Rincon Sewers at Last

After nearly a decade of political posturing and legal jousts, the hatchet appears to be buried in the battle over a septic-to-sewer switch for Rincon Point. It took six days in a Ventura County court in late July, where residents opposed to the sanitary swap were fighting the legality of a homeowner vote on the subject last fall, but it appears the dissenters will abandon their appeal given the facts revealed during the proceedings. In a statement released on 7/25, Ben Weiss, Rincon resident and longtime sewer critic, explained, “As it turned out, our challenges would not have affected the final result, so this is an outcome we must all respect. It’s time for us to take a deep breath, realize that our neighbors are really quite nice people after all, and join together as a community to make this project as successful as possible.”

Last October, a majority of the homeowners from Rincon-as well as Sandyland and Padaro Lane communities-voted in favor of having their homes assessed as a means to pay for the project. Last week’s agreement, slated to be finalized in court on 8/7, calls for peace between sewer opponents and Santa Barbara-based nonprofit Heal the Ocean, which has been spearheading the conversion effort in the name of cleaner water since 1998. With a marked tone of relief, Heal the Ocean head Hillary Houser observed this week, “Wow. The war is finally over.”