The Board voted unanimously on August 23 to withdraw the application to the City for a permit to construct Well #8. The September 23 Crestview letter formally withdrawing the application is here. This is the key language:
This letter serves to formally inform you that Crestview Mutual Water Company is withdrawing the Crestview Well #8 (CUP-401 [sic]) project . . . . After careful consideration and a review of our strategic priorities, we have decided to discontinue the project as originally planned.
We are currently in the process of exploring an alternative agreement for a public-private partnership that would achieve similar community goals through a different approach.
Other reporting tells us that the “public-private partnership” referred to means the active discussions with Calleguas Municipal Water District in which Crestview would agree to pump Calleguas “stranded” pumping rights using a combination of Well #4, Well #6, and the planned Well #7. In return, Calleguas would make a major financial contribution to the costs of Well #7 and/or necessary upgrades to the Crestview infrastructure.
Crestview spent about $742,000 to acquire the site on Crestview Avenue for Well #8. Presumably, that lot will be sold to raise some of the cash needed for Well #7 and infrastructure improvements, but no decision has been made about that. In addition, Crestview has spent something in the range of $175,000 on soft costs, including for engineering, environmental, and regulatory consultants for design work and the permit application, and for permit filing and processing fees to the City. Calleguas considers that Crestview must all these costs under the existing agreement for Well #8. However, instead of an actual cash payment, it seems more likely to be taken into account in fixing the amount of Calleguas’s future contributions to the “public-private partnership.”
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