Orange County grand jury declares infighting is responsible for the once-popular lake being closed for four years
Don’t want to cry over wasted tax dollars? Stop reading. Now.
A newly released Orange County grand jury report reveals that with nothing more than passive aggression our leaders managed to shut down what for three-quarters of a century was the largest and most popular local fishing lake.
“Minimal effort to engage one another,” jurors state, “a lack of creative proposals and slow responsiveness between OC Parks and the water districts have allowed negotiations to stall.”
That, my friends, is the Orange County grand jury’s assessment for why our once-beautiful Irvine Lake is padlocked and surrounded by massive weeds.
If wasting away a 750-acre lake wasn’t so sad, it would make you angry. Maybe it still does.
For nearly four years, a tangle of government agencies — people paid with your hard-earned dollars — have played the blame game for shuttering the lake.
Understand, this is a lake that was recreational gold with boating, camping and fishing since before the start of World War II.
With other events such as mud runs, a cafe, boating and stocked fish, this little slice of paradise even made money.
Yet in 2016, inter-governmental squabbling caused the lake to close and our elected officials failed to do anything to change the tide.
Clearly, they don’t fish, hike, appreciate listening to a lakeside band or enjoy visiting the now-shuttered cozy cafe.
But most of all, our leaders showed they don’t give a hoot about families and children. Consider that flocks of kids have missed out on lakeside picnics and fishing for bass and trout — without having mom and dad drive for hours.
Here’s how much the agencies cared:
“The grand jury requested from all three local government agencies any planning documents or feasibility assessments conducted for Irvine Lake and found that no planning reports or studies exist.”
The Serrano Water District, Irvine Ranch Water District and OC Parks didn’t even bother kicking the can down the road. They just let it rust.
But rust never sleeps.
Wasted tax dollars
Even by typical government ineptitude the Irvine Lake saga is a doozy.
In a county blessed with abundant resources and supposed savvy, we can’t even get our act together to keep a public lake open. And after we fail, we continue to fail.
What happened to fail fast, succeed faster?
In the kindest words possible, the 30-page grand jury report blasts nearly every agency involved. (It has few, if any, beefs with the Irvine Co., which granted much of the land.)
For OC Parks, jurors declare, “The lack of planning or feasibility studies for an asset of this size and significance within Orange County is inconsistent with OC Parks’ general practices.”
For the Irvine Ranch Water District, there’s alphabet soup in the report but it’s worth plowing through: “In spite of multiple contacts by OC Parks to IRWD over the past few years, it appears to the grand jury that OC Parks has not yet received any information from IRWD regarding the terms of any successor agreement.”
For the Serrano Water District, jurors found the same do nothing, say nothing thinking. “The last documented communication between OC Parks and SWD regarding recreation rights occurred in the summer of 2017.”
That’s right, the grand jury says Serrano Water District officials were ignoring OC Parks for two years — and they still are.
“OC Parks offered to enter into a short-term agreement to permit shore fishing at Irvine Lake,” jurors state.
The outcome? “SWD did not want to consider a short-term arrangement.”
At their wits’ end, grand jurors concluded, “Neither of the water districts has provided a progress report to OC Parks as to how those negotiations are progressing or what, if any, contract points are critical.”
‘Neener-neener’ culture
I will admit I have a bias. For more than two decades, I enjoyed cycling along Santiago Canyon Road and watching families have fun. I even joined thousands in permitted, organized mountain bike races and mud runs.
Now, like the rest of the people who flocked to Irvine Lake, I can’t see the water for the weeds.
Here’s some of the back and forth when I confronted officials nine months ago:
Serrano Water District General Manager Jerry Vilander told me the county is stalling. He said the county hasn’t approached the district for a year.
In turn, county officials told me the Serrano Water District is the one that’s stalling. They also accused the district of demanding a ridiculous share of any future profits.
“The district has indicated that they expect a significant guaranteed annual payment,” county spokeswoman Molly Nichelson said, an amount that “would undermine the revenue stream that was intended and negotiated to restore the open space and construct lake-adjacent public amenities.
“The reality is that the county does not currently have water or land rights and will not have those rights until the water districts involved are able to resolve their differences.”
Here’s the grand jury’s take: As early as 2014, OC Parks, Irvine Ranch Water District and Serrano Water District started discussing how to handle a gift from the Irvine Co. for 2,500 acres of wilderness.
But, jurors noted, discussions dissolved and “an impasse” resulted in terminating lake use.
In September, Vilander also told me that he expects progress within the next year, but pointed out there’s no infrastructure, roads need to be worked on, docks are in disrepair, the cafe is gutted.
Sadly, he’s not kidding — but neither is the grand jury and jurors have a fast solution.
“If (Serrano Water District) and OC Parks cannot agree on a buyout figure, they could enter into a management agreement to allow for continued water recreation and a split of net income on a negotiated basis.
“This would allow OC Parks to begin overall recreation planning at Irvine Lake making water recreation available to the public.”
A path forward
In most respects, the grand jury’s plan is simple. Stop bickering and return the lake to the way it was.
“If boating and fishing could be restored to past levels,” along with land-based recreation, jurors wrote, “it would appear … operations would produce net income in roughly the historical amounts.”
Jurors even went so far as to specify a series of additional revenue streams including “private corporate events, car clubs, some limited concert events, scout jamborees, carnival rides, day camping and picnic areas.”
The grand jury also pointed out other money-making events that were successful: “mountain bike courses, ‘mud racing,’ various sports events, radio controlled aircraft and drone flying.”
Fortunately, the grand jury has teeth.
Within 90 days after releasing the report, the agencies involved must give their input to the superior court presiding judge.
Additionally, jurors built in two fail-safe clauses.
The first states that if the agencies fail to reach a resolution by Dec. 31, they must post online the obstacles as well as how they plan to resolve any outstanding issues.
Within three months after that — March 31, 2020 — OC Parks “should hold open public planning meetings to address possible uses and activities.”
Get your fishing rod ready.
May 17, 2019
The Orange County Register
By David Whiting
No comments:
Post a Comment