Honorable Kim Dunning Presiding Judge of the Superior Court 700 Civic Center Drive West Santa Ana, CA 92701

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1 Mayor Gary Thompson Mayor Pro Tempore Jerry Holloway Councl Members L. Anthony Beall * -* - Nel C. Blas - James M. Thor Cty Manager Steven E. Hayman f September 10, 2009 Honorable Km Dunnng Presdng Judge of the Superor Court 700 Cvc Center Drve West Santa Ana, CA RE: Cty of Rancho Santa Margarta Responses to Orange County Grand Jury Report - "Paper Water" - Does Orange County Have a Relable Future? Dear Judge Dunnng: We have receved a copy of the Grand Jury Report, "Paper Water" - Does Orange County Have a Relable Future? dated June 15, The Orange County Grand Jury has requested that the Cty of Rancho Santa Margarta Cty Councl respond to Fndngs F. 1, F. (a), F. (b), F.2, F.2(a), F.2(b), and Recommendaton R. 1 of ths Report. Based on drecton receved from the Cty Councl meetng on September 9, 2009, the Cty provdes the followng responses: F- There s nadequate coordnaton between local land-use plannng agences and local water supply agences, resultng n a process that fals to fully engage the ssues. Response: The Cty dsagrees wholly wth ths fndng. Whle we cannot respond regardng other local agences coordnaton efforts, to date there has been good coordnaton between the Cty wth both the Santa Margarta Water Dstrct and the Trabuco Canyon Water Dstrct. The Cty coordnates wth these water supply agences at all levels of the development process. The Cty of Rancho Santa Margarta s served by both the Santa Margarta Water Dstrct, and the Trabuco Canyon Water Dstrct. Both water supply agences are nvolved n envronmental revews, enttlement revews, desgn revew and constructon oversght. n addton, both water dstrcts are nvolved n the Cty's General Plan development and revew process El Paseo Rancho Santa Margarta Calforna Phone Fax

2 September 9,2009 Page 2 of 6 r a t s also worth notng that December 10, Mayor Gary Thompson announced that he would be promotng water conservaton ntatves durng hs tenure as Mayor, and that the key components of the Mayor's water ntatves would nclude communty outreach and advocacy efforts. Furtherng hs water conservaton goals, the Mayor conducted a workshop at the January 18, 2009 South Orange County Assocaton of Mayors, ctng the mportance of a regonal collaboraton between publc agences to address water conservaton and awareness. On Aprl 8, 2009, the Cty Councl drected staff to partner wth the Trabuco Canyon Water Dstrct (TCWD) and the Santa Margarta Water Dstrct (SMWD) staffs to augment ther exstng water conservaton awareness efforts n conjuncton wth the Mayor's Water Awareness ntatve. F.l(a) Water agences have tended to avod nterferng wth or partcpatng n growth-management decsons. Response: The Cty dsagrees wholly wth ths fndng. Water agences are requred by State law to partcpate n long term major growth-management decsons. The Cty revews water supply assessments and ncludes them n the envronmental documentaton for major projects. State law requres that the Cty consult wth water supplers pror to certan projects ncludng all large subdvsons and large nonresdental development~. Water supplers are requred to prepare a water supply assessment of these projects for the Cty to consder. Ths assessment ncludes the total projected water supples avalable durng normal, sngle dry, and multple dry water years over a 20-year perod for the proposed project. Addtonally, the assessment ncludes the publc water system's exstng and planned future uses. f the water suppler determnes that supples wll be nadequate, the suppler s requred to provde plans for acqurng addtonal water supples, settng forth the measures that are beng undertaken to acqure and develop those water supples.

3 September 9, 2009 Page 3 of 6 F.l(b) Ctes and the County have tended to not crtcally evaluate the lmtatons of the water agences' supply projectons. The Cty of Rancho Santa Margarta s aware of Sectons fl and of the Calforna Water Code. Whle the Cty of Rancho Santa Margarta s essentally bult out, there are some proposed development opportuntes both wthn the Cty's boundares, and n the Cty's Sphere of nfluence, and the Cty ntends to fully comply wth the provsons of those 1 sectons for any major development or redevelopment proposed n the Cty. Nevertheless, as plannng agences, ctes generally rely on the expertse of the local water purveyors to crtcally evaluate local and regonal water supply projectons. When t comes to evaluaton of development projects, cty planners generally rely on these water dstrcts as experts on water supply and delvery projectons, just as we rely on archaeologsts, bologsts, geologsts, hydrologsts, traffc engneers and others as experts n ther felds. t would appear by ths fndng that the Grand Jury s suggestng that plannng agences should evaluate the accuracy of ther respectve water dstrct's supply projectons on an ongong bass, ndependent of any partcular development project. Ths s not the role wth whch plannng agences are typcally charged. F. 2 Calforna 's loomng water supply crss receves very lttle, f any, expressed concerns from the publc n comparson to the numerous other envronmental ssues presented durng development project revews. CEQA charges plannng agences wth presentng nformaton on potental mpacts, and our recent experence s that the publc s aware of the water supply crss. Most recently, when a publc scopng sesson was held at the Cty to receve publc comment on a proposed development n the Cty's Sphere of nfluence, local resdents expressed concern about the current water supply crss as t related to the project. Nevertheless, t

4 September 9, 2009 Page 4 of 6 s acknowledged that publc awareness regardng the State's water supply crss could mprove. Ths s one of the reasons for the Mayor's Water Awareness ntatve that was announced last year. F.2(a) Orange County's ctzens and nterest groups do not appear to grasp the serousness of the water supply, stuaton or the complexty and urgency of the necessary soluton. Agan, when a recent publc scopng sesson was held at the Cty to receve publc comment on a proposed development n the Cty's Sphere of nfluence, local resdents expressed concern about the current water supply crss as t related to the proposed project. Ths wol-~ld ndcate that there was some level of awareness of the stuaton, at least n the Cty of Rancho Santa Margarta. Furthermore, the recent adopton of a new Water Conservaton Ordnance by the Trabuco Canyon Water Dstrct met wth lttle publc opposton, lkely partally because the resdents understand the need for conservaton. However, the Grand J~~ry's fndng appears to be more global than just one Cty, and t s therefore dffcult to respond to wthout clear data to support the fndng. Therefore, t may be prudent to obtan some recent pollng data to determne what percentage of the Orange County resdents understand the serousness of the water supply stuaton or the complexty and urgency of the necessary soluton. F.2(b) Several recent, substantal water supply awareness efforts are underway (e.g., the OC Water Summt) that show promse but appear targeted to audences that are already nformed. We agree that several recent, substantal water supply awareness efforts are underway. However, we dsagree that they appear targeted to audences that are already nformed. The Mayor's recent Water Awareness ntatve, whch was frst announced n November 2008, s an example of a proactve partnershp between a Cty and ts local water

5 Septerr~ber 9, 2009 Page 5 of 6 dstrcts, targetng the ctzens and busnesses of the Cty wth nformaton on water supply and water conservaton. R1. Each Orange County muncpal plannng agency, n cooperaton wth ts respectve water supply agency, should prepare for adopton by ts cty councl, a dedcated Water Element to ts General Plan n conjuncton wth a future update, not to exceed June 30, Ths document should nclude detaled mplementaton measures based on objectve-based polces that match realstc projectons of the County's future water supples. These objectves, polces and mplementaton measures should address mported supply constrants, ncludng catastrophc outages and ncorporate the realstc avalablty and tmng of "new" water sources such as desalnaton, contamnated groundwater reclamaton and surface water recyclng. Response: The recommendaton wll not be mplemented because t s not warranted. General Plan mandates are the purvew of the State of Calforna. A requrement from the Grand Jury to add an addtonal element to the General Plan would not be n complance wth State law. Furthermore, an analyss of water supply s already addressed wthn other elements of the General Plan, ncludng the Conservaton Element and the Land Use Element. - Fnally, water' plannng s more approprate and effectvely done by water agences, whch are specal dstrcts under State law and are not governed by a muncpal government. Cty boundares and water agency boundares typcally do not concde wth one another, so ctes wo~~ld have to coordnate wth multple water agences and water agences would have to coordnate wth multple ctes. Ths could result n conflctng polces. The Cty of Rancho Santa Margarta would lke to thank the Orange County Grand Jury for takng the tme to research these ssues and for nvolvng the Cty n ths mportant dscusson. Please contact Steve Hayman, Cty Manager, at (949) ext. 6304, f there s any addtonal nformaton we can provde.

6 September 9, 2009 Page 6 of 6 Sncerelv. Mayor cc: Rancho Santa Margarta Cty Councl Orange County Grand Jury Steven E. Hayman, Cty Manager Kathleen Haton, Development Servces Drector Derek Weske, Drector of Publc WorksCty Engneer Don Chadd, General Manager, TCWD John Schatz, General Manager, SMWD