SEPTEMBER PREDICTIONS FOR ROYAL GORGE DEVELOPMENT

This is just a guess, and anyone's guess is as good as another's. Royal Gorge LLC has been a long time coming with their plans-- when Placer County sent them back to the drawing board, they really sent them back to the drawing board.

I think we're going to see a new "concept" rolled out quite soon, and they're going to ditch those silly little "camp" concepts-- who over the age of 12 or 13 really wants to go to camp? (unless the counselors are really cute, of course)

My bet is they're going to revive Wilderness Lodge, if not in fact, at least as a marketing concept.  This could be good, or it could be very, very bad. If the Wilderness Lodge that rises from the ashes is a class act, and not huge (cross your fingers), it will be welcomed by the community-- IF.  That's a big if-- if it's not window dressing for a ridiculous amount of sprawl, and what sprawl there is is arranged in a way to preserve access to trails, a semblance of wilderness, and, maybe, the Emigrant trail. (actually, there's no maybe about that one-- Placer County will stand firm there.) 

Ski Camp? It's fate is up in the air. I think Royal Gorge LLC has had their finger in the wind long enough to know that Ski Camp will motivate the Serene Lakes Community to pack money under the mattresses in anticipation of years and years of lawsuits-- Bleak House in the Mountains, minus some of Dicken's more entertaining characters.

What informs this all, though, isn't how the community feels-- we've known that one all along, haven't we? Royal Gorge LLC continues to have a sled load of problems with furthering their development at Donner Summit.  First of all, in this economy, where there are examples of several ambitious luxury resorts deflating like tired beach balls, it must be extremely hard to attract money from investors, many of whom must think investing in the Brooklyn Bridge is a slightly better prospect than investing in luxury ski digs. And now that Aunt Fannie and Uncle Freddie are needing a rescue from Uncle Sam, even less free money is floating around.

Royal Gorge LLC's other two big problems remain water and sewage.  I'm betting they're ditching their lake concepts-- maybe they were never meant to hold water anyway. After all, their recreational lake was designed plunk in the middle of the high voltage power line easement-- lines that PG&E might not be willing to move, or underground.

So what will Royal Gorge LLC do? Why, rely on the kindness of others, either by siphoning lots of water from Serene Lakes, or siphoning lots of ground water from their wells, which probably amounts to the same thing. You see, if a complete hydrological survey of the Summit is ever done (or Royal Gorge LLC releases their well data, which they're curiously loathe to do), it's probably going to turn out, surprise!, that all the water is interrelated.  Some of the water that melts from the snow flows as surface water, filling the various lakes, and running down streams and rivers. Other snow melt seeps down into the fractured rock aquifer, to 500 feet or more, while some seeps slowly down to the lakes, recharging them.

Now here's the deal with groundwater in fractured rock aquifers-- without extensive, and by that I mean way more than the 72 hour well tests Royal Gorge LLC's consultants conducted, it's pretty hard to tell what the recharge period is. Royal Gorge could claim to have enough groundwater to fill Folsom Lake, but once they pump it all, what kind of a recharge period are they looking at? A year, 10 years, never?

Also, think about an interrelated system, which groundwater and surface water usually are.  Will what they pump from their bores deplete water in other wells in the area, and take water that would replenish Serene Lakes and Palisades Lake?

As for Royal Gorge LLC's further problems with depending on the kindness of others, here's a money quote from the State Water Resources Control Board from just last January, "current permitted water appropriations amount to about five times California's average annual surface water supply."  A translation for Royal Gorge LLC-- that water that flows over the dam, and down Serena Creek to the North Fork American River? Chances are Placer County Water Agency, or San Juan District, or, (tell this to your water lawyers gently), even instream uses under that fusty old Public Trust Doctrine, have greater rights to that water than those of us at the Summit.  

There is also, the problem of where to store any water Royal Gorge LLC might wish to save for their development. As mentioned in other posts, a dam on Serena Creek, and/or a dam on Van Norden Meadow, at the headwaters of the South Yuba River are not exactly popular concepts now.  Royal Gorge LLC is pretty much between a rock and a hard place there-- folks who don't want to see water taken from North Fork American River, and folks who think the South Yuba River gets something less than respect.

And about what the South Yuba River gets-- (DSPUD) is having to explain why the river is getting icky green stuff (not a technical term), and too much nitrates etc., to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.  Their permit renewal is becoming a little shaky at this point, and downstream users are getting more and more fed up with the ongoing problems.  What won't work here for both DSPUD and Royal Gorge LLC?  The spurious suggestion that putting MORE effluent in the South Yuba will cure what ails it.

Anyways, you read it here first--- look for shiny new PR being rolled out soon, with, just possibly, a shift in concepts for Royal Gorge Development.  Royal Gorge LLC's problems that need solving before Placer County can approve their plans remain as real as ever, but at least we're going to see some, if not new sprawl, rearranged sprawl.

I'd sure like to be wrong on this, though. Wouldn't it be beyond wonderful if they've spent the summer working closely with land trusts to develop plans for something that will do Donner Summit proud?

KTG