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Planning Group disbands groundwater subcommittee
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
LAKE MORENA — Campo/Lake Morena Planning Group members, at the
Feb. 26 regular meeting, voted to take a new approach to
groundwater issues, by disbanding the current Groundwater
Subcommittee and creating a liaison position. This, they hope,
in order to allow the full board to be able to take part; as
well as broaden the scope of work the group can undertake.
Many residents, and subcommittee members, however, argued
against the disbanding at the meeting.
“By disbanding this subcommittee, each and every one of you up
there is telling us that you are going to continue the same
level of efforts and amount of work that this groundwater group
has been doing, which is a lot,” said Wally Palmer.
According to the group’s standing rules, subcommittees are to be
reviewed and reformed yearly.
Subcommittee co-chairman Larry Johnson, who put forward the
option to disband, laid out the various accomplishments of the
group in the year since its inception. The group held 13
meetings during that time, and has established an in-depth
informational groundwater web site (www.campogroundwater.org).
The group involved a wide range of people, not only from the
Campo/Lake Morena planning area, but also residents from other
Back Country planning areas. Everyone on the subcommittee
learned a lot about hydrology, geology, and groundwater in the
area and in general.
The subcommittee also, undoubtedly, had a big impact on the
quality and depth of the current General Plan 2020 groundwater
study that is being undertaken by the county.
“I think had we not asked questions and dug into it, that it
probably wouldn’t have been as in depth as it’s going to be,”
Johnson said.
County hydrogeologist Jim Bennett agreed that the group has been
an asset to the groundwater scene.
“Campo has been really vocal on this groundwater issue,” Bennett
said. “They formed this committee, which I think is just great,
and we’ve really been able to come up with a lot of good ideas
and information from this group, for this study.”
Johnson also pointed out some of the group’s failures, and
reasons why he thought the group should be disbanded, including
the lack of a groundwater management plan for the area,
declining attendance at meetings, and division in the group has
led to circular, heated discussions, making consensus nearly
impossible.
“We have really digressed from the original goal that the group
had,” said groundwater subcommittee co-chairman Joe Carmody.
“We’re really not focused on that anymore, and I don’t think the
group is valid.”
Johnson also pointed out the frustrations of various planning
group members, who could not take part in the subcommittee
meetings, due to county rules, which restrict the number of
participating members to less than a quorum.
“Because of the rules set forth by the county, when the
subcommittee has an important special presentation, the whole
planning group isn’t allowed to take part,” Johnson said. “No
more than four members can take part. They can sit in the
audience and not speak, but won’t be able to ask any questions.”
According to Johnson, with a liaison groundwater position,
organized presentations would be made to the entire group,
either as part of the regular meeting agenda, or perhaps as a
special meeting scheduled separately. This would allow all of
the members to take part in discussions and be able to ask first
hand questions.
Johnson also said that this would allow the planning group to
create ad hoc committees, with more narrowed, focused goals, to
be completed in a short amount of time.
“I would like to see something new taken over by this
groundwater group,” said planning group Chairwoman Bev Esry. “I
would like to see this planning group, and I’m not even sure we
can do it, really get down to it and deal with the real serious
groundwater problems in Lake Morena Village… We’ve got a big
problem in our community when people can’t drink their water.”
“Yes, we have a group that was able to get a lot done, but it’s
also a group that alienated a bunch of good citizens who won’t
take part anymore… That really concerns me,” Esry said. “It got
to a point where good people just didn’t want to participate
anymore and it was just a select few who were running every
meeting.”
“It’s the pro-development versus the slow-growth, two distinct
sides, and there was just no common ground between the two,”
Esry said. She added that she didn’t think the group could ever
find common ground due to development dollars and special
interest agendas.
Several residents argued that the subcommittee should be given a
chance to discuss the disbanding before the planning group
voted, and possibly attempt to remedy it’s own internal
problems.
“This seems a little premature,” commented Roger Challberg. “The
groundwater subcommittee hasn’t even had a chance to talk about
this at all. I think this needs to be postponed.”
Despite arguments, the group voted 7 to 2 to disband the
groundwater subcommittee, and to create a liaison position, to
be filled by Johnson, with the help of Rick Northcote.
 E-mail
Christy Scott
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