The lower Carmel River bathtub needs a good sanding and one more plug. That’s the simplest way to describe the Big Sur Land Trust’s floodplain restoration project at the mouth of the river.
The hitch: Clint Eastwood, whose trust with ex-wife Maggie Johnson owns part of the property known as Odello East, wants to secure his water rights before gifting the land to BSLT. And that’s putting the whole project, if not into jeopardy, into a less-than-ideal order.
It’s a delicate situation. Few involved are willing to talk candidly on the record, because the project is so dependent on partnerships they fear any controversy could scuttle it. But the reality is, Eastwood’s pursuit of water rights – or BSLT’s failure to anticipate it – has slowed the process and created headaches for more than a half-dozen public agencies.
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Water sprinklers mist in the afternoon sun on Odello East. The Eastwood Trust is growing grass on the northern end of the property, a field separated from the Carmel River by an earthen levee.
BSLT’s project, as originally proposed, would first remove the levee, widen the floodplain and restore 70 acres of estuary. It would then add a second outlet, called a causeway, under Highway 1. (Currently, the river’s only path to the Carmel Lagoon is a narrow bridge channel.)
The main perks: improved wetland habitat and lower flood risk on the river’s developed north side, making the project the top priority in the 2007 Integrated Regional Water Management Plan.
“This is one of the best projects on the West Coast,” Monterey Peninsula Water Management District Engineer Larry Hampson says. “How often does a project with all these benefits come along?”
But until Eastwood hands his property over, which he won’t do until the state confirms his right to some Carmel River water, the project’s restoration phase is stuck. Some of the land trust’s grants could expire in the meantime. So BSLT and its partners flipped the project order, putting the causeway first.
That’s caused a chain reaction of negotiations with the land trust’s funding agencies, and a general nervousness the effort could be pointless if Eastwood doesn’t follow through.
Carl Holm, deputy director of the county’s Resource Management Agency, says the county will cooperate with the California Department of Transportation on the causeway. But he says it will be less effective without the restoration: “Unless there is access from the river, the causeway doesn’t have any benefit from a flood-protection perspective.”
Rich Webber of Monterey-based Whitson Engineers says which comes first – the floodplain restoration or the causeway – is a chicken-or-the-egg puzzle. “They’re a bit tied at the hip,” he says. “You don’t get the whole benefit of one without the other.”
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Land trust spokeswoman Lana Weeks says BSLT has collected more than $14 million for the project so far. Luckily, she says, the funding agencies are on board with the change. “For our partners to go and flip the order is an amazing thing,” she says. “We have never seen our public agencies work so hard on something.”
California Natural Resources Secretary and former Central Coast Assemblyman John Laird is pulling strings to help. “This is a great project, and it should happen,” he says. “We did work with Caltrans so they would go ahead with the causeway, even if all the pieces aren’t in place.”
He says the reconfiguration has been time-consuming, but he’s not casting blame. “The issue is not bad communication,” he says. “The issue is, the water-rights process takes forever.”
The Odello East property has a history of long-term goals and slow bureaucracy.
The artichoke-farming Odello family sold the 130-acre parcel to Eastwood in the late 1990s. It was zoned for subdivision, Carmel Development Company President Alan Williams says. But Eastwood, envisioning a park, donated 49 acres and accompanying water rights to Big Sur Land Trust, with plans to eventually donate the rest.
That left Eastwood with about 81 acres, some of which he’s using for pasture. Last November, the State Water Board granted him license to divert about 132 acre-feet for irrigation.
Eastwood aims to loan about 85 acre-feet to California American Water – at least until the proposed desalination plant is online, says Williams, representing the Eastwood Trust. The donation “could be enough to keep the Monterey Peninsula from going into rationing,” he adds.
Cal Am spokeswoman Catherine Bowie clarifies that the Eastwood water donation will benefit all Cal Am customers in the Monterey District—but only until it is sold. By state law, she says, Eastwood can only sell his water rights to people in the watershed: parts of Carmel-by-the-Sea and Carmel Valley.
Eastwood hopes to eventually sell 85 acre-feet and retire the rest, Williams says. The application to split the water license, he adds, is all that’s standing between BSLT and its restoration project. “Once I get the water use, I can make a gift of the property,” he says. “I don’t think it’s anything that can’t be fixed.”
On that point, all the major players seem to agree. “The land trust doesn’t care which [phase of the project] happens first,” Weeks says. “We just want to make sure it happens.”
This story was edited 6/6/13 to correct the title of Big Sur Land Trust staffer Lana Weeks, who was originally identified by her previous title of philanthropy director. It was edited 6/13/13 to clarify the potential dispersal of the Eastwood water and add commentary from Cal Am spokeswoman Catherine Bowie.