Legal battle ensues over Sutter Pointe water
The legal filings continue to fly in the ongoing case over the state Division of Ratepayers Advocates opposition to Golden State Water Co.'s bid to provide water for a long-planned south Sutter County development.
In a filing dated last Wednesday, attorneys for the state wrote there is no good reason for Golden State to get approval to supply Sutter Pointe with water because Sutter Pointe won't be built anytime soon.
Attorneys Jason Zeller and Hien Vo noted in the filing that Sutter Pointe's project manager, George Carpenter, had already acknowledged that the typical real-estate construction cycle might be broken irreparably. He'd also done little research about current conditions in the greater Sacramento-area market, they noted.
"Thus, Mr. Carpenter's analysis of future demand for housing is based less on a review of actual conditions in the Sacramento Metropolitan Area's housing market than it is on conjecture, hunches, and extrapolations based on what has happened over the previous three decades," they wrote.
But in a response brief also filed last Wednesday, attorneys for Golden State and Sutter Pointe wrote that the Division of Ratepayers Advocates analysis is flawed, and the market will inevitably improve and make the project viable.
If the state doesn't allow an agreement for water service for Sutter Pointe with Sutter County and the community of Robbins also listed as partners, it will be too late when the economy does turn around, the brief concludes.
Zeller and Vo's filing also contends the agreement would allow Sutter Pointe's developers to pay for water infrastructure on the backs of new homeowners, an approach the commission has never approved before.
The attorneys for the two companies countered in their filing, stating that by paying for portions of infrastructure "incrementally," the project would only build what its residents needed.
"At the same time, they will enjoy the benefits of a new, stand-alone water system worth $365 (million) for which Golden State will have paid no more than $81 (million)," the filing states.
The agreement is being contested by the Division of Ratepayers Advocates before an administrative law judge, whose ruling isn't expected until early next year.
After that, the California Public Utilities Commission must also approve one of a series of infrastructure improvements needed before Sutter Pointe moves forward.
CONTACT reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4786.
