REAL DIALOGUE REQUIRES HONESTY AND REAL FACTS

By Katie Gray

Todd Foster, Kirk Syme, and investors recently purchased Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort, and some other tracts of land in the Donner Summit and Serene Lakes area. Their company, Royal Gorge LLC, now seeks to develop condominiums, fractional ownership and time share units, houses, duplexes, wilderness cabins, lodges, restaurants, parking lots, ski runs and lifts, two artificial lakes blasted from granite, a viewing tower over the North Fork of the American River, and a horse facility, in addition to running Royal Gorge Cross Country on the remnants of land not sacrificed to development. In order to carry out this ambitious building project, Royal Gorge LLC must persuade Placer County to change the county's general plan, and to rezone, as the lands Misters Foster, Syme, and investors acquired were never zoned for the density and level of use Royal Gorge LLC envisions.

Some of the many factors Placer County must consider before amending the general plan, and rezoning, are impacts on the Donner Summit and Serene Lakes communities, damage to the South Yuba River, North Fork American River, and Serene Lakes' watersheds, threats to public safety, increased fire dangers, harm to the environment, and whether, quite simply, enough water actually exists to provide for the full build out of Royal Gorge LLC's plans. (State law requires evidence of water sources adequate for full build out).

There is a very good chance that after Placer County takes a hard look at Royal Gorge LLC's proposals, and takes into account input from the many environmental groups concerned about the ruinous prospects of a development of this huge scale, Placer County will tell Royal Gorge LLC to go back to the drawing board. As Royal Gorge LLC has not established a viable source of water, and hopes to rely on dredging the Serene Lakes, and stopping the flow of Serena Creek, which is a perennial stream feeding the State and Federally designated Wild and Scenic North Fork of the American River, this is a very likely scenario. So what's Royal Gorge LLC's approach to all of this? "We want to talk with you, and set the record straight"

Instead of "setting the record straight," Royal Gorge LLC ignores real questions as to the practicality and desirability of imposing huge changes on the Summit, blithely presenting plans to us as if they're pulling a rabbit out of a hat, promising they'll let us know when they have more details. Watch that rabbit very carefully, because it grows each time it comes out of the hat- kind of like Pinocchio's nose. The plans Royal Gorge LLC took to the county last month (on documents page of www.saveserenelakes.org), are much more expansive than those shown in March. Who knew one needed a viewing tower on Pt. Mariah in order to see the wild North Fork River Canyon? And who had noticed Royal Gorge LLC wanted to sully several viewsheds, debasing wilderness with a restaurant atop the ridge that overlooks Serene Lakes and the North Fork of the American River?

Royal Gorge LLC desperately needs to show they will have enough water for this expansive development. They came up dry on their own lands, and now are proposing several drastic measures, including taking water from two watersheds. They propose to re-dam the historic and fragile Van Norden Meadow, and use up the water, to the detriment of the headwaters of the South Yuba River. They will be unable to use well water from Sierra Lakes County Water District, as it is reserved for fire-fighting and other emergencies, because of the high levels of toxic arsenic and manganese, which can only be removed with extensive treatment. So, they have turned their thirsty eyes to our little Serene Lakes, aka Ice Lakes, aka Anderson Valley Lakes.

Royal Gorge LLC wants to dredge the Serene Lakes in order to increase storage capacity, and they are trying very hard to convince people that dredging lakes is as simple as flossing teeth. As part of this "dialogue" they are having with us, they keep insinuating that our little lakes aren't quite "natural", as there is a dam. Well, despite the existence of our very old dam, which raised and controlled water level, the Anderson Valley Lakes (as they were then called), existed in very much the same form in the mid 1860's- the University of California's library has old stereographs in their collection, links to which have been posted on the Serene Lakes Property Owners Association forum.

The dam we currently have allows overflow into Serena Creek, a perennial creek (Royal Gorge LLC's wetlands report erroneously designated it intermittent),which is a class one trout stream. Royal Gorge LLC hopes to divert water that would normally keep Serena Creek flowing, and pump it up to fill the two lakes they plan to blast at "Lake Camp", also harming the natural wetlands that flow to the South Yuba River. Two watersheds damaged for the price of one!

Royal Gorge LLC creatively rewrites history when they allude to prior dredging of Serene Lakes. In 1969, the water district had a contract for the removal of only 3,000 cubic yards of superficial aquatic vegetation and matter, nothing like the 96,800 cubic yards of muck Royal Gorge LLC wants to dig out of the lakes' bottom. The amount they propose to dig out would require 5,500 truck loads hauled down Soda Springs Road, our sole exit road. In 1980, the drinking water lake was dammed off from the swimming lake, drained of water, and vegetation was bulldozed. The 200 or so residents eked by on stored water, and endured a long, dusty, lake-less summer. That 1980 dredging resulted in fines; no dredging of that sort would be allowed by the state today without a raft of EIRs.

In both instances, the lake dredging was done to remove vegetation, not to recapture "lost capacity" and "increase storage capacity to serve new customers" Those are, frankly, the best spins Royal Gorge LLC can put on their plan to dredge our drinking water and recreational lakes to provide water for large numbers of condominiums, time-shares, and hotels. Oh, and even after such a dredge, with the amount of water Royal Gorge LLC will use, by fall the lakes will have a 20 foot ring of mud in the drinking water lake, and up to 100 feet of shoreline muck in the swimming lake. All the docks will be high and dry, including Royal Gorge LLC's own Ice Lakes Lodge dock. (For more information, see www.saveserenelakes.org "documents" page for RG LLC's June 2007 water issues memo- we post their publications- and SLPOA's response of the same date)

Royal Gorge LLC also continues to use a lowball figure of 46% occupancy for estimating their water needs, despite the fact they presented Placer County with entirely different numbers. In light of Vineyard Area Citizens vs City of Rancho Cordova, decided in February by the California Supreme Court, they will have to use much higher occupancy estimates- at or near 100%. So every time you read they need 235 acre-feet per year (AFY), use the reality multiplier- they'll actually need over 470 AFY. And, by the way, those state water rights they keep alluding to that permit the water district to draw 1,177 AFY- that's a limit, and one that's not approached, as Serene Lakes have only held, now and in the past, 650 to 800 acre-feet.

Royal Gorge LLC attempts to reassure homeowners that because of today's stringent water quality protections, no damage will occur related to storm and construction related runoff. Unfortunately, recent local history proves otherwise. When Mike Livak, now senior vice president/ project director for Royal Gorge LLC, was Squaw Valley's director of planning, those same stringent regulations provided no protection for Squaw Creek and wetlands in the face of Squaw's development. The Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Attorney General's office, and the California Attorney General's office were all brought in because of alleged extensive and repetitive violations. Squaw eventually agreed to pay $900,000 to settle a lawsuit concerning water related pollution. One wonders how much our two small alpine lakes, and a couple of watersheds are worth, and how any amount of money can repair damage once it's done. (see the article "A Sorry History of Protecting Water Quality" on www.saveserenelakes.org)

Mr. Livak, in his "Clearing Up some Misconceptions" piece, which will soon appear on the Royal Gorge Future website, indicates that Royal Gorge LLC still wants to have a dialogue about their proposals at Serene Lakes. I have some suggestions. First, If Royal Gorge LLC is genuinely sincere, and not just "talking the talk", then they should immediately release the third party reviewed biological assessment conducted some time ago. Royal Gorge LLC, let us know the same facts you know about your property, and let us ask you questions. Second, please respect our intelligence and use real numbers- don't lowball occupancy figures, water needs, sewage requirements. Placer County wants the real numbers; we should have them too. Third, stop treating this like a popularity contest. You're not running for prom king. In the end, public opinion doesn't matter- the real facts do. If, heaven help us, a fire like Angora hits, and we're all scrambling to escape down our narrow Soda Springs Road, it won't matter one bit whether we think we'd like a Starbucks or better shopping or more lifts- opinion doesn't count in life and death situations. Keep it real.