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Home My WebLink About4/21/2026 Item 7b, Delmartini FW: Sewer lateral - point of sale ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Steve Delmartini < Date: Sun, Apr 12, 2026 at 11:24 AM Subject: Sewer lateral - point of sale To: Jocelyn Brennan < Sewer lateral - mandatory point of sale/replacement Honorable Mayor and Council Members The numbers herein are estimates. I'm sending this merely to make a point about the length of time a "Point of Sale" may take vs. just having affected laterals replaced. I'm sorry this email is a bit long. Within the last six months (October 14, 2025 to April 9, 2026) there have been approx.136 closed escrows on single family homes in San Luis Obispo. Of that that number, approx. 44 (about 35%) were newer than 20 years old so they were exempt from the lateral inspection. That leaves approx. 92 that were subject to the inspection. If we make an assumption that in the next six months we will sell approx. the same number of homes and that there will be approx. the same number of exempt homes then we would have approx.184 homes that have a lateral inspection. If I'm following the numbers that have been discussed by the city staff. I believe there have been approx. 1,100 homes inspected since the inception of this program. There have been approx. 340 homes with failed/poor laterals or about 30%. Looking forward, if we stay on the same sales pace, then there would be approx.270 homes sold by the end of the year. If there are relatively the same results as above, then there would be approx. 90 homes exempt and 180 homes subject to the inspection. If there were a 30% poor/failed rate then approx. 55 homes would need the lateral replace. So that would be approx. 400 (55 plus the existing 340) homes that have poor/failed laterals that may never have to be replaced under the current program. There are approx. 7,000 laterals (city number) that have no reported condition. If you stay with approx. 35% (under 20 yrs. old, no inspection needed) or approx. 2,450 homes, that leaves approx. 4,550 homes that need the inspection. Again, selling approx 180 homes a year and approx. 4,550 homes to inspect, that will take approx. 25 years to complete those inspections. Even if there are 250 homes sold per year it will still take approx. 18 years to complete. Juggle the numbers anyway you want, my point is, in most cases "Point of Sale" is not an effective way to solve a problem. My suggestion is that you take the new "Constrained Area" maps and divide them into five sections or however many sections you want and have an ordinance that directs section one to have an inspection within six months of a notice and replace if necessary, within one year of a notice and move on to the next section. I don't know how many properties there are in the the constrained areas but I believe you 1 would have have far quicker results to eliminate the poor/failed systems and more benefit the city. Obviously keep all of the incentives that are offered at this time. The question then remains, what do you do with the rest of the city (laterals already inspected under the current program) and how do you get some compliance in replacement as I believe right now they never have to be replaced unless they sell again. More incentives, not sure. I'm pretty sure my suggestion above will not happen because it's not politically popular but if you want the best for the city then figuring out something other than a point of sale may benefit you more directly. My other big concern is that it's my understanding that there are three maybe four companies that actually do sewer line replacement in the city. We have had those discussion with staff (Chris Lehman) and I don't think they were aware of that. Getting replacements done in a timely fashion, if sellers/buyers want the replacement done prior to close of an escrow vs. waiting to complete within six months could be a problem. Only so many replacements can be done a month. Delaying escrows and uncertainty are generally not a good thing. Thank you so very much for listening and your consideration. I really wish we all could just get together in a room and discuss this situation. As I mentioned, I think this is a foregone conclusion that this will move forward. A series of three minute sound bites (I don't think) change outcomes. If I'm way off on the numbers then I have no problem being corrected, just let me know. Please feel free to contact me. Thanks, Steve 805-801-5165 -- Steve Delmartini Broker Associate DRE#: 00601891 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 2 3