HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-10-2017 - NikuRELEIVLO
COUNCIL MEETING: 1 — I U
ITEM NO.: P%6 J Cow,mer7 _ JAN 0 9 2017
From: "Saeed Niku"
Date: Sun, Jan 8, 2017 at 1:57 PM -0800
Subject: Comments and vote about laguna Lake
To: "E-mail Council Website" <ernailcouncil(a_),slocity.org>
Dear Mayor and City Council Members:
We live near the Laguna Lake (for 30 years, 34 years total in SLO) and we have been told that there will be a
meeting on Tuesday in order to decide about dredging the Lake. I would like to make the following comments:
1. The reason the Lake is apparently filling with sediments is that the water from Perfumo Canyon was
directed to it decades ago without separating the sediments. UNTIL AND UNLESS THIS IS STOPPED FIRST,
dredging the lake at the cost of millions of dollars will be a useless act; it will fill up again. The City needs to
first stop the sediments from coming in.
2. At a meeting a few months ago, we were told about the cost (I believe $23,000,000) and the volume of dirt
to be dredged and moved away. I believe the number of large truck to do so was estimated at THOUSANDS.
Think about the consequences.
3. 1 am not at all convinced that dredging is needed. If dredged, the lake will become deeper, but with the
same volume of water, it will also be smaller. What is good about it becoming smaller? Right now, once in a
while we get a "good" rain, which will spill into the "always -empty" extension of the lake near Foothill Road.
Would it not be nice to have a larger lake if it happens anyway? When decades ago there was flooding in the
area due to rain, the flooding was not due to the lake, but the water coming in. The lake, as far as I remember,
has never flooded into anyone's property.
4. If dredging is so necessary, why was it not dredged, actually scraped, last year when the Lake was
completely dry? It would have cost a fraction of this plan and would be very quick. City of Atascadero did it
successfully. Why not here?
Since I cannot come to this meeting, I would like to vote an emphatic NO to this project.
If the City decides to do it anyway, then the burden should be for the entire City not the residents of the area.
We almost never go to the Lake, while all residents of the city have the same access to it. You want to know
how people really feel? Charge anyone who uses the lake for dredging. See how many people will vote for it.
Thank you for reading.
Saeed Niku
San Luis Obispo