For decades, the residents of Los Olivos have been trying to figure out what to do with their septic tanks. In the mid 1970s, the quaint town of about 1,000 residents and dozens of wine tasting rooms was declared a “special problem area” by Santa Barbara County after it discovered that most septic tanks could be contaminating the shallow groundwater table.
Los Olivos is unincorporated and doesn’t have a community services district (CSD) and therefore lacks local representation. But some residents are trying to find a solution to the problem. However, some are split on the best way to handle the issue. During the public comment period at an Aug. 5 meeting of the Santa Barbara County Local Agency Formation Committee (LAFCO), some residents asked the board to put the issue on the agenda for a vote. They want the board to extend Santa Ynez’s sphere of influence to include Los Olivos. Other residents aren’t sure that’s the best way to handle the decades-long septic tank issue.
Despite its long-term history of dealing with the problem, the septic tank issue really came to a head in January prior to the LAFCO meeting. That’s when a Local Agency Management Plan (LAMP), adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board in 2012 to deal with onsite sewage systems, went into effect.
According to Santa Barbara County Environmental Health Services Director Larry Fay, LAMP forces Los Olivos to make a choice: allow county officials to implement state water quality standards, or the town could develop its own codes different from the state that would achieve the same objectives.
Fay said having a LAMP “changes things considerably,” particularly in places like Los Olivos, because it puts in place tighter controls for onsite systems.
A group of volunteers called the Los Olivos Steering Committee, composed of several business and property owners, requested the Santa Barbara County Environmental Health Department to fund a focused feasibility study to find the best way of addressing state standards that would benefit the whole town.
Essentially, it’s a financial feasibility study to answer the question: Is it better for Los Olivos to form its own CSD or let another agency take care of the town’s sewage problem? The study will also determine that if it’s in the town’s best interest to let another agency take charge, whether the Santa Ynez Water Conservation District, Improvement District No. 1, or the Santa Ynez Community Services District (SYCSD) would be the proper agency.
Dealing with the issue is a grassroots effort that stems from the self-reliant, help-your-neighbor attitude of Los Olivos, according to resident and Los Olivos Steering Committee member Lisa Palmer.
“That’s the heritage and culture of Los Olivos,” Palmer told the Sun. “It’s finding a solution to help everybody.”
Not everyone feels this way. Some residents feel the committee is serving its members’ own interests and holding up the process of finding a real solution.
Palmer said that’s not true.
“It was a perception that it was a business district problem but it affects everybody,” Palmer said. “As a resident on the hook paying for it, I want to know what’s the most cost-effective way of paying for it.”
Some residents also don’t want to wait for the results of the feasibility study to come back. About 140 residents submitted an informal petition to the SYCSD wanting them to extend their sphere of influence to Los Olivos.
The reason they want this is because Santa Ynez already has the infrastructure and management in place, and because they’re afraid they could lose out on funding from Proposition 1, a law passed by California voters in 2014 that authorizes $7.5 billion in money to fund water projects around the state. If they were incorporated into an agency like SYCSD for example, then that agency could apply for a portion of the grant money to help offset costs of putting facilities in place for Los Olivos.
“It makes sense to all that the Santa Ynez CSD move forward concurrently and apply for a facilities planning grant,” resident Bonita Sergeant said at the LAFCO meeting. “It could cost the individual residents tens of thousands of dollars more if we lose out on that funding.”
But Mark Herthel, a Los Olivos business owner also on the steering committee, argues that there is virtually no money left. Herthel said he met with the person who administers Proposition 1 money and was told that all of it is spoken for.
There’s also an issue with merging into the SYCSD, according to its manager Jeff Hodge. Los Olivos is not contiguous and so building and extending an infrastructure to the town would be off the table, he said.
“They’d need their own infrastructure,” Hodge said, adding that it raises the question of whether the SYCSD is the right agency.
Palmer also questioned this too, although for a different reason. In a similar situation, an annexation of a little more than 700 residents of West Santa Ynez into the SYCSD’s sewer system is moving forward after an inadequate number of protest votes came up to challenge the action.
Letters were sent out to residents, although many claim they never received notification, according to Herthel. At least 25 percent of the affected residents within the area needed to cast a ballot in order to put the annexation up for a vote, but only 24.67 filed protests, according to LAFCO Director Paul Hood.
That situation is concerning to both Herthel and Palmer because to them it indicates incapability of the district to manage its own affairs.
However, Hodge said that his district followed all laws regarding notification.
There also could be a problem with representation if Los Olivos is absorbed into the SYCSD, Palmer added. The concern is that the town would be in a minority position if any unfavorable decisions affecting the entire district came down.
“Not every board member would be beholden to the entire community,” Palmer said.
Many residents have repeatedly asked LAFCO to vote on extending SYCSD’s sphere of influence. But the steering committee urges patience. Herthel said a feasibility study should be done by the end of September. He has also scheduled a tentative community meeting to discuss the study and the best way of moving forward, which will be held in Los Olivos on Oct. 24.
“We’re trying to do this thoughtfully with consensus rather than conflict,” Herthel said.
Staff Writer David Minsky can be reached at dminsky@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 8-15, 2016.
