The Tanks are Coming
At our July F.B.A. meeting a discussion was begun on the implications of Redtree Properties' plan to turn the huge empty lot in front of the ProBuild lumber yard, off Graham Hill Road, into a storage lot where individual areas can be fenced off and used to store heavy equipment.

A question came up regarding whether, since the propane tanks are being kicked out of their location on Mount Hermon Road in Scotts Valley, Felton is being considered a great location for a propane tank farm because we are unincorporated, and planning and environmental health decisions regarding what can be done here are all made in Santa Cruz, almost always without any input from the Felton Community.

As you are probably aware, a large propane storage tank which belongs to Coast Gas has, for years, been located on the Redtree lot almost immediately adjacent to the lumber yard. Then, a couple of years ago, another huge tank belonging to Dassel's Petroleum appeared on the Redtree lot.

Obviously, installation of the Dassel's tank had to have been approved by the County. However, few residents of Felton were aware that another propane tank was to be located a little over 1,000 feet from downtown Felton, immediately adjacent to a huge lumber yard with some very large, very old and very dry buildings scattered around the properties. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park with its irreplaceable centuries-ancient redwoods is also immediately adjacent to the Redtree storage lot; a heavy concentration of residences is located in nearby Felton Grove; and thick woods mantle both sides of the river between the Redtree lot and our downtown.

Currently, another propane company, this one a part of a very large national chain, is making inquiries about putting one of their tanks on the Redtree property in Felton.

The F.B.A. arranged a meeting with Steve Ando, City Manager of Scotts Valley, to gather some facts about that city's decisions to get propane storage tanks out of their downtown area.

We also gathered information from Scotts Valley Fire Chief Mike McMurry and Susan Westman, the City Planner who handled the move of Suburban Propane from their old location to a new site within the city limits. Westman said that strong safety concerns voiced by community members had a lot to do with the city's stringent propane storage safety requirements.

Rather than just wheeling the tanks in place, putting up a fence, and driving away as occurred with the Dassel tank here in Felton, the Scotts Valley City Council ruled that tanks must be completely buried in pea gravel, and surrounded by a reinforced concrete block wall. It was determined that this technique, called “above ground mounding,” is safer than burying tanks in the ground because if tanks are buried the transfer valves must protrude above the ground, which does not provide the same margin of safety as having the valves beneath the tank, accessed by a tunnel.

The current threat of a propane tank farm in our back yard is yet another example of the decisions being made by the Santa Cruz County Planning Department without any communication with the local community nor any opportunity for input from the residents who must live, in perpetuity, with major decisions about our town made by people who don't live here.
This propane tank situation begs the need for a Felton Municipal Advisory Council, in order to establish a formal line of communication between what's being decided at the County building and the Felton community. The F.B.A. spent more than two years gathering information and consensus opinion from Felton residents and nonprofit organizations before preparing a proposal for a Felton M.A.C., which the County Supervisor of our district declined to discuss.\

BUT, there seems to be some confusion in the county hierarchy. A month or so ago, the F.B.A. received a phone message requesting information about the Felton M.A.C.

When we returned the call, a woman from Alamo, an unincorporated town in the East Bay, said she had been told by the Clerk of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors that Felton has the only Municipal Advisory Council in Santa Cruz County and wanted some information about it.

Unfortunately, it was necessary to disappoint her.

Parade and Festival Hit New Highs
The “Felton Remembers” Parade was fantastic, thanks to parade coordinator John Fasolas, and the “Covered Bridge” Festival was a giant success due to coordinators Valoree Mills and John MacDonald. The attendance at the Festival was well beyond anything we have experienced in previous years, with every parking spot anywhere around Covered Bridge Park taken.

In fact, there were so many festival-goers parked in the Felton Faire parking lot, that we received complaints from at least one merchant there that his customers could not park to do their shopping. This poses a problem for the F.B.A. which we'll have to make arrangements to solve before next year's events.

Had it not been for fees charged by Caltrans and the CHP and sales tax, we would have made enough to cover the costs of both the parade and the festival.

“Felton Remembers” Parade Costs Escalate
Since the “Felton Remembers” parade on Memorial Day weekend is held on Highway 9, which is controlled by Caltrans, and highway access from the parade staging area is only possible by using a few hundred feet of road in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, state demands and fees for the parade are continually escalating.

This year, State Parks upped the insurance required from $1 million to $2 million for the parade to use that short stretch of their access road.

As a starter, we pay Caltrans a $246 fee just to use Highway 9.

Then Caltrans demanded that the map of the detour around the parade route, which we have used unchanged for more than 20 years, had to be redrawn by a licensed civil engineer, and approved by the state. The only local approved engineer (in Los Gatos) wanted to charge $6,000 to redraw the map.

We got around the requirement, at least for this year, thanks to John Presleigh of County Public Works, by having the required map redrawn by public works Civil Engineers, which Caltrans agreed to accept.

For next year Caltrans is demanding new detour signs, to their specifications, which will cost about $1,000, unless other arrangements can be negotiated.

Caltrans also demands that we hire California Highway Patrol Officers for traffic control. We must pay a four-hour minimum salary for each officer at the parade, as well as costs for their benefit packages, and the cars they drive.

We are proposing that, for our parade, Caltrans cancel their requirement for CHP officers, since they are completely unnecessary from a traffic safety standpoint.

The Felton Fire District blocks Highway 9 with fire engines to close off traffic at both ends of the parade route, and has fire fighters on the scene, who are trained in, capable of, and willing to provide traffic control both before and during the event.

And then, we must pay sales tax on everything the F.B.A. sells during the festival, because non-profit organizations are not exempt from the tax, even though everything we make goes to pay the costs and fees required to produce the traditional parade for the people of Felton.

Uncertain Future for State Parks
The boys and girls in Sacramento are still playing in their sandbox as far as the financial status of California State Parks.

The latest word is that about 100 parks statewide will be closed, but nobody seems to know which ones. Furlough days and other stopgap measures will be implemented, and there's a possibility that parks funding will be cut even further later this year.

We need to be as involved as possible with parks issues, and above all, we need to be heard individually and collectively, in support of state parks in general and especially Henry Cowell Redwoods and Big Basin State Parks, which attract 1.5 million visitors to our area every year.

Banner Poles are Up
Thanks to the ingenuity and determination of John Fasolas, the power poles that he has been working toward for so long are now in place near the intersection of Graham Hill Road and Highway 9. The first big banner to stretch across the road, is promoting the upcoming F.B.A. Race thru the Redwoods.
When the F.B.A. is not advertising a town event, the poles will be available for rent by other organizations.

Because the Sheriff's department must stop all traffic so that the large banners can be stretched across Graham Hill Road, that job must be done when traffic is at a minimum-which means at night, or very early in the morning.

Fasolas, Connie Barr, and Judy Anderson are establishing rental pricing, instructions for installing banners, and usage rules.

Meet with Bill Monning
California State Assemblyperson Bill Monning will be available to meet with local residents to discuss any problems constituents might have, and to better acquaint himself with the San Lorenzo Valley community.

Saturday, August 22, at the Mountain Community Resource Center in Felton, 10 am to 12:30 pm.
For an appointment call 425-1503.

Annual Barbecue Date Set
The F.B.A.'s annual “End of Summer” barbecue spectacular is scheduled for Thursday evening, Sept. 17, at 6 pm in Henry Cowell Redwoods Picnic Area No. 1. Y'all Come!

This month's meeting will be held Thursday August 13th at the Felton Fire House at 6 p.m.