SANTA CRUZ – Efforts to secure millions in funding for two North Santa Cruz County community projects cleared an early hurdle, after 18th District Rep. Anna Eshoo announced that her requested additions were included in the 2023 Appropriations bills that will be voted on by the House.
Eshoo’s requested package allocates $2 million for a wastewater expansion project in the Boulder Creek area and $750,000 to replace a play structure at Skypark in Scotts Valley, according to a release from Eshoo’s office. The bills must still be approved by the House and Senate, but Eshoo appeared encouraged by the committee’s nod.
“This year I requested the Appropriations Committee fund 15 projects to provide more affordable housing, fix roads, build Caltrain crossing, improve our schools, and rebuild communities damaged by wildfire,” Eshoo said in a prepared release. “I’m proud to announce that the Committee has included these projects in their appropriations bills which will be voted on by the full house.”
The 15 bills total $21.4 million for the 18th Congressional District 18, which extends as far south as Empire Grade Road, as far north as Redwood City.
Boulder Creek sanitation
County officials are in early phases of a plan to expand a sanitation district in Boulder Creek that would benefit a community still recovering from the devastation of the 2020 CZU Complex Fire.
County Service Area 7 or the Boulder Creek Sanitation District was first developed in 1968 and operates primarily in areas closely adjacent to the Boulder Creek Golf Course. Residents within the district’s jurisdiction benefit from a county-operated sewage system that transports and processes their wastewater, as opposed to an individualized septic system that must be cleared and maintained by the property owner.
David Reid, director of the Office of Response, Recovery and Resilience, told the Sentinel that expanding the district to a much broader swath of the community would bring a number of benefits to a region that has experienced unprecedented hardship in recent years.
“There’s an opportunity, by expanding the sanitation district, to certify our survivors – to reduce their costs,” Reid said. “Many of the residents along the (Highway) 236 corridor that were impacted by the fire – and many others that weren’t – have inadequate or substandard septic systems that are contributing to poor water quality in the San Lorenzo and Boulder Creek drainages.”
In addition to reduced costs and improved water quality, Reid also touted the potential expansion’s positive economic impact on regional businesses and increased development opportunities for homeowners that would no longer need to jump through the many hoops septic system requirements pose.
“I’m so grateful to Congresswoman Eshoo for her efforts to secure funding for this vital project,” said 5th District County Supervisor Bruce McPherson, who has been closely involved in the project’s planning. “It is yet another example of her commitment to the people of San Lorenzo Valley, who she has represented so well for many years.”
Camp Krem is one of the businesses located along the Highway 236 corridor that was decimated by the CZU fire. Co-founder Alex Krem told the Sentinel that 25 of the 26 buildings on campus were destroyed and that his team is slowly beginning to rebuild.
“Our septic system was on a sand hill and the ground does not percolate very well,” Krem said. “So the system must be massively overbuilt to satisfy the engineers. We would be very pleased to deliver our sewage to a municipal system.”
Reid said the current sanitation district has 263 residential connections and the conceptual expansion could potentially expand services to more than 600 properties, with 90% being residential and 10% being commercial. He said the project will likely to cost tens of millions of dollars and the county is exploring several additional funding options including state grants.
Skypark improvements
A play structure at Skypark in Scotts Valley is worn and failing, but $750,000 in help may be on the way, should Eshoo’s community initiative funding receive the green light from Congress.
In a recently published message, Scotts Valley Mayor Donna Lind said city staff worked to develop a budget with a greater focus on park maintenance and improvements. She said the appropriations funding is welcome, but the city is not waiting on it to begin the necessary work.
Recent efforts have included a Park Volunteer Day, landscaping projects and a fresh layer of mulch on the playgrounds.
