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Residents urge Redlands City Council to protect historic citrus groves and water shares
Summary
Multiple property owners and water-company representatives told the council they fear city staff will terminate long-standing water exchange agreements that sustain private orange groves; the mayor said the city is not pursuing rescission of those agreements.
Public commenters at the Redlands City Council meeting on March 4 pressed the council to preserve the city’s citrus groves and to honor long-standing water exchange agreements that owners say are essential to irrigating private groves.
Speakers including Chris Sedmack, owner of a private orange grove, and parcel owners Susan Brooks and Bobby Whitmore described centuries-old groves and said recent city staff actions threaten water delivery to trees that have produced citrus since the 1880s. "If these exchange agreements are terminated, it will be the end of private citrus in Redlands," Brooks told the council, saying her parcel includes about 100 trees at risk if water delivery is cut off.
The issue centers on water shares and the city’s recent purchases of grove parcels and water shares. Brooks and other speakers cited a 1996 exchange agreement between the city and Redlands Water Company and a 2013 city resolution (No. 7,047) that previously streamlined exchange procedures. Speakers said staff is refusing to honor exchanges established under those documents;…
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