Property adjacent to Meadowood added to VCMWD sphere of influence

The Valley Center Municipal Water District will be providing sewer service to two parcels in the 5300 block of Highway 76.

San Diego County's Local Agency Formation Commission voted 7-0, Aug. 6, with County Supervisor Dianne Jacob recovering from surgery, to add the 13.1 acres to the VCMWD sphere of influence and to authorize the Valley Center district to provide wastewater service outside of its jurisdictional boundary. The action does not annex the land into the Valley Center Municipal Water District.

"We're comfortable with this extension of service," said LAFCO chief policy analyst Robert Barry.

The two parcels owned by the Pankey family currently include an occupied single-family residence and utilize an on-site septic system to collect and dispose of wastewater. In the event the property is subdivided and developed the current County of San Diego zoning designates a minimum lot size of 2 acres.

The Valley Center Municipal Water District rather than the Pankey family requested the service agreement and addition of the property to the water district's sphere of influence.

The Valley Center Municipal Water District will provide water and sewer service to Pardee Homes' Meadowood development, and the LAFCO action pre-empts potential construction impacts involved with the water and sewer extension to Meadowood.

Pardee had entered into a pre-annexation agreement with the Rainbow Municipal Water District in 2004, but in April 2005 the Rainbow board instructed the district's legal counsel to work with Pardee on terminating that agreement.

A Rainbow board vote to terminate the agreement occurred in December 2008. In January 2011 the Valley Center Municipal Water District board voted to support the annexation of Meadowood into that district, and LAFCO approved the annexation in 2014. Although Meadowood was not adjacent to the Valley Center Municipal Water District boundaries, Pardee will pay to construct water and sewer lines to Meadowood.

The grading for the Meadowood project would potentially create an impact to the septic system on the Pankey property. The County of San Diego conditioned the grading approval for Meadowood on abandoning the septic system and connecting to the public wastewater system. Pardee will finance the construction of the lateral from the Meadowood system to the Pankey property.

"There will be a sewer line constructed as part of the Meadowood project," Barry said.

A sphere of influence study determines the boundaries best served by a particular agency and a sphere of influence update is a prerequisite to any annexation, although the Pankey property is not being annexed into the Valley Center Municipal Water District. Because a service agreement rather than an annexation is involved the Pankey property will remain within the San Luis Rey Municipal Water District.

"The extension of service would be for wastewater service only," Barry said.

The service agreement rather than annexation also avoids the process of annexing the property into the San Diego County Water Authority and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

"There's no need for a change or organization at this time," Barry said.