Why I voted to kill the Water District project

Voting against a public works project is hard to do- esp. when it doesn't come out of your budget, and it is as important as a flood control project is. Thousands of families could be impacted by this decision. It wasn't something I did lightly.

Some quick background: The Santa Clara Valley Watter District proposed lowering the athletic fields at Blach by 10 feet to create a flood basin. In the event of a major flood, the basin would slowly fill with water, which would protect about 3,000 homes downstream. The funding was already approved by voters in a bond passed several years ago. The district would have received upgraded sports facilities, and the Water District would have borne the cost of any cleanup in the event of a flood.

Shortly after the vote, someone said to me that we might have been playing politics with the vote. Although this has been a multi-year journey to get this far, neighbors around Blach school recently stepped forward to voice their opposition to the project. I have to admit, their arguments did not sway me. I heard people say things like "the protected people are mostly Mountain View, so let Mountain View figure it out." I heard a lot of unscientific debate about the artificial turf the Water District was willing to install. Folks were concerned about the inconvenience of the trucks during the construction project.

All up, those arguments felt like a lot of NIMBY to me, which was disappointing. I genuinely believe we have a duty to help protect our neighbors. The same folks who felt this was a "Mountain View problem" would not be happy if the SCVWD suddenly didn't provide Los Altos with drinking water.

What it really came down to for me was space. The Los Altos School District is facing unprecedented pressures on our campuses. Enrollment this year has already grown at twice the pace predicted by our demographer. Each year, our campuses seem to be bursting at the seams. To me, it just wasn't prudent to tie up 7 acres of land in a long term agreement that we couldn't change. The District doesn't have enough property as it is. Locking up 7 acres in a water project just wasn't responsible to the students of our community.

I sincerely hope that the Water District finds another way to complete this project. There were several other alternatives that have been studied that might also be feasible. With a bit of work, I believe one of those other options would allow them to fulfill the project goals and help them protect additional homes from flooding. In the meanwhile, it's back to the job o educating our kids...

Coming Events: Monday Meeting

This Monday's Board meeting should prove interesting for a couple of reasons:

1) BCS is presenting to our Board.
By far the most difficult part of our relationship with BCS is predicting their facilities needs. When they originally filed their charter 6 years ago, they told everyone they were aiming to be a "small school" of fewer than 300 students. They are now 381 students, and their recent facilities request for 2011-12 asks for space for >450 students. The LASD Board is required t provide facilities each year, but it's difficult to do this without an understanding of what their plans look like. A few weeks ago, we approached the BCS Board and invited them to come share their longer term plans with us so that we can make better decisions about how we'll meet our Prop 39 obligations.

I'm excited about this discussion, because it's the first time we've done something like this. I hope it is another step on a journey of working well together, and I look forward to ths discussion.

2) The Blach Water District project is on the docket.
We'll be hearing from the Santa Clara Water District about their request to use the Blach athletic fields as a flood basin to provide protection in the event of a 100-year flood. Their "pitch" is that we provide access to the land, and in the process, they'll be providing substantial improvements to the fields (new synthetic turf, etc.)

Along with the Water Board, we'll also be hearing from some neighbors who are opposed to the project. I'm glad to have the chance to have both groups in one place, and have the chance to hear both sides together. Weighing a project like this involves measuring the benefit to the community and weighing the impact that has on a different group. It's not an easy discussion, but it'll certainly be interesting.


I look forward to seeing many of you on Monday! Also, feel free to drop me a line with your thoughts on either of these issues.