(San Luis Obispo April 2, 2005 )
Wallop of a bill for flood
control
Property
owners along the AG and Los Berros creeks may pay up
to 287 times more
The Tribune
About 550
That's 95 to 287 times their current rates.
The staggering increase would come if state officials push forward
with plans to take control of the flood-prone Arroyo Grande and Los Berros creek channels.
It's been long known that a solution was needed. Four years ago,
as a result of heavy winter rains, the badly silted creek flooded Oceano property and caused widespread damage. It cost the
county $1.3 million to settle lawsuits related to the damage.
Specifics on the cost are just now emerging. About 550 people are
directly affected and will have to pay for all the work under the current
proposal.
"There are a lot of people who don't know it's
happening," said farmer Gary Kobara, who owns
land near Highway 1 by the Nipomo Mesa. "These people are just going to
get a bill and they're going to scream."
The man-made channel, constructed in the late 1950s to divert
floodwater, is so badly clogged with sediment that in one section it can handle
only 15 percent of its original design capacity. Overflows have been costly; in
2001, a levee break caused millions of dollars in damage to Oceano
property.
The bill to help fix the channel could reach $58,000 for a
commercial property owner who owns 20 acres of land -- up from $200 last year.
For a homeowner, the cost would rise from a $5 minimum to $480.
And that's just for the first year, when the state has projected
about $900,000 in improvements and maintenance to the creek. In future years,
the annual cost is projected to be up to $1.7 million -- and assessments would
rise to cover it.
Kobara hasn't sat down yet with his accountant
to figure out how much he'll pay for his 110 acres, on which he grows veggies
such as Chinese cabbage and broccoli, or for his home that sits on a 20-acre
lot in the flood zone.
But he's sure that "it's going to be quite a bit of cash
outlay for us."
The county, which has maintained the flood channel for more than
30 years, is in the process of releasing control to the state Department of
Water Resources in the hope of avoiding liability for potential future flood
damage in the area known as Zone 1/1A.
The county hasn't raised assessments on people's properties since
it started collecting money in the 1960s.
Doing so would have required a vote of those being assessed, which
local officials believed would have had little chance of passing, said
But the state doesn't have to follow the same requirements.
If all goes to plan, the state would start maintenance of the
channel around July 1.
The state will bill the county for the work; the county then would
add the cost to property tax bills, which land in mailboxes around November and
are due Dec. 10.
People with commercial and industrial properties of 20 acres would
carry the greatest burden.
"It's something we're concerned about," said Keith
Swanson, chief of the state's flood maintenance branch. "People's bills
are going to go up significantly."
Although homeowners will see a smaller increase than businesses,
it's still an eye-popping amount after years of paying $5 annually.
"Could you imagine being a homeowner and didn't know this was
coming and all of a sudden you have an additional $500 you have to pay?"
asked Julie Thomas of the Coastal San Luis Resource Conservation District.
Thomas, along with other local leaders, is part of a task force
scrambling to find a way to take local control of the channel. The district,
she believes, can do the work for less money.
Achadjian thinks the state should bring more
property owners into the assessment area, spreading the expense more broadly.
The state will hold a public hearing in the
Swanson, however, said that option won't work unless those
additional property owners receive a direct benefit from the state's work on
the channels.
Cynthia Neff covers