Pool OK'd with conditions
Levee District 1 officials on Tuesday approved the fiberglass swimming pool being built on Second Street in Yuba City, with conditions.
Chairman Francis Silva and board members Al Montna and Mike Vinsonhaler all agreed that the pool going in the back yard of Frank McCarley - which has been the center of debate in recent weeks - is not threatening the Feather River levee.
Montna said he would feel “comfortable and sleep like a baby” with the board's action.
In approving the pool, board members ordered:
“The property owner has been pretty darn cooperative, willing to spend some extra money to do what the community feels is needed, and I think what we're going to do is end up with something a heck of a lot better than it could've been,” Montna said. “If he's willing to do what it seems like he is, I think we end up with a very safe situation.”
Frank McCarley's brother, Dennis McCarley, represented him at the meeting. Dennis McCarley said - and all levee officials agreed - that the homeowner has done everything correctly.
“We just want to do what's right,” Dennis McCarley said after the board OK'd the pool. “We're happy with the decision.”
Several residents, including 1955 flood survivor Jamie Newkom of Yuba City, protested the pool during the board's meeting, saying it would
make the levee more fragile.
Newkom and Gregory Scandalis, also a 1955-flood survivor, gathered signatures for a petition to keep the pool from being completed. Scandalis estimated about 200 signatures were collected.
“You as a board have exercised extreme prudence in the past,” Newkom said. “We ask you to continue in that level of prudence as you proceed in this matter.”
The board members, as well as LD 1 Manager Bill Hampton, said they extensively researched the issue and obtained approval from as many as four state Reclamation Board engineers, as well as from an independent engineer from Wood Rogers in Sacramento.
“I think we've covered all the bases the best we can, and I like the solutions,” Montna said.
Vinsonhaler said he understood that most concerned residents would be “somewhat happier” if the pool was not there.
But, he continued, “You have to remember that property owners do have rights ... Other people have been putting pools in there, and there are certain limits to what we can do as a board. I think we've worked out something that puts us in a much better position than we could possibly be in any other way. I can't see it any better than this.”
Appeal-Democrat reporter Kymm Mann can be reached at 749-4708. You may e-mail her at kmann@appealdemocrat.com.
