Tuesday March 10th, 2016

These Meeting Minutes seem to indicate Mr. Carpenter had already received an unsatisfactory answer to his request for a “will serve” (water) letter since he admits to the LDPCSD Board that his property had some how been excluded from the district service area at formation.

The fact of the matter is, Sierra Highlands Water Company was created to serve the Lake Don Pedro subdivision, not the entire area around the subdivision.  When the District was formed in August 1980 it did inherit some existing service connections but those were documented in the transfer from Sierra Highlands as active accounts.  (This is where it really gets a bit messy because property owners wanting water were clamoring to be considered part of the original “inherited customers” of the former Sierra Highlands Water Company.)

It should also be noted that Mr. Wes Snyder was involved with Sierra Highlands as general manager from the beginning and was probably the most influential and result-producing advocate for further District expansion.   Mr. Snyder provided water service first with Merced River water under Merced Irrigation District’s L11395, and then later with the Ranchito Drive ground well water substitution program required due to many illegal surface water transfers of Merced River in the past.  Down river permitted users do not take kindly to misappropriation or waste of such a valuable resource on so many levels.

Consider the ever increasing volume of other property owners complaining “you gave water to my neighbor’s large parcel, why not mine?”    Here we go again, around and around and around.

NOT REQUIRED TO CONTINUE WRONGFUL PAST ACTIVITY

What Sierra Highlands did in the past, was the past.  The district was under no obligation to continue any proposed expansion projects with, or without significant extension lines that were not specifically documented in the official transfer of Sierra assets.  A good example of such a specifically documented obligation where the district IS REQUIRED TO PROVIDE SERVICE is the THE SOLOMON PROPERTY AGREEMENT.

Imagine this newly formed district in a drought prone area with eager locally-elected directors suddenly in the position to provide quality water to their neighbors from a bountiful source called Lake McClure held behind the New Exchequer Dam.

The only problems were certain restrictions that had to be overlooked.   Once this district continued to serve Merced River water across that legally plotted map boundary line of permitted L11395 service – it ignited a community political fire that even 5,160 acre feet of water a year could not extinguish.

It should also be noted that Mr. Snyder had on multiple occasions stated many other properties, such as the elementary school, were also legally located in the district service area but in actuality they were not. <Below>

So not only was Mr. Wes Snyder wrong about the school location (as well as many other properties), but as you can see from above Meeting Minutes  “he had already given a plan of the required service for the school….” he pushed things through on his own accord.  Very similar as to what unethical land developers and real estate speculators who are unafraid of law well know –

it is much easier to violate the rules, get what you want, and then later settle the matter with mitigation arrangements which quite often get funded with public funds from unaware taxpayers!        

This meeting discussion regarding the Carpenter property is interesting because  it is even further away from the subdivision than the elementary school and other large parcels that also claim to be within the legal service area of the district due to previous agreements with Sierra Highlands Water Company.

DISTRICT NOT OBLIGATED

The district was not obligated to further expand service beyond what Sierra Highlands had already except for some specific language in the transfer of assets petition to the California Public Utilities Commission.  The following were specifically mentioned as previous agreements our new district would have to honor:

1. Mar 26 1968               Agreement between Merced Irrigation District and PACIFIC CASCADE LAND CO., INC for 5,000 acre feet per year to PACIFIC is now assigned to SIERRA
2. May 9 1969                  SIERRA AND SOLOMON agreement for 160 acre feet transferred to SIERRA and obligating SIERRA to provide water to the SOLOMON property
3. OCT 9 1969                  AGREEMENT BETWEEN SIERRA and BOISE CASCADE PROPERTIES for water service to the Lake Don Pedro Golf Course
4. Oct 27 1973                  Agreement between SIERRA and LAKE DON PEDRO OWNERS ASSOCIATION for use of Lake Gregoris.  [NOTE:  Information filed with the State of California regarding the use of Lake Gregoris water diversion rights also appears to be incorrect.], and the
5. Feb 1980                      MARIPOSA COUNTY LOCAL AGENCY FORMATION COMMISSION recommendation of approval of the formation of the district on condition that the District create the zone of benefit for sewer service.  (Properties around golf course.)

Other than the above agreements, the LAFCo recommended condition of a sewer service zone, existing service commitments and specific matters in the contract, our DISTRICT DID NOT ASSUME SIERRA’S LIABILITIES.  The DISTRICT ALSO DID NOT ASSUME any liability arising out of line extension agreements signed by Sierra and Boise.  In other words, there was no legal duty or obligation to honor other claims of a right to water without that specific information being included in the transfer of assests and liabilities to the LDPCSD.

Confirmation of the District’s willingness to uphold one of these prior agreements (2 above) is illustrated in later correspondence by GM KENT on February 4, 2005 to the Mariposa County Planning Department.   KENT LETTER RE: SOLOMON AGREEMENT 160 AFA