Need COVID Test? Mobile Site To Open in Felton, By Bruce McPherson Supervisor, Fifth District

FEATURED COLUMNIST Need COVID Test? Mobile Site To Open in Felton

By Bruce McPherson, Supervisor, Fifth District

Due to a surge in COVID infections brought on by the Delta variant of the virus, I am thrilled we will locate a mobile testing site based in Felton through a partnership with Mountain Community Resources. The Community Bridges program, located at 6134 Highway 9, has provided great service to the San Lorenzo Valley for many years, and has once again, stepped up to help.

This news comes on the heels of several successful vaccination clinics, called Vax the Valley, that San Lorenzo Valley Rotary hosted in partnership with the Boulder Creek Business Association, Liberty Bank and our County’s Public Health Department in July and August. Offering free and convenient vaccinations is critical in our efforts to increase immunization in the Valley, where rates are among the lowest in the County. But it is also critical to provide equally free and convenient testing to slow the spread.

The new testing site will be open starting Sept. 10, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday to Tuesday, and because it is mobile, may be offered in other locations in the future. Appointments will not be required but certainly are recommended, and the link to sign up will be live on the first day of operations at the County’s coronavirus website: www. santacruzhealth.org/coronavirus.

While the changing COVID dynamic continues to be top of mind, recovery from the CZU Fire also continues to be a top priority. On Aug. 10, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a request by me

and my colleague, Third District Supervisor Ryan Coonerty, to direct County staff to provide options for removing requirements for survivors to investigate and mitigate pre-fire geologic hazards as part of the permitting process to rebuild. Numerous constituents let my office know that our code posed a major impediment as insurance I agreed that making our proceeds, and time, to rebuild are running fire survivors account for out. Supervisor pre-fire conditions, many of Coonerty and I agreed which have been present for that making our fire survivors account hundreds or thousands of for pre-fire condiyears, was not reasonable or tions, many of which have been present for compassionate. hundreds or thousands of years, was not reasonable or compassionate. We are scheduled to hear about those exception options during our Board meeting on Sept. 14. Then, two weeks later, on Sept. 28, we are scheduled to review the results of a fire-zone flood study funded by the Community Foundation to more closely identify the risks associated with debris flows. While the potential for landslides have long existed in parts of the San Lorenzo Valley, the fire exacerbated this threat in some areas. While we were lucky to avoid debris flows during last winter’s rains, we need to be prepared for future years. The study will help inform the Board about the community’s risk, which decreases over time, and how we might manage the situation under our geologic hazards code going forward. Of course, public safety and welfare is our ultimate concern, but we must also balance those potential risks against the very real difficulties that our code has caused for survivors who want to rebuild and for whom time is of the essence.

There are real risks to the mental and emotional well-being of survivors if they are unable to return to the homesite they loved and to the community they chose. Other California counties overseeing recovery from catastrophic fires have demonstrated some flexibility in their codes to meet the needs of the community, and I believe we should, too.

I want to thank the organizers of the Community Remembrance event for CZU survivors at the Brookdale Lodge on Aug. 18 that marked the one-year anniversary of the fire. The food, music, and sense of community were all wonderful.

Lastly, I want to report some real progress in our efforts to complete a Groundwater Sustainability Plan within the Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency. I applaud this multi-year effort among San Lorenzo Valley Water District, Scotts Valley Water District, the County and well owners to develop this plan, which is required under state law to be completed by January 2022.

The collaboration among the agencies and community members has been fantastic, and I am hopeful we will approve the plan unanimously in December. The goal is to maintain a healthy groundwater basin into the future, which benefits the environment and stabilizes our water supply, which is ever important during drought years like this one. n •••

I hope you are having a great summer, and as always, please contact my office at Fifth. District@santacruzcounty.us or 831-454-2200 if we can assist you with anything.