Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune
County supervisors decided yesterday to allow Steele Canyon golf course to pump groundwater despite concerns from some neighbors that their wells will go dry and a nearby wildlife refuge will be harmed.
The owners of the Jamacha-area golf course want to use groundwater to irrigate their 150 acres instead of spending about $500,000 a year to bring in water from the Otay Water District.
Supervisors Bill Horn, Ron Roberts and Greg Cox voted in favor of Steele Canyon's proposal, while Supervisor Pam Slater-Price voted against it. Supervisor Dianne Jacob recused herself from voting because she lives near the golf course and is a member of the golf club.
Roberts said there was adequate monitoring and safeguards to protect the area's groundwater supply. The golf course owners must stop extracting groundwater if it drops below a certain level -- designated as 10 feet below the historic low level. A county employee will test the course's wells and numerous government agencies will monitor the effects of the groundwater extraction.
"If they don't satisfy these requirements, nothing gets pumped and nothing gets changed," Roberts said.
The reassurances brought little solace to opponents of the proposal, who said they were mistrustful of golf course and county employees.
"We're going to be watching this like a hawk," said John Henkel, who lives near the golf course and relies on well water.
The golf course owners have proposed pumping up to 600 acre-feet of water a year -- about 195 million gallons. They say that amount will be pumped only when conditions are right.
Neighbors of the golf course have been divided over the issue. The Steele Canyon homeowners association, with 171 members, favors the plan because the groundwater would also be used to irrigate 12 acres of the association's common area. Other homeowners who rely on well water for drinking or watering their yards fear their wells will go dry if the golf course is allowed to use groundwater.
Both sides packed the supervisors' chambers yesterday wearing stickers showing their support for or opposition to the plan. Thirty people turned in slips at the hearing indicating support, while 192 registered opposition.
Opponents said the understanding when the golf course was proposed in 1987 was that it would not use groundwater. However, county plans say the golf course can use groundwater after completing a study of area conditions.
Golf course general manager Mike Mitzel said the owners underwent a $2 million environmental study that took six years to complete.
The plan to use groundwater was opposed by the Valle de Oro and Jamul-Dulzura planning groups, advisory bodies that make recommendations on land-use issues. The county Planning Commission voted unanimously against the proposal.
County supervisors delayed the issue twice while officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service studied it. An 8,000-acre wildlife refuge is located about a mile and a half away from the golf course.
Mendel Stewart of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the proposal to pump groundwater is not expected to affect the wildlife refuge, but he still has concerns that some vegetation may die.
Bob Taylor, who lives by the golf course, said lower groundwater levels affect neighbors as well as the vegetation at the wildlife refuge.
"I'm just hoping that their plants turn brown before my well goes dry," he said.
Slater-Price said she voted against the proposal because she had too many unanswered questions, including who will pay for the cost of monitoring groundwater levels. She said the golf course was approved with agreements that no groundwater would be used.
"We need to consider a deal is a deal," she said.