Lake Nacimiento property owners sue Monterey County for "not less than $120 million."

The Nacimiento Regional Water Management Advisory Committee, an Atascadero-based nonprofit comprising members that own or lease property around Lake Nacimiento, sued Monterey County Dec. 15 in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court. The group alleges Monterey County violated its obligation to operate the lake in such a way so as to provide sufficient water levels to allow for recreation. 

The lawsuit states the property owners have "been damaged in an amount not less than $120 million," and also alleges the county did not provide all the responsive documents to a Public Records Act request that Los Angeles-based attorney Edward Kang filed in August 2018, asking for all documents, communications and court filings related to lake from January 1950 to January 1958. 

The dam to create the lake was built by Monterey County in 1956—in part with money from a $1.5 million state grant, to store water for irrigation, provide flood control protections and to provide recreational uses.

The land in and around the lake, which is entirely in northern San Luis Obispo County in a section of the Nacimiento River that dips south of the Monterey County line, was acquired by Monterey County using eminent domain. 

Subsequent commitments to provide recreation made by the county over the years, the lawsuit alleges, have been violated, including the allegation the county released more than the annual, state-mandated limit of 180,000 acre-feet of water from the lake "in at least one recent year, and perhaps in other recent years."

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that policy the county adopted in July 2018 that stated keeping the lake's level at 730 feet above mean sea level still allows most boat ramps to be used, and most property owners access to the lake. 

The lawsuit contends that a level of at least 748 feet of elevation "is necessary to support recreational uses between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year, the peak recreational period for the lake."

Maia Carroll, a spokeswoman for Monterey County, says that the county has not yet been served with the lawsuit, and has no comment.