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Residents warn sewer plan could shift tens of thousands in costs to homeowners; cite growth and equity concerns
Summary
Multiple residents urged more study and local outreach, warning that the district's current estimates could translate into large per‑parcel assessments and destabilize housing and small businesses; commenters recommended mailed surveys, further technical options and protections on hookups to limit growth.
Dozens of residents and business owners used the public‑comment period to press the board for more outreach, to question engineering assumptions and to raise affordability and growth concerns.
One speaker characterized the plan as "a $50 million amputation," warning that the current numbers could translate into several thousand dollars — and in some private estimates, tens of thousands — in added costs per parcel over the loan term. Callers urged smaller, surgical fixes, advanced on‑site treatments, more mail surveys and empathy for legacy residents on fixed incomes.
Multiple commenters also worried that running a new transmission line or building a local plant would stimulate development in corridors the community plan discourages; they pointed to the Santa Ynez Valley community plan language and asked the board to reconcile the policy before moving forward. Several public speakers also urged that any eventual assessment scheme protect small‑parcel downtown property owners and businesses that depend on tourism.
