Monarch Grove Could Hook-Up

The section of Los Osos called Monarch Grove is a subdivision that is not within the urban reserve line of Los Osos. That oversight will be corrected with a General Plan Amendment/Local Coastal Plan Amendment/Estero Area Plan Amendment. The first stop will be a review by LOCAC to discuss any issues or concerns at the local level. Next, it will go to the Board of Supervisors to authorize the County Planning and Building Department to work on this plan amendment. Then the BOS will need to adopt the amendment. 

It is very strange that this sub-division was never included in the Urban Reserve Line!

Why is this important? To back up a bit, Monarch Grove has its own sewage system, and sadly, one that has been plagued with problems over the years. Read about some of that here:

Monarch Grove 2005 - item3_attachment8.pdf


And read the Staff Report for the Enforcement Hearing for October 6, 2005 here:
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/agendas/2005/oct6/item3/item3_staff_report.pdf


The treated wastewater from the Monarch Grove housing subdivision's system is currently used to water the nearby golf course, Sea Pines. The Los Osos wastewater treatment plant's Coastal Commission Conditions mandates that water be sent to the golf course as is listed on page 16 (page 19 if you opened it in in Acrobat) of the Effluent Reuse and Disposal Tech Memo, July 2008. However, this is not a problem as it shows that only 16 AFY is going Sea Pines, not enough to water the whole property.

According to the Basin Plan, the golf course currently uses 15-20 acre feet a year from Monarch Grove, still not enough to water the entire property. Water from on-site upper aquifer wells at 75-85 acre feet a year supplements that, totaling 90-105 acre feet a year from both sources to water the golf course.

The Basin Plan has allocated 40 acre feet a year of recycled water for Sea Pines, and the plan is to blend it with their upper aquifer well water 1:1. So the 15-20 AFY from Monarch now is replaced with 40 AFY. So only 50-65 AFY will be used of their upper aquifer well water. As crummy with nitrates as the upper aquifer water is, and despite the fact that 300,000 to 1,000,000 gallons of water leach into the bay DAILY anyway from seeps and springs (.92 AFD - 3.69 AFD), this is a net gain for the basin. 

Once the septics go off line, the water table is bound to lower. That will be a problem for the wastewater team to monitor as part of the conditions of the Coastal Development Permit, Condition #87.

Here is the pre-authorization referral request that is to go before LOCAC, I am not sure when, the March agenda is not out yet.

LRP2014-00021_COUNTY_OF_SLO__MONARCH_GROVE_.pdf


For map geeks, here are links to the County ones from 1997. Monarch Grove sat this point is apparently a remainder parcel of Tract 1589, to be carved up into lots:
https://slocountypwd.org/MapFiles/MB/MB_018/MB_018_032_001.tif
https://slocountypwd.org/MapFiles/MB/MB_018/MB_018_032_002.tif
https://slocountypwd.org/MapFiles/MB/MB_018/MB_018_032_003.tif
https://slocountypwd.org/MapFiles/MB/MB_018/MB_018_032_004.tif
https://slocountypwd.org/MapFiles/MB/MB_018/MB_018_032_005.tif

This moving Monarch Grove into the Urban Reserve Line was on the BOS agenda (among other things) October 5, 2004, Item 11 (after lunch). 
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Asset7098.aspx
This item was continued to October 19, 2004. On October 19, the BOS tentatively agreed to include Monarch Grove into the Estero Area Plan Update (see the last page):
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/CR/BOS+Minutes/BOS_2004/101904.pdf
But then.......less than a year later.........the sewer project was stopped, Los Osos was left out of the update and here is where we are today.

Monarch Grove does not appear to have an assessment for hooking up (see page 3):
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/document+library/Final+Assessment+Roll+-+April+08.pdf

But the Solano Pump Station seems poised to take in Monarch Grove flows (see Page 21):
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PW/LOWWP/document+library/20111024+Final+BODR.pdf

It is a mystery. Much searching found no answer as to why the second half of the subdivision was left out of the Urban Reserve Line, just speculation.