Water District Rejects City Compromise on Tank : Safety: Directors say they will ‘stand firm’ on plans for proposed reservoir. Laguna Beach officials want structure below ground for environmental reasons.

Vowing to stand firm on their original plan for a 3-million-gallon hilltop reservoir, water district directors Tuesday rejected a key part of a City Council compromise plan involving the elevation of the tank.

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The action by the Laguna Beach County Water District Board of Directors, announced after a 30-minute closed-door discussion, promised to continue a three-year controversy over the $3.7-million reservoir.

That dispute peaked after the Oct. 27 wildfire destroyed 366 homes and caused more than $400 million in damage. Angry residents claimed that if a council majority hadn’t previously opposed the reservoir on 2.5-acre city-owned parcel, it would have been built in time to save some houses.

In a statement issued after the closed-door session, district board members said they will “stand firm” on the size and elevation of the proposed reservoir.

“Public health and safety is not a proper subject of negotiations,” water district attorney Richard Rockwell said, reading from the statement.

Directors said they would be willing to negotiate over a second part of the compromise plan involving an exchange of open space to make up for the land being used for the project.

A meeting will be held between the water district and the city at the end of this week or by early next week to continue the negotiations, District General Manager Joseph Sovella said.

Sovella said he is hopeful an agreement can be reached with the city without the dispute moving back to the courts. The district already has sued the city through eminent domain procedures, and won, to take the city-owned land needed for the reservoir site.

Under the council’s spurned plan, the district would have been required to place the reservoir completely below ground to help preserve the environmentally sensitive knoll next to Alta Laguna Park.

Although the reservoir would be buried under the water district’s own plan, it would still create a mound about 17 feet above ground in an effort to elevate the huge water tank to permit better gravity flow.

A second part of the compromise required that the district provide substitute open space to make up for the land for the project. The city bought the land with public funds in the late 1980s and set it aside for preservation as part of a deal to develop neighboring Alta Laguna Park.