Back in April 2019 the Board of Supervisors approved regulations for crop protection structures (a.k.a. hoop houses).

According to a Noozhawk report: “The hoop structures (or hoop houses) and shade structures are commonly used for agriculture, and the county ordinance would exempt them from needing a zoning clearance or permit if they are under 20 feet tall and on slopes of 25 percent or less, have creek setbacks, and are on agricultural land that was planted in at least one of the previous three years.”

Ignored in all this discussion was the potential impact of covering the soil with a protective covering that would allow storm water to run off no matter how tall the structures were and subsequently flow uncontrolled onto adjoining property.

Often when there is a hot button topic like hoop houses, in this case the key issue for the BOS seemed to be the “Proliferation of the hoop houses for growing cannabis has led to lots of complaints, and the supervisors have said the fight for regulations on hoop houses is a proxy war for cannabis.”

Fast forward to January 2023, when several houses in Orcutt were flooded out when a county maintained-debris basin failed, and a large section of the Union Valley Parkway was washed causing the sandy soil and debris to wash through a neighborhood.

The county responded quickly to repair the road and reconstruct the debris basin.

That only left the homes that were destroyed to be replaced. Since it was a failed government infrastructure that caused damage to private property, you would think they would quickly reimburse those property owners for all expenses the flood caused; but you would be wrong.

Recent Noozhawk reports indicate the impacted property owners have initiated a lawsuit against the county to recover their losses. Those losses include not only replacement of damaged property, but also costs for temporary housing, lost clothing, furniture and other belongings.

The county investigated to determine why the debris basin failed and were blaming it in part on a farmer who installed “hoop houses” to grow his crops. There are scores of these structures all over the county.

According to a press report the county’s claim is that the farmer added “hoop houses to ag land east of the damaged homes so the plastic shelters reduced the area of permeable surface.”

That sounds like a reasonable finding, but I thought that to help conserve water developers, including farmers, were supposed to avoid covering the earth and contain the runoff water on-site so that it could replenish the aquifer.

With so many of these large area hoop houses constructed all over the county, I wonder whether anyone has calculated the aquifer loss created by covering thousands of acres of permeable surface.

I also thought that county government, including Flood Control and the Planning Department were supposed to assure that storm water was properly managed, so it wouldn’t damage both public and private infrastructure.

And when containment basins were constructed, Public Works would ensure the containment would hold water.

The press report goes on to say the county shouldn’t be held responsible; instead, the farmer who erected the hoops should be.

But it was public policy that allowed them to go on farmland; therefore, it seems the county bears considerable liability for the damage created by a poorly-thought-out policy.

The folks whose homes were wrecked over a year-and-a-half ago just want help recovering from their loss. The right thing to do here is stop finger-pointing and trying to shift the blame for a failure of government to a private party and make these victims whole again.

This is where political leadership is needed; the Board of Supervisors needs to step up and help these folks out.  Then they need to direct the planning and agriculture departments to revisit the impacts of hoop houses and create a policy that protects adjacent lands and assures that a substantial amount of rainwater can reach the aquifer.

References:

County Board of Supervisors OKs Hoop-Houses Regulations, Exemptions | Local News | Noozhawk

Orcutt Residents Sue County for Debris Flow | Local News | Noozhawk.