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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/01/2005, 854 - LAGUNA LAKE Page 1 of 1 SLO Citycouncil - Laguna lake RECEIVED JAN 31 2CC:i From: Saeed Niku <sniku@calpoly.edu> SLO CITY CLERK To: <slocitycouncil@slocity.org> Date: 1/31/2005 10:39 AM Subject: Laguna lake Dear Coucil memebers: Here is my 2 cents worth on dredging the laguna Lake. I believe that we should do this only if it is environmentally necessary, if we have the money to do it, and if it helps with the long term health of the city and the lake. I DO NOT think we should do this because it increases the property value of the people living next to it. If this has caused the lake to be in fact begger, I prefer the lake bigger and not smaller. I also do think that we should dredge without draining the lake. I have no idea how much it costs to do this, and whether you can save the water somewhere, etc. But it.seems to me that we should be able to just pull out the dirt from the base without draining the water. Thank you for the opportunity to express my thoughts, Saeed Niku RED FILE M �IINNG AGENDA CuNCIL ADD DIR DATE. T"_ ITEM #,�5A rODEPT A0 .LFIN DIR CAO FIRE CHIEF 70RNEY ;DPW DIR LER VORIG G�POLICE CHF HEADS ;lR=C DIR y2-UK DIR 2 HR DIR file://C:\Documents%20and%2OSettings\slouser\Local%2OSettings\Temp\GW IOOOO1.HTM 1/31/2005 I Page 1 of 1 SLO Citycouncil-Laguna Lake From: <fdavidson@charter.net> To: <slocitycouncil@slocity.org> Date: 1/31/2005 5:33 PM Subject: Laguna Lake We very much appreciate the serious look you are taking at dredging. I have read your very thorough staff report. I feel it could be strengthened by a closer look to the environmental benefits of the lake as a wildlife corridor. I would hope we could look for some funding on that score to help preserve the lake. Attached is my statement. I live at 1180 Vista del Lago,San Luis Obispo,93405. My phone is 545-8687. 1 am willing to serve on a committee to search for resources to preserve Laguna Lake. We are educational film producers and would be willing to use those talents if appropriate. Frances Davidson =RECEIVEDRED FILE MING AGENDA DATE 1T ITEM 4� COUNCIL _;;.,CDD DIR ,ICAO ;;,,FIN DIR .aACAO ;/FIRE CHIEF e0ATTORNEY Z"FW DIR ,ErCLERK10RIG' FOLICECHF D DEPT HEADS 2-'R=C DIR CDIR WHRHR DIR file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\slouser\Local%20Settings\Temp\GW}000O1.HTM 1/31/2005 Page 1 of 1 Barbara Ehrbar- Laguna Lake Dredging ECEIVED From: "Kerry, Kent or Patrick Taylor" <kkpt @ slonet.org> FEB U 1 To: <slocitycouncil @ slocity.org> M.) Date: 2/1/2005 9:57 AM SLO CITY CLERK J Subject: Laguna Lake Dredging CC: <kkpt@slonet.org> Dear Mayor Romero and Councilmembers, I cannot attend tonight's session on Laguna Lake dredging,so I thought I would send you my views on the issue. I hope you will look favorably on dredging the lake. It will help with the mosquito issue,flood control,and add to the recreational value of Laguna Lake Park. I realize that money is short. Accordingly, I would support our being included in a taxing or special assessment district to help finance some of the cost of the project on an on-going basis. Thank you for time and attention. Kent Taylor 1295 Descanso St. San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 RED FILE ME ING AGENDA ;.�.CtD..r.Ll� .�' �� �n DAT ITEM #� CACAO Jam', '!atE CHIEF rte-'ATTORNEY F"'DIR 2rCLERK/ORIG CLIC"c CWF ❑ D HEADS -.0 bIR IL DI �-__LDill71'FHR DIP. file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\slouser\Local%20Settings\Temp\GW IOOOO1.HTM 2/1/2005 m�� WDD F�wcounat m- _ !� IR_ Clty O�Sdtl LUIS OBISpO, city COUflCl1 � CAO ,E+'FIN DI JIACAO Je'FIRE CHIEF'ATTORNEY J'PW DIRDATE: Febru 1, 2005 Ja CLERK ORIG ,?'POLICE CHF�Y ❑ DE T HEADS 1GREC DIR -/ UTIL DIRTO: City Council %�i � FIFA DIR �I FROM: David F. Romero RED FILE SUBJECT: Study Session Item 4—Laguna Lake Dredging MEETING AGENDA DATE ITEM # Following are my thoughts regarding Laguna Lake dredging. I'm planning on presenting them at the beginning of the Council discussion period. A. 100 years from now, do we want a lake or a marsh? Answer: A lake is a much better choice. B. To preserve the lake, it must be dredged. What should be the borders/boundaries of the maintained lake? Answer: The lake should be dredged within City ownership, with portions near houses and formal park finished to an urban standard. Remote areas can be left more natural. C. How deep should the dredging be? Answer: Combine information from various studies so as to minimize mixing of bottom sediment due to wind action, minimize plant growth from the lake bottom and maximize lake surface uses such as sailing. Depth should be determined from the flow line of the box culvert under Madonna Road, which represents the "beginning of summer" water level. D. What method should be used for dredging? Answer: The least expensive and most practical method would be with use of a suction dredge. E. Where and how would dredging spoils be disposed of? Answer: By far the cheapest and easiest location for disposal is placement on the Madonna grazing land and the back acreage of Laguna Lake Park. After the material has dried, it can be tilled in as a soil amendment to the existing sparse native material. The contour of the land would not be visibly changed and the soil would be more fertile. F. What would the cost be? Answer: The City could lease or lease/purchase a floating diesel-powered dredge and several thousand feet of flexible pipe. There would be dozer cost in creating receiving cells, and with setting up the dredge and laying out pipe. Dredging operations could be carried out by a small crew of part-time temporary City employees. Costs would be a GACouncil Support&Corresp\City Council Correspondence\Romero\Communication Items\Laguna Lake Dredging.doc Laguna Lake Dredging February 1, 2005 Page 2 fraction of those listed in the report. Work could be conducted seasonally, weather or budget permitted. G. Would there be flood protection benefits? Answer: The dredging program would not provide additional flood protection. However, flood protection could be provided relatively inexpensively by placing a flapper gate on the lake side of drains leading from Oceanaire into Laguna Lake, and connecting the catch basins on Oceanaire to a drainage pipe which would discharge to the Laguna Lake outlet on the easterly side of Madonna Road. H. What are the obstacles to the dredging program? Answer: The biggest obstacle is "political will'. The City has been unable to move ahead on this issue for over 35 years as the lake has continued to deteriorate. I believe regulatory and funding obligations could be resolved if there were firm Council direction to move ahead. RECEIVED FEB u 1 NO') SLO CITY CLERK As a homeowner who has lived on the edge of Laguna Lake for the past twenty -four years,.I am very much interested in, and in favor of the possibility of maintaining and dredging this wonderful resource we have in our city. Living alongside the lake all these years has been magical for myself and my family. Watching all kinds of wildlife, recreational boating, windsurfing and much more has been a privilege for us all. While I understand that by building near the lake has done some ecological damage, my family has taken care to preserve and take care of our small area of the lake. In the. past ten years however, we have watched as debris and dirt has swirled down from Perfumo Canyon Creek and formed a peninsula in front of our house. Now, instead of water flowing directly into the lake, it makes a sharp curve into a small creek directly in front of my neighbors house and mine, and with the recent rains, my neighbor and I were very concerned about flooding of our property. Across this creek is an unsightly peninsula, filled with debris and fallen branches. Now, instead of watching the birds who have inhabited our lake, we look at a tangle of fallen branches and debris. The windsurfers have long since gone, the lake is much too shallow for them, now only the occasional canoe plies the water. Red winged.blackbirds no longer inhabit the reeds. Laguna Lake is well on its way to becoming a swamp, a breeding ground for mosquitoes. I do not believe that this is what nature intended for this wonderful lake. I do feel that the debris and landfill coming dowri the creek is due to mucic - - building further up. What are we doing to this treasure within our city limits? My family joins me in asking you, please, consider dredging now so that many generations beyond ours will be able to enjoy Laguna Lake. .Several years ago, the city passed up a great opportunity to dredge, please don't pass up this chance. Marty Babcoc Laguna lake resident KOUN IL -;-7-CDo D I R RED FILE ACAO AO FARE CHIEF MEETING AGENDALF- , ATTORNEY .Gv 01 DATE ITEM # - CLERKIORIG y POLICE CHF ❑ DF.PTHEADS 1R=C Dla i � UTIL DIR Digging in my front yard a few years ago, I found what I thought to be an arrowhead. I took it to our county museum and the curator said, "This isn't an arrow head, it is was made to spear fish. Where do you live?" I told him that we fronted on Laguna Lake, as we then did. He told us that the Chumash lived by the lake and used it for food. He went on to say that the mission fathers had planned on building there, where the indigenous peoples lived, but soon thought better of it. Building with adobe near a marshy lake is not wise. We now live behind the creeping delta but with a view of the lake that continues to thrill and inspire. White pelicans flying in formation, visiting geese noisily telling each other their migration stories, and busy flocks of diving kites share the lake to our delight. I like to think that the ancestors of those birds shared the lake with our Chumash forerunners. But now that lake is becoming very shallow with bushes starting to grow in the "open" water. How much longer will it be able to sustain these birds? We have observed the gradual silting in of the lake so that now in summertime, long legged birds stand in the middle. The lake that, according to that museum curator, nourished the Chumash is becoming a meadow. California doesn't have many natural freshwater lakes, especially in the city limits of a. major town. We need to protect this one. Evolving into a meadow IS a natural process but it would seem that this process has been hurried by the amount of silt and debris that roars past our house with every major storm. I would guess that this is a result of disrupted soils in the Irish Hills. I can't be hypocritical about this, the construction of my house too disrupted the soils and added to our lovely lake's problems but it does seem that we owe the lake a very much slower demise. Michael Pollin wrote an interesting book called SECOND NATURE in which he argued that we have so changed the systems of earth that now we need to start treating it as a careful gardener would. Gardening involves removing obstacles to healthy growth such as noxious weeds, aggressive non-natives unhelpful boulders as well as well as nurturing precious features. It seems to me that we need to garden our lake to preserve it for coming generations both of us humans and of the wildlife that use it so beautifully. I would hope that restoring the lake could be this generation's equivalent to revitalizing the creek downtown that was hidden under cement in the 1960's. That work, yes, way less expensive, has more than proven its value in pleasure to our citizens and in the dollars of visitors. Restoring Laguna Lake with its park not going to pay for itself so quickly-outdoor cafes and street fairs aren't appropriate there. But with its wonderfully developing Memorial Grove urban forest, it is becoming San Luis Obispo's equivalent of the Golden Gate Park. I hope that we have the foresight to start looking for the resources to preserve and enhance this important legacy we have inherited.