September 25, 2023
Re: City of Seaside’s Letter to MCWD Objecting to Proposed Transfer of MCWD Water Outside of District Boundaries
Dear Mr. Errichetto:
I write to provide additional support for LandWatch’s position that Monterey and Del Rey Oaks are improperly relying on Fort Ord land for their RHNA site inventories.
The City of Seaside joins LandWatch in objecting to Marina Coast Water Districts’ s (MCWD) failure to honor commitments to prioritize limited groundwater supply for projects that were previously approved. MCWD’s decision risks the viability of these projects, including Seaside’s crown jewel Campus Town. Seaside points to millions of dollars spent by the city and the Campus Town developer who relied on MCWD’s promise of water for the project. Seaside’s City Attorney puts MCWD on notice that it “intends to protect its rights to be provided with and served water for its existing and planned projects in a fair, equitable, and non-discriminatory manner consistent with state law.” (See attached letter).
To protect the overdrafted aquifer, the groundwater supply in Fort Ord for new residential units was limited to 6,160 units by the Fort Ord Reuse plan, and it remains limited to 6,160 units by a settlement agreement between MCWD, Keep Fort Ord Wild, and LandWatch Monterey County. Fort Ord land use jurisdictions have already approved 6,160 new residential units, although not all have yet been built; and they approved these projects in reliance on the promise of MCWD groundwater supplies. Thus, there is no remaining groundwater supply for additional new residential units on lands on the former Fort Ord. There is no non-groundwater supply of potable water for new residential units either, because MCWD has not adopted a committed plan or program to provide additional potable water. Despite this, MCWD staff have suggested that they can simply allocate the remainder of the 6,160 hookups on a first come, first serve basis to whatever projects seek the hookups first, serving water to areas that MCWD has not even annexed into its service area and to projects that have not even been approved yet.
The Housing Element law requires that there be a water supply for the sites a city identifies to fulfill its RHNA. Because there is no remaining supply in Fort Ord for new residential units, the draft housing elements for Monterey and Del Rey Oaks cannot rely on additional new residential units in Fort Ord to meet their RHNA obligations.
LandWatch shares Seaside’s position that the cities and developers who have already gone through the project approval process and received assurances from the Fort Ord Reuse Authority and MCWD that they will get hookups are counting on that water to complete the as yet unbuilt portions of their projects, in which they have invested millions of dollars. Given the legal cap of 6,160 residential units on former Fort Ord lands, HCD should not approve housing elements for one city that simply cannibalize the units planned and approved by another city.
Best regards,
Michael
Regards,
Michael D. DeLapa
Executive Director
