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In a move to continue providing safe and reliable drinking water to its customers Tres Pinos Water District (TPWD) requested in a Feb. 24 notice that customers sign a consent to annexation and consolidation with Sunnyslope County Water District (SSCWD). The notice gave them 30 days and stated the cost to customers would be $880 a year for 20 years.
However, Jennifer Stephenson, Executive Officer of San Benito Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) told TPWD board of directors that as a Special Water District a more appropriate approach would be to hold a public meeting and present a resolution, announcing its intention to go through with the annexation. The item will be on the April 21 TPWD board’s meeting agenda.
Former TPWD board member and Inn at Tres Pinos owner, Mike Howard said he supported the SSCWD option but relieved that the decision has been postponed.
“That was something that I fought for a long, long time,” he said. “That’s going to really help because our infrastructure is antiquated. That’s been going on for a long time, but the process has obviously come to a head where it’s going to happen. But what I’ve been concerned about with this letter is the unclarity and misinformation because there’s going to be a lot of people that are getting that letter going, ‘what, is this?’”
The district is under a state mandated moratorium that prevents it from signing on any new customers. This is because of the district’s limited ability to operate and maintain the city’s well and the aging infrastructure which supports both drinking and waste water—conditions which prevent the district from meeting the health and safety standards.
TPWD was formed in 1962 to provide domestic water, fire protection, water and wastewater services in the unincorporated community of Tres Pinos, including residential parcels, small commercial properties and local agricultural uses, according to San Benito LAFCO countywide Municipal Services Review. Currently there are an estimated 150 to 200 customers.
According to TPWD’s website: “We are required by the State of California to build a whole new sewer treatment because upgrading the existing system is not possible. Based on this order to comply, we have not been able to issue any new water or sewer hookups in the last few years. Working with a consulting company, paid for by a $100,000 grant, we did a study and have found a new sewer treatment system which is acceptable by the State and could allow for future growth.”
TPWD board president Edward Schmidt agreed with Howard on the need to consolidate with SSCWD, and said it was TPWD’s own actions to secure funding that prompted the county and SSCWD to move forward, he said. The board will meet March 17 to discuss the issue and then add a resolution to the April 21 public meeting for a board vote. He pointed out that the entire board already knows they have no choice but to move forward with the consolidation.
“We have one well, so there’s no redundancy,” he said. “We have a [storage] tank that’s 50,000, gallons that doesn’t reach the suppression level for fire. The other thing is our sewer capacity is so-so. It’s not very good. We’re using a lagoon system, which is out of compliance with what the state wants. We’re trying to find funding to get that updated.”
Schmidt said there has not been a single new hookup to the water system in 20 years simply because there is not enough potable water, not to mention issues with sewage.
SSCWD agreed with TPWD’s assessment (see conclusions and map). Tres Pinos’ growth has stalled as longstanding water shortages and infrastructure deficiencies block new hookups. The community faces unreliable supply, quality concerns and inadequate fire protection, prompting a major consolidation effort with Sunnyslope Water District. Until upgrades are completed, development remains effectively frozen, limiting housing and economic expansion.
The connection between the two water agencies is not a simple two-party link, according to SSCWD. It is part of a larger, three-way consolidation that also absorbs Stonegate and Venture Estates, which are upscale neighborhoods south of Hollister. Stonegate is adjacent to Tres Pinos and considered the same neighborhood. Ventura Estates is near Hollister’s urban edge.
The project
The goal, as outlined in SSCWD’s study, is to fully consolidate the potable water systems for Stonegate, Tres Pinos and Venture Estates with Sunnyslope Water, such that everyone in those areas will become Sunnyslope customers, according to SSCWD. Once the project is finished, Sunnyslope will be solely responsible for providing safe and reliable potable water service. The project includes construction of over six miles of pipelines, a new water storage tank and abandonment or demolition of wells and facilities previously serving these areas. The region will be annexed into Sunnyslope’s district boundary.
“There are six miles of pieces of pipeline,” said SSCWD General Manager Drew Lander. “The pipeline that goes out there is only about three miles, but we have other connecting pieces that have to go together and pieces inside of Tres Pinos in order to connect them, for a total of six miles.”
Lander said construction of the pipeline began this month near Fairview Corners. He said neither Tres Pinos nor Stonegate could afford to pay the $2 million or more required to upgrade their systems or drill new wells. He added that SSCWD will not be footing the bill to pay for connecting Tres Pinos or the other small communities to its system.
The total cost of the project, according to Lander, is estimated at $17.7 million A Department of Water Resources grant of $13.2 million has already been awarded, with an estimated cost share of $4.4 million. San Benito County Water District provided a matching $1 million, along with another $1 million match from SSCWD. The remaining $2.4 million in costs would be distributed to each connection in the three communities of approximately $880 per year for 20 years, to be assessed on property taxes.
If residents say ‘no’
Since it could cost up to $2 million for each community to dig a new well, Lander said the likelihood of residents going against TPWD’s board of directors was doubtful, but if they did, it could result in the state taking action against the Tres Pinos.
“I don’t want to say that the state will be punitive, but it has been punitive before,” Lander said. “The state wants this to happen.”
Tres Pinos Water District Board members did not respond to BenitoLink’s request for comments before publication.
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