EMINENT DOMAIN IS EMINENTLY REASONABLE FOR SERENE LAKES

At last month's water board meeting, the subject of SLCWD acquiring the bottoms of Lakes Serena and Dulzura either by purchase from Royal Gorge LLC, or if Royal Gorge LLC refused to sell, by eminent domain came up. The board has hired an appraiser who specializes in valuation of items like lake bottoms to come up with a 'ballpark' figure of the lakes' worth.

It's a bit of a curiosity as to why SLCWD doesn't own the lake bottoms. In many areas, ownership of the entire lake comes with the territory-- but here, the checkerboard nature of land ownership, dating back to when the transcontinental railroad went through, produces some anomalous land ownership situations.

When Serene Lakes was subdivided, the ownership of the lake bottom parcels went with Ice Lakes Lodge. I've heard, but not confirmed, that many, many years ago SLCWD could have purchased the lake bottoms, but failed to do so. As SLCWD, an entity duly organized under State law has the rights to the water, and the owner of the underlying lake property has the burden of maintaining the property in such a way that the lakes are not impaired, it was seen at that time as unnecessary to buy the parcels. And why would someone who owned Ice Lakes Lodge ever lift a finger to harm the two little Serene Lakes?

Times change, and not always for the better. Now we have Royal Gorge LLC, owner of the underlying lake, bringing up all sorts of new ideas- for example, raising the dam on Lake Dulzura, which will flood private property as well as their own property, and which will saturate the soil of the greenbelt for months, endangering the trees and shrubs, as well as inundating those little "Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer" islands. The trees and plant growth serve as valuable filters for the lakes; their death could harm our water quality.

Royal Gorge also has proposed dredging, which, besides the nuisance value (imagine a summer or two with one or both lakes drained), could damage the tuff bottom of the lakes, possibly opening up fissures that will allow the lakes to drain away-- that's a real risk with lakes on a granitic, fissured base. 

Add in Royal Gorge LLC's multi-lawyered assault on ordinances and resolutions considered by SLCWD to protect water quality and recreation. Royal Gorge LLC, as per submissions by their two law firms, does not believe SLCWD can consider recreational or aesthetic considerations in managing the lake.  Would you trust these folks to hold your boat's painter while you stepped ashore for a minute, considering they've spent so much time telling SLCWD they can't float your boats?

So, in the interests of protecting our water supply, and water quality, SLCWD is considering acquisition of the lake bottoms. As Royal Gorge  LLC has neither been assessed nor paid any property taxes on the lake bottoms (Placer County's tax assessor thinks they have no value), it's a bit thick for them to be holding out, as they seem to be doing, on SLCWD now. Of course, they did include them in their open space calculations on those November submittals to Placer County...

Chutzpah aside, if Royal Gorge LLC really means well by our lakes, it would be nice to see them drop their legal/adversarial stance towards SLCWD, and be a little more cooperative.

If that doesn't happen, then eminent domain is eminently reasonable. Oh, the passage of either 98 or 99 won't get in the way of common sense. That said, 98 is really an anti-rent control measure in sheep's clothing, and deserves to fail. 99 will prevent homes from being acquired, and then handed on to developers-- it's a fine bill.

KTG