Is it too soon to know if Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta landowners will align? Check out today’s Sacramento Business Journal for Melanie Turner’s most recent article regarding California’s plan to restore the Delta, including comments from my partner, Kristen Castaños:
. . . it’s too soon to know whether Delta landowners will be aligned. One person’s property value may go up if it’s identified as valuable for conservation purposes. Another person’s property value may go down.
If a property owner were to lose land to the state they would have to be paid fair market value for it, she said. “I would expect there would be a condemnation proceeding,” if a landowner was unwilling to sell, she said.
“No matter what, the Delta landowners will be impacted,” said Castaños, who is not representing any interests in the Delta. “(The plan) has to do something to change the way the Delta is operating. The way that we’re operating the system now is failing. It’s failing in its job of providing a reliable water supply, in its impacts to species and from a water quality perspective.”
Also, the Delta Plan Development is on the agenda for the Delta Stewardship Council’s meeting on Thursday, June 23, 2011.