COSTA MESA : Hearing Set for Suit Over Reservoir Plan

A Sept. 19 hearing date has been set for a lawsuit over a 20-million-gallon underground reservoir the Mesa Consolidated Water District wants to build in eastern Costa Mesa.

The lawsuit, filed by about 30 residents, asks that the district be required to complete an environmental impact report on the $15-million reservoir. The residents hope such a report would conclude that the reservoir should not be built, said attorney and resident Michael R. Dunlevie.

Attorney Robert E. Anslow, who represents the water district, asked Orange County Superior Court Referee Greer H. Stroud to dismiss the claim because some of the residents who brought the lawsuit may not have attended the water district meetings March 28 and April 4.

Those meetings, he said, were specifically held to hear objections to the district approving a negative declaration--a statement saying the project would have a minimal effect on the environment--instead of the environmental impact report.

“The law says you can’t sit by mum, allow a project to be approved and then after that’s all done, say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, I oppose this,’ ” Anslow said.

Dunlevie said, however, that a number of the residents attended other meetings to oppose the reservoir and ask for an environmental impact report. And in March and April, he said, he represented some of the residents before the board.

“There were people that I have been representing from the get-go,” he said.

Stroud asked for a copy of the administrative records for proof.

In April, the board decided against ordering an environmental impact report, saying the negative declaration is sufficient to address concerns raised about the project.

Water district officials have said the reservoir would increase production of high-quality ground water and decrease dependence on expensive, imported water.

The project would take three years to complete and be funded through bonds and a $7 increase in the average residential water bill.

Residents have objected to the cost of the project, the disruption that would be caused by trucks hauling dirt and other possible environmental effects.

They are asking the district to pay for the environmental report and legal fees accrued by the residents.

Anslow said the board originally wanted to vote on the project in August or September, but is “acting cautiously” since the lawsuit was filed.