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From the "Santa Lucian", January, 1996
Unless Cal Poly Administrators Robert Kitamura and Frank Lebens do something about it immediately, the State Water Project Coastal Pipeline will be crashing through some of the most beautiful and environmentally rich landscape in the county and leaving a wide swath of destruction in its path.
At a December 18, 1995, meeting among Department of Water Resources Officials, Cal Poly administrators and faculty/staff environmentalists, Pam Jenkins, DWR land agent, state that it was too late now to change the pipeline route to avoid destroying large grove of ancient oaks lining the sides and bottom of a canyon on Poly property, where two main tributaries join to form Stenner Creek. According to construction engineer, Terry Becker, it would add about $200,000 to the pipeline's $60 million budget either to run the pipeline through a tunnel or on an alternate path that would spare the oak grove. "A straight line is the shortest distance between two points. Angling the pipeline would require an extra 150 feet of length "
The area in question is located near the northwest border of Cal Poly's property near the end of Stenner Creek road. Located just below one of the hairpin turns on the Southern Pacific Railway's right of way, it is a favorite spot on a trail heavily used by hikers, joggers and mountain bikers. According to Phil Ashley, a Poly Biology Department Technician appointed by the University to do an environmental study of the Pipeline route and to negotiate with DWR, the area is also an extremely rich habitat for flora and fauna.
Ashley indicated that until last summer DWR engineers were working cooperatively with him to design modifications of their proposed route to avoid major negative environmental impacts. Ashley worked on a series of demands agreed upon by the whole of the university's biology department and signed by its Chair, V.L. Holland. However, the DWR suddenly broke off negotiations with him in July and reassigned the engineer he was working with. University administrators gave repeated assurances to concerned faculty members that they were pursuing the case, but no further communication with DWR about these issues took place until today.
Ashley and the biology department have requested four other changes in the pipeline's proposed route to avert additional destruction of riparian habitat. One of these includes a crossing at Brizzolari Creek that could be moved only 50 feet to a clear spot and avoid destroying several large oaks, sywamores and perennial pools. The DWR has again refused to make these changes because of the added expense of changing the straightline orientation of the pipe.
Also threatened by the pipeline construction are the environmental and recreational quality of lower Poly and Stenner Canyons. No written guarantee by DWR has been given that during construction, the roads in these canyons will not be blasted and widened destroying both landscape and habitat.
Ironically, Cal Poly itself still can prevent the predicted disaster from taking place. Frank Lebens, Vlce President for Finance, must sign off on the plans before construction can actually begin. He and his associate, Bob Kitamura, Director of Facilit ies Planning, are the ones responsible for negotiating the terms of passage through Cal Poly's land. However, they have delegated much of the responsibility for these negotiations to Farm Manager Gary Ketchum, for whom environmental and recreational concerns are not crucial. Responding to pressure from several faculty members and students, in October, Lebens created a committee to provide additional input to the process, but environmentalists on the committee were unable to get him or Kitamura to disclose what communications were taking place between them and DWR.
Unless Lebens and Kitamura insist on very specific and reasonable protections of stream crossings and canyon roads from the DWR, work will proceed as planned. At that point nothing but an outpouring of indignation and action from those members of our community who care about saving some of the irreplaceable treasures in our own back yard is likely to have any effect.
What can you do to avert this travesty? Write to:
Frank Lebens, Vlce President Finance, Cal Poly SLO, CA 93407.
Express your concerns about Cal Poly's disregard of the need for protecting the biological and sensitive resources on their lands, despite Cal Poly being a leader in agricultural education.
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