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Alameda County Fair told to fix stormwater, county and fair weigh options as horses are moved
Summary
County staff and the Alameda County Fair Association told an ad hoc committee they received multiple notices of violation over stormwater and wastewater discharges and are coordinating with the San Francisco Bay regional water board, DSRSD and the city of Pleasanton; the Fair has filed initial permits and must deliver an engineered stormwater/wastewater plan by year-end.
The Alameda County Agriculture Fair Association ad hoc committee heard a detailed update on water-quality enforcement and remediation at the Alameda County Fairgrounds, where regulators have issued notices of violation to the Fair and to Alameda County as property owner.
Kimberly Gasway, director of Alameda County’s General Services Agency, told the committee that the regional water quality control board issued a notice of violation and that the city of Pleasanton and the Dublin–San Ramon Services District (DSRSD) have also sent corrective-action communications. "We sent a letter to the fair association and copied your CEO regarding the notice of violation from the regional water quality control board that was issued to the fair and also the county as property owner," Gasway said, describing interagency coordination and a requirement that the Fair submit a licensed-engineer stormwater and wastewater plan by the end of the year.
The Fair’s CEO, Jerome Hoban, described work already underway. "We are certainly putting together our documents to respond to the county by March 21," he said, and said the association has engaged engineers and submitted permit materials for Baker tanks and a bypass-valve request. Hoban said the Fair has modified operations — installing Baker tanks, pig filters, raised manure-containment walls and other best-management practices — and is providing weekly updates to regulators.
Board members focused on whether the Fair can achieve compliance while some horses remain on-site. County staff cautioned that regulators have not explicitly required all horses to leave but that the engineering solution can depend on the number and types of animals. "The engineering plan may have to be slightly different, and there's also different rules depending on the number and types of animals that you have on-site," Gasway said.
Tamara Austin, a consultant and former regional water board attorney, urged caution about changing course without formal approval from regulators. "I would be very cautious about pushing the water board and not sticking with the plan that you have in place without a new plan in place," Austin said, adding that much of the nonenforcement to date has been predicated on deadlines the Fair communicated internally.
Public comments included a mix of residents, industry representatives and people connected to stabling. A text read into the record attributed to George Schmidt said an LLC has been set up, a tax identification number applied for and $22,000,000 committed so far, and noted the hire of a water engineer; that information was offered as part of public proposals to address water and stabling obligations.
Committee members asked for short-term options while long-term engineering and construction proceed. Staff reiterated that discharging Baker-tank water to the sanitation district during dry months is a path that could relieve creek discharges if the sanitation district agrees to accept the effluent and the water board accepts that approach during the dry season.
Next steps: the Fair will continue permit submissions and engineering work and will coordinate written requests with the sanitation district and the regional water board about dry-season discharges. The county will review contract terms with the Fair Association at an upcoming public meeting. No enforcement action or new deadlines beyond the regulators’ notices were decided at this ad hoc meeting.
