Water district delays tank OK
By: TOM PFINGSTEN

 

SAN MARCOS ---- The Vallecitos Water District board of directors voted on Wednesday to delay signing a contract with San Elijo Hills developers to build a water tank on the Cerro de las Posas ridgeline.

The water board took the action after receiving a letter from resident Bill Effinger requesting that the board deny the developer's plans for the tank until the city of San Marcos and the developer complete negotiations "on restoring the ridgeline to its original silhouette."

Effinger has formed a group called Restore the Ridgeline to stop the developer from building 28 homes, the water tank and a park access road just south of the ridgeline because of their impact on the outline of the ridge. He is also running for a seat on the water district board.

The board decided Wednesday to refer the issue contract to its engineering committee for review.

Still, the board of directors must approve the development contract for the storage facility before construction can begin, said water district general manager Bill Rucker.

"We haven't entered into a contract yet for them to put the tank up, so that will be forestalled until this recommendation comes out of the committee," Rucker said.

The 36-foot-high tank is being built to service San Elijo Hills and nearby Coronado Hills. The city has already approved grading for the tank's pad.

No representatives from San Elijo Hills attended the meeting, but the development's general manager, Curt Noland, said earlier in the day that there are no negotiations currently underway between the city and the company.

He said his company will move forward with the water district to ensure the tank is completed as scheduled.

San Marcos Vice Mayor Mike Preston contradicted Noland's assertion that San Elijo Hills and the city are not in negotiations.

"We had a meeting with San Elijo management probably three weeks ago when this first bubbled up to discuss how we could minimize the impact on the ridgeline," said Preston Wednesday.Ý "I would characterize that as negotiation."

Regardless of any last-minute maneuvering, said Noland, San Elijo Hills will continue with its plans to begin building the tank in the middle of November.

"We're building our project in accordance with our approvals, which have been confirmed by both the city and the Vallecitos Water District," said Noland, adding that San Elijo Hills has tried to mitigate the effects of the tank by promising to plant trees around it that he said will exceed its height.

In the newest chapter of the San Elijo Hills story, which has been marked by controversy over grading and now sightlines, some nearby residents say they were told when they bought their homes that development on the Cerro de las Posas ridgeline was prohibited in the city's general plan.

"The last row of houses in the entire Discovery Hills project, all of their backyards face the north face of Cerro de las Posas, and all of us were told that that mountain and mountaintop would never be touched," said Effinger on Wednesday.

When the city looked into it, he said, they found that no such ordinance existed.ÝThis was several years ago, and since then San Elijo Hills has taken advantage of the oversight, said Effinger.

The board's action on Wednesday to refer the issue to its engineering committee may or may not delay the project significantly, depending on the recommendation that the district's engineers offer.

Effinger said he was pleased with the board's decision.ÝRucker, who will coordinate the study with the district's engineering staff, said he expects the recommendation to come some time in November.