Comments by Paul Perkovic
June 28, 2008
Charlie, We are talking about Devil's Slide water, not SFPUC water. Please stay on topic. Watch what happens to SFPUC deliveries as the current drought in California worsens, then come back and report on reliability. The construction costs were based on your facts and estimates, not mine. Recycling is being pursued by MWSD through our participation in SAM. It also is expensive and years away from supplying any water. We expect the Alta Vista Well to be fully available following permit approval by…
June 27, 2008
Charlie, You probably haven't been following water issues closely since you've been so busy with CUSD, but the Hetch Hetchy upgrade you mention is expected to triple the cost of water delivered by the SFPUC. CCWD depends on SFPUC for more than 82% of its supply, so those increases must be passed on to CCWD customers. That's one of the reasons that CCWD rates are going up 14% this year alone. If I understand you correctly, in this drought year (and perhaps next, and the one following it), you'd rather…
June 27, 2008
Minor clarifications Regular readers of my postings know that I strive for 100% perfection in facts, quotes, spelling, grammar, and references. Unfortunately, occasionally I slip up. I used the term "acre-foot" as it is often used colloquially when talking about water supplies, but technically speaking, an acre-foot is a measure of volume (specifically, the amount of water that will cover an area of one acre to a depth of one foot; approximately 325,000 gallons). In each of the places I used the…
June 27, 2008
My apologies for responding to the Devil's Slide Tunnel water issue here. I realize it was off topic, and have submitted a new article to Coastsider, which should appear soon. Please hold any MWSD and water-related comments for that story. Just to correct one of Charlie Gardner's misreadings of my initial posting, MWSD only receives about $237,500 per year in general property tax revenue, which is currently applied to offset costs of operating the water and sewer systems. As noted, there is no guarantee…
June 27, 2008
Charlie Gardner writes: "The house across the street from me was developed on an infill lot and had to put in a well (not enough water)." Do you live in Miramar or El Granada? Why are infill lots within Coastside County Water District's area being developed on wells? (Hint: Not enough water.) According to the Midcoast Municipal Service Review staff report, there are about a thousand sewer customers without public water service outside of MWSD's boundaries. That puts them in CCWD's boundaries. Why…
June 27, 2008
Charlie, Perhaps you can answer the questions that Jim Larimer is afraid or unable to answer on TalkAbout. They are important questions that must be answered before deciding on a large project to use water from the Devil's Slide Tunnel. I've added a few more because you are an expert on Kiewit's operation, on the tunnel water source, and on water supply issues (you ran for the MWSD Board a few years back, I'm sure you did all your homework about water issues then). What is the reliable yield of water…
June 20, 2008
Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside (SAM) was formed in 1976 as a joint exercise of powers authority. As early as 1976, there were four projects related to coastside wastewater, proposed for funding from the Environmental Protection Agency through the Clean Water Act. Those four projects were: An Intertie Pipeline System to bring wastewater from the Granada and Montara districts to a central treatment facility; upgrades to the existing inadequate Half Moon Bay treatment plant to fix problems and accommodate…
June 14, 2008
I'm confused by press coverage of the $14.5 million option, to "convert the entire wastewater inflow of 3 million gallons per day for reuse." According to the Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside (SAM) Monthly Flow Distribution Report for April 2008, the total inflow to the SAM plant varied between approximately 1.6 and 1.8 million gallons per day. Is the second option based on wastewater that would be produced by doubling our coastside population, as the "buildout" projections estimate? But we don't expect…
June 14, 2008
I'm confused, Steve. A house is worth what a willing buyer will pay for it. The appraiser is supposed to be able to determine that amount. Why should the willing buyer even know the circumstances of the seller? Why should a willing buyer pay more or less because a home is being sold as a result of divorce, death, job relocation, or some other reason? Why should the appraised value be different for a buyer and a seller? Or are you telling us that appraisals are just fictitious, made-up numbers to…
June 14, 2008
AB 1991 is a "unique situation", right? One that can't be used as precedent for other cities? How quickly do you think Pacifica's City Council and attorneys will recognize a great opportunity to solve their own problems, if AB 1991 is passed? In case you missed it, "Wetlands give developer, city legal headache" in the San Mateo County Times of June 10, 2008: http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_9534520 Of course it isn't exactly the same situation. But to quote Julia Scott, the staff writer, "The…
June 14, 2008
Over a month back (while I was out of the country), Steve Hyman wrote: "Property owners have rights too. And hopefully, they will have more rights soon." Does that mean, Steve, that you agree that the existing property owners in the State of California, who voted in the Coastal Initiative, have the right to expect that legislation to be enforced? Does that mean that you agree that property owners in Half Moon Bay that voted on the City's growth control measurs have the right to expect those initiatives…
May 06, 2008
If AB 1991 restores everything as it was in 1990, Half Moon Bay misses out on all impact fees that have been established or revised since then, Cabrillo Unified School District (CUSD) loses any school mitigation fees, etc., etc. Someone on TalkAbout was complaining about there not being enough money for schools - see "School Funding - Property taxes fall short", http://talkabout.hmbreview.com/topic.php?t=1877&c=2&d;= Under Proposition 13 limits, each of those 129 houses might produce $3,500 or so…
January 24, 2008
Vince, I'm not an LCP big gun, and no one sent me. My comment wasn't intended as a smear, it was the only sense I could make out of your sentence, "I suspect the BOS and the people that elected them interests would be better served by keeping the democratically elected political theater group called the MCC going as a sort of roach motel for MidCoast political activists(the cost is minimal)." A roach motel is a trap for unwanted intruders that you would prefer to keep out of sight. It was not at…
January 24, 2008
Vince Williams has a colorful, but extremely cynical, view of the Board of Supervisors. Perhaps the Board really was embarrassed on many occasions when Coastside activists would scurry out of the woodwork to speak for two minutes each, bringing up inconvenient facts when the Board had already decided to approve some development scheme that stretched or violated the Local Coastal Program (or just hugely offended local sensibilities). After all, they were used to hearing from their SAMCAR (San Mateo…
January 12, 2008
There has been a good deal of discussion on Coastsider.com about possible naming of the Devil's Slide Tunnel. Although there are several citizens who worked for decades to achieve a solution to the transportation problems at Devil's Slide (such as Olive Mayer or Lennie Roberts), many Coastside citizens who worked very hard to get Measure T on the ballot and approved by approximately 74% of San Mateo County voters establishing the tunnel solution as the preferred alternative, and several local elected…
January 06, 2008
Barry might have had power on Friday at 1:40 p.m., but most of Montara was blacked out. Maybe you're on a special part of the grid that keeps Three Bells powered? Montara Water and Sanitary District and Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside crews spent the day out in the wind and pouring rain making sure backup generators at all of the well sites and pump stations kept functioning, so you could continue to enjoy normal water supplies during the blackout. You might express your thanks to them the next time…
November 19, 2007
Incidentally, I posted the same quotes from the same article on TalkAbout. You can see what the discussion is over there if you want.
http://talkabout.hmbreview.com/topic.php?t=917&c=8&d;=
November 12, 2007
Barb Mauz, This topic began as a Letter to the Editor posted by Mr. deBeer, asking questions about his water rates and tax bill line items for the Montara Water and Sanitary District, i.e., the General Obligation Bond tax and his Sewer Service Charge. All of the responses - until yours - have stuck to that subject matter. San Mateo County's current Midcoast Local Coastal Program Update, their policies on development on substandard lots, their affordable housing policies, their decisions to allow…
November 10, 2007
Tracy Usher asks: How is the Sewer Service Charge (SSC) determined for customers who are currently on private wells? Because the Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD) does not have actual water use measurements for sewer customers on wells, we currently use the average residential water use (just cited in my comment above) to determine the SSC for properties on wells. The Board established this policy many years ago, as it seemed the fairest way to estimate usage when no accurate figures are…
November 10, 2007
CORRECTION In my earlier posting on Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD) Sewer Service Charges (SSC), I stated: "For Fiscal Year 2007/2008, the average Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD) residential sewer customer pays $439.06, or $36.59 per month." It turns out that I had referenced the incorrect amount. The sentence above is correct for the minimum, not the average. The minimum Sewer Service Charge is based on 16 hundred cubic feet (HCF), or about 12,000 gallons, used during the four…
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