Memorandum
Date: June 8, 2021
To: The Honorable Bruno Sabatier, Chair, Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Bruno Sabatier, Chair and District 2 Supervisor
Subject: Discussion on drought related issues: a) How to handle future ag projects b) How to handle water trucks c) How to deal with illegal cannabis
Executive Summary: (include fiscal and staffing impact narrative):
a) Ag projects are important to the economy for jobs and tourist attraction. However, ag projects all require a large amount of water to successfully grow crops to be sold in available markets. During an extreme drought, such as the one we are in, we need to be mindful on how much water used is too much water used, but we do not have a mechanism to assist our staff and our planners to make these decisions.
Do we stop all ag projects that are not in process in Community Development? Do we slow down the process for all ag projects that are not in process in Community Development? Do we continue as is?
We need to discuss how to best protect a very valuable resource, water. We want drinking water to continue to be accessible whether from the lake or a well. We want our ag endeavors to continue to be successful whether grapes or cannabis. We need to discuss how we move forward as these droughts will occur more often, and will become even longer. What is our plan for the future?
I suggest that we seek to implement a waiver for all new applications for any ag project to waive the streamline permitting act so as to slow down the processing of these applications. During that slowed down period, I suggest that we seek to create a water sustainability ordinance to ensure that all who have access to water continue to have access even if we add new activity. I suggest that the Ag Advisory Committee take on the task to create such an ordinance and come back to us on how best to handle our water for the future to ensure we continue to have access to the water we need.
b) Water trucks are...
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