 |
MINUTES
BROOKTRAILS TOWNSHIP COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BROOKTRAILS COMMUNITY CENTER
24850 Birch Street, Willits, CA 95490
November 9, 2004 |
The Board of Directors of Brooktrails Township Community Services District met in regular session on November 9, 2004 at 6:57 p.m. in Brooktrails Community Center.
A. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
B. ROLL CALL
Roll call showed the following Directors present: Ziady, Horrick, Skezas, Pohlson and Orth. Also present were General Manager Chapman and District Counsel Neary.
REPORT ON CLOSED SESSION.
District Counsel Neary reported that the Board met in closed session for District Counsel's annual performance and contract review and had renewed that contract for another year.
C. ADDITIONS/ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
President Orth stated there was a time limit item that needed to be added to the agenda regarding a letter (release of sewer audit with conditions) to the Willits City Manager. Motion was made by Director Skezas to add the item to the agenda. Director Horrick seconded.
Roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Ziady, Horrick, Skezas, Pohlson, Orth
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
President Orth stated it would be placed as Item 7 at the end of the Action Agenda.
D. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS
1. October 26, 2004 - Director Horrick moved to approve the minutes with changes. President Orth requested the following corrections: Page 3, second paragraph from bottom, the word "but" should be struck and the words "where access was a problem as" added in its place. In the same paragraph, third to last sentence, "ground" should be replaced with "crown." This same correction should be made on page 3504, fourth paragraph, second sentence. On page 3505, second paragraph, end of third line, the word "legal" should be replaced with "greenbelt." Director Skezas seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
E. SPECIAL PRESENTATION
None.
F. PUBLIC HEARING
2. Consideration of Ordinance No. 127 - Private Water Tanks. President Orth opened the public hearing at 7:01 p.m. General Manager Chapman gave a background statement about the ordinance. This was followed by additional changes made by District Architect Axt, which included the requirement for overflow drainage. He stated adoption of the ordinance was scheduled as Item 4 on the agenda. There was no public comment. President Orth closed the public hearing at 7:07 p.m. Director Pohlson stated the input was good regarding adjacent property owners. President Orth said the Board had simplified the procedure and included a process to ensure that the tanks met standards.
G. PUBLIC COMMENTS
Bob Terry took the podium to suggest that the District find funds for additional microphones, since General Manager Chapman's was malfunctioning.
H. CONSENT CALENDAR
3. Review of Accounts Payable Report and authorization to issue checks; Retroactive approval of check issued 11/2/04; Authorize second check run in November, to be approved at December 14 meeting. General Manager Chapman advised he had just received DHS's approval letter for the third well and would need to pay an encroachment fee to the County to proceed; also, he was revoking issuance of the listed check to Mendo Lake Garage Door pending their satisfactory completion of the job. Director Horrick moved to approve the report and to approve the check written 11/2/04; Director Pohlson seconded and the motion carried unanimously. Director Pohlson moved to authorize a second check run in November to be reviewed and approved at the December 14th meeting. Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
I. ACTION AGENDA
4. Consideration of Adoption of Ordinance 127 - Private Water Tanks. Director Pohlson moved to waive further reading and adopt Ordinance 127; Director Horrick seconded. Director Skezas noted that fees were not identified; General Manager Chapman confirmed this and said they were set in the annual budget.
Roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Ziady, Horrick, Skezas, Pohlson, Orth
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
5. General Manager position paper on water options. General Manager Chapman regretted the small size of the audience given, as he stated, the importance of the water option issues being discussed. He said he had four reasons to bring this to the public. He cited that on several occasions this summer, individuals have walked into the District office having bought lots under the premise that a third dam would be built. With that in mind, he felt this issue needed to be at the forefront for the community forum meeting held in September. At that meeting he stated that there were three primary reasons why it would be very difficult to build a third reservoir: (1) geographic instability (known slide area); (2) raising the floodplain due to the dam's proposed 120' height and having seven times the volume of water as Lake Emily; and (3) the dam location being on an in-line fishery creek (Willits Creek), as defined by California Dept. of Fish & Game. Also, in 1997 the Specific Plan, as accepted by the County Board of Supervisors, proposed reducing the District's buildout from 6,000 parcels to 4,000 parcels. Mr. Chapman stated that the 1982 application should be modified to reflect a more realistic estimate regarding water capacity requirements for this community's future development. Mr. Chapman stated he has worked with Rich Estabrook for several months on acre-foot calculations involved in the issue. Mr. Chapman briefly described a possible approach for modification of the water rights permit to allow incremental acquisition of rights.
Richard Estabrook, a BLM engineer, then discussed his report, "How Much Water Storage Do We Need?," describing the mathematical modeling he used to calculate probable storage needed versus projected growth. He focused on the SHN model to build his own for several reasons: (1) given the various models derived over the years, the SHN model was the best model; and (2) the SHN model would probably be the one used when the moratorium was reevaluated. He first proofed his water model against the SHN model and found the two models comparable. His conclusions as to storage requirements were as follows:
| Case Description Storage |
(acre/feet) |
SFRs served |
| Current storage |
322 |
741 |
| After dredging |
384 |
1057 |
| Current development |
473 |
1511 |
| Near-term |
567 |
2000 |
| Dredging + raising Lake Emily 15' |
684 |
2621 |
| Long-term |
755 |
3000 |
| Specific Plan |
939 |
4000 |
He further elaborated that a change in release dates from CA Fish & Game could result in Brooktrails' not being able to capture water from the first storms of the season. He then responded to questions from the Board and District Counsel. District Counsel Neary asked if we should have more monitoring stations. Mr. Estabrook said that ideally we would, but they are very expensive, and you really needed 30 years'data to create balanced statistical samples. He suggested that if a way could be found to correlate directly between Willits Creek and Outlet Creek, the previous Outlet Creek data could provide some of the breadth of data needed. He suggested asking USGS to reactivate the Outlet Creek gauge for a couple of years. President Orth voiced that we might have to make that expense to get more information needed for an EIR. Bob Terry asked if Lake Ada Rose could be expanded; Mr. Estabrook said some of the feasibility reports wrote Lake Ada Rose off for this, but he didn't really know why. President Orth said it doesn't maintain the same flows as Lake Emily. A brief discussion followed about lot mergers and the progress of that program so far. President Orth thanked Mr. Estabrook on behalf of the District for his presentation.
President Orth commented that environmental reports for dredging and raising Lake Emily would probably need to be done at the same time. General Manager Chapman said we don't have a reliable cost estimate for raising Lake Emily at this point, but we do have an idea of the dredging costs of Lake Emily, estimated at $1.2 - $1.5 million. He said if we attempted to do the dredging and raising of the lake together, the cost would be monumental in terms of finding financing. He said there was a serious challenge just to get through the environmental hurdles for dredging. Director Pohlson commented that looking to store elsewhere might be a better plan than paying the cost of raising Lake Emily. A citizen in the audience asked if the wells were being considered in the report. President Orth said they would be supplemental.
Bob Terry suggested establishing a value per SFR for each of the plans. President Orth responded that the plans would extend over 40 years and that each Brooktrails generation had to assess what it would provide and construct that itself. He said that at least the District should attempt to secure the water right and conduct a 218 election for raising Lake Emily.
The discussion then turned to EIRs and the possibility of doing the dredging at the same time as raising Lake Emily 15 feet. President Orth clarified that the need for an EIR would extend to both projects. Director Skezas commented that 218 would add two or three years to the dredging process and he felt the public would not want to wait. Director Pohlson said we needed a complete report from Dam Safety on the dam before anything was done. She further commented about the possible impact of a dam break on Willits, and said she had been told that two schools would have to be moved. Director Skezas pointed out that the intention of this agenda item was to direct staff and attorney as to water rights. Director Skezas felt that decreasing the acre-feet needed would be appropriate. General Manager Chapman commented that he wanted to have a public hearing on the matter (with constructive notice to the public) because this was a very serious long-term issue with far-reaching ramifications for property values. President Orth summarized that obtaining an incremental water right would be breaking new ground and very difficult, and he wanted the General Manager and District Counsel to meet with the water attorney (Jan Goldstein) and seek advice on how to approach the permitting agency.
Claudia Reed (reporter) mentioned that the Willits News had talked pro and con about the possibility of a third dam several times. Ms. Reed expressed her opinion that the public did not care how the District did it, but just wanted the District to act. Director Skezas asked District Counsel Neary what the consequences were if a Prop. 218 election failed; District Counsel Neary said that if the Prop. 218 election failed, another solution would have to be found. He said that if you were to go to the expense of hiring an engineer to do an assessment for a 218 election, it would be with the expectation that the economics would be attractive to at least a majority of the property owners to approve the election. Director Pohlson inquired about marginal lots within a 218 election. District Counsel Neary responded that a marginal lots would have a smaller percentage of the bond, as it was not as likely to be developed. President Orth added that a second access road would probably be part of the 218 election and spread out the value more to the community.
6. Consideration of Resolution Adopting Philosophy of Use for Ohl Redwood Grove. General Manager Chapman gave a brief background discussion about the resolution. Director Skezas asked that the word "Possible" be deleted from the second sentence of Item 3 and moved that the resolution be adopted with that change. Director Horrick seconded. President Orth clarified that the park would be designed for "drive-in, drive-out," and asphalt or other parking surfaces would not be introduced within the park. The motion carried unanimously.
7. ADDED ITEM: Review of proposed letter to Ross Walker, City of Willits, regarding sewer audit. District Counsel Neary briefly reviewed the history of the audit performed by Terry Krieg, CPA on behalf of the District and its retention as a privileged confidential document after the issue had moved from closed to open session. Ross Walker, Willits City Manager, requested a release of the document on November 2, and the Board had intended to address that request at its December meeting. However, the District was informed November 8 that Mr. Walker had placed the matter on his Council's agenda for November 10, and was further involved in preparing this year's audit and addressing some of the issues the District had raised to the City. District Counsel Neary stated he had no real reservations in releasing the February 10, 2004 report by Mr. Krieg to Mr. Walker, but did want the preserve the privileged aspect of the documents Mr. Krieg had prepared interpreting that report. Secondly, he stated he wished to make certain the document was used only for City of Willits' internal purposes and not further disseminated. He stated he and General Manager Chapman had drafted a proposed transmittal letter conveying the District's position, and its condition that the document be used only for internal purposes. He further stated that he and the General Manager recommended that the report be released and the transmittal letter be approved. Director Skezas moved accordingly; Director Horrick seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
J. ADDITIONS TO FUTURE AGENDAS
None.
K. SPECIAL REPORTS
General Manager Chapman reviewed his GM report. Discussion ensued about the pending discussion of a regional water plan and we have until March to decide whether to join the Sonoma County plan. He was waiting for the County Board of Supervisors to rule on the matter. General Manager Chapman provided a sanitized sewer line cap for the Board's inspection. This cap demonstrated a large crack which allowed water infiltration into our sewer system; this was found during the smoke testing program. Two-thirds of the program was now completed, but the weather is getting too wet to continue. Wallace Stahle commented on the bubbly substance being used to seal manholes and stated this has broken off and could have or had gotten into the streams and wondered if this would affect fish. He suggested that the crew working with the material be alerted of this potential problem. Director Skezas pointed out that passing cars did knock the bubbles loose.
L. PUBLIC COMMENTS
None.
M. ADJOURNMENT
Director Horrick moved to adjourn and President Orth declared the meeting of
November 9, 2004 closed at 9:03 p.m.
CHARLES A. ORTH
President
MICHAEL V. CHAPMAN
Secretary to the Board of Directors
|
|
 |
