Cleaning Up Rincon Point? Pt. 2
Well, the ballots are in, and it looks like the sewer may be too, in a couple years. Although the Ventura half of Rincon Point opposed the sewer (21 to 17), the overall community voted for the project, 56% to 44%, with an astonishing 100% turnout. 31 of 72 homeowners voted NO; we needed only six more votes to block the project. Close, but no cigar (or as the case may be, pipe?)
So, what does this mean for the community, and for the surfers? Well, here is a short list:
1. Instead of minimal traces of effluent being filtered through the soil, the sewer will guarantee that ALL of our sewage is pumped up the coast, loaded with chlorine and other toxic chemicals, intended to hopefully kill some (but not all) of the bacteria, and then flushed straight back into the surf zone, 300 yards off the beach. Ironically, this probably stands to make our water dirtier, not cleaner.
2. The sewer stands to promote significant real-estate overdevelopment at the Point. Expect to see much larger houses, more resource consumption and sewage as a result, and more intensive use of this ecologically fragile niche.
3. There will be a large, stinky pump station near the front gate. (Home sweet home?) Several homes will be directly affected by the smell. Property values will go down, not up. (relative to what they would have done with onsite treatment.)
4. Despite the fact that a State Water Quality grant may potentially cover part of the cost of the project, no followup testing is planned to check whether the sewer actually improves the water quality. (All the scientific evidence suggests that it will not.) Your tax dollars, down the drain.
For the 31 homeowners who voted against the project, it remains to be seen what the options are. Perhaps those homes with proven effective onsite systems will be allowed to continue using them, which will lower the burden on the Rube Goldberg-esque contraption of pressure lines and pump stations designed to carry our waste to Carpinteria and dump it back into the ocean? Perhaps, if the sewer project goes over budget or becomes too expensive to implement, the local infrastructure can be repurposed for an effective onsite system like this one? Or perhaps we will just have to hold our nose and live with it, as the residents of Solimar Beach have unfortunately had to do for the past 25 years?
Meanwhile, I look forward to the next couple years of clean water and fresh air, before the sewer system mucks things up. Although the $7 million would more effectively have been spent following around individual raccoons with Ziploc baggies, our silver lining may only be the ability in the future to say, "I Told You So." Or more accurately, with noses held: "I Dold You Zo?"
So, what does this mean for the community, and for the surfers? Well, here is a short list:
1. Instead of minimal traces of effluent being filtered through the soil, the sewer will guarantee that ALL of our sewage is pumped up the coast, loaded with chlorine and other toxic chemicals, intended to hopefully kill some (but not all) of the bacteria, and then flushed straight back into the surf zone, 300 yards off the beach. Ironically, this probably stands to make our water dirtier, not cleaner.
2. The sewer stands to promote significant real-estate overdevelopment at the Point. Expect to see much larger houses, more resource consumption and sewage as a result, and more intensive use of this ecologically fragile niche.
3. There will be a large, stinky pump station near the front gate. (Home sweet home?) Several homes will be directly affected by the smell. Property values will go down, not up. (relative to what they would have done with onsite treatment.)
4. Despite the fact that a State Water Quality grant may potentially cover part of the cost of the project, no followup testing is planned to check whether the sewer actually improves the water quality. (All the scientific evidence suggests that it will not.) Your tax dollars, down the drain.
For the 31 homeowners who voted against the project, it remains to be seen what the options are. Perhaps those homes with proven effective onsite systems will be allowed to continue using them, which will lower the burden on the Rube Goldberg-esque contraption of pressure lines and pump stations designed to carry our waste to Carpinteria and dump it back into the ocean? Perhaps, if the sewer project goes over budget or becomes too expensive to implement, the local infrastructure can be repurposed for an effective onsite system like this one? Or perhaps we will just have to hold our nose and live with it, as the residents of Solimar Beach have unfortunately had to do for the past 25 years?
Meanwhile, I look forward to the next couple years of clean water and fresh air, before the sewer system mucks things up. Although the $7 million would more effectively have been spent following around individual raccoons with Ziploc baggies, our silver lining may only be the ability in the future to say, "I Told You So." Or more accurately, with noses held: "I Dold You Zo?"
posted by Ben Weiss at
2:58 PM
2 Comments:
Ben,
There were not 100% voter turnout-the votes not cast went to the majority side. I would love to find out the actual tally.
I was against the sewer after much research. I agree with most of your statements in your post. However, I do not believe the pump station will be stinky-I believe (and hope I am correct) that technology has caught up and the transfer station (pump house) will be "clean and odor free.
We will be proven correct that this will be a very expensive boondoggle that will not solve the issue. Let's see where Heal the Ocean goes when that happens.
Tom Keenan
Tom,
Thanks for your comments. The voter turnout at Rincon Point was indeed 100% -- I was at the hearing and saw all 72 ballots counted. (The turnout was 91% for the four communities combined.) Also, a non-vote was not a YES; if just two people had voted against the project and only one person voted for, the project would have been stopped.
I certainly hope, as you do, that the pump station won't be stinky. However, after 25 years of maintenance and upgrades, a relocation and rebuild, all the wealth of the Solimar community hasn't been able to get them a non-stinky pump station. So there are certainly no guarantees.
Heal The Ocean has evidently already begun to distance itself from this project; there is no mention of "Victory at Rincon" on their homepage, other than a dry factual link to the vote results. (Perhaps they finally got it through their heads that it's not such a brilliant idea after all?)
There is an upcoming hearing on December 3 to protest the LASCO annexation (you probably got a notice in the mail), and if 25% of the homeowners protest, the annexation will be brought to another vote. Several homeowners were quite surprised how much strong opposition there was to the sewer, so an opportunity to revote might very well swing things back the other direction. It will be interesting to see what happens.
-Ben
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