After years of effort, the rural farmworker community of Pescadero will get safe drinking water for its local school and a solution for its flooded-out fire station. In December, the California Coastal Commission unanimously approved an amendment to the county’s Local Coastal Plan that will allow the 50-year old Pescadero Fire Station to be relocated from its current location in a high-risk flood area to a safer, more secure site at Pescadero Middle/High School.

Moving the Fire Station Away from Butano Creek

Butano Creek, which flows down from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the coast, regularly overflows its banks and floods the Pescadero Fire Station, resulting in mold and plumbing system backups. The creek also inundates the low-lying bridge and the farm fields on the other side, cutting the fire station off from the community of Pescadero – a bad situation during a flood. For over 10 years, the county has been seeking an alternative site for the fire station, but all the sites investigated were either in a flood zone or had other environmental constraints.

Safe Drinking Water for Students

The fire station’s new location, next to Pescadero Middle/High School, will also resolve an ongoing public health and environmental justice issue. For many years, the school’s students have had to rely on bottled water for drinking, due to elevated nitrate and coliform counts in its existing well. Relocating the fire station next to the school will allow the county to extend the community water system to the site, providing safe, clean drinking water to the students.

At the Coastal Commission meeting, the Commissioners were visibly moved by testimony from farmworker families who asked that they approve the proposal as a matter of equity for their children and teachers, and noted that 80% of the students are Latino.

We supported this multi-benefit health and safety project, and the careful crafting of the Local Coastal Plan Amendment to ensure that loss of 1.45 acres of prime farmland will be fully mitigated.

Next steps include annexing of the Middle/High School site to the Community Services District (CSA 11) that supplies drinking water to Pescadero, and issuing a Coastal Development Permit for the project(s). Once those steps are completed, the old moldy barracks next to Butano Creek will be removed, and a new replacement Fire Station will be built next to the school.