Environmental Impact Report Waived on Costa Mesa Reservoir

The Mesa Consolidated Water District board of supervisors on Thursday night approved initial steps toward building a $15-million underground reservoir at an East Costa Mesa elementary school.

By a unanimous vote, the board decided that a formal environmental impact report would not be required for the project, despite opposition from speakers at the hearing who voiced concern about the proposed reservoir’s impact on the neighborhood and the environment.

The project has drawn the ire of nearby residents who fear that the project will lower their property values by increasing dust and traffic in the area during the three years of construction.

The water district maintains that the reservoir will increase production of high-quality ground water, thereby decreasing dependence on expensive imported water and bolstering local emergency supplies.

The water district will finance the project through 30-year certificates and increase the average monthly water bill from $38 to $45 within 10 years.

Additionally, the land to be purchased from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District is expected to cost $4 million, which the water district hopes to pay out of current construction funds.

However, some residents disputed future cost benefits.

“The consumer is not a blank check,” Michael Stalker told the board. “My next step will be to explore the legal forum.”

The 20-million-gallon reservoir will be 41 feet deep and 296 feet in diameter. The site, Lindbergh School, at 23rd Street and Orange Avenue, is not currently being used by the school district but is being leased to Vineyard Christian School. That lease will expire in August.

The school district hopes to sell the land to the water district and then lease it when projected increases in the student population necessitate the school’s reopening in 1994-95.