Opinion: Blind Faith in Big Infrastructure – Why is the LOCSD Board Hiding the Cheaper Option?

By Anna Marie Gott

On Wednesday, July 8, 2026, the Los Olivos Community Services District (LOCSD) Board plans to make a choice that could financially burden our community for a generation [Wallace Group Report (WG Report), p. 1, 42]. At this upcoming meeting, the Board is prepared to advance a massively expensive wastewater pipeline project designed by the Wallace Group. Yet, in a glaring breach of transparency, the Board has actively left a viable, much cheaper local treatment alternative off the agenda.

The community advocacy group Preservation of Los Olivos (POLO) provided a $75,000 grant to the LOCSD specifically to evaluate local, decentralized wastewater collection and treatment options. Shockingly, the District completely excluded alternative treatment configurations from its formal scope of work. Refusing to let the community remain in the dark, POLO directly contracted the engineering firm REGEN [REGEN Study, p. 1].

The resulting REGEN Feasibility Study, completed on June 26, 2026, has been officially delivered to the LOCSD [REGEN Study, p. 1]. This design provides a clear blueprint for a district-managed effluent sewer network featuring on-lot interceptor tanks [REGEN Study, pp. 6, 25]. Unlike deep municipal sewer lines, the actual hardware equipment (tanks, pumps, and controls) for this system costs a predictable, modest upfront amount of roughly $8,000 per household.

The stark difference between the pipeline project the Board is pushing and the local REGEN Study they are hiding comes down to millions of taxpayer dollars:

• The REGEN Alternative: This plan uses phased effluent sewers combined with local distributed treatment and subsurface dispersal [REGEN Study, pp. 6, 28]. The total capital cost sits between $30.4 Million and $33.5 Million [REGEN Study, p. 7]. It utilizes shallow pipeline burial to minimize right-of-way disruption and protects ratepayers with conservative budgeting assumptions [REGEN Study, pp. 7, 25].
• The Wallace Pipeline: This plan relies on deep gravity collection and a 3.4-mile force main pipeline connection to pump our wastewater over to the City of Solvang [WG Report, pp. 13-14]. The estimated baseline capital cost is pinned between $40 Million and $60+ Million.

However, the Wallace Group’s price tag is a dangerous understatement. A deep dive into the primary Wallace Group LOCSD Sewer Project 30% Report reveals they have completely hidden the true cost of their project from local homeowners. Their figures completely fail to include four devastating economic realities:

• Solvang Infrastructure Upgrades: No budget is allocated for our share of increasing Solvang’s plant treatment capacity or upgrading the city’s over-capacity municipal pipe segments [WG Report, p. 14].
• Construction Realities: They provide zero cost estimates for dewatering the area’s notoriously high seasonal groundwater or repairing the inevitable trenching damage to our existing local roads during deep gravity sewer excavations [REGEN Study, pp. 6, 25].
• Macroeconomic Realities: Their calculations entirely omit the cost of inflation between now and the actual start of construction, as well as the compounding interest of a 30-year fully amortized loan [WG Report, p. 42].
• The Bottom Line: Because these massive capital, structural, and financing gaps are missing from the report, the Board is hiding the true, final monthly sewer bill that local ratepayers will be forced to pay [WG Report, p. 42].

Why is our elected Board rushing to advance a financially ruinous project without giving its own citizens the right to look at a cheaper, local alternative? Under the rules of Proposition 218, a handful of large commercial entities hold weighted voting power that can outvote residential homeowners, forcing everyday families to subsidize the downtown core’s heavy commercial sewer load [WG Report, p. 10]. If the Wallace Group project passes, many long-term residents may be forced to sell their homes due to hidden, excessive municipal taxes [WG Report, p. 42].

Do not let the Board sign away our financial future in the dark [WG Report, p. 42]. We must demand that all actions on the Wallace Group project be halted until the REGEN Study is formally entered into the public record and evaluated at a dedicated public hearing [WG Report, pp. 6, 14].

Here is how you can fight back right now:

• Attend the Meeting In Person: Show up to the Grange Hall at 2374 Alamo Pintado Ave, Los Olivos, CA 93441 this Wednesday, July 8, at 6:00 PM. Step up to the microphone during public comment and demand the Board delay any final decisions until a formal public hearing is held on the REGEN Study.

Send an Email Protest: If you cannot attend, send an email to losolivoscsd@gmail.com with the subject line “Demand Hearing on REGEN Study before Wastewater Decisions.” All emails must be received by 5:00 PM PST on July 7th to be officially entered into the permanent record.

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