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Sunday, March 25, 2007

Notice? What Notice?

The following email was sent from a person who owns property in Los Osos, but lives out of the area. I guess the recent RWQCB "notification" letter sent to everyone in the PZ has left some unanswered questions. Here's a few good ones, ones I'm sure others in the community may be asking as well. When Mr. Thompson replies, if this person cc's me a copy, I'll post the answers. (Posted with permission. )

Dear Mr. Thompson:

Yesterday I received a letter from Mr. Harvey Packard, giving your name and contact information, if I had any questions. The letter is a bit confusing, so I do have questions.

1. The subject of the letter is in bold and caps "Notice of Violation of Septic System Discharge Prohibition at ......"

a. Can you tell me how many property owners were sent this particular letter?

b. If this is a notice of violation, what rights do I have as a property owner in response to the notice?

c. How many days do I have to respond to the Notice?

d. How much time can the RWQCB wait until implementing enforcement proceedings? Does this Notice mean that enforcement action could be taken within 24 hours, years from now, without further notification?

2. In paragraph 1, it states "Ongoing monitoring shows that water quality and public health continue to be threatened by septic system discharges."

a. Is this monitoring of my septic tank? From my block? Of Los Osos/Baywood Park?

b. Can you give me a reference to this monitoring project, and how often sampling is done, and for how long, any ongoing activity and by whom?

c. Can you tell me how my health and the health of my tenants is threatened?

3. In paragraph 2, it states "...we are now enforcing the prohibition against all individual property owners and occupants in the Los Osos/Baywood Park prohibition zone."

a. How is your agency enforcing the prohibition?

b. What does that specifically look like?

4. In paragraph 3, it states "...we conclude that your property has a septic system that discharges waste within the prohibition zone."

a. How can you conclude that I am discharging waste from the septic tank without testing my specific system?

b. Would you allow me to install a system in place of the existing one which would discharge drinkable or close to drinkable water?

5. In paragraph 3, "...you are subject to further enforcement." What specifically does this entail?

6. Just to confirm, this is not a cease and desist order?

7. Paragraph 5, "...standard maintenance..."

a. What do you consider standard maintenance?

b. How often would pumping and inspection be required?

8. Paragraph 6, "Several parties have agreed to a settlement instead of the cease and desist order..."

a. Who are these parties? They must not be the owners who were sent cease and desist orders, as they already have an order. Are you writing about owners who haven't received the order who have come in voluntarily to agree to a settlement?

b. What does the settlement entail?

c. Can you please provide me with copies of the settlement agreements?

9. Paragraph 6, "The settlement agreement requirements are almost the same as those in the cease and desist order, except that we have agreed to meet and negotiate with the parties before we issue any violations of the settlement agreement requirements."It sounds like your agency would like all property owners to sign a settlement agreement, is this the case?

10. Paragraph 7, "...process is too slow."What process?

11. Paragraph 8, "...avoid further enforcement."What enforcement has already taken place, as "further" implies additional?

I look forward to your responses.

Sincerely,___

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was going to send a letter also with some questions about the notice I received. I appreciate and go with what the writer of this letter asked. I might have been a little more vitriolic with my questions. My wife's friend called up all in a panic, thinking she had been issued a CDO. I tried to explain that would have to come in the form of a registered letter or something. Another reason I was hesitant to send a letter with questions about the notice. That would acknowledge that I indeed received it in the mail. I don't know, but i'm a little paranoid when it comes to what this water board has become.

Anonymous said...

There is really only ONE QUESTION:

When will Los Osos have a working sewer?

If the CSD had not halted the approved project and pissed away all District monies, the community would be half way to having a working sewer and there would be no CDO and no need for further hind wringing and more stupid questions. Just quit trying to obstruct construction of a sewer.

The CSD has had more than enough time to have proceeded. The community was told over and over there would be consequences for the delaying actions. Quit crying over what we brought on ourselves and be prepared to back the County's proposal. Quit running around trying to vilify the Water Boards. The sky is not falling, only local government has failed.

Anonymous said...

Uh, by local government I assume you mean the County, CCRWQCB, CCC, the original CSD, and the current CSD? All of these agency's brought us to this point. The current CSD just happens to be at the forefront of the aftermath.
The sewer is not in the CSD's hands anymore. It's in the County's hands now. Why should I trust them now after they relenquished an order to build a wastewater treatment facility for Los Osos to a group whose project was already known not to pass muster. Signing a blank check just doesn't inspire me.
Sincerely, M

Anonymous said...

This letter you have posted here is an excellent example of how totally clueless this person is. Don't people pay any attention to this issue? How gnarly does it have to get before people pay attention? This is pathetic.

Anonymous said...

Ann:

Thank you for publishing this extremely funny letter about a very serious subject. The person is to be complemented for his humor.

Anonymous said...

Either that, or my guess is this person is aware of what's going on, it's just another attempt to be annoying to the Water board. This is typical modus operendi for some people in this community. Be a wise ass; stir the pot. Ann is the queen of this, and she knows very well what this notice of violation is. Pathetic is right.

Anonymous said...

Ann,

We are in a great deal of distress right now because the CSD did not look down the road and anticipate what would happen if the Tri-W project was stopped. Hopefully, there have been some serious lessons learned.

Since some of your regular posters seen to like to find fault with just about every detailed step the County is taking in its efforts to get good project information out to us for a Prop 218 vote, I think a good topic for you to cover in this blog would be "just what is the CSD plan if the Prop 218 election fails and the County effort is stopped?" As I understand it, the responsibility to build a sewer will fall back to the CSD and it's non-existant credit rating.

As I recall, a couple of the most recently elected Directors published campaign materials that promised a $100 per month sewer.I may have that amount wrong, but it was a ridiculaously low number in any case.

Please ask the CSD Directors what their plan is, and write about it in this blog. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Yes Ann, what is the CSD's fall back plan if they do have the project dropped back to them?

They don't seem to be working on any sort of plan to recover from their self-induced bankruptcy, so what would be a real CSD sewer plan?

Anonymous said...

The group that goes down to the County every week and complains to the BOS would crawl across miles of desert in 120 degrees, be dying of thirst, come across a babbling brook, and refuse to drink because it was too noisey.

Anonymous said...

It would be illegal, at this point, for the CSD to continue to spend monies on pursuring a WWTF. AB2701 passed this task to the county and if this current board tries to undermine that process by not supporting the property owners in their 218 deliberations and mis-represents information to the community as a whole saying that they can get a project done "cheaper" would be wrong.

Pain is being suffered on both sides of this issue and when this community can recognize this there may be an opportunity for an honest flow of discussion.

Until then - keep beating the drums.

Anonymous said...

Since when has this CSD let legality interfer with their pursuit of creating the most costly sewer on the west coast?

*PG-13 said...

Anon > This letter you have posted here is an excellent example of how totally clueless this person is. ... This is pathetic.

4crapkiller > Thank you for publishing this extremely funny letter about a very serious subject. The person is to be complemented for his humor.

Another Anon (?) > ... my guess is this person is aware of what's going on, it's just another attempt to be annoying to the Water board. This is typical modus operendi for some people in this community. Be a wise ass; stir the pot. Ann is the queen of this, and she knows very well what this notice of violation is. Pathetic is right.

Au contraire. Anybody receiving a copy of this official junk mail in their mailbox must admit this is a serious sounding notice. Don'tcha think it was meant to be? There are lots of heavy-handed, dire but not well explained accusations and threats in this intimidating notice. (Curiously, I've not received mine yet. .... ;-P ) It isn't a crime to ask for such clarifications. Indeed, anybody receiving such a notice would be totally dumb NOT to ask for further clarification and substantiation. And its Harvey's responsibility to provide it. Duh! This may be news to some of us but not everybody wastes so much of a good life blogging about sewers.

It be should be noted that many of the questions asked are largely answered in the electronic version of the notice published on the board's website. Yet another win for internet publication. This document contains links for: 'substantial evidence', 'on-going monitoring,' 'AB-2701', the 'CDO's' and the 'Settlement Offers', and on-going 'County actions' in this sordid affair. The notice (and Harvey) probably should have noted this more forthrightly in the notice itself. Still, i-net access is not yet a common presumption for the population-at-large and the questions posed deserve to be explicitly answered in a black & white hard-copy response to the person asking the questions. One has to wonder about Harvey's legal counsel in this vignette. Grade: D-minus is being charitable. The notice itself seemingly creates more issues than it resolves. But we all know the water board dances to very weird music.

It should also be noted that the list of questions posed by this property owner include many things that are NOT adequately documented on the website. These are legitimate questions deserving an answer. If you don't want to know how Harvey responds to these questions then by all means simply ignore his response. But, since his signature is on the notice, he owes the property owner(s) further clarification.

*PG-13 said...

Sorry, I meant to say ....

> This may be _OLD_ news to some of us but not everybody wastes so much of a good life blogging about sewers.

And least my previous comment be somehow misconstrued. I think Mr Packard's Notice of Violation of Septic System Discharge Prohibition was sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Embarrassingly sloppy. Really now, regardless of which side of the CDO's you stand on, does anybody consider this notice well developed, well written, or even well-serving whatever purpose they hoped to gain by it? This is more a nyaah nyaah junior high school in-your-face than a legitimate legal process order. Get real.

Anonymous said...

I think it was done to cover their bases as far as the claim they have "targeted" only 45 individuals and will be getting to everyone eventually. Possibly a pre-emptive shot to counter Shauna Sullivan's gang, and let everyone know they are next. I see nothing nefarious in that.

And junior high stuff? C'mon. This is Los Osos. Would it be better they announced the violation on Dave Dugan's new TV show, whenever that starts? C'mon. Los Osos invented mass junior high behavior.

Anonymous said...

Soooo.....the water board should stoop to our level? Come on. Some of us look to the agencies for experience and guidance, not BS. Stop protecting these arrogant you-know-whats! Everyone in my neighborhood is freaked out by this notice. Some are talking for the first time about selling their property. It's classic "divide so they won't unite against us." Geez we learned about that in Sociology 1A. Whose in Junior High here?

Anonymous said...

P.S. Didn't I tell you to stop mentioning Dave and Al? If they get your attention they'll keep doing what they do.

Anonymous said...

I'm still having heart burn over the CSD voting another "gift" of public funds to yet another lawyer!

If McPherson wants to fund the legal crusade of the 14 or 15 malcontents, then let her do it with her own checkbook, not the communitys!

We've voted for a CSD to provide community services for the whole community, not sue the State! To date they have done absolutely nothing to solve the bankrupt issue. Instead, they are spending money they don't have. I hope Ms.Sullivan ends up really working pro bono and has to return every dime she was given by this corrupt CSD!

Anonymous said...

The RWQCB letter was the big electioneering ploy to get a yes vote on the 218. Scare everyone into voting yes. It's worked in the past.

The county is working with the State and Regional board for the vote on the big mega sewer. Nothing more.

Isn't that why the county BOS was so confident and not even trying to look "fair" with the TAC nominations? Yes, they KNEW the RWQCB's letter was about to arrive in the mail. That's why they believe they've got the 218 in the bag....or do they?

Only a fool would vote yes on a blank check and tax themselves out of town.

P.S. It looks like 4crapkiller is posting over and over today. She's taken over your blog Ann.

*PG-13 said...

Anon > I think it was done to cover their bases as far as the claim they have "targeted" only 45 individuals and will be getting to everyone eventually. Possibly a pre-emptive shot to counter Shauna Sullivan's gang, and let everyone know they are next.

Well, yeah, maybe. Seems a kinda lame and way very late attempt at CYA. Sorry. Too little too late. How long has it been and how much duress has been placed on the CDO-45 as representative sacrificial goats? With effectively no apparent progress other than a huge lot of questionable process? Man, these guys got's lot of 'splainin to do to anybody outside of their own boardroom and staff. Sadly they will never be held accountable for any of this. The wheels of justice move glacially slow. Politics move much faster. Likewise pollution. Even wrong-headed contentious sewers will be built before bad government will be corrected. Such is life in Amerika. Not the worst but still room for boat loads of improvement. See: any week in Washington D.C.

> I see nothing nefarious in that.

Maybe not nefarious. Afterall, it is what it is. Bad government begets more bad government. Idiots beget idiots. Gregor Mendel was correct. When the system rewards incompetence incompetence survives. In that Darwin was correct. But I gotta say it again, to any sane mind this is insanity. In this Ken Kesey (and his fellow Pranksters) were correct. No, nothing nefarious. Just business as usual.

Anonymous said...

To PG13 4:19PM:

I think all you "Move the Sewer" folks have taken the attitude that all State agencies should be viewed as, as you so succinctly put it:

"This is more a nyaah nyaah junior high school in-your-face than a legitimate legal process order. Get real."

Well, when the order comes for you to either vacate your home or stop polluting, then I guess you will finally wake up to the fact that the State of California, and the Federal Environmental Protection Act are for real.

YA THINK??????

*PG-13 said...

I think 4 has just been killed been her Crap.

Anonymous said...

The BIG Mega-Sewer! Who the hell do you think you are trying to convince?

You apparently don't want any sewer and either are so stupid that you believe all the lies put out by the CSD or you are the liar making up this crap! Which are you? You should by now know that there never was and never will be a BIG mega-sewer!

You have a right to your opinion, but not a right to lie! You really don't know what you are talking about when you pop off about a sewer!

If you want the Ripley system, then go get together with Ripley and broker a deal. Then come to the community with a plan of how you and Ripley will build the step/steg system and how you propose to fund it!

Until then stop lying, we don't believe you know what you are talking about! Just quit your bullshit and either put up or shut up! It took 7 or 8 years to get the last system designed, land purchased and funded. Try beating that!

Churadogs said...

Anonymous sez:"Please ask the CSD Directors what their plan is, and write about it in this blog. Thanks."

The CSD meeting schedule is posted in the window of the CSD office on 9th st. Meetings are in the Community center. You can go to a meeting and during public comment, ask them yourselves. Or you can drop off a letter to the office to the Directors. Or you can write Paavo Ogren and ask him what options towards self-assessment the community can take if they get the project back, or how, for example, the CSD could issue a rfp to Orenco systems, or Ripley Pacific, for example, and have them present their project and costs for a BOOM project, and then have the citizens vote to assess their properties etc. to re-pay it & etc. So far as I know, there are other options, but you need to go ask your elected representatives what they are. Even better, maybe suggest they put the item on an agenda for future discussion, maybe have a workshop type of presentation so the community would know just what other other options are.

PG-13 sez:"Well, yeah, maybe. Seems a kinda lame and way very late attempt at CYA. Sorry. Too little too late. How long has it been and how much duress has been placed on the CDO-45 as representative sacrificial goats? With effectively no apparent progress other than a huge lot of questionable process? Man, these guys got's lot of 'splainin to do to anybody outside of their own boardroom and staff. Sadly they will never be held accountable for any of this."

Amen, brother. Amen.

Anonymous said...

You jump all around to make it sound as if there is this magic step/steg project just waiting in the wings and make the poor PZ'ers victims of poor planning by the State and County. It would seem you ought to spent some of your angry energy questioning the bankruptcy of the CSD. Will this Board ever be held accountable for the fiscal mismangement?

Mike Green said...

PG pontificated:
" Man, these guys got's lot of 'splainin to do to anybody outside of their own boardroom and staff. Sadly they will never be held accountable for any of this."

The only ones that are going to be held accountable are the goats and sheep of the PZ.

Well put PG!

Anonymous said...

*pg-13 said > I think 4 has just been killed been her Crap.

That was totally uncalled for.

*PG-13 said...

Anon > That was totally uncalled for.

Yeah, you are right. To 4crapkiller I say I shouldn't have disparaged your good name. Before making that derogatory comment I should have logged out and logged back in as anon and posted the comment as an anonymous. I'm still learning the many ways of participating in a blog.

Anonymous said...

Now that was funny, one anon, apologizing to another anon for insulting the first anon's anon
semi-anonymously....
I think I'll post this one anonymous..

Churadogs said...

Anonymous sez:"Now that was funny, one anon, apologizing to another anon for insulting the first anon's anon
semi-anonymously....
I think I'll post this one anonymous.. "

Bwa-Hahahahah. Such "brave" folk, so willing to stand up and own their own opinions, stand by them, with their real names attached. Such brave souls. Makes my heart soar, it does. Land of the free, home of the brave, most of whom are . . . anonymice.

Anonymous said...

To anon 7:30 3/25:

I only posted once about a humorous letter. I am glad others saw it in a different light. I only saw the humor.

To PG-13 who stated:

"I think 4 has just been killed been her Crap."

Somehow I missed the significance of this statement. I am surprised that some anon took you to task for the statement! And then another saw the humor in it when I was unable to understand the result of a brain fart. Please excuse me for lack of understanding.

While I disagree with your thinking at times, your writing is usually clear. This is the first time I have seen you attacked by a brain fart!

I salute Ann Calhoun for posting with her own name. Of course since she always presents the opinion and/or apologises for the thugs in Los Osos, she has nothing to fear.

There is something about the possibility of a Molotov cocktail in the middle of the night thrown by one of the seriously mentally disturbed in Los Osos against a car or home, that merits caution.

You have nothing to fear, Ann, you are on the side of the irrational!

*PG-13 said...

4crapkiller To PG-13 > While I disagree with your thinking at times, your writing is usually clear. This is the first time I have seen you attacked by a brain fart!

Thanks. I think.

Those brain farts are really really ugly. And vicious too. I try to control them - especially in company - but all too often they sneak out before I even know they're there. I've tried working on a slow computer thru a dial-up but that doesn't seem to help. That just stretches 'em out. I don't know, maybe I need a new keyboard or something.