Sustainable Land Development Today - October 2008 - (Page 32)

“Dos Lagos” is Spanish for “Two Lakes.” and walk to shops, walk around the lake, and enjoy nature,” Sahabi said. Wise with Water Not only had the water aquifer underneath the project site been exposed to contaminants from the old mining pits, Temescal Wash had been impacted by the refuse from silica mining, illegal dumping and evasive non-native plant overgrowth. After protecting the aquifer from further contamination, and restoring the creek, the developer is now making use of the plentiful but clean well water beneath Dos Lagos. “We use the water to irrigate the golf course and the landscaping around the lake,” Sahabi said. Meanwhile, the city of Corona’s nearby wastewater treatment plant is recycling its wastewater for use in the Dos Lagos community through a “purple pipe” system, which restricts it to nonpotable purposes. The current amount of treated reuse water is already allocated in the community; however, the developer has planned ahead. “The whole golf course is piped for recycled water with a connection to the wastewater treatment plant,” Sahabi said. “We are hoping that sometime in the future, as the wastewater treatment plant has the capacity to produce more treated water, we will have access to that water for irrigation.” ration worked its way through the entitlement process, but with a collaborative mindset. “From the beginning, we reached out to the public for ideas and input. In all the public hearings, we received unanimous approvals. We never had one single individual that opposed our project,” he said. “We treated our residential neighbors the same as we did our highest governmental officials. We gave everyone respect equally. That was good business.” Public Private Cooperation The successful reclamation of an environmentally impacted site can be a long and difficult proposition to say the least. For seven years, SE Corpo- The project was accomplished through an Owner Participation Agreement (OPA) with the Corona Redevelopment Agency and the full support of a host of agencies at all levels of government, including 32 October 2008 Sustainable Land Development Today the Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Fish and Game Department, and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board. In 2001, the OPA was executed with the Redevelopment Agency, which defined the use of tax increment to support Tax Allocation Bonds to be used to finance the remediation of the mining pits and construction of the Heart. The OPA and Community Facilities District (CFD) bonds helped finance the extensive water, sewer, flood control, electrical and transportation infrastructure within the project. Additional public financing for the infrastructure improvements was also obtained from the Corona Department of Water and Power, County of Riverside Flood Control and the State of California for acquisition of acreage for flood control improvements. In total, approximately $30 million has been invested in public funds. However, the developer had to show significant good faith before the agreement was executed, by putting up a considerable amount of money to get the project going. “Before we saw any public money, we basically financed the project for nine to ten years. From 1996 to around 2005, we put about $150 million into this project before we saw any return,” Sahabi said,

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Sustainable Land Development Today - October 2008

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