MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE
LOS TRANCOS COUNTY WATER DISTRICT
August 18, 2005
The regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Los Trancos County Water District was called to order at 8:00 PM, Thursday, August 18, 2005, at the home of Stan Gage, 455 Old Spanish Trail, Portola Valley, California.
ROLL CALL:
On roll call there were present President Gage, Directors Parkin, Lee and Krenz. Also present was Toni Markley, District Secretary-Auditor. Director Kostrikin was absent.
At this time, the Board set aside the regular order of business in order to accommodate a visitor, Martha Poyatos, Executive Director of San Mateo County LAFCO.
Martha Poyatos explained that LAFCO had requested information from the District as part of the Municipal Services Review which requires cities and special districts to update every 5 years based on 9 factors. This Municipal Services Review requires an inventory of real estate owned by the District, a draft report of other services needed in the District in regards to present and planned uses of the land, and a public meeting for comment and review. The Board needs to prepare a draft report that includes the alternative uses of the District properties by the October meeting in order to have it on the agenda of the LAFCO meeting in November.
A suggested option for using District lands for park and recreation would be to reorganize into a new district, although this would be hard to fund. President Gage will contact the San Mateo County Parks and Recreation Director for some input on this possibility.
Since the sale of the District to Cal Water, the Districts lands no longer contribute to the provision of water. In addition, the Lake has not been used to supply water since about 1975.
At this time, three candidates for the Water Board introduced themselves. They were Tom Thayer, Perry Blackmon and David Smernoff. Mary MacDonald representing the Los Trancos Homeowners Association stated that she had no formal statement from the group, but that the consensus was that they wanted to leave the land as it is. Gale Smith requested that she would like two way communication of this issue via the internet or inserts in the water bills. After approval of the minutes, they could be posted on the community web site.
The candidates and other audience members offered numerous suggestions for the future use of the Water District land. Included were: leave the land as is, install a few picnic benches, build trails and play structures, and build a community center building for meetings and other recreation.
Martha Payotos offered that any change in the scope of the Districts activities to include recreational or park services would require an approval by LAFCO. If the District wished to change the central focus of its activity to Parks and Recreation, it would most likely result in the dissolution of the current District and the loss of the current tax revenue. A new source of funding or tax revenue would need to be established to fund the park activities. She added that any such request to LAFCO would probably need to be accompanied by a consultant study to show why such park facilities were needed locally, how many people would make use of them, how far away other existing facilities were, and other factors. An environmental impact report would also probably be necessary. She expressed a general feeling that such a change to a Parks and Recreation focus would be difficult to get approved. Martha suggested contacting the County Parks and Recreation Director and or seeking to partner with other public entities to attempt to achieve the Parks and Recreation goal if that is the goal of he community.
The inputs from the Districts legal counsel, Sandy Sloan, regarding allowed uses of water district lands as stated in the California State Water Code were also reviewed. Sandys inputs concurred with Marthas that approval by LAFCO would be necessary for any substantive change in the Districts focus. Sandy also expressed that if the District lands were sold, the resulting revenue could NOT be distributed to the Districts customers. The revenues could be used for other investments related to the primary goals in the original charter of the District such as offsetting the cost of the sewer installation or interest paying loans to other water districts.
OLD BUSINESS:
President Gage stated that at the June meeting the Board had begun a process of deciding how to proceed with the disposition of District real estate. At that meeting, the Directors were given various topics related to this issue to research and report back on at the August meeting. The reports are as follows:
Director Lee---Establish and fund a community trust for the District lands in order to maintain local control. He was able to contact a pro bono attorney regarding this possibility and will have information back in a couple of weeks.
Director Parkin---Turn property over to an existing entity such as the California Coastal Conservancy, Mid Peninsula Open Space, POST, or the Town Of Portola Valley. The MPROSD and POST have expressed tha the property is too small and not linked to other open space to be of interest. The Town needs a proposal from the Board to be presented at the September Town Council meeting regarding this matter.
Director Krenz---In order to determine a valuation of the property, he contacted a local real estate agent, Peter Copperwaith. Assuming a minimum lot size of 7500 square feet there would be a possibility of developing 16-17 lots with sewers at $350,000 per lot on the property along Lake Road. The Lake was valued at approximately $800,000, for a total of $6.7 million. There are 3.72 acres on Lake Road and 1.74 acres at the Lake for a total of a little over 5 acres involved in those District lands. It was further discussed that these valuations represented a maximum density scenario. It was pointed out that the County Zoning currently would allow only 5 lots on the 3.72 acre parcel and that prior valuations assuming just 2 lots established a possible value of about $1million
President Gage---The legal obligation of the District as stated in Ordinance No. 4, is to provide and disperse water. According to Supervisor Richard Gordon, if the District were to redirect itself, it could lose its revenue stream and in effect be unable to rebate to subscribers. Martha Payotos also reinforced this caution.
The County Grand Jury report on special districts and the LAFCO Municipal Services review were further discussed in the context of the concerns expressed in both of these analyses that special districts in many instances were holding on to assets or had cash reserves that were not appropriate to the activities of the districts. Director Gage expressed that the Los Trancos County Water District was at risk through having assets that could no longer be argued as being relevant to the stated purpose of the District.
It appears that the next step in this process is to expand the scope of community input regarding the possible uses of District lands such as for parks and recreation, residential housing, open space, or maintenance of the status quo.
Director Parkin made a motion to obtain estimates for beautifying the lands on upper and lower Lake Road and discuss them at the October meeting. The motion was seconded and passed.
President Gage stated that he would summarize the data we have so far and send it out to the Directors for consideration at the October meeting.
It appears that there is some progress being made with the Town Of Portola Valley regarding the acquisition of the Lake. In order to make a proposal to the Town by the September 14, 2005 meeting a preliminary title report is needed. Director Krenz made a motion to have a title report prepared in a timely fashion. The motion was seconded and passed.
President Gage has been working out the final details with Cal Water for the rebates to customers. The plan is scheduled to begin with the September billing.
It was reported that there are only three subscribers that have not paid their final water bill.
There has been no action regarding the Districts withdrawal from BAWSCA.
After a general discussion, the Board agreed to have Tom Hubbard remove the barbed wire portion of the fence around the Lake.
MINUTES:
The Minutes of the June Meeting were reviewed and approved following a motion by Director Lee.
AUDITORS REPORTS:
The Auditors Reports for June and July were reviewed and the Current Accounts Payable approved for payment following a motion by Director Krenz.
NEW BUSINESS:
President Gage reported that he had received a request for information from the Grand Jury to be received no later than September 6. 2005. He will provide them with the information needed.
CORRESPONDENCE:
There was no Correspondence.
There being no further business for the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 11:20 PM.
District Secretary
