In a vote-by-mail ballot, residents in Los Olivos will decide by the end of January if they will form their own community service district to start a wastewater treatment facility as well as pick five of their neighbors to run it. There will be a ‘meet the candidates’ forum from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 4 at the Los Olivos School gym, 2540 Alamo Pintado Road.

The proposed Los Olivos Community Services District (LOCSD) would be governed by a board of directors elected by Los Olivos residents to manage the planning, construction and operation of a community wastewater system.

The candidates seeking election are Lisa Palmer, Tom Fayram, Mike Arme, Julie Kennedy and Brian O’Neill.

“The reason I am running is local control over our wastewater solutions and fiscal control which are paramount for me. Knowing that it will be five residents who set the rates and have to pay those along with our neighbors means that we will be the most vested in what happens,” said Palmer who is also on the Los Olivos Water Reclamation Committee.

The issue of wastewater and septic systems have been a decades long issue in the small town that has been designated a “special problems area”, due to the high water table.

Because of the high water table, it prevents separation between groundwater and the effluent in septic leach fields, according to a report done by MNS Engineers in 2010, so that wastewater can come into direct contact with the groundwater.

Recently enacted state and county regulations will force changes in the use of septic systems or onsite wastewater treatment systems in Los Olivos. A septic system that fails, especially if it is not up to current standards, can cost thousands of dollars to upgrade, according to David Brummond, supervisor with the county’s Division of Environmental Health Services.

Palmer said the election ballot will be made up of two components that all have to pass in order for the CSD to be formed. Voters will have to approve the CSD and elect five members to the board.

“The candidates bring a level of knowledge and expertise that meets or exceeds what is required. This is starting a district from the ground up literally, and I feel we have five excellent people,” said Jay Richolson, of the Los Olivos Steering Committee.

Richolson has been involved in the process since April of 2015 when he actually believed that merging with Santa Ynez CSD was the best option.

“We met with a board member and discussed the option to merge, but in that research we found out that Santa Ynez, Solvang and the county had been having discussing our situation and solutions without us a Los Olivos residents having a seat at the table. That’s when I changed my mind and feel forming our own district gives the residents the best option. None of the choices we have are free at this point, and neither is doing nothing,” Richolson said.

A competing plan had proposed annexing Los Olivos to the Santa Ynez Community Services District, as costs for the CSD were unknown at last year’s Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation meeting in April when the vote to proceed was approved.

The ballots are due by 8 p.m. on January 30 to the Santa Barbara County Election’s Office, or stamped by Jan. 22.

To learn more about the proposed LOCSD, visit www.yesonlocalcontrolP2018.com or  www.losolivoswastewater.com.

The post Los Olivos to decide fate of forming a community service district this month appeared first on Santa Ynez Valley Star.

After years of getting the Los Olivos community informed about options for their “special problems area” regarding wastewater and septic issues, more than 250 residents and business owners turned in their signatures and application to form Los Olivos Community Services District (CSD) to the Santa Barbara Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO).

“What an incredible community effort – thanks to each of you who signed the petition, gathered signatures, and talked with your neighbors about the importance of giving our town an opportunity to vote on CSD formation,” said the Los Olivos Water Reclamation committee in a statement.

Los Olivos residents have been plagued for decades by failing septic systems and Santa Barbara County declared Los Olivos a “special problems area” in 1974 because of its problems. Los Olivos’ issue is a high water table, which prevents separation between groundwater and the effluent in septic leach fields, according to a report done by MNS Engineers in 2010, so that wastewater can come into direct contact with the groundwater.

Some of the residents and business owners learned in March of this year that Santa Ynez Community Service District (SYCSD) had applied to Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to annex their area in March and decided they wanted to explore more options. The county already had recommended forming a special district that would assess Los Olivos customers to pay for a system that pumps treated waste from individual septic tanks to a communal tank for further treatment and then disposal on a common leach field.

“If we were annexed into Santa Ynez district, it would give us a very small voice of how we want our town operating, and we wanted to make sure that we were all comfortable with how we went further. That’s why we appealed and created a group to look into all the options,” said Mark Herthel of Los Olivos Water Reclamation Steering Committee.

Recently enacted state and county regulations will force changes in the use of septic systems or onsite wastewater treatment systems in Los Olivos. A septic system that fails, especially if it is not up to current standards, can cost thousands of dollars to upgrade, according to David Brummond, supervisor with the county’s Division of Environmental Health Services.

They went before the LAFCO board on June 2 and got a decision to delay the application for six months until more studies are done, according to Mark Herthel of the Los Olivos Wastewater Steering Committee.

The signatures are under review from LAFCO and the status of the application will be updated in January. Look for a story in the second edition of the SYV Star, out Jan. 17.

To read the revised draft of the Los Olivos Wastewater Management Plan online, go to www.losolivoswastewater.com .

The post Application turned in to form Los Olivos Community Service District appeared first on Santa Ynez Valley Star.