From the general manager’s report dated October 28, 2021:
Well #8 – Currently on hold while the Board and Staff discuss options including requesting additional funding from Calleguas, possible septic tank issues and review of sewer maps from Camarillo Sanitary to identify existing sewer systems within the Crestview service territory. Per the contract with Calleguas, Crestview has until October 2023 to complete the project or refund all monies paid to date by Calleguas in support of the project.
Background
Crestview entered into a contract with Calleguas Municipal Water District in October 2018 that provides for Crestview to install and bring online a new emergency supply well benefiting Calleguas. This well is designated Well #8, and Crestview has filed permit applications to place it in the triangular lot across Crestview Avenue from The Estates at Spanish Hills. Calleguas is to pay all of the capital costs up to $2.1 million, but Crestview is to own and operate the well at its own expense. The main benefit Crestview derives from this deal is that it may use Well #8 as a backup to Well #6 or in alternation with Well #6. Because of pipeline limitations, it is not possible for Well #8 and Well #6 to supply water to the Crestview system at the same time.
Now that Crestview has received bids from drilling contractors for Well #8, it appears the total cost will exceed $3 million. Under the terms of the contract, Crestview shareholders are responsible for all costs in excess of $2.1 million. Also, Crestview will need an extension of the October 2023 deadline because, as the general manager has told the board, it is not logistically possible to have any new well in production in less than two years. It may be that Calleguas will agree to a contract amendment in which it picks up the cost overruns and extends the deadline, but those are very much two birds in the bush.
Meanwhile, the permit application has run into some of the same issues that caused the denial of the critical discretionary permit for Well #7–including especially the substantial costs and risks that a new well would impose on owners of septic systems within 600 feet. Among the options Crestview is evaluating is to find different locations for Well #8 (and Well #7). That is why staff is getting maps that identify places not near septic systems.