Minutes of the Palomar Mountain Planning Organization Meeting
November 4, 2006
The PMPO Board Meeting was convened at 10:10 AM November 4, 2006 at the Palomar Mountain Volunteer Fire Department. The minutes of the April 1 and August 19, 2006, Board Meetings and the May 27, 2006, Annual and Board Meetings were distributed with corrections and approval deferred to the next meeting. The Treasurer's report was not available due to Tracy Dixon's absence.
Rob Hawk said that he is to meet November 6 with Mr. Gant, Mr. Yale's project manager, about which wells on Palomar Mountain would be monitored by the LJIR project. The setup cost for electronic monitoring of each well is about $600. Tom Burton suggested the project and the community could share costs of monitoring additional wells.
Discussion about location of suitable wells: Within about 1000 feet of the Yale/LJIR wells, to the east, are two wells on the Tainer-Getzoff-Pique parcels that are not currently pumped, and one each on the Fellows and Mullins parcels that are pumped very little or none. About 1000 feet to the northwest is an LJIR well whose status is unknown but was monitored during the September 1993 pumping test. The Greenfield Observation Point conifer road development, about 6000 feet north, has 12 wells currently un-pumped. About 10,000 feet northwest the Yoga center has an unpumped well that has been monitored for about 10 years. The Mutual Water Company has three Pedley Valley wells with long-term data, but those are being pumped so are less suitable. In each case we would need copies of the well logs and permission to monitor.
The Board agreed to select a committee to help Rob Hawk map the wells, decide which to monitor, collect usage history, and create a monitoring plan. Robert Carlisle, Elizabeth Getzoff, and Bill Langer volunteered to serve.
Discussion about what would be done if the monitoring showed harm to residents' wells attributable to the project pumping: Rob Hawk said the project could continue pumping nevertheless, but Earl Walls said that at the prior meeting with the Yale/LJIR they were willing to do what they could to be neighborly.
Tom Burton said an action committee is meeting every two weeks, working on better communication with the Fire Department board on filing grant applications. The focus is on pre-application discussions for a Major User Permit. Currently waiting for completion of a septic and parking survey, donated by Lorne Da Pron. Bruce Graves said PMVFD Chief Lucia plans to move out of the ``house'' and turn its scheduling and maintenance over to the Community Center board. Earl Walls said that obtaining part of the US Forest Service campground would ease the design constraints; this would require exchanging a parcel with a well or a water share.
Tom Burton said the county is still working on roads and other things that don't relate to Palomar Mountain. The Board of Supervisors a year ago committed to consider our argument for being considered a legal `country town'. Tom wants to find out what has happened and try to continue working with the county staff to help them understand our point of view.
Jack Norvall's death has meant a great loss to our efforts. Michael Pique and Bruce Graves will pick up the job of getting US Forest Service manager Rich Tobin and surveyor Kent Whittaker to come up for a meeting.
The chair noted with sadness the death of Jack Norvall on October 4, 2006. Jack's more than 10 year membership on the board and his numerous other contributions to the Palomar Mountain community and character are appreciated. Alan Serry has offered to re-join the board, and other candidates should contact Jim Hamerly.
The plans extend from Interstate-15 on the west along the entire eastern length of Highway 76. Anyone interested in monitoring the process on behalf of the PMPO should speak to Jim Hamerly. Susan Humason might be able to help also.
Bill Langer, local CERT coordinator, explained that CERT is training in light fire suppression, first aid, search & rescue, and emergency communication. Flyers will soon be issued announcing three 6-8 hour training sessions, weekenders welcome.
Chris Kusek said the Highway Patrol the last two weekends issued over 20 tickets. Jim Hamerly asked those who see highway patrol officers doing enforcement to take down their badge numbers; he will then follow up to understand the decision process. Bonnie Phelps said we need to stay on them to continue the enforcement. Jim Hamerly and Michael Pique each offered loans of sound-measuring `dB' meters that could prove that some of the motorcycles are not street-legal. Brian Covington said the problems have grown increasingly worse over the past two years. Bob O'Neill noted a photographer is making a business out of selling motorcyclists pictures of their daredevilry. He thinks a speed limit of perhaps 45 MPH would be effective if combined with radar guns set on many blind curves. We can contact the Vista office north county district attorney, if there is enough outrage, and ask for support to take on some of the enforcement ourselves.
Susan Humason is beginning the 2007 PMPO newsletter planning and asked if we should sell ads, perhaps business-card sized on a single-sheet insert. Each 12-14 page newsletter costs about $1.50 to make and mail, we send out about 675 of them. If each carried 20 ads at around $30 each, that would defray about half the cost. Susan identified three kinds of groups who have had space in prior newsletters: community organizations (PMPO, CCPM, CERT, PMVFD), community not-for-profits (Yoga center, Christian Conference Center, Observatory, Girl Scout camp), and community businesses (Baileys, Lake Henshaw cafe, various Valley Center retailers). She will make a list and ask the Board to decide on a policy for space allocation and possible advertisement sales.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 AM.
Michael Pique