LAKE CASITAS : Water Panel Studies Resort Development

Faced with a $300,000 deficit, the Casitas Municipal Water District has asked its staff to study the feasibility of allowing a developer to lure visitors to Lake Casitas by building a motel and restaurant.

Officials acknowledged that developing district-owned land overlooking the scenic lake would prompt concerns about increased traffic and air pollution. Board members directed staff to study those issues as well as zoning regulations.

“It isn’t something the board is going to rush to do tomorrow,” District Manager John Johnson said of any new development.

But officials said the number of visitors paying camping, boating and other fees has sharply dropped, in part because the four-year statewide drought has reduced the amount of water in the lake.

The lake holds 158,000 acre-feet, 92,000 acre-feet below capacity, Johnson said. About 153,300 people visited the lake in the first three months of this year, compared to 211,995 last year, said Jim Wagoner, superintendent of the Lake Casitas Recreation Area.

Board members said they need to cut costs and to find long-term ways to raise revenues. This year, the district is expected to fall $300,000 short of meeting its $1.1 million operating budget. Board President James W. Coultas said swimming, banned to protect water quality since the reservoir’s development in the 1950s, could be allowed after a new water treatment plant is completed in 1993. But high costs of liability insurance for the district might prohibit such water sports as windsurfing, kayaking and jet skiing. Other options discussed by the board to raise money include a miniature golf course.