The Valley Voice would like to apologize for the errors in the article “HEAT Wins First Round Against City of Hanford.”The writer used two sources but still interpreted the judge’s decision incorrectly.
Hanford lawyer, Mario Zamora, took the time to outline the needed corrections which are listed below.
The bigger issue of the article was to highlight the fact that more and more of Mussel Slough is illegally being filled-in.
The portion concerning Mussel Slough in the October 1 article was not refuted by Hanford’s lawyer.
A recently approved housing complex on the corner of Centennial Drive and Millennium Way sits on the banks of Mussel Slough and directly on a section of Mussel Slough that was unlawfully filled-in by Paynter Realty and Investments in 2007.
Again, sometime between March and May of this year, despite all efforts to prevent it from happening, the second section of the slough remnant was filled-in by an unknown group.
The only evidence left behind was a backhoe and a missing slough. The filled-in slough remnant sits directly west of the proposed housing complex.
Hanford planning commission and city council are in the final stages of approving the 2035 General Plan.
The new General Plan has no provisions as to how the city will prevent further destruction of Mussel Slough.
Hanford’s sole source of water comes from an underground aquifer, and if that aquifer collapses because the city did not take care of their natural recharge basins, such as Mussel Slough, the necessity for a 2035 General Plan will be moot.
To review a draft of the general plan visit: http://bit.ly/1LuRKwj.
Water saving strategies were addressed the first week of October by the Hanford City staff.
The new water conservation campaign is asking Hanford residents to cut their water use by 60 gallons a day because the city missed their state mandated water cutback by 22%.
While the residents have been asked to drastically reduce their use of water, the city staff has not explained where the water will come from for the new 216 unit housing complex on Centennial Drive or the possible housing development proposed for the other half of Hidden Valley.
The state mandated cutback for Hanford was 28% while the city only reduced its water use by 5.8%.
There was a joint Hanford City Council – Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, October 13, after press time, where the general plan was discussed.