Tres Pinos Water District relinquishes water services to Sunnyslope Water

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After more than six decades in service, the last 20 without any new customer hookups and a virtual ban on growth in the rural community, the Tres Pinos Water District is giving up its responsibilities to provide drinking water over to the Sunnyslope County Water District.

Despite an apparent water supply solution for the community, wastewater capacity remains an issue likely to restrict growth for the near future, unless developers or businesses are willing to pay for upgrades to the wastewater system.

The town has one well with no backup and cannot provide water for emergencies. Its sewer pond capacity is substandard, according to Tres Pinos Water board’s chairman Edward Schmidt.

By December, Sunnyslope Water is planning to provide safe and reliable drinking water, but nothing will be done about the sewer issue.

Tres Pinos Water’s board agreed to the consolidation during a public meeting at Tres Pinos Elementary School on April 21. Tres Pinos, along with Stonegate and Venture Estates, will be receiving their drinking water from Sunnyslope Water, according to a transition plan.

However, the annexation does not include wastewater treatment, and the district and its board will continue to function solely to manage wastewater services.

The annexation, which requires a new conveyance system, will cost $17.5 million.

The county received a $13.3 million Urban Drought Resiliency grant from the California Department of Water Resources for part of the project.

Tres Pinos and the other two communities will have to cover the $4.2 million shortfall, either by successfully pursuing a grant or paying for it themselves through an estimated $880 per parcel per year property tax increase over 20 years.

Under the resiliency grant’s conditions, the entire project must be completed by December.

Despite the concerns of several people at the public meeting who opposed the annexation for fear that it could lead to new development and a property tax increase, the board voted unanimously to approve the resolution, which took effect immediately.

In an attempt to alleviate residents’ concerns about new developments voiced by members of the public who attended the April 21 meeting, Schmidt, along with San Benito County Supervisor Angela Curro, and Sunnyslope Water manager Drew Lander, told BenitoLink that the pipeline was approved and engineered to only meet the needs of current customers and the owners of several empty lots whose owners had been refused service in the past.

Tres Pinos Water director Edward Schmidt said the district needed to do a better job communicating with its customers. Photo by John Chadwell Credit: John Chadwell

But Lander also told BenitoLink that while residents and business owners will be able to improve their properties, they will still be limited by the lack of wastewater capacity.

“The handful of residential properties that are undeveloped, we will have water for them, but they still have a sewer problem,” Lander said. “We would have to evaluate each property on a case-by-case basis. If it’s a restaurant that needs a few extra gallons that’s probably not going to break the bank. If they want to build a residential house on a residential lot that’s zoned, that’s not a problem. A hotel, on the other hand, would be a problem because we’re not designed for that.”

Curro said in a statement: “Solving the water problems of this area does not directly increase development and future building is not dictated by the water provider. When people have reliable, dependable, and affordable utilities there is pressure to want to live in those areas. Over time, property values may improve as residents move in and out of the area and homes may be maintained better, but new lots will not be created by this project. Sunnyslope does not dictate zoning, approve subdivisions, or issue building permits.”

One person opposing the annexation is former Tres Pinos Water board member Bobby Zacha, who became known after his board service ended in 2006 for organizing a successful Proposition 218 protest that blocked a proposed water rate increase in 2007. Zacha argued that the annexation will most likely cost each parcel in the new service area the $880 per year property tax increase to cover the water project expense .

“If we can manage that cost, plus the yet-to-be-determined Sunnyslope Water rates, why can’t we keep our own district and continue running it ourselves?” he told BenitoLink. “This push seems to be mainly [caused] by the water issues in the Fox Hill Circle development, due to poor quality, and by the Stonegate development, which relies heavily on blue valve (surface water delivered through the San Felipe Project San Felipe Project) for its water supply.”

According to Lander and Schmidt, though, the consolidation is the sole solution and it would be only a matter of time before the town’s well failed, one or more new wells would have to be funded, and it would not be possible to upgrade the system to meet state requirements, which would cost several million dollars.

Lander said with the signing of the resolution, along with the sign-on of a majority of the residents in Stonegate and several large-lot homes referred to as Venture Estates, the project will provide water for nearly 250 residents in the three communities.

Lander, who is directing the entire project, said it is already moving forward as pipes are being installed.

“Right now, we are on schedule and on budget,” he said. “The work inside of Stonegate will happen around August. All pipes are going to be in the ground by the end of September. And then we are going to do the disinfection and pressure testing. It will be operational before November. We’ll be buttoning up the project in December.”

Former Tres Pinos Water board member and Inn at Tres Pinos owner Mike Howard drove all the way from Idaho to be at the April 21 meeting because he said he supports the annexation that he described as a “no-brainer,” despite the opposing voices in attendance.

“Opposers said they didn’t want to lose control of their water district,” he said. “Then I said, ‘So, you’re willing to accept the status quo, which is a non-functioning provider of water. You want to maintain control? How’s this working out for you so far?’”

A new 240,000-gallon water tank is being built at the end of Foxhill Road to replace an old tank. Photo by John Chadwell Credit: John Chadwell

Lifelong resident and two-time Tres Pinos Water board member, Greg Alvarado has a number of objections to the consolidation. Primarily, he said he is concerned about the process that brought it about. He said no one bothered to survey residents about how they felt; or submit a Prop 218; passed in 1996, Prop 218 requires that local governments must get voter approval before imposing new taxes, property‑related fees such as water, sewer, trash collection; or even inform residents about the quality of the water coming from Sunnyslope Water. But he said he’s also concerned the consolidation will eventually lead to developers building more homes.

“It’s those sorts of things that have irritated me,” he told BenitoLink, adding that he understands how the consolidation is supposed to benefit only current customers and some undeveloped parcels.

It’s the parcels, he said, such as the land around the elementary school and the 300 acres that once belonged to Granitrock, which attempted to build over 1,200 homes in 1998, that was called the Lima Project, that gives him pause. The project resurfaced in 2019, under Lands of Lima LLC to build 983 homes, according to San Benito Blueprint.

“If the [San Benito] high school wants to develop that corner there on Best Road [and Hwy 25] to put in 1,000 homes, they won’t be allowed to tap into that water?” he wondered.

Alvarado said he has no doubt growth will eventually come to Tres Pinos. The question he asked, is how soon?

“I think it’s also going to depend on the next governor,” he said. “As long as Newsom or somebody like him stays in and keeps saying, ‘this is how many homes you have to build by this date,’ they’ll keep pushing it. But if you get somebody else in there that decides, ‘well, you know what, we’re kind of overreaching here a little bit,’ I don’t have much hope for that. I don’t think we’ll have much say about it. I think everybody has a right to build something on their property that’s within a certain area, but we have to protect our farmland and it’s slow growth, maybe five new connections a year or something like that.”

The next step, according to LAFCO Executive Director Jennefer Stephenson, is to conduct public hearings to gather information and opinions from residents, which at this stage is considered more of a formality because the county has already bought into it, and secured the funds to pay for it,

“Sunnyslope is a well-run professional agency,” she said. “They have the capacity to manage the water system in a way that Tres Pinos, because of its smaller size, just doesn’t have.”

But she did agree there could be one negative as far as Tres Pinos residents are concerned: decisions about their water will be made by Sunnyslope Water rather than by Tres Pinos Water.

Lander answered this concern by saying if a resident is not happy with their service or representation they can run to be on Sunnyslope Water’s board.

The bottom line, he said, is that the state gave $13 million to provide water for fewer than 250 people.

“When I talk to the people in Tres Pinos,” Lander said, “I tell them, ‘You will never get this deal again. You do not come close to having the money to do this. And for the state to provide this, have the county on board, and have Sunnyslope on board, all the planets have aligned themselves for your benefit. So, if you were to miss this, you essentially are saying, ‘I want my property to be worth nothing for the rest of eternity.’”

John Chadwell

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