San Luis Obispo County is studying to determine if an in-lieu fee program could be established to satisfy water conservation requirements and replace a retrofit program in order to build new construction in Los Osos.
Officially called the “Los Osos Title 19 Water Conservation Program Nexus Study” the County is in the early stages of studying a potential in-lieu program wherein potential development projects could simply pay a fee to satisfy water saving requirements instead of finding a certain number of homes or businesses to retrofit with water-saving devices like low-flow toilets and showerheads.
“A nexus study,” reads a report from Los Osos Community Services District General Manager, Greg Kwolek, “evaluates whether there is a reasonable relationship between a proposed fee and the public benefit provided by the project or projects funded by that fee.”
While there are several potential projects that could be funded by such a fee, Kwolek said the County staff has thus far zeroed in on the “proposed Water Resiliency Intertie Project as the project to be evaluated for its potential to provide groundwater sustainability benefits equivalent to or greater than those achieved through the existing Title 19 plumbing retrofit requirements.”
The intertie project, which the LOCSD is already well into planning, would snake a water line down South Bay Boulevard to Chorro Valley where it would tie-in with the Chorro Valley Pipeline, the large water line that delivers the State Water Project’s fully treated drinking water to Morro Bay.
The initial intent is to be able to bring some 200-acre feet a year of drinking water to Los Osos to supplement the water supply and help conserve groundwater, which is currently the only source of water for the entire community.
“The County stated in a meeting,” Kwolek said, “that two other projects may be evaluated as well, namely, the Sunnyside Recycled Water Connection Project and the Upper Aquifer Treatment Project, but that the Water Resiliency Intertie Project would be the main focus.”
The LOCSD has been working with the other water purveyors in town — S&T Mutual and Golden State Water — on a comment letter to the County on how the main sellers of water feel about an in-lieu program.
The letter reads in part, “Golden State Water Company, Los Osos Community Services District and S&T Mutual Water Company [collectively, the “Purveyors”] agree that the Intertie Project offers potentially significant benefits to the Los Osos Groundwater Basin. Accordingly, although the Purveyors continue to have questions and concerns regarding the proposed In-Lieu Fee Program, they support the County’s decision to focus the Nexus Study on evaluating the potential benefits of the Intertie Project and its relationship to the objectives of the County’s Title 19 requirements.”
Such in-lieu fee programs are commonly used for other public needs, in particular public parks and parking.
The monies collected through such programs can only be used for the stated purposes they were collected to address.
NOTE: Estero Bay News sent an email inquiry to the County Planner who sent the letter to the LOCSD asking for basic information on the timeline, current status and approval process this study will have to take. We were told the department needs a week to answer media questions, and so EBN will follow up on this issue when we hear back from the County.
— Neil Farrell
