LAFCO supports water connection between Santa Maria and Bonita Elementary School

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Potable water at Bonita Elementary School is strictly of the bottled variety, at least until a newly county-greenlit plan to connect with a municipal utility comes to fruition.

Elevated levels of groundwater nitrates are at the fountainhead of the issue, evaluated by the Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) in December 2024, and again during its March 6 meeting after a new problem bubbled to the surface.

During its Dec. 12 meeting, LAFCO “took a conceptual motion,” according to the staff report, to approve an out-of-agency service agreement for the city of Santa Maria to provide potable water service to the school, located in an agricultural area outside of city limits and part of the Santa Maria-Bonita School District.

Based on a request from LAFCO county member and 4th District Supervisor Bob Nelson, the motion introduced a crucial revision to the agreement that added a 10-year limit on the project. That limit would have hampered the project, according to school district officials, who later requested it be removed. 

During the December meeting, the county was concerned that approving a permanent agreement would send “the wrong message to the school district,” Nelson said. “I’ve been long advocating for the school district to consider moving this school back into town. … It’s something that the school district has not made any serious efforts on. … And they’ve kind of used this as an overflow site.”

Nelson said the school has a track record of being “intensified,” with additional portable classrooms being added over the years despite the potable water issue. The school received its first noncompliance citation regarding its domestic water well from the county in 2017.

After Nelson’s comments, staff was directed to return in January with an amended resolution to reflect the 10-year restriction, but the Santa Maria Bonita School District requested a delay to respond to the proposed time limit. 

“I understand the reasoning of the 10-year provision is to encourage the Santa Maria-Bonita School District to reevaluate the location of the school and potentially move it to a more appropriate location. Unfortunately this is not a realistic possibility for the foreseeable future,” Matt Cameron, the school district’s student housing technician, wrote in a Feb. 5 letter to LAFCO.

Cameron attended LAFCO’s March 6 meeting to expand on the school district’s rebuttal.

“I’m not in disagreement. If you were to ask a thousand people where a good place to put a school for our students would be, I don’t think a single one would pick that location. However, it is what it is,” Cameron said. “We are absolutely at capacity. We’ve got growing enrollment. [We’re] struggling to figure out where to place students. … We’re really dealing with an overcrowding situation. As much as it would be beneficial to relocate the school, or to relocate the students from the school, it’s just … not a feasible option.”

To offset the cost of the proposed water connection, which will involve more than a mile of new pipe construction, the school district is working with the State Water Resources Control Board Division of Financial Assistance. However, the division requires that “any agreements relating to the project be valid for at least the useful life of a project, which is estimated to be 50 years,” according to Cameron’s letter.

“The 10-year provision disqualifies this project from consideration based upon that funding criteria,” Cameron wrote. “Without financial support, this project may not be feasible despite the clear and urgent health need it addresses.”

“So, essentially, we’re sort of stuck here,” said LAFCO public member Shane Stark, shortly before motioning to approve the out-of-agency service agreement without the 10-year limit—which passed 7-0.

This article appears in Mar 13-23, 2025.