April 7, 2006 |
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Spring '06 Review: BORever Mob Boondoggle Files
In the lull before the storm and until the Record Of Decision is released by the BOR I thought I would take a few minutes of your time to brief you on some salient points of the Final Environmental Impact Statement. These points need major explanation and discussion by the BOR’s “Think Tank” of select professionals and contractors who helped push the FEIS to what it is today. So let’s take a few of those items found in the Summary, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 and especially the Preferred Alternative B crafted by BOR professional staff and contractors who are former BOR employees and subjects of the National Park System. These minions have implanted their bureaucratic maneuvering and “two cents” worth of government wisdom into a “Pie In The Sky” view of what Lake Berryessa could become. In there zeal they forgot to ask the “people and users” of Lake Berryessa what they wanted and what will work. Instead they faltered and plan to shop this scheme to a entrepreneur capitalist like Forever Resorts (who are running over 45 recreation facilities on federal lands and water) and build a so-called “Framework” that will elicit bids from perspective bidders on their schemes. Here are some of them: 1.Creating Major Houseboat Operations – FEIS page 44 - House-Boating – Provide rental houseboats similar in size and style to those at other traditional house-boating lakes in the western United States. To refresh some of your memories Commercial House Boat were operated at Markley Cove for five years and the operators decided it was a losing process. John and Linda Frazier long time operators of Markley Cove will attest to the fact that Lake Berryessa is not suitable for year round house boating operations. Next two highly suspect individuals of the BOR who were close to the Pleasure Cove bidding process have been the main impetus of moving this idea forward. Mike Pretronvich, Recreation Specialist at Folsom CCAO-BOR office and Bruce Wadlington a consultant and former Bureau of Reclamation management employee at Folsom and Sacramento Mid Pacific were key in the input of the house boat concepts into the FEIS. In late November 2004 they reported to Mike Finnegan that they had traveled to 16 major houseboat operations in the western United States and found them to be an attractive process to install at Lake Berryessa. These trips will most likely come under the Federal investigation process as they are linked to later exploits in setting up the Pleasure Cove Marina sham bid process. So next comes along the interlopers from Arizona and they bring in two 55’ houseboats on June 2, 2005 one day after the contract was signed for the Pleasure Cove Marina. Even without any adequate dockage to support their proposed operations. Matter of fact from June 1, 2005 till this date the houseboats at Pleasure Cove have never left the marina. (Never Rented) Staff from the Forever Resorts has been living on those houseboats. At $5000 a week rental fee, this is Hilton Hotel prices and exclusive use lodging. In many ways Forever Resorts have reneged on their contract with over 21 points of the contract violated already. First off the docking facilities are not available to accommodate houseboats at Pleasure Cove. They also will not be available at Steele Park in the new FEIS idea and scam to put houseboats there. Forever Resorts Company has major experience in houseboat operations and actually builds it own boats in Missouri. Beside the docking features discussed above, they lacked marine pumping capability at Pleasure Cove and limited fuel capacity at that Resort. Forever Resorts was required to place 10 docks 40’ or more in length by September 1, 2005 but that never happened. Also an additional 80 docks were to be installed by September 1, 2005. To exacerbate the problem Forever Resorts got caught up in a Snafu with the Regional Water Quality Control Board in Sacramento when it tried to install a “jerry-rigged” contraption on a floating water barge for pumping marine waste into a public restroom clean out trap. It was a terrible idea, totally against the law and the Water Quality Board shut that down quickly. This was done without County of Napa permits and the concurrence of the RWQB. The houseboat idea postulated by BOR Petronvich and consultant Wadlington are get rich schemes. The marinas at the six resorts do not have the support features to operate a major houseboat process on Lake Berryessa. The turning radius of 50’ houseboats at fuel docks and docking slips just isn’t there to accommodate 150 houseboats. (There is no marine fuel process at Putah Creek at present) One wag said that this allows a houseboat to every four acres on the lake.There is so much wrong with this process I could go on for hours about it and elaborate on all the weakness. At the Winters, California meeting the comments of the public echoed my sentiments. I have been going to Lake Berryessa for over 25 years and have watched the business end of the Lake closely. I was there last weekend at my resort, Steele Park and there was not one mobile home RV occupying the 60 RV Rental spaces. There is an old saying “build it and they will come” Well, I challenge that saying because the Lake after all these years has not fully been year round supported by the RV motor home people. They are good people don’t get me wrong but you need a mix of all types to support that Lake and some decent weather. 3.Rustic Flavor and Thematic Designs – This is a construction cost inflation term and will drive the cost of these facilities 30% and upward. With over 125 new structures to be built there is hidden in these terms an unknown cost to design this into something like you would find at Yosemite or Yellowstone National Parks. The BOR needs to get real and quit living in the “Disneyland” process. This Lake Berryessa recreation started in the late 50’s and that hardly can be declared as “Rustic”. After the BOR gets done removing the entire concessionaire and long-term trailer sites this place will look like something like West Virginia coal mine scarred surfaces and an eminent disaster impending. 4.Café Incorporating Architectural Theme (easy dinning) - I don’t know about you, but I really don’t care what a place looks like. Eating at a “Goofy Seven” or Pizza Hut styled restaurants doesn’t make sense at a resort lake. This is another cost inflator that the BOR has dreamed up as a “puff piece” to entice you to really like their Alternative-B. Can you see a Mc Donald’s styled café at this Lake? 5.Lodging Centers – I am sure all of you have been to one of our National Parks and seen what a Federal-lodging center that is Rustic Built and Thematic like the Awanhee Hotel at Yosemite NP. Lets get real BOR you could roll a bowling ball on any road in any resorts on a January day and never hit a person. BOR’s numbers they furnished to the Dorbusch team were ridiculous for a lodging center hotel. They pegged the Capital Cost of a lodging center hotel at $1,199, 000. I challenged the BOR that they “Cooked the Books” on this cost input to purposely drive the cost. Page 49 of Dorbusch. They related to how they were told by BOR to put in these numbers. Anyway lets just think about what a 40-room hotel would really cost. First off the BOR wants these lodging centers to look like something that is out of the Sierra Club playbooks or want you would see Youell Gibbons walking out of with a Paul Bunyan double headed axe over the shoulder. This Indian Tribe interloping takes me back to lots of peoples concern over the BOR dalliance with the Indian Guys from Williams, CA unknown tribe. They wanted to plant some weeds in the lake and make demonstration projects at the lake for Indian Basket Weaving. That lead to speculation on a lot of peoples part that the Indians were trying to get a foot into the door. (Or some weeds in the Lake). Had the BOR allowed this dalliance to occur we could have seen the first Indian Casino in Napa County. Or as Supervisor Diane Dillion might say, “Not in my District Indian Joe”. But lots of people really thought the BOR would cut a deal for a Casino at this location. Always remember this factor when you discuss the BOR and Department of Interior. The DOI track record with the Indian Tribes has not been a very melodious process and Federal Judges have stuck it to Secretary Norton time and time again over Indian matters. I have sat a many BOR meetings over the past six years and the subject of an Indian Casino always comes up. Some numbers just for the foundation and grading and “stub ins” of utilities alone would cost close to $890,000 and the cost will be higher for the Lake Berryessa price and labor pool cost. Lastly, to furnish a 40-room hotel/lodging center properly you will not even begin to set up the interior furnishings and the equipment. The cost will exceed over $2,000,000. So a hotel/lodging center that the government said could be built for $1,199,000 most like may exceed over $5,000,000 for each structure. There is more involved in this process and the necessary fire protection features, construction and fire sprinklers and safety factoring must be provided and it is not cheap. Also, I just spent some ten January days at the lake this New Year 2006 and it was cold. To have an all year around facility you need to design it for Title 24 and be able to operate it in year around climates of low winter temperatures in the 20 degree range and extreme summer hot August summer day of 105 degrees plus temperatures. This is “big - bucks” folks. The BOR will not build these as they try to lure an entrepreneur bidder into their “Spider Web” traps. The “Return On Investment” (ROI) are highly questionable, how many beds do you have to fill year around to make this process profitable and work in the winter months? It is pure “poppy cock”. 6.Cottages of Thematic design – again the BOR said they could build these cottages - 28 for under $778,000 dollars. First off that’s not enough cabins and it was priced out for only three resorts. Their Dornbusch plan was made to deceive the eye and underwrite or “low-ball” the real cost of the process at Lake Berryessa. Hey are they planning on bringing in more trailers disguised as cabins? Manufactured cabins or are they trailers in disguise? One of the Annex 18 said the document would never say exactly how many cabins or structures will be built or even their size. Who are they trying to kid? The BOR won’t pay to have these cabins built and delivered to Lake Berryessa. This is another scam with the BOR hands in the pockets of the bidders. 7.New Water Ski Center – In the DEIS the BOR wanted to kick the Monticello Ski Club out of the lake and end it’s 35 years of service to the lake. This new idea is a $1,000,000 Ski Center is to be built at Steele Park. Sounds good, but lets see how much the present Willy’s Ski School is used by skier’s year around. Only during the peak season do you ever find ski instructions underway. I defy anyone to tell me they will be taking water ski instructions from October 15 – April 15 on Lake Berryessa. It’s too damn cold in the water! Who is going to put up the money for this “folly”? 9.Concessionaire Run Boat Launch Ramp – Capell Cove BOR Free Ramp 10.Overnight Centers/Offices - This shows up in the FEIS three times in Alternative B. There is no description of what they are or size of each facility. Page 44 – Pleasure Cove. The “Camping Center” facility would serve as a hub for public operations for the area and be developed in an architectural style in keeping with the area’s theme. Page 47 Spanish Flat - The Overnight Center would serve as a registration and business center for all operations and be positioned in such a manner that it serves as a division between camping and lodging. Page 48 – Lake Berryessa Marina Resort - Overnight Center - nothing else for an explanation. Except LBM would be a “Three and Four” Star Ratings” in the Mobil Travel Guide. Now folks how big are they and what are they entailing and most important how much does each one of these structures cost. In hindsight the poorly developed Dornbusch Study never addressed this type of facility nor a cost. 11.Family Café Dinning facilities – One Star Rating there are only two of these facilities at present on the lake and one is at Steele Park and the other at Rancho Monticello. Both have outdoors seating and are well kept up. The other five resorts have limited food sevice. Putah Creek has a kitchen and operates sporadically during the peak season. Dining and food operations are not proposed at Markley Cove. Page 44, one is proposed at Pleasure Cove, Page 45, Fast Food operation at Steele Park, Page 46, Spanish Flat, Page 48 Family Café Style Dinning, (an economical restaurant and retail area). Yeah the going price for a cheeseburger and fries and coke is $8.50 at two resorts now. Rancho Monticello – Family dinning page 50. 12.Youth/Elder Hostel with common shower/restroom/laundry – to be built at Rancho Monticello – Page 50. Now this facility description is not found in any documents in BOR construction manual and there is no cost for this “Pie in the Sky” idea. This is just more “stick” on the part of the BOR to entice Senior Citizens into thinking this is going to be a freebie and would be the first such facility for the BOR anywhere of this nature. Dornbusch never mentioned this concept nor showed any cost relationship. Of course they only studied the three South shore resorts and never costed out the West Shore resorts. How much does this cost, how big is it and where would it be placed at Rancho? 13.RV parks with full hookups with Lake Vistas – Lake Berryessa Marina –Rancho Monticello – Pleasure Cove –Steele Park – Spanish Flat with Lake access. This one is the hardest for me to understand. Now let me see if you feel the same way about this. You take out the existing long-term trailers and convert their spaces back into RV type trailers. Doesn’t make much sense does it? I challenged the BOR on the subject of “trailers” According to the California Codes there are many different type of so called trailers on this Lake and the BOR by the way allowed them all to be where they are at present. This is an unprecedented move on people’s private property and can be considered a “taking” under federal guidelines. 14.Lake Berryessa Marina would be a “Three and Four Star Resort” rated on The Mobil Travel Guide – I looked over the Mobil Travel Guide for four-star facility in California and there are only a few “four stars” found in Northern California. First off whoever concocted this scheme must have never been to a resort in the summer and visited the places to see what actually happens there. You cannot make these places into something the are NOT. This is some more bull crap that the BOR is pumping out to lure some perspective bidders into their “spider web”. 15.Lake Berryessa Marina would have drive-thru (pull-through) for large motor coaches would be available. Isn’t that Special! So now this resort will become a destination spot for the “rich and famous” and snobs who will have special exclusive use spots designed to pull their $150,000 plus motor homes and enjoy the view. Also why don’t they make the spots as long as Page 54 and separate them accordingly for free area space around the “exclusive motor home camping places with full services”. I don’t know about you but this is some more bull crap they have put out. In Page 48 FEIS “The RV facilities would be of he highest quality level for amentias offered at Lake Berryessa”. So just take out 275 long-term trailers and turn the place into a weekend RV camping spot. Isn’t that special?? 16.Camp Berryessa (which was the former Boy Scouts of America campground) until the BOR severed the lease would be managed by Putah Creek Resort – So the BOR evicts the Boy Scouts in 2004 then they realize that it is going to cost millions of dollars to develop Camp Berryessa into a major makeover (dreamscape) that the BOR would like to see materialize. As far as I know Camp Berryessa is federal land outside the boundaries of resorts draw lines. So here is the question where is the planning, design and money going to come from to pay for this folly? Millions or more I ask! Basically there is no infrastructure there now and how do they plan to have a user cost campground without putting some serious money up from BOR budgets. Do they think a bidder would be so naïve to walk into that trap of setting up a campground? What would the bidders return on investment be and who would fall for that stupidity? I think this is some very dangerous stuff they are proposing to the environment, the BOR does not maintain the shoreline at present anyway and has no equipment to do recovery or remediation repair work to shoreline. So we have another item here to placate the houseboat operations that were designed to allow Forever Resorts to be financially stabilized in the future. 20.Exclusive Use Term – The FEIS went to great labor in inputting this term “exclusive use” into the document 38 times. In the DEIS it was use generically only 17 times. Ref; PDF Search Tool. HENRY (HANK ) A. HOWARD, Captain, C.W.Posse |