UPCOMING EVENTS June 13: Friday 5 PM SLCWD Water district offices The June SLCWD board meeting. EMAIL NOTIFICATION For a monthly update email of events relating to the proposed development, send an email to updates@saveserenelakes.org with your name and email address. Your email address will be kept private and will only be used for updates about Serene Lakes and the Royal Gorge Development. To insure privacy, emails will be sent to individual addresses, not to an address list or list of CC's. An archive of past email updates can be found on the "articles" page. HOW TO HELP:
First:
Send Placer County a letter voicing your concerns and requesting notification of all actions and meetings related to the proposed development. Write your own letter, or use SLPOA's sample letter, and send it in as soon as possible. Royal Gorge LLC is expected to begin the formal permit process in the immediate future.
Second: Voice your concerns to elected officials. The Save Donner Summit website has a list of politicians and agencies to contact. See: www.savedonnersummit.org/people.php
Third: Keep informed and involved. Attend the water district board meetings (see upcoming events). Look at www.savethesummit.com for commentary by KTG and www.savedonnersummit.org for information, maps, a forum and more. Return to www.saveserenelakes.org often for the latest news, news releases, editorials and status.
Fourth: Many other groups are working to protect Donner Summit. Go to the SOS (Save Our Summit) website at www.saveoursummit.org for a list of these organizations and links to their websites. POSTERS, FLYERS AND MORE Please use these to let people know about the threat faced by Donner Summit. More Flyers..... WHO WE ARE: This website is maintained by SaveSereneLakes.org. We may be contacted by sending an email to publicity@saveserenelakes.org. Please send us any suggestions, articles or other information concerning Serene Lakes or Donner Summit. WHERE WE ARE: Serene Lakes is located on Donner Summit, just off of I-80 near the town of Soda Springs, CA. map RE-USE POLICY You may copy, reprint, publish, reproduce, or otherwise display materials (excluding materials that contributors or others have copyrights on—check with sources) on this website on the condition that you attribute those materials to www.saveserenelakes.org and provide a link to our website.
LATEST NEWS: (Complete News Timeline....) May 9: The SLCWD board rescinded the Lake Level Management Resolution pending correction of its wording. Three members voted to rescind the resolution, and two voted to keep it as is. The board also requested an appraisal of the lakes' bottom in consideration of either purchasing it from Royal Gorge LLC, or acquiring by eminent domain. Acquiring the lake bottom gives the district the ability to better manage the lake's water quality and to protect the lake's health and the health of its surrounding greenbelt. The board reports that the district will be able to complete infrastructure upgrades a year ahead of schedule.
May 9: Royal Gorge LLC has scheduled a meeting in around two weeks with Placer County Director of Planning, Michael Johnson. The planning department says the subject of the meeting is unknown and no plans are expected to be submitted.
April 11: The Sierra Lakes County Water District (SLCWD) board unanimously voted, over opposition from Royal Gorge and one of their lawyers, to adopt the Water Priority Ordinance No. 2008-82 and the Lake Level Management Resolution No. 2008-787. The first ordinance requires the district to reserve enough water to satisfy the undeveloped lots within Serene Lakes (who have been paying standby charges and bond repayment charges for 30 years), before determining if there is enough water for future subdivisions such as the proposed Royal Gorge development. Royal Gorge wanted a first-come, first-served, policy. The second resolution sets the water level target for lowering the lakes level at no more than 3 feet below the dam, similar to the historical low of 2.8 feet. This allows the district to determine how much water will be available for future users. Royal Gorge thinks that the resolution, even though it does not change anything, requires an expensive Environmental Impact Revue (EIR) process, paid for by SLCWD. For a description of the effects of lowering the lake to four feet, as requested last May by Royal Gorge, see "Serene Lakes Trail Map."
April 11: A sewage transport and treatment presentation was given at the SLCWD water board meeting by Royal Gorge's consultants. Besides the cost ($40M) of expanding the DSPUD waste treatment plant, the primary concerns are the disposal of the treated wastewater. The three options are dumping down the South Yuba River, surface spraying on two Royal Gorge parcels (one directly north of Lake Camp and one directly over Alan's pass north-east of Ski Camp), or sub-surface irrigation (leach fields) on the parcel north of Lake Camp. Note that significant health and water quality approvals must be obtained and studies are required to determine if leach fields work in the shallow bedrock soil, before any of these options can be pursued. Note that surface sprayed areas must be kept off-limits to human contact.
More News.... LATEST ARTICLES: (All Articles....) WATER RIGHTS AND WATER WRONGS IN THE SIERRA NEVADA (CaliforniaProgressReport.com, April 25) Water law in the state of California can best be described as one of those incredibly complex multiple level chess games, with varying and not necessarily consistent rules for each level. In the crazy California water game different norms control, depending on whether ground water, riparian rights, appropriative rights, or prescriptive rights are Read More....
IS ROYAL GORGE LLC BUILDING A HOUSE OF CARDS ON DONNER SUMMIT? (YubaNet.com, April 4) (CaliforniaProgressReport.com, April5) In 1992, Queen Elizabeth, in her presentation to the Guildhall, described the preceding year as an "annus horribilis," no doubt as the many negative situations in the royal family that year showed the world that the rich, even the royal have just as many family complications as anyone else, compounded by the incessant glare of publicity. Read More... More Articles....
-More than twice as many as in Sugar Bowl, Northstar and Squaw combined! -More than doubles the residences in Serene Lakes from 800 to 1800
Ski Lifts, lodge, and 650 units immediately east of the lakes
-More than 40,000 trees removed -Hillsides stripped for ski runs -The main Serene Lakes watershed is paved over -The lakes are filled by silt from erosion -Nights are polluted by noise and lights from trail grooming operations
Two artificial lakes, a lodge and more housing north-west of the lakes
-Where the current Royal Gorge Headquarters is on Pahatsi Road -Granite glacial land is blasted for new lakes -Cross country trails are replaced by roads and buildings
2,375 additional residents
-Estimate provided by the Placer County Sheriffs Department -Traffic will more than double, especially on Soda Springs Road -No new roads to provide emergency exits, a real fire hazard
Increases the water demand on Serene Lakes from 115 acre-feet per year (AFY) to 615 or more AFY
-The water level of the lakes will drop 4 to 5 feet every year -The channel between the lakes will become impassable -The shoreline will recede by 20 feet, and in some places 50 to 100 feet -The docks, including Ice Lake Lodge's will be high and dry -Over 30% of the lakes area will dry up
Requires doubling the capacity of the sewage treatment plant
-More treated sewage water dumped into the South Yuba River -Requires new sewage pumping stations in Serene Lakes -Pumping failures will dump sewage directly into Serene Lakes
