No LAFCO-ing Matter: If you build it, they will come
Please see below the public comment notes Anna Marie Gott
sent the Los Olivos CSD board members in advance of last night’s general meeting.
Board Members,
Mike Prater, the Executive Officer of Santa Barbara County's Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) was the speaker on Monday at a webinar hosted by Citizens Planning Association. I was lucky enough to attend the webinar and ask a number of questions related to the Los Olivos Community Services District (LOCSD) and the need for wastewater treatment in Ballard.
I am glad I was able to attend the webinar because what I discovered was that if Los Olivos builds a wastewater treatment facility that has the capacity (or where the capacity of the facility can be expanded) to treat the wastewater of Ballard then LAFCO can forcibly merge Ballard with the LOCSD thereby forcing the LOCSD to treat the wastewater of Ballard.
How can this happen? First, LAFCO can determine that Ballard is within the sphere of influence of the LOCSD. Second, LAFCO can submit an application seeking to have Ballard merge with the LOCSD. Then all LAFCO needs to do is make the determination that LOCSD has the capacity to service Ballard. LOCSD can object to the merger within 60 days. However, if LAFCO determines that the LOCSD has the capacity to service Ballard then the merger is approved. If this is done residents can't appeal the decision and can only take LAFCO to court.
Why would LAFCO do this? First, Ballard has the same water quality problems that Los Olivos does. Second, Ballard hasn't even begun to address these wastewater quality issue and if the LOCSD is successfully in building a wastewater treatment facility then LAFCO could avoid having Ballard spend years going through the same process LOCSD has by quickly merging the districts.
I believe it is incumbent upon the Board to discuss this possibility during one of our Board Meetings. Residents need to clearly understand how a wastewater treatment facility could be forcibly expanded by LAFCO in order to treat the wastewater for Ballard. Further, I believe that any of the options presented to residents, where a decision will be made to determine which option to put to a vote, should include a full analysis on a site or a facilities capacity (or the capacity to expand) to accommodate Ballard's wastewater.
Thank you
P.S. CPA will post a recording of the 11/7/22 webinar at the link below soon. The last 30 minutes of the webinar included Q&A where the LOCSD and Ballard was discussed at various points. https://www.citizensplanning.org/calendar/
