“Santa Barbara County adopted the the Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan. A Community Plan supplements and must be consistent with the policies of the Comprehensive Plan (also referred to as a “General Plan”).

The SYV Community Plan expressly provides that rural and agricultural areas in the Valley are to be preserved, describes a wastewater solution for Los Olivos that looks like the one detailed in the Project Description subsequently adopted by the Los Olivos CSD in August 2019, and sets forth policies to ensure that the following Land Use Development Goal is respected: “The beauty of the land should be preserved by limiting urban sprawl and creating buffer zones to maintain the individual character at each town.””

“ Santa Barbara County EHS issued The Los Olivos Wastewater Managment Plan, which studied alternatives and reiterated the long-standing recommendations reflected in the SYV Community plan, and states (see p. 84): “Collecting and moving wastewater from the Los Olivos Special Problems Area to a new or existing centralized treatment plant would only become an option if local efforts to abate water quality failed, and decentralized OWTS became impractical or infeasible.””

“The Los Olivos CSD held public workshops in May, June, and July to define the nature and scope of the town’s septic-to-sewer project. In the June workshop, the public was educated on why the “Local Phased Approach” is the correct approach for Los Olivos and how it would have, among its many benefits, the ability to recharge the groundwater (by injecting clean water into the aquifer) in the contaminated “bullseye” of the dense, downtown Commercial Core.”

“The public was informed that the Local Phased Approach had been selected and would be embodied in the Project Description that would guide the Los Olivos CSD’s efforts for the septic-to-sewer project and be used to obtain grant funding in support of the Local Phased Approach.”

“By unanimous resolution, the Los Olivos CSD adopted a Project Description that was “consistent with the presentations and input from the citizens of the District, the Regional Water Quality Control Board and the County Environmental Health Department.” The Resolution states that all the CSD’s efforts were “to be consistent with the Project Description.”
The Project Description expressly provided for studies into, and the expenditure of public funds in support of, “Phased Collection and Treatment” that would develop and build a system and treatment plant for the downtown Commercial Core with
• “[s]ubsequent phases into adjacent high-density areas [to] be determined by the results of groundwater monitoring” and
• “[p]otential expansion of the collection system, as with the treatment system, [to] be determined based on results of the groundwater monitoring and in coordination with the RWQCB.”
”

“Los Olivos CSD agenda materials and Progress Report to LAFCO reflect the board’s clear and unequivocal pursuit of the phased approach outlined in the Project Description, and its plans to use a small, downtown parcel for the long-promised small, downtown treatment plant.”

“The LOCSD continued to pursue the Local Phased Approach, which (as the Jan. 2021 agenda packet shows) included close attention to the essential roles of Groundwater Monitoring and requirements and guidelines for parcels on Septic and outside of the commercial core.”

“In March 2021, Los Olivos CSD sought from the Santa Barbara County LAFCO an extension of time to complete the foundational work to implement the Local Phased Approach. In both its Progress Report and extension request to LAFCO, the Los Olivos CSD described its efforts and progress in pursuit of the Local Phased Approach. ”

“The LOCSD’s April 2021 General Manager’s report reflects that the Board was still pursuing the Project Description unanimously adopted in August 2019.
”

“On June 3, 2021, the Santa Barbara LAFCO approved the Los Olivos CSD’s extension application over strenuous objections from nonprofit Heal the Ocean. In its approval, LAFCO listed the County’s recommendations for Los Olivos, which included consideration of “various service area configurations” and “the possibility of maintaining septic systems in limited areas of town” LAFCO also cited the LOCSD’s representations that it was continuing to prepare a Local Groundwater Monitoring Program and to work with County EHS on “appropriate requirements for continued residential onsite wastewater treatment systems.”

There is no recording or transcript from the LOCSD’s June 9, 2021 meeting, which was held via RingCentral. The Meeting Minutes show only that the LAFCO process was discussed but provide no information about what was said. Regarding the Project Description, the Minutes reflect that “President Palmer advised the Project Description should be updated to represent progress made by District.” ”

“With no community outreach or input, three members of the Los Olivos CSD board decided to change to a District-Wide septic-to-sewer project. The nature, reasons, costs, and other effects (e.g., density, development) of the change to a District-Wide system were not shared or discussed with the public. (NOTE: The August 2019 Project Description was still in effect, and it remained in effect until January 2022.)

In the same July 2021 meeting, three members of the Los Olivos CSD board decided they would manipulate the weighting and selection criteria to force selection of the site they personally preferred as the location for the sewage treatment plant for the now-district-wide septic system. The site the board preferred was located south of town and on prime agricultural land outside the District’s boundaries.”

“Following the LOCSD’s July 2021 meeting, Stantec (the engineering firm engaged to design the waste collection and treatment system described in the Project Description) submitted a new proposal for a New Scope of Work (design for the Entire District). The changes made by the three LOCSD Board Members during their July 2021 meeting, resulted in $100,000 increase in Stantec’s quote for the work to be done.

Stantec explained the fee increase as the result of the Board’s direction to change from a design for the Phase 1 Commercial Core to a design for Entire District, which required a “base mapping and plan production effort” that was SEVEN TIMES what Stantec had proposed for the Local Phased Approach in the Project Description. ”

“In response to considerable public outcry in August and September 2021 – including from neighbors living south of town and outside the District’s boundaries who had never received any notice of any kind about the Los Olivos CSD’s site selection – the Los Olivos CSD held a special meeting on September 2021 to hear public comment on its decision making. The many community members who attended that meeting voiced deep dissatisfaction with the Los Olivos CSD’s decision making and lack of communication and accountability. Community members were not engaged on the notion that the Los Olivos CSD was no longer pursuing the Local Phased Approach set out in the August 2019 Project Description, which was still in effect.

Following that meeting, Mark Herthel withdrew his offer of his family’s land located south of town and on prime agricultural land outside the District’s boundaries. The letter articulates many of the problematic aspects of the Los Olivos CSD’s course of conduct. The Los Olivos CSD never made Mr. Herthel’s letter available to the public.”

“With three members of its board present, the Los Olivos CSD voted to approve a “revised” Project Description but provided no meaningful explanation of the nature or effects of the revisions. The new UPDATED Project Description was posted to the Los Olivos CSD’s website, and it describes the “Entire District” project the Los Olivos CSD board had, in fact, begun pursuing in July 2021.”

“The 320-page agenda packet for the Los Olivos CSD’s February 2022 general meeting included a new report from the District’s engineering firm, reflecting the buildout of a sewer system for every parcel inside the District’s boundaries and the construction of an open-air sewage treatment plant that would occupy at least 1.6 acres of land south of town and on prime agricultural land outside the District’s boundaries.

Following that meeting, the LOCSD sent out to all its residents this District Update, which many residents understood to convey that the Board was still pursuing a system in and for the downtown commercial core as described in the Project Description adopted by Resolution 19-04. ”

“The three board members in attendance at the CSD’s March 2022 meeting heard considerable public outcry about the CSD’s decision making and lack of communication and accountability. ”

“The three board members in attendance at the CSD’s April 2022 meeting appeared confused (even baffled) by all references to the Local Phased Approach and the 2019 Project Description that had been adopted with community knowledge and support. ”

“On June 30, 2022, this thoughtful public comment regarding transparency and public engagement was submitted to the CSD Board for inclusion as part of the July 13, 2022 CSD Meeting.”