Deliberate planning could have averted Chumash aqueduct crisis sooner

After last month’s crisis of the Mission aqueduct (“SLO developer will preserve Chumash aqueduct after public outcry,” Sept. 22), it’s important to recollect the steps leading to its preservation, so we don’t skate near calamity again.

Chumash archaeological monitor Lorrie Laguna, tribal chair Mona Tucker and Mayor Jan Marx acted courageously and decisively. Cultural Heritage Committee Chair Jaime Hill, Community Development Director Michael Codron and Senior Planner Brian Leveille used their knowledge of “the system” to make the system work for the community. The Tribune’s Nick Wilson and Dave Middlecamp gave us the timely and complex information only a serious newsprint and online daily can provide.

Preservation professionals from across the state offered help, citizens wrote dozens of letters to the City Council, and the city listened. Finally, the Copelands and architect Mark Rawson pledged display and complete preservation of this ancient Chumash structure. They will be intensely proud of the result.

None of this should have been taking place at the last minute. The city has 38 pages of archaeological preservation guidelines that, if followed, would have protected this unique and significant feature deliberatively rather than hurriedly. The Cultural Heritage Committee and Community Development need to work better together to provide rigorous oversight of the city’s treasures.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 8:28 PM with the headline "Deliberate planning could have averted Chumash aqueduct crisis sooner."