Some San Simeon land owners may get off waitlist soon

A legal settlement may clear the way for property owners in San Simeon to develop their land.

The settlement between Bob Hather and the San Simeon Community Services District, may clear the way for eight San Simeon property owners to soon be taken off a water waitlist. This will allow them to move forward with developing their land.

The tentative agreement between Hather, who lives in San Luis Obispo and owns an acre of undeveloped land in San Simeon, and the North Coast board will make Hather $50,000 richer and bring him one step closer to making his development plans come true. He wants to build 15 units that people can afford, according to a report by New Times.

Hather sued both the federal government and the state last year because the district wouldn't give him water service and wouldn't let him out of the water moratorium, which has been in place since 1986.

The May 10 decision made behind closed doors gives Hather a promise from the district to get water service. Before he can start building, he has to get a coastal development permit from the county and make sure that the California Coastal Commission doesn't stop his plans, which they have done in the past.

One of Hather's lawyers, Babak Naficy, said that the federal lawsuit was about how the district didn't give water to some residents, especially those who paid to be on a waiting list. "In the state claim, we also argued that the district was wrong to turn down Mr. Hather's hardship request."

Under the district's water connection ban, there is a clause that lets property owners get an exemption based on things like their financial situation, how much water they want to use, and how it will affect the environment. Hather and his lawyers say that he deserves the hardship exemption because the development is his retirement plan, among other things.

Michael Donahue, a member of the CSD board, said that the board at first turned down Hather's request in part to be fair to other people on the waitlist. Right now, there are 14 people on the waiting list for San Simeon water, and Hather is No. 8.

"He was kind of jumping in line. He's not No. 1 on the water waitlist, why should we honor No. 8 before No. 1?" Donahue told New Times. "[The board] also felt that this hardship was pretty much a fiction: Everybody can claim hardship."

But after Hather sued, Donahue said that the board was worried about the huge costs of going to court.

"It would have dragged on and the legal bills would have far exceeded the settlement that was finally agreed to, in my opinion," Donahue said. "I think the settlement was a balanced settlement, and it was done with the idea of minimizing legal bills."

As part of the possible settlement, the district will pay Hather $50,000 to cover his lawyer's fees. Donahue said that going to court would have been a much more expensive option.

Under the settlement, the district will also promise to give water to everyone on the waitlist ahead of Hather.

"There's no unfairness to it in that respect," Donahue told New Times. "So he [Hather] kind of did everybody a favor. Now, I'm sure there's some people ahead of him that are going to say, 'Why give him $50,000 in district funds?'"

Donahue is in favor of ending the water moratorium slowly, which would let everyone still on the waitlist get a commitment from the CSD to get water service. He said that the district paid for a hydrological report that "shows that we have more than enough water for everyone on the waiting list, even if there's a drought that only happens once every hundred years."