东帕洛阿尔托市正在推进接管东帕洛阿尔托卫生区的计划，尽管卫生区正在法庭上进行斗争，试图阻止接管。该市于 2022 年底提议接管该卫生区，抱怨称该卫生区阻碍了东帕洛阿尔托的新开发项目。由于该卫生区尚未同意为新开发项目提供污水服务，已获批的项目无法进行。该市向 LAFCo 提交了接管申请，LAFCo 已于 11 月初步批准该申请。卫生区要求 LAFCo 重新考虑，但该请求于 2 月被拒绝。卫生区在 3 月份提起诉讼，称 LAFCo 和该市没有公平对待它。该卫生区要求法院推翻 LAFCo 的决定。

🤔 **卫生区声称 LAFCo 和该市没有公平对待它**：卫生区在诉讼中表示，LAFCo 和该市没有公平对待它，并且没有充分考虑其利益。卫生区还指出，该市没有解决其长期存在的供水问题，这导致了一些开发项目的延迟。

🤝 **接管后，卫生区将成为该市的附属机构**：如果该市接管卫生区，卫生区将成为该市政府的附属机构，并将由东帕洛阿尔托市议会监督。卫生区的边界和服务不会改变，卫生区的资金将与其他市政资金分开。

🗳️ **接管过程面临着抗议**：卫生区客户有机会在 2 月 12 日开始的 100 天内提交抗议表格，以抗议接管。如果超过一半的登记选民提出抗议，接管将被停止。如果超过 25% 但少于一半的选民提出抗议，接管将在投票箱中决定。但只有 10% 的登记选民在该区提交了抗议。

🤨 **卫生区对接管表示担忧**：卫生区表示，它服务于东帕洛阿尔托和门洛帕克部分地区的以黑人和西班牙裔为主的工薪阶层社区。该地区的科技中心正在使东帕洛阿尔托对开发商具有吸引力，但该区的污水系统并非为容纳大规模开发而设计的。卫生区还担心，接管将导致大幅涨价，这将损害客户的利益。

🤝 **该市计划与西湾卫生区合作**：该市计划聘请西湾卫生区来运营东帕洛阿尔托卫生区。西湾卫生区已经为东帕洛阿尔托的部分地区以及门洛帕克、阿瑟顿、波托拉山谷、伍德赛德和一些非建制区域提供污水服务。

📍 **门洛帕克居民的担忧**：卫生区在诉讼中指出，如果它成为该市的附属机构，门洛帕克的客户将无法投票选举卫生区董事会成员，而董事会成员将是东帕洛阿尔托市议会成员。该市计划成立一个新的关于卫生区事宜的咨询委员会，该委员会将包括至少一名来自该区门洛帕克地区的成员。根据目前的提议，该成员将由门洛帕克市议会任命。东帕洛阿尔托市议会将任命其他四名成员和一名替补。

⏳ **法律诉讼仍在进行中**：卫生区已向法院提起诉讼，要求推翻 LAFCo 的决定。听证会定于 8 月 16 日举行。双方同意，应由来自圣马特奥县以外的法官来审理此案。该案被分配给罗杰·皮奎特，他是圣路易斯奥比斯波县高等法院退休法官。卫生区要求皮奎特发布禁令，在他对诉讼做出决定之前停止接管。法官拒绝了这一请求。卫生区目前正在上诉该决定。

🤔 **接管的意义**：东帕洛阿尔托市接管东帕洛阿尔托卫生区是一个复杂的事件，涉及到多个利益相关者和不同的观点。该事件反映了城市发展、基础设施建设和社区利益之间错综复杂的相互作用。最终的结果将对东帕洛阿尔托市和该地区的居民产生深远的影响。

BY ELAINE GOODMAN
Daily Post Correspondent

The city of East Palo Alto is moving forward with its takeover of the East Palo Alto Sanitary District, even as the district is battling in court to try to block the takeover.

City Council will discuss its next steps in the takeover process Tuesday (July 16). And a San Mateo County body called the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCo, is slated to give final approval to the takeover on Wednesday (July 17), which would take effect on Aug. 1.

The city proposed a takeover of the sanitary district in late 2022, complaining that the district was blocking new development in East Palo Alto. Approved projects haven’t been able to proceed because the district hasn’t agreed to provide sewer service to the new development, the city said in its application to LAFCo. 

LAFCo gave initial approval to the city’s takeover request in November. The sanitary district asked LAFCo to reconsider, but that request was denied in February.

In a lawsuit filed in March, the sanitary district says LAFCo and the city didn’t treat it fairly. The district is asking the court to overturn LAFCo’s decision.

The district said it serves a working class community of mainly black and Hispanic residents in East Palo Alto and parts of Menlo Park. The area’s major tech hubs are making East Palo Alto attractive to developers, the lawsuit said, but the sewer system wasn’t designed to accommodate large-scale development.

“At the heart of this matter is one key question: Should disadvantaged ratepayers be forced to bear the cost of new development?” the district said in its lawsuit, predicting large rate hikes that would hurt customers.

In the lawsuit, the district says major development proposals have been delayed due to other factors, including “the city’s long-standing water allocation problem.”

In separate responses filed with the court, the city and LAFCo denied the district’s allegations. 

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 16.

The parties agreed that a judge from outside of San Mateo County should oversee the case. It was assigned to Roger Picquet, a retired San Luis Obispo County Superior Court judge.

The sanitary district asked Picquet for an injunction to halt the takeover until he reaches a decision on the lawsuit. The judge declined to do so. The district is now appealing that decision.

How it will work

The East Palo Alto Sanitary District is currently an independent special district. Voters directly elect the sanitary district’s five board members for the specific purpose of running the district.

If the city takes over the sanitary district, it will become a subsidiary of the city government and will be overseen by the East Palo Alto City Council. 

The district’s boundaries and services won’t change. Sanitary district money will be kept separate from other city funds.

The city plans to hire the West Bay Sanitary District to run the East Palo Alto Sanitary District. West Bay Sanitary already provides sewer service to parts of East Palo Alto, as well as to Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, Woodside and some unincorporated areas.

Council will vote Tuesday (July 16) on giving the city manager permission to negotiate a contract with West Bay Sanitary for up to $1.7 million a year.

In its lawsuit, the sanitary district noted that if it becomes a city subsidiary, customers in Menlo Park won’t be able to vote for district board members, who will be members of the East Palo Alto City Council.

But the city plans to form a new advisory committee on sanitary district matters that will include at least one member from the district’s Menlo Park territory. As it’s now proposed, that member would be appointed by the Menlo Park City Council. The East Palo Alto council would appoint the other four members and an alternate.

Protests received

Sanitary district customers had a chance to protest the takeover by submitting a protest form during a 100-day period that started Feb. 12. 

The takeover would have been stopped if more than half of registered voters protested. If more than 25% but less than half protested, the takeover would have been decided at the ballot box. But only 10% of registered voters in the district submitted protests.

The protest percentage was also calculated based on land ownership. Fourteen percent of landowners submitted protests, still not enough to send the issue to the ballot. The protests were associated with 8% of assessed land value in the district.

The LAFCo board is scheduled to vote Wednesday on certifying the protest results and officially establishing the East Palo Alto Sanitary District as a city subsidiary.