An unremarkable 38-acre plot of land on the outskirts of Los Osos is set to become the focal point of one of the county’s longest-running infrastructure controversies — the Los Osos sewer project.
Some form of sewer system to replace the hundreds of septic systems in the town has been under consideration for the past 30 years.
County public works officials are putting the finishing touches on plans to build the project’s sewage treatment plant on the 38-acre parcel located north of the Los Osos Valley Memorial Park known as the Giacomazzi site.
The treatment plant is just one component of the $165 million project. Sewage collection and effluent disposal systems are also planned for the bayside community of 14,000 residents with about 12,500 directly affected by the sewer project.
In January, the project will face its final regulatory hurdle — the California Coastal Commission.
Twenty-two appeals of the project have been filed with the panel, including one from the commission itself. County supervisors will hold a hearing Nov. 24 to address the commission’s concerns about disposal of the plant’s effluent in hopes of improving the likelihood of a speedy approval.
County officials are also arranging financing for the project. They expect the work to be financed with a combination of state and federal loans and grants and a voter-approved property tax assessment. They expect the project to receive federal stimulus money, with a decision about how much the allocation will be in March.
“When you are doing a project of this size, you don’t just have one source of funding,” project administrator John Diodati said. “You have to go to three or four pots.”
Building a sewage treatment plant anywhere in the Los Osos area would be difficult, and the Giacomazzi site is no exception. It consists of gently rolling hills.
Loss of 38 acres of farmland is just one drawback.
The site must be graded significantly to prepare it for construction. This means that scattered Chumash Indian artifacts as well as remnants of historic farm buildings might be disturbed, said Mark Hutchinson, the project’s environmental manager.
“We don’t expect to find burial sites or anything like that,” he said.
The plant will use an extended aeration treatment process that injects air into the sewage to promote bacterial consumption of pollutants. Officials say they expect any odor the plant produces to be kept onsite.
Another crucial component of the project is across town at an eight-acre parcel known as the Broderson site. This is where about a third of the plant’s treated effluent will be returned to underground aquifers via leach fields in order to replenish groundwater and prevent saltwater intrusion.
The Broderson site sits on a hillside just south of town. The effluent will be discharged into the sandy soil using buried perforated pipes.
Because the leach fields will be underground only fencing will be visible aboveground, Hutchinson said.
The leach fields are part of a larger 88-acre parcel. A variety of restoration work is planned for the site; it’s intended to offset environmental damage caused by other aspects of the sewer system as well as grading done at the mid-town Tri-W site that was part of a previous, failed attempt to build a sewer system.
Restoration work will mostly consist of removing invasive species such as nonnative grasses and some eucalyptus trees. The goal is to improve the site as habitat for the Morro Bay kangaroo rat, a federally listed endangered species.
Reach David Sneed at 781-7930.
SanLuisObispo.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. See our full terms of service here.
Here are some rules of the road:
You should also know that The Tribune does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at webmaster@thetribunenews.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the username of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to webmaster@thetribunenews.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
Be the first to know what's going on in San Luis Obispo County. Just tell us how you want to find out — we'll take care of the rest.
Sign up for breaking news alerts from SanLuisObispo.com and get the latest news sent to your cell phone via text message.
By signing up for alerts from this site, you are signing up for a program that may include up to 5 SMS text alert(s) per alert category per day. There is no service fee charged per month but your carrier's standard text messaging and other charges may apply. You may stop this subscription service at any time by sending the text message "STOP" to 72737. You must be at least thirteen (13) years of age to use our alert services. If you are between 13 and 17 years old, you agree that you have received parental permission both to complete the registration process and to receive SMS content on your cell phone. For help, send the text message "HELP" to 72737. This service will work with ATT, Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, Alltell, US Cellular, Cincinnati Bell, Boost, Virgin Mobile USA, Celluar South, Telos, Centennial, East Kentucky Network, Cellcom, Immix and Rural Celluar.
E-mail »
Twitter »
Facebook »
iTribune »
Subscribe »
RSS »
About comments
Reader comments on SanLuisObispo.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Tribune. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.