West side dam project approved. New Diablo Grande owner plans thousands of homes
Del Puerto Water District directors approved a final environment study Wednesday on a 800-acre storage reservoir near Patterson.
The 6-0 vote, with director Zach Maring absent, followed 30 minutes of discussion that foreshadowed more developments for the water storage project and for western Stanislaus County.
The reservoir, storing up at 82,000 acre feet of water, is proposed to increase the reliability of water deliveries to thirsty farms and improve management of groundwater. The project in a canyon just west of Patterson has stirred debate. It would inundate part of scenic Del Puerto Canyon and raises fears the dam near Interstate 5 could fail, flooding the city of 23,000.
Anthea Hansen, general manager for Del Puerto Water District, said the district and the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Authority have worked on the project and EIR for more than 20 months. The dam holding water pumped from the Delta Mendota Canal is expected to cost roughly $500 million.
“We do recognize there are many steps ahead in a project like this,” Hansen said during the Zoom meeting. “We feel we have provided mitigation responses for the items of concern, and the project benefits far outweigh the significant and unavoidable impacts.”
Comments delivered at the meeting suggest the reservoir proposal could soon run into litigation.
Daniel Garrett-Steinman, a San Francisco attorney representing the Sierra Club, was among those who spoke during the Zoom meeting.
Steinman said the proponents added a significant amount of new information after an earlier draft of the EIR was released, which prevented the public from commenting on those details.
Steinman said the study disregarded the impacts on biological resources downstream in Del Puerto Creek and did not fully analyze the traffic impacts during construction of the dam. The six-year construction period is expected to generate 600 daily truck trips around the Patterson interchange on I-5.
The attorney outlined the issues in a letter submitted before Wednesday’s meeting that was also signed by Save Del Puerto Canyon, Friends of the River, Save Mount Diablo and California Water Research.
“The statute of limitations is only 30 days for challenging (California Environmental Quality Act) approval,” Steinman said after the meeting. When asked about potential litigation to challenge the study, Steinman said it should be clear soon whether litigation will be filed or not.
Another wrinkle came from the new development manager of Diablo Grande, a resort community southwest of Patterson.
Jim Miller, a manager for a company that purchased Diablo Grande in May, said the study’s traffic analysis assumed less than 400 homes would be built at Diablo Grande in the next 20 years. Miller said the owners may actually develop an additional 4,000 homes at Diablo Grande.
Land use approvals for the master planned community require a widening of Diablo Grande Parkway to four lanes. Miller said the reservoir project could trigger the traffic improvements sooner than necessary.
Angela Freitas, director of planning and community development for Stanislaus County, said Tuesday the department had heard that Diablo Grande has a new owner that wants to expand beyond the development’s original footprint.
In 1993, the county approved a 33,000-acre master plan for Diablo Grande with five “villages” including golf courses, thousands of homes, a luxury hotel and convention center and other amenities.
Only one of the villages was later authorized for development and the original ownership partners went into bankruptcy in 2008. A county-approved amendment in 2017 allows 2,354 dwellings at Diablo Grande. Assessor’s records show the new property owner is Angels Crossings LLC.
Freitas said the new owner has not submitted any formal applications to the county.
In another comment at Wednesday’s meeting, a legal representative for the Friant division of the Central Valley Project said the participation of the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors in the Del Puerto reservoir could shift the timing of water deliveries to districts south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta and affect other water users
The Central Valley Project is a vast network of storage reservoirs and canals stretching across California.
This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 2:02 PM.
