November "Save Serene Lakes" update:

Note: Tell friends to go to www.saveserenelakes.org and sign up for these monthly email updates.

News: (for a complete news timeline see "news timeline")

• A Conversation with Mike Livak of RG confirms that they will be phasing the development, with Lake Camp to be built first. This means that they will be submitting detailed plans for Lake Camp, but only general "bubble" plans for the remaining areas. Mr. Livak says that they are waiting for consultants to finish before they can submit plans to the County, and that it will take another month before they are ready.
• The SLCWD board meeting received public input from 4 individuals expressing their concerns about:

- Raising the dam and flooding/damaging private property. 

- RG's use of 46% occupancy instead of 100% as the county requires.

- The unknown and unstudied characteristics of wells at the summit since they draw water from rock fissures, not traditional aquifers.

- The health of the Serene Lakes watershed and how to protect and manage it.

- RG using water from Rainbow Lodge's bulk water sales operation for the new development.

• At the meeting Mike Livak of RG says the new water studies will include "water level management" but does not elaborate.
• The water board emphasized that RG, not the district, is studying raising the dam level. The district's consultants (Jones and Stokes) will review the results.
• RG is pushing to study the flow rate of the two district wells. These wells are contaminated with Arsenic and Manganese. One well is unusable due to manganese content, and the other is only approved for emergency use due to arsenic content, which raises the question as to why the wells' flow rate is even of interest. In any case, the board raised concerns that discharge from the flow testing would contaminate the lakes, so the discharge water must be disposed of elsewhere, either trucked away, or if permission is granted by DSPUD, disposed down the sewer.
• The Donner Summit Area Association unveiled their professionally conducted survey of summit residents. The results show that residents overwhelmingly oppose development, and want to slow down growth on the summit. Restricting development and protecting the environment were the most important issues for over 80% of the respondents. See "Solidarity on the Summit" for more details. The complete survey is on the DSAA website as "Full Survey Report"
• An electronic version of a Royal Gorge LLC promotional book was published on the web and then removed two days later. The book, which states that it was produced in a hand-made natural binding, appears to be a promotional item given to investors last March at about the same time that Royal Gorge was unveiling their plans to the public. The "investors" book never mentions the Serene Lakes community, with only one reference to the lakes themselves. Many times they emphasize that Sugar Bowl has given them a "Board Certified Letter of Intent" to "connect Royal Gorge and Sugar Bowl resorts, build three new chairlifts and downhill ski trails, and a new portal to Sugar Bowl." Lake Camp is described as a private resort with homeowners lodge, multiple pools, lakes, sports courts and equestrian facilities. The ski camp restaurant on Razorback Ridge is described as a private club for lunch, open to the public only for dinner. Royal Gorge was telling the public in March that they were looking for public input, at the same time they were telling investors "the major building blocks are now in place to finalize the preferred development plan and gain the necessary government approvals."
• A Plavada resident discovers that the law firm of Remy-Thomas is assisting Royal Gorge LLC in their efforts to get development permits from the County. The problem is that Remy-Thomas has represented the Serene Lakes homeowners association in opposing Royal Gorge's Van Norden project, which has been folded into Royal Gorge's current project. This means that the same law firm is representing both sides, a clear conflict of interest.

• The Royal Gorge Future website has new FAQs which reach dizzying heights of spin. Examples: When asked whether the development will overcrowd Serene Lakes, Royal Gorge responds that it won't happen because the recreational opportunities at Lake Camp will be so good that no one will want to use Serene Lakes. In another answer Royal Gorge says  they are only building on 30% of their land, preserving 70%, but admit in the next paragraph that only 40% is even buildable.
• Placer County recorder files indicate that the business value of the Royal Gorge LLC purchase in 2005 was $20.1 million. Add that to the land value (see the October 7th entry in the "news timeline") of $13.9 million, and the total purchase price was $34M. A trust deed filing indicates that RG LLC took out a $17M loan to complete the purchase. If the interest is 6%, RG is paying $1M per year to service the loan.

Upcoming Events:

• The next SLCWD water board meeting is December 14, 5PM at the water district offices. A special presentation by Mr. Farrar of the USGS is tentatively scheduled. Mr Farrar will talk about geological issues related to water on the Summit.

• DSAA will be hosting the second "Summit Summit" meeting at Donner Trail school on December 15th from 10 to noon. The purpose of this meeting is to establish guiding planning principles based upon the community survey results as a step towards developing a Community/Area Plan for the Summit.  Details should be on the DSAA website soon.

Recent Publications: (for links to these and other publications see "articles")

• The following articles were published in the Sierra Sun, YubaNet or The Union: 

- Skating on Thin Ice on the Summit

- A Poisonous Development at Donner Summit

- A Serene Lakes Depth Analysis

- Solidarity on the Summit

• November issue of the Donner Summit Clarion

Note: Volunteers are needed to drop off Clarions at sporting goods stores, libraries, or other venues in each volunteer's area. If you are interested in helping out, please email publicity@saveserenelakes.org to volunteer.

Current Placer County Status:

• Crystal Jacobson of Placer County planning reports that RG LLC has not submitted anything new and has not told the County when they will. She is expecting RG to submit plan and descriptions to allow them to build Lake Camp first. She says that RG will need to include lot lines, roads, utility placement and other infrastructure details for Lake Camp. They will not need to submit the same level of details for the remaining development, but will need enough details to allow a comprehensive EIR to be generated. A new project filing followed by public input and review will be required for each subsequent phase. She says the County will do a thorough internal review of the Lake camp submission, a process that will take at least 6 months, before RG will be able to file a formal application and start the CEQA/EIR process.
• Tyler Barrington of Nevada County planning reports that Royal Gorge's old Van Norden Meadow project is still on hold.

Web Sites of Interest:

www.sierrawatch.org

www.syrcl.org

www.saveserenelakes.org

www.saveVanNordenMeadow.org

www.savethesummit.com

www.savedonnersummit.org

www.saveroyalgorge.org

*****************************************************************

This is the monthly update service of www.saveserenelakes.org. To sign up for this update service, visit www.saveserenelakes.org and look for the "Updates" section in the left hand column.

To cancel your update emails, reply with CANCEL in the subject line.