Back Country groundwater subcommittee members have also begun keeping a groundwater library, chronicling the various issues that have been raised in recent years, using news and scientific articles, and other documents.
At the Jan. 23 meeting, board members briefly discussed the groundwater issues.
“It really is about time that this gets done,” Esry said. However, she stressed that the study must be complete and comprehensive to show the long-term effects of development on the area groundwater.
“With all the water being pulled out of the bottom of the basin by all these proposed developments, don’t you think that you’re going to have a serious effect on the residents who are just a little bit higher up?” said planning group member Bill Slaff.
The next meeting of the Campo/Lake Morena groundwater subcommittee will take place Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Mountain Empire Community Center.
Star Ranch
Representatives from the Star Ranch development made a presentation to planning group members and residents at the Jan. 23 meeting.
The Star Ranch project has been discussed by developers and Campo residents since 2001, when the 2,150-acre, 480 home and village center development was first proposed. Since then, the project has undergone many changes, thanks to community input at more than seven public and planning group meetings throughout the process.
Some of the changes that have taken place due to public input are a reduction in acreage for the village commercial area from 29 to 14 acres and the retention of the functional ranch that has been there for years.
The development includes 40 estate sized lots of about two acres, about 400 other residences, and a commercial village center area, which will abut the already existing Cameron Corners commercial area.
According to Mike Ratajski, a partner in the project, about 75 to 80 percent of the total project has been reserved as open space and will remain as such.
The Star Ranch project has just started the legal processing, and has been submitted to the county for review. Planners don’t expect a project EIR until December 2007, and the first public hearings on the project are expected to be in April 2008.
The planning group will hold a special meeting for April 10, from 7 to 9 p.m., solely to discuss the Star Ranch project.
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Christy Scott
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