Lodi City Council narrows options for possible sites of water treatment plant

Nine months after voting to build a drinking water treatment plant, the Lodi City Council decided to focus on two locations as possible sites for the five-acre plant.

City staff recommended the city-owned 13-acre empty lot west of Lodi Lake. Without ruling that site out, the council voted to explore another nine-acre site owned by General Mills.

The City Council voted 4-0 to have staff look at both sites and bring back findings at a later meeting. Vice Mayor JoAnne Mounce was absent. The council also decided to sell other pieces of vacant city-owned land and is looking for a real estate agent to help in the process.

The council considered three other locations for the plant, which will treat the 6,000 acre feet of Mokelumne River water the city buys each year from the Woodbridge Irrigation District.

Other locations included a vacant lot along the Mokelumne River at Awani Drive and two sites west of the city.

Councilmen Phil Katzakian and Larry Hansen supported locating the $25 million plant at Lodi Lake Park. However, a vote on that site was defeated 2-2 with Mayor Bob Johnson and Councilwoman Susan Hitchcock dissenting.

Hitchcock said she did not want to waste park land for the plant.

"It seems like we have such a jewel there and we are going to put a high building that will in my mind create a blight," she said. "We'll never be able to buy a piece of property like that again."

After the vote, Lodi Lake docent Kathy Grant said the park site would be a good location for the plant. It could be used as an educational tool to teach kids about the river and its many uses, she said.

In other action, the Lodi City Council:

• Voted to enter into discussions to join the Central Valley Resource Agency.
• Voted to purchase a new radio system for the Police Department at a cost of $86,000.
• Voted to spend $57,000 for consultants to develop Lodi's short-range transit plan.
— News-Sentinel staff.

The city will enter into talks with General Mills about the possibility of selling its property just north of the Turner Road cereal factory. A city estimate prices that land at $1 million.

City officials say the treatment plant is needed to supply Lodi's growing population and ease the demand on the city's groundwater basin. Lodi's drinking water currently comes from wells. City Manager Blair King said new developments could pay for the plant.

The council began buying the WID water in 2003 and voted to build the treatment plant in December. The water is being banked, meaning the city will be able to use it once the treatment plant is complete in 2010 or 2011, Public Works Director Richard Prima said.

The council also voted 4-0 to sell two parcels of city-owned land and lease a third piece. The vacant lots include the Awani Drive property and a parcel on Lockeford Street between Stockton Street and Washington Street. The city will lease a strip of land north of Salas Park, which was slated to become an extension of Century Boulevard.

The 3.65-acre Awani Drive property was appraised at $1.2 million and the 1.36-acre Lockeford Street lot is worth $340,000. The 3.06-acre Century Boulevard property will be leased for $40,000 per year.

The council also voted 3-1 to seek the services of a real estate agent to help the city sell these properties and a 9-acre city-owned vacant lot on Guild Avenue. The Eastside property, which was appraised at $2.5 million, has been on the market since April, although the city has received no proposals.

The land, which is owned by Lodi Electric Utility, was looked at for a new utility headquarters. However, without the funds to build the headquarters, the city is trying to sell the property to provide a one-time cash injection into the utility.

Hitchcock dissented because she was opposed to selling the Guild Avenue property.

Reader Feedback

To Dawes wrote on Aug 18, 2007 11:42 PM:

" The GOB think that if they pander to the "los trabajadores criminales", the illegals with no tarjete verde, they will get their illegal votes. Mexican citizens live and breathe the concept of mordida. Payoffs bribes, something for something. They will do anything for you, but you have to help them first. "

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