With voting scheduled to close Wednesday on whether an assessment district should pay to build a supplemental water pipeline, about half the ballots have been returned.
As of last Thursday, Nipomo Community Services District had received 4,006 of the 8,077 ballots sent to property owners last month, said NCSD General Manager Michael LeBrun.
That represents 49.6 percent of the ballots. The district’s goal is a 70- to 75-percent return.
“The most important thing for us to see is community participation so, whatever the decision, it will truly be the voice of the community,” LeBrun said.
But even with almost 50 percent of the ballots returned, that doesn’t mean almost 50 percent of the actual votes are in.
That’s because the ballots are weighted according to the assessment value assigned to each property based on its development potential.
“We have not seen some of the major blocks of votes come in,” LeBrun said. “The ballots from the Woodlands development partners haven’t come in.”
He said some residents in the Woodlands Mutual Water Co. service area were urging neighbors not to return their ballots until the company’s board of directors decided how to cast its votes.
About two weeks ago, Shea Homes and Woodlands Ventures agreed to vote in support of the project.
If 50 percent, by dollar value, of the ballots cast are in favor of the proposal, the assessment district can be formed and the pipeline built.
NCSD is proposing to construct a pipeline that would initially bring 2,500 acre-feet of water to the Mesa from Santa Maria.
Design and construction costs are estimated at $25.9 million, with total costs pegged at $29.8 million. Of that amount, $2.3 million would be paid using a state grant, and $6 million would come from NCSD reserves.
The remaining $21.6 million would be covered by issuing bonds, which would be repaid with assessments on properties within the service areas of the Mesa’s four major water purveyors.
In addition to those within NCSD boundaries, properties would be assessed in areas served by Rural Water Co., Golden State Water Co. and Woodlands Mutual Water Co.
Property owners could pay their assessments up-front in one lump sum or in annual payments spread across 30 years.
But for now, it’s simply a waiting game for everyone involved.
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Although ballots have been arriving by mail and hand-delivery for weeks, they can’t be opened until the close of a public hearing to be held during the NCSD board meeting that starts at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the district office, 148 S. Wilson St.
After the hearing is closed, an independent four-member team from Special District Financing & Administration in Escondido will begin opening and counting the ballots.
Any member of the public is welcome to observe the counting process, LeBrun said.
He expects the tally to be done by noon the following day and the results announced at a special meeting set for 3 p.m.
The goal of the project is to offset the amount of water pumped from the Nipomo Groundwater Basin by supplementing it with water from Santa Maria.
But simply paying assessments to build the pipeline won’t be the only cost to Mesa property owners and residents.
If the pipeline is built, water rates for customers of all four purveyors are expected to rise to pay for the water itself.
The four purveyors would purchase the water from Santa Maria for the same amount its customers pay at the lowest tier of the city’s rates.
NCSD officials say supplemental water is needed to provide a second source for Mesa residents and to prevent the groundwater level from falling below sea level, which could lead to saltwater intrusion.
They also say obtaining supplemental water is required under the stipulated settlement in the Santa Maria Valley Groundwater Basin lawsuit, and the pipeline is the quickest and cheapest way to do that.
But opponents say the pipeline will not bring in any “new water” because the Nipomo basin is part of the larger Santa Maria Groundwater Basin.
Thus, they say, the pipeline will be simply “inserting the straw in a different part of the same glass.”
Critics also dispute the district’s claim that the groundwater basin is in jeopardy of saltwater intrusion.
They also say the project and the water are both too expensive and better alternatives are available, including tapping directly into the State Water Project or building a desalination plant.
NCSD officials say tapping into state water is improbable because of regional politics; desalination would not produce results for decades; all the alternatives would cost more; and none would supply the required volume.
