Re: Homebuilding

It seems to me that our city and county officials are at it once again. Yuba City and Sutter County have a history of permitting the building of homes that cannot connect to the city wastewater treatment plant. Instead, we allow developers to saturate the permitted areas with individual septic systems.

The City of Yuba City Wastewater System Master Plan, revised March 2006, identified the need for three possible alternative sewer collection systems (city trunk lines) to accommodate the development scheduled to commence from 2007 to 2010, continuing through 2020. However, here we are in 2018, without any of the three possible sewer collection systems constructed.

Recently, in the Yuba City council meeting of September 18, 2018, recommendations were made regarding the future development of the El Margarita Master Plan of approximately 650 acres. Also, in the Sutter County Board of Supervisor (BOS) meeting on September 11, 2018, the BOS adopted a memorandum of understanding with the City regarding the expansion of Yuba City’s “Sphere of Influence” for the Bogue-stewart Master Plan Area: approximately 750 acres to be developed. Both of these plans include the building of more homes (approximate 2,000 plus) many without the sewer lines necessary to carry away the wastewater.

My husband and I live in an area in which we are not connected to the city sewer system. Instead, we rely on our home septic system as do most of our neighbors. Our home was built in 1990 in accordance with Sutter County regulations and annexed into Yuba City in 2004. However, Yuba City has done nothing to expand the city’s trunk line into our area. Why don’t we bring the sewer to our existing neighborhoods before we create new septic fields? As it stands today, we the homeowners in my neighborhood are not only responsible for the cost of connecting our property to the sewer trunk lines (if they existed) but the cost of expanding this trunk line throughout our neighborhood: a prohibitive expense for any homeowner.

If the city believes we the homeowner should be the “bank” for funding such projects, that should be their responsibility; I cannot help but ask: will this be the situation for the homeowners in the new developments? Judy Hartney