June 21: Monday 10AM, Judah Lodge at Sugar Bowl. The Joint
Wastewater Facilities Committee Meeting
July 10: Saturday 10AM, Judah Lodge at Sugar Bowl. The Joint DSPUD
and SLCWD Board Meeting
MONTHLY
EMAIL UPDATES To sign up for monthly update emails 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 of this website. HOW TO HELP:
First:
Keep informed by signing up for the monthly
email updates as described above.
Second: Keep 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.
Third: 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.
June 15: Eco:Logic, DSPUD's engineering consultants, have released
their upgrade and expansion recommendations. Their $20.2 million proposal can be found here: (warning, the pdf is 5MBytes)
dspud_facility_plan_final_may_2010 with an appendix here: Appendixes D-F.
Much of the DSPUD facility plan's proposal is due to expansion. An
$8.3M "Ford" alternative to Eco:Logic's $20.2M "Ferrari" proposal is a "Just Fix It" plan (i.e.,
a Ford) that looks at how the current plant can be fixed without expansion. The $8.3M "Just Fix It" plan is here:
Comments on the DSPUD Facility Plan.
Assuming a 20 year, 5% interest loan, each homeowner's rates will increase about $890/year to pay for the $20.2M
project. A loan for the $8.3M "Just Fix It" plan would increase rates about $365/year. The actual rate increase
will depend upon final cost estimates, potential grants, and interest rates.
Jan
6: Placer County planning reports that there still has been no
contact with Royal Gorge.
Jan
5: County records show
that Kirk Syme's "Woodstock Bowers LLC" has purchased Ice Lakes Lodge and Royal Gorge's Summit Station from Royal
Gorge LLC. The transaction was recorded on December 23rd, 2009. Mr.Syme, in an email, says that Royal Gorge LLC (Foster and
Syme together) still own the land slated for development, Rainbow Lodge and the nordic ski operation. He reports: "business
as usual at Ice Lakes Lodge and Summit Station."
In 2009:
Dec 11: The Sierra Lakes
Water District reports that there has been no progress in talks with Royal Gorge with respect to acquiring rights to the lake
bottom. In addition, the District's State water rights are still not resolved, with it likely that the State will reduce the
amount of water allocated to the District from the 1962 level of 1,177 acre-feet per year (AFY) to between 150 AFY (the current
actual usage) and 350 AFY (the projected usage including unbuilt lots and future higher occupancy, but no further development). More News....
Despite down
economy, conservation groups continue to scoop up open space (Sierra Sun, January 5 2010)
Gems of the northern Sierra — from granite cliffs and lofty peaks to verdant wetlands and
rugged canyons, adding up to thousands of acres — preserved.
Including popular destinations like the Palisade
Creek Trail and Mount Lola Trail, as well as remote wilderness like Gray Creek and Pierce Meadows, it's safe to say the Truckee
Donner Land Trust isn't resting on its laurels. Read More....
DONNER SUMMIT POLITICS
ARE ALL ABOUT WATER (Moonshine Ink, July 17 2009) Donner Summit is an internationally known landmark and a defining geographical feature
in our local landscape, but the people residing there and the issues they are grappling with are often a bit more elusive.
Outsiders often reduce Donner Summit politics to the contentious Royal Gorge development debate and the ubiquitous
“Save Donner Summit” bumper sticker. Large-scale development projects grabs the headlines, but the issue that
underlies everything is water. There’s a finite and vulnerable supply for drinking available and limited wastewater
treatment capacity. Read more....
SOUTH YUBA RIVER HEADWATERS: DONNER SUMMIT SPRING (YubaNet.com, May 12 2009)
and
the stars reel over your heads spooled out like thread thrown out by a
subtle spider casting her web over the universe and the water, listen for it seeps, and weeps,
and drabbles down the rocks a bright shine in the
daylight a damp reverse inflorescence in the night Read more....
-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
