Sewer project gets unofficial OK

ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

It's unofficially official. Residents from four areas along the Carpinteria coastline voted in favor of sewer over septic, according to a preliminary count of ballots Tuesday evening.
The vote comes on the heels of a nine-year struggle initiated by a group of surfers that hoped switching the homes from septic tanks to a sewer system would clean up popular surfing spots such as Rincon Point.

A preliminary tally shows that 65.6 percent of residents in all four areas — Sandyland Cove, Sand Point Road and Padaro Lane, as well as Rincon Point — voted in favor of the changeover.
Residents, particularly in the Rincon area, have been fiercely divided over the issue, as evidenced by comments during the public forum of Tuesday's Carpinteria Sanitary District (CSD) Board meeting.
A slew of Rincon residents in opposition to the switch spoke to the packed room, describing smear and intimidation tactics used to sway people to vote in favor of sewers and arguing that the project is not backed by data.
Those in favor of the conversion have voiced concern that septic tanks are a main source of pollution in coastal waters. Others said they simply want the benefits of a reliable wastewater system.
Ballots counted Tuesday show that all 72 residents of the Rincon area voted with 41 in favor and 31 opposed, a 56.9 percent approval. The other three areas were not as closely contested, with only eight out of 57 residents voting against the sewer project.
"I was expecting to be celebrating with champagne," said Hillary Hauser, executive director of Heal the Ocean, a local nonprofit involved in preventing ocean pollution. "With all of the dissension and divisiveness and all-out hatred that's been going on, my sense of victory is tempered. It's unfortunate that it has divided the Rincon community so much."
CSD officials said an official validation of the ballots will take place this Friday at the district office, a process they said will be open to the public.
Dennis Kuttler, an attorney representing a Rincon resident, examined each ballot sent in for the Rincon zone and questioned the board about the validation process. He also asked about the appropriate time to file objections to ballots. CSD staff said he can raise objections at Friday's validation meeting.
Once the official results are determined, the board will decide at a future meeting whether to go forward with the project, which will carry a $10 million price tag to hook up all 143 residents to the sewer system, CSD General Manager Craig Murray said.
If the project moves forward, each homeowner will have to decide whether to pay the $74,000 per residence as a lump sum in cash, or finance the amount over a 30-year period, resulting in a final cost of $88,000.