The Drone Movie Was Awesome!

If you missed the Sewer Forum Wednesday, you missed a lot. Which other sewer plant under construction gets its own movie shot from a drone? Seriously, it really gave you an idea of how this project was progressing, and it gave it to you with a musical score cool enough to download off iTunes!* 

Here's what the room looked like (click images for a larger view):

It was so jammed, the standing room was squished at the 4:00 p.m. session. It was almost full at the 6:00 p.m. session. The parking lot was full, the street parking was full, and the parking at the end of the playing field was full and sprung a leak from a broken water line. People were asked to move their cars, but fortunately, that was at the end of the 4:00 p.m. session. 

The audience was fairly calm, just few grumblings and one booming yell from a man at the beginning of the 6:00 p.m. session demanding to get the show going, it was 6:06 p.m. and a tad late starting.

OK, here was the program—sorry for the creases, but I was too lazy to Photoshop them out, it got squished in my notebook, I was writing and standing at the back of the room.

We met our new Public Works Director Wade Horton for the first time at the program introduction. He's been on the job only two months and of course missed all the fun sewer events starting in 2007. I suspect that he is glad to have missed them....or maybe he took the job having heard no stories? No, that is not possible, they even know who we are in Washington, D.C.. I wish him all the best!

The presenters were: Bruce Gibson, District 2 Supervisor, PW Director Wade Horton, Project Manager John Waddell, PE Robert Ruiz, and Kate Ballentyne, Environmental Resources Specialist (the Snail Lady, more below).

As the County will post a lot of this stuff I will only hit the highlights. If you want to go on the second tour of the new plant, you will need to sign up to be able to attend. They will post this soon, probably on the wastewater Web page, with a number to call. Save the date, Tuesday, March 31, 5:00-6:00 p.m..

The hook-ups will begin a year from now and it will be done in phases over a year's time. There was a nifty map where you could find your street and see what group that you would be in, there were three. You will get a notice in the mail and then you will have 6 months to hook up, which means all your plumbing stuff needs to be up to the project's specific requirements and you will have to, or you will have to find a contractor to, dig your trench, hook up the house pipe to the pipe coming from the street, clean out your tank, etc..

There will be a list posted by the County of qualified contractors to call closer to the hook up date. Call many, there will be a lot of competition, so find the best price. These contractors will have special environmental training to work in Los Osos and will be licensed and bonded. A permit will be required. Contractors can do an e-permit online, but owners, called owner/builders, will have to go to the Planning Department counter in person with some sort of drawing of what you intend to do and your work will be inspected. There is a fee (yet to be determined) to get the permit, but this cost might be absorbed by the project, so stay tuned on that, it will be up to the Supes.

Another look-up of your property was to see if they had found Morro Shoulderband snails on your property. They do have a list, by address. Only the Shoulderband Snail is on the Endangered Species list. If you are on that list, and 390 of you are, prior to trenching, you will be visited, free of charge, by the super nice Snail Lady to remove them for you. Sadly, many might have been already squished, which is common for with anyone with a garden. They are kind of cute actually (I have seen them at Sweet Springs, they are shaped in a sort of flat spiral like a cinnamon roll), and they DO NOT EAT your plants even! (The Chorro Shoulderband Snail did not have any examples on this display.)

They also know who has cultural artifacts on their properties and these homes will be visited by an archeologist, free of charge, to deal with those.

Here are some of the cards that they had on easels around the room which were also on the slides in the presentation:

The average cost on the laterals and decommissioning is figured to be $3,000. Those needing a grinder pump, about 200 of you, and you probably already know who you are, you got a letter about this a year ago, sorry, I forgot to write down the average cost on this, but prices will range between $3,000 - $9,000.

There was a nifty SLO Green Build handout that showed you some ideas on what to do with your septic tank after you have hooked up. There will be several workshops starting this year and into next year explaining how to do this. LOCAC will get a presentation as will the Supes.

Streets will be resurfaced! Five miles of overlay on some and micro surfacing on almost all the rest, starting in June or July, 2015!

The monthly project cost is the same as the last time we heard about this—$165 for the average home. The price for mobile homes went down though. 

There is a LOT of financial help upcoming for low-income people, and it is just too complex to enumerate here. What to do will be posted on the sewer Website in the future. There will be individual counseling and guidance with figuring out if you qualify to filling out the paperwork.

Also, the County is seeking to reduce the interest rate on one of the loans, we will be notified if that happens.

Next big overview meeting, around a year from now.

(I missed getting a large cookie which was being served out of oversized boxes at the entrance, so thanks for saving me from the extra calories whoever all of you are!)

*When I get the name of the piece, I will post it!