Suit Seeks to Halt Building of Sewers in Valley Center

A Valley Center property owner attempting to halt urbanization of his rural North County community filed suit in U.S. District Court in San Diego on Monday to halt the construction of an $11.4-million sewer system.

Craig Johnson wants the federal court to issue an injunction against awarding bids on the system, which he claims would permit the unincorporated hamlet of 1,000 people to grow to 10,200 in the next 20 years.

Named as defendants in the suit are officials of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state Water Resources Control Board, county supervisors and the Valley Center Municipal Water District.

Santa Monica attorney John B. Murdock said the suit asks damages for Johnson from these various groups in imposing an “illegal and improper” building moratorium in the Valley Center area because of alleged septic tank failures.

Federal and state officials granted the Valley Center district $7.4 million in violation of state-federal guidelines, and the local agency illegally approved $4 million in warrants, forcing local property owners to join the sewer district and pay for the system before they can develop their land, the suit charges.

Contract Due This Month

If an injunction is not issued, the water district will award a sewer construction contract this month, according to the suit.

County supervisors imposed the moratorium on a large portion of Valley Center in 1980 and, the suit alleges, “ . . . has continued its ‘moratorium’ in effect for seven years without performing any hydrogeologic tests or scientific studies of any kind to substantiate the existence of any ‘public health hazard’ ” and allowed property owners no chance to protest or opportunity to obtain an exemption from the building ban,” the lawsuit states.

Moratorium and sewer district boundaries “were arbitrarily drawn so as to exclude parcels owned by the general manager and president of the (Valley Center) Water District Board of Directors and others involved in the decision-making process,” according to the suit.

The suit also charges that three members of the Valley Center Planning Group who own property or have property interests through investments have “used their positions to influence the decisions by the water district and county to implement the sewer project, and amendments to the community plan zoning, in order to increase the allowable building densities in Valley Center, and thereby profit from development of their properties.”