LAKEPORT – A ski lake proposal that has been the subject of hours of public meetings and testimony and an appeal by a neighbor was approved on Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

The Tuesday hearing was the second held by the board on the subject. The first, held early last month, lasted for more than six hours as community members testified about their concerns before the board.

Milton and Ellen Heath had appealed the Planning Commission's September decision to give the project, proposed by Kurt Steil and Gary Johnson, the go ahead.

Steil and Johnson want to build the 11-surface-acre, 50-acre-foot ski lake as part of their Bonavita Estates project, which includes five residential parcels on 534 acres at 16756 and 17320 Butts Canyon Road.

Late last month the board has postponed a decision until the Callayomi County Water District could offer additional information.

Water district board member Roger Rosenthal said the district didn't feel more pump tests were necessary to ensure water supply, but they did suggest an eight-hour-a-day pumping limit.

Supervisor Rob Brown asked about adding a pumping limit to the project's permit.

Community Development Director Rick Coel said he was concerned about creating a precedent for future reservoirs by setting such a limit. Brown responded that every project has its specific conditions.

Matt O'Connor, the hydrologist hired by Steil and Johnson to study the lake project, said there is no reason that the 1955 studies he used as the basis for his work couldn't still be accurate.

That report had been a point of contention for neighbors, who were concerned that the lake would drain area wells and that it didn't accurately represent the current hydrological conditions.

Steil questioned additional provisions. “I think we're giving up rights that we shouldn't necessarily have to,” he said.

“Nobody else has had this regulation,” Steil said, saying that no other reservoirs have had such pumping tests or restrictions.

Steil, who said he had the right to use the groundwater, said there is only so much water that can go into the lake. He said, however, that he was not opposed to pumping limits.

Milton Heath suggested that the county was guilty of improper permitting and procedures.

Coel denied that. He said the project as it stands is an entirely new one from a previous application that included 22 lots.

Heath said he believed there was other wrongdoing at work, which caused Board Chair Ed Robey to respond by saying, “Time out.”

Coel defended his department, and said there had been no exploitation of loopholes, and that they were following proper procedure.

“Your approach to this isn't helping your case in my estimation,” said Robey.

Sierra Club Lake Group Chair Victoria Brandon said if the project included enough homes to use the same amount of groundwater as the lake, the county would need to do a hydrological study, which she suggested should happen here.

Johnson told the board that they would use less water than has traditionally been used on the land, which was used for grazing.

Supervisor Anthony Farrington asked for the opinion of Supervisor-elect Jim Comstock, who will be succeeding Robey next month.

Comstock said his grandfather ran the property and as a young man Comstock had done irrigation work on the land. He said more water was pumped then for irrigated pasture. “The water issue in my opinion is not an issue in this.”

Toward the end of the nearly three-hour hearing, Robey said he had come to a different opinion of the project than he had originally. At the beginning of the hearing, he had been leaning toward asking for a full hydrological study. “There's a lot of unanswered questions in my mind.”

Still, Robey suggested that, once the lake is filled, it shouldn't have a large impact on the groundwater basin. In previous testimony, Steil and Johnson said the lake likely would need to be refilled in the summer due to evaporation.

Supervisor Denise Rushing asked if the lake was the right thing for the next 150 years, if it was good for the community and its residents.

“There are certain things that keep coming up,” she said.

A core issue in Rushing's mind was whether or not the project's mitigations were adequate, or if a full environmental impact report was needed.

The board was considering the project at the same time as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is going around the state, urging large water projects to create more water supply. That gave Rushing a “visceral problem” with the project.

“It's not something that's easy to say yes to given the state of affairs in the sate of California,” she said.

At the minimum, Rushing felt the project needed a peer review, and she suggested they should consider a focused environmental impact report.

Farrington said they needed to try to balance the needs of today's citizens with tomorrow's. “The heart of the matter for me is the water issue.”

He said the board should consider adding conditions so they were more comfortable with the project. Farrington himself wanted a monitoring requirement, but didn't feel that adding the burden of an environmental impact report was necessary.

Brown said the project would bring “badly needed” money into the community, and added that he hoped a local contractor would get the job.

Supervisor Jeff Smith, who said he thought the project was a good one, moved to turn down the Heaths' appeal but to add monitoring requirements and pumping time limits.

The board approved the motion 4-1, with Rushing voting no.

In other board news, the board unanimously approved a memorandum or understanding with Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District to work together on future water projects.

The board also approved passing a proclamation declaring a local state of emergency because a lawsuit against the state Department of Fish and Game has shut down fish stocking in lakes and other water bodies around the state, including Upper Blue Lake, Lake Pillsbury, Indian Valley Reservoir and Cache Creek.

The resolution will be sent to Fish and Game, who the county is asking to take action to see if the lakes can be stocked after all.

A Fish and Game official told Lake County News last week that the decision is not up to the agency, but to the plaintiffs in the case, including the Center for Biological Diversity, which would have to approve reopening negotiations.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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