Proposed Site for Reservoir Angers Area Residents : Neighborhood: Plan for 4-million-gallon water tank near a fault draws ire of Camarillo Heights homeowners. City may reconsider.

City leaders knew it would be a “sensitive project” when they proposed putting a 4-million-gallon water tank near an earthquake fault in an affluent neighborhood.

But they failed to realize just how irate residents of Camarillo Heights would get over the plan. Now, even the Camarillo mayor is opposed.

“I knew there would be controversy,” city Engineering Services Director Dan Greeley said. “I didn’t know it would be to this extent.”

Residents say the 140-foot-wide concrete tank, which would be partially buried, would be an eyesore that would lower property values. More than that, homeowners fear the consequences of an earthquake in the hilly, fault-lined area.

And they were triply offended because Camarillo Heights isn’t even in the city; it is an unincorporated area north of the line.

“The residents of the Camarillo Heights area are very angry,” said Mike Kory, a Warner Bros. vice president who lives about 50 feet from one of two proposed sites on Mesa Drive. “I think we’re still in shock the city would even consider a project of this scope and magnitude in the middle of a residential neighborhood.”

More than 100 people packed an Aug. 30 informational meeting where the city unveiled its plans for the $3.8-million to $4.4-million project. Scores more turned up at last week’s City Council meeting to protest. Many joined a hastily formed group called the Safety First Homeowners Assn. that claims more than 250 members and seeks to kill the idea.

City officials refer to the project as a “reservoir,” while irate homeowners prefer the more derogatory term “tank.” Kory simply calls it “a monstrosity.”

He had his $270,000 home up for sale, but said it is “virtually worthless” until the issue is resolved.

Now residents have found a potentially powerful ally--Mayor Mike Morgan. Morgan, who has announced his candidacy for a seat on the county Board of Supervisors, wants the City Council to drop the two Mesa Drive sites and re-examine more than a dozen alternatives.

“I know enough about the area to say I wouldn’t want [the reservoir] sitting next to my house,” he said. “Not because of the [earthquake] danger factor. It just doesn’t improve the neighborhood at all. It degrades the neighborhood, if nothing else.”

A February city memo acknowledged the project was “going to be a very sensitive project from the residents’ point of view.” But after what engineer Greeley concedes was a surprisingly strong outcry, the city appears to be regrouping.

The council will decide Wednesday whether to postpone or modify a planned $50,000 environmental impact report that would have focused on the Mesa Drive lots. In addition, an Oct. 18 council study session is scheduled to again review other possible sites.

The tank is needed because the city has a 5-million-gallon storage shortfall, officials said. Increased storage would ensure adequate supplies and fire flows during peak use.

For engineering reasons, the reservoir must be built at a higher elevation than the population it will serve. The high ground above the city happens to be Camarillo Heights.

The city winnowed 17 potential sites to two: one at the intersection of Mesa, North Loop and East Loop drives and the other a few blocks away near Mesa Drive and Maria Lane.

Based upon 10 criteria, the Mesa Drive sites received high marks in a consultant’s report. In February, a city committee decided to take an in-depth look at the sites, ordering an environmental impact report on such issues as the earthquake threat that worries many residents.

An initial study released in August noted that “the sites may be subject to fault rupture and earthshaking associated with the active Springville fault.”

Some residents claim the earthquake fault underlies both Mesa Drive sites.

But Jerry Treiman, an associate geologist with the state Division of Mines and Geology who is studying the region, said that remains to be determined.

The city won’t build if research shows that a fault runs beneath the favored sites, Greeley said. If a fault isn’t there, the partially buried reservoir would be able to withstand nearby temblors, he said.

That hasn’t placated residents, who say a residential area is an inappropriate place for a massive water tank in earthquake-prone California. As evidence, some point to damage that occurred to supposedly earthquake-proof structures in the Northridge and Kobe, Japan, earthquakes.

When full, the proposed city reservoir will hold about 12 acre-feet of water, enough to submerge 12 acres of land to a depth of one foot.

Seven-year Mesa Drive residents Bill and Carol Semonian say the proposed tank will dwarf their home should it be built directly across the street. Even though the tank would fit into a 41-foot excavation, it would protrude 10 feet and be surrounded by a 16-foot mound of earth.

In addition, putting the tank at that site would consume most of a former avocado orchard, Bill Semonian said.

“When we first heard about it, I almost heard the [opening] music of “Star Wars”--when the [space ship] goes overhead,” he said. “My jaw dropped.”

An assessor the homeowner’s group hired estimated that a house directly in view of the structure would lose 25% of its value, the 44-year-old bicycle distributor said.

Then there is the noise, dust and traffic associated with construction, which would include thousands of feet of pipeline to connect the reservoir with the municipal water system and take about a year to complete.

Still, Assistant City Manager Larry Davis contends it’s not unusual to have a water tank smack in the middle of a residential subdivision. In fact, he wouldn’t object to living near one.

“I don’t think I’d have that much concern about it,” he said. “I’ve seen tanks in other communities and they seem to blend in after a period of time.”

Meanwhile, as bureaucratic cogs grind and at least one municipal official openly questions the sites, homeowners aren’t yet ready to believe the city will reconsider.

“We will figure we’ve won when we see a bunch of bulldozers digging somewhere out in the boonies,” Carol Semonian said.