In Good Faith: Soquel Creek water board to reconsider church project

Soquel Creek Water District board to reconsider church project ahead of moratorium vote

Twin Lakes Church students go to class in four portables church officials want to replace with a proposed new building. (Dan Coyro -- Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Aptos >> This Easter, as the 5,000-strong congregation of Twin Lakes Church celebrates Holy Week with prayers of gratitude, many also will offer up a plea for their long-delayed school project, one thrown into doubt after a spontaneous and controversial decision by a local water board.

During a special meeting April 29, the Soquel Creek Water District board has agreed to reconsider a narrow vote to defer all conditional requests for new water hookups until after a June discussion on whether to enact a moratorium. The location for the 7 p.m. meeting will be announced this week.

The board's decision on a 3-2 vote April 1 which postponed the church's ability to seek a county building permit for its $10 million project was seen by many as a de facto moratorium.

Twin Lakes Church Pastor Rene Schlaepfer shows four portables housing classrooms that will be replaced if Soquel Creek Water District eventually approves a request for new service. (Dan Coyro -- Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Church leaders, their county government representative and a top water official say they believe the move was unfair to customers who have pledged to far offset any new water supplied. But a majority of the district's governing body felt it was equally unfair to grant conditional requests when expensive projects may ultimately be denied under a moratorium.

Developers of construction projects or renovations requiring new water service must receive what is called a conditional will-serve letter from the district before beginning work. The district's agreement to provide water service is contingent upon demonstration that developers have offset the new water demand by making improvements, either on site if they have existing service or off site by replacing neighbors' old fixtures with low-flow devices or taking other measures. Developers then return to the district for an unconditional will-serve letter to receive water once their project is ready.

Board Vice President Bruce Daniels who pulled the church's will-serve letter and four others from a consent agenda of supposedly noncontroversial items noted the groundwater basin has been in overdraft for more than 30 years. Without a new source of supply, he said the district is "deficit spending" despite a requirement that developers offset new consumption by at least 160 percent.

Twin Lakes Church wants to build a new 'green' building on this site but building plans are on hold due to Soquel Creek Water District's potential hook-up moratorium. (Dan Coyro -- Santa Cruz Sentinel)

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In Good Faith: Soquel Creek water board to reconsider church project