Title
Support approval and recommendation by the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Board of Directors that the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Board of Supervisors:
a. Approve a short-term, two-year lease agreement with Tri Counties Club for Reservoir Access to 66 acres of Agency waterfront property;
b. Approve an Amendment No. 1 to Nacimiento Grazing Lease 3B with Lime Mountain Livestock, LLC to remove the same 66 waterfront acres from the existing grazing lease; and,
c. Authorize the General Manager to execute both the Agreement and the Amendment.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Personnel and Administration Committee support approval and recommendation by the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Board of Directors that the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Board of Supervisors:
a. Approve a short-term, two-year lease agreement with Tri Counties Club for Reservoir Access to 66 acres of Agency waterfront property;
b. Approve an Amendment No. 1 to Nacimiento Grazing Lease 3B with Lime Mountain Livestock, LLC to remove the same 66 waterfront acres from the existing grazing lease; and,
c. Authorize the General Manager to execute both the Agreement and the Amendment.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
The proposed 66-acre lease property is located on the Monterey County Water Resources Agency’s (“MCWRA”) land on the south side of Nacimiento Reservoir on the grazing lease currently known as Lease 3B. The only way to access this portion of the grazing lease area is by water or going through a private road called Gage Irving Road. The residents of Tri Counties Club (“TCC”) have legal roadway easement to the MCWRA property. The use of MCWRA lands by TCC spans over 55 years and continues without formal authorization. As a result, MCWRA staff has engaged the TCC to immediately formalize the use in a short-term lease agreement and an amendment to the MCWRA’s grazing lease 3B.
The TCC has in the past made requests to the MCWRA formalize the use. Due to limited MCWRA staff resources, the TCC requests were left unprocessed but now the interest is to complete these requests as resources allow. In negotiations with the TCC, the TCC membership has offered the MCWRA $10,500 annually for the recreational use and allowance of boat dock mooring on the 66 acres they refer to as “The Flats”. The TCC has provided the MCWRA with an administrative deposit of $3,500 to process the hearing materials necessary for consideration of the matter by the MCWRA Personnel and Administration Committee, MCWRA BOD and MCWRA BOS. The deposit will also be used towards the staff time necessary to process Amendment No. 1 to Lime Mountain Livestock LLC’s grazing lease 3B. The two-year lease and the amendment to the grazing lease 3B is an appropriate means to temporarily address the historic use and liability while keeping any long-term agreement until the MCWRA’s Access Ordinance goes before the Board of Supervisors for adoption.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The attachments of the general/recreational lease agreement and the proposed amendment no. 1 are preliminary drafts and will receive final legal and procedural edits before going to the MCWRA Board of Supervisors sometime in December 2019 or January 2020.
FINANCING:
None
Prepared by: Jennifer Bodensteiner, Associate Hydrologist, (831) 755-4970
Attachment:
1. Preliminary Draft Rec. Short-term Lease Agreement with TCC Comments
2. MCWRA letter to TCC dated 10/17/2019
3. Preliminary Draft Amendment No 1 Lease 3B
4. Vicinity Map
5. Vicinity Map B