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Solvang decides to support water district legislation

By Julian J. Ramos/Staff Writer

A wary Solvang City Council voted Monday to support a local water district’s attempts to change its name through legislation, but council members plainly stated their intentions to protect the city’s current water rights.

The Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District, Improvement District No. 1 (I.D. No. 1) through Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, has proposed Assembly Bill 2686, which would turn I.D. No. 1 into a special district called the Santa Ynez Valley Water District.

The Solvang council directed City Attorney Roy Hanley to draft a letter to support the bill, adding references to preserve the city’s current rights with the water district, specifically prohibiting eminent domain property acquisition by the water district against Solvang.

The vote was 3-1 with Mayor Linda C. Jackson and councilmen Ken Palmer and Jim Richardson in favor and Mayor Pro Tem Edwin Skytt opposed. Skytt said he favored no support or opposition of the bill. Councilman Eugene Boyle was absent.

The council had declined to support the legislation at its April 28 meeting, expressing displeasure at not having been notified sooner, and questioning whether the bill might grant additional powers to the district.

Representatives of the district said the change is intended to resolve name confusion between I.D. No. 1 and its parent district, the Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District, and to avoid litigation with the Santa Barbara County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) on jurisdiction issues.

At the April 28 City Council meeting Richardson had called for a workshop where the council, Solvang residents and the water district board of directors and staff could discuss the legislation before the council took a position on the bill.

Instead, the city’s ad hoc committee for relations with I.D. No. 1, consisting of two Solvang council members and two members of the water district’s board, met ahead of time, which led to the city’s cancellation of the public workshop.

Jackson said her main concern was protecting Solvang’s residents in the future and she felt “assured” about the bill’s impacts by the end of the ad hoc committee meeting.

At the City Council meeting Monday, City Attorney Roy Hanley reviewed the proposed bill and reported in a presentation that the water district’s powers remain largely the same with “no powers that don’t already exist.”

I.D. No. 1, formed in the early 1960s by the Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District, serves more than 8,000 residential, agricultural and commercial customers in Santa Ynez, Ballard and Los Olivos. The district also serves as a middleman for water from the State Water Project, which it has sold to Solvang since 1996.

The purchase of state water has led to a rocky relationship between I.D. No. 1 and Solvang in the past, with the city filing and losing a costly lawsuit against the water agency over bond and water payments.

City Manager Brad Vidro said Tuesday that the current debate over AB 2686 did not represent a resurgence of bad blood between Solvang and I.D. No. 1.

“We do have a lot of old, complex issues, but we are continuing to work together on several items,” Vidro said.

Not everyone at the council meeting left satisfied with the legislative bill.

In public comment, Bobbie Martin, general manager of the Santa Ynez Community Services District, said the CSD board also has concerns about the bill and asked the water district to remove all sewer service references before the CSD would support the bill. However, she said the parties are “at a standstill” about the requested changes.

Gary Kvistad, I.D. No. 1 general counsel, said he was working with SYCSD on its requested wording and said that the water district is “trying to get under LAFCO (authority), not away from it.”

After passage of the legislation, any annexation or other change of boundaries, he added, would need LAFCO approval. Under its current organization, the Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District can approve boundary changes or annexation.

General Manager Chris Dahlstrom of the water district said customers will be notified this week by mail of the proposed changes.

Calls to Dahlstrom for further comment were not returned last week.

The bill is expected to reach the Assembly floor for action in June; it would become effective Jan. 1, 2009. A copy of the proposed legislation is available on the Solvang Web site at www.cityofsolvang.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

A bill that proposes to change the name of the Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District, Improvement District No. 1 (I.D. No. 1), is expected to reach the California Assembly floor for action in June; it would become effective Jan. 1, 2009.

A copy of the proposed legislation is available on the Solvang Web site at www.cityofsolvang.com.

Julian J. Ramos can be reached at 688-5522, Ext. 6008, or jramos@syvnews.com. Staff writer Glenn Wallace contributed to this report.