Well, it has been a year since I wrote my first informational blog about our Manka’s Meadow project. And here I am releasing both blogs, and our website at the same time. I just have not been comfortable enough with our plan progress over the last year to feel like we were ready to actually release information to the general public. And even now, as we have finally arrived at this date of project information release, we are only covering portions of our property with the thoughts we have around our plans. Much is still very uncertain. Over the last year, as we have redesigned and refined so many elements of our plan, and done this so many times, I just felt the constant re-tooling of our thoughts was going to confuse our friends and neighbors more than provide any clarity on what is happening.Â
So, in this website, you will find informational details on what we call “Manka’s East”, otherwise known as the Filling Station side of the street. You will also see some “soon coming” sections of the website that deal with our planned restoration and re-build of the historic Wolfskill Mansion. You may have noticed that we have actually begun construction (or more accurately described as demolition) on this structure. However, we are not providing any additional information on the rest of the property. This is not because we are not working on this…it’s just that we are still quite a distance from being in any sort of position to file any sort of application with the County around these distant ideas.
Water Problems:
The reason for this is technical. In my earlier blog, I mentioned how plans can change drastically when new information enters the scene. Well, since that last blog, we went ahead and closed escrow on the 15 acres on the north side of Manka’s Corner, and we are now the owners, having assumed stewardship of the property from Chuck Wagner and the Caymus organization. During the period of Caymus’s ownership of the property, the City of Vallejo provided a “will serve” letter confirming their willingness to provide a potable water tap hook-up off of their water line which serves upper Gordon Valley, and which used to be the supply line for Vallejo coming from Lake Curry. Well Vallejo has now changed their mind, and they are no longer willing to provide a hook-up onto that line for us. Furthermore, we received an interesting letter from the Suisun SID Water Agency (“SSWA”) (a copy of this letter is included in our project information on this website), providing absolutely no assurance for water service for either potable water, or Ag oriented SID water. It seems that the Gavin Newsom administration in Sacramento is moving to seize the rights to Lake Berryessa from Solano County and is indicating that they will be implementing an operating policy for the reservoir that puts water supply for Solano County farms and cities in serious jeopardy. Anyone who is a business or property owner or resident in Solano County and is reliant on Lake Berryessa Water should be very concerned with what is happening with our historical water supply right now. There is a six-inch water line which originally ran from the Twin Sisters reservoir and served downtown Suisun City in the late 1800’s. This line has approximately 25 some-odd historical customers in the valley, including Manka’s Corner businesses, and the Wolkskill Mansion. We have three of these ¾ inch taps. This same line has been in use for approximately 130 years, and the SSWA, which is basically a joint powers agency of the SID and the City of Suisun City, is indicating that this service may be interrupted or discontinued at any time.
Without confirmed water service, conventional bank construction lenders will not provide project financing. So, we are left with some choices. We can:
- Build at our own risk, using our own capital, and using no bank financing
- Don’t build, and just plan on dry farming, in a worst-case scenario
- Develop a private water source for public consumption. This could be done by way of
- Developing well-water sources into potable water, as regulations allow
- Developing rainwater capture into potable water, as regulations allow
- Developing riparian rights out of Ledgewood Creek as legal rights allow
- Developing storm-water sources into potable water, as regulations allow
So, we have decided to build at our own risk, for those portions of our property that consist of Manka’s East, and the renovation of the Wolfskill Mansion. Anything beyond that will have to wait until the water situation is sorted out. It is for this reason that we are only focusing on a portion of our property plans on this website. While we would like to someday incorporate a high-quality boutique hotel and spa into our project plans, which could support the many visitors who would like to make their visit to Suisun Valley be more than just a simple day trip, those ideas are just aspirations for now, and will have to wait until we can develop a reliable water source with certainty.
We hope that we can solve this issue. Technology is certainly available to safely and reliably solve this problem. However, there are political, regulatory, and legal issues to work through. And we have to be able to accomplish our objectives in an economically and ecologically viable manner as well. We do have three working wells on the property, and two more historical wells that are currently non-operational. However, the water quality is surprisingly poor. You wouldn’t even want to use this water for watering your plants, let alone drinking.
To me, the obvious step forward is to develop an innovative storm water capture system. Developing a series of small lakes at Manka’s Corner, which are seasonally filled with storm water runoff, could be an obvious and opportunistic solution. This water could not only be treated and brought to potable water quality standards, but it could also be used as valuable wildlife habitat and incorporated into a fire control system both for buildings and as protection against wildfire risk. Lastly, these lakes could be designed in a way as to be a beautiful addition to the character and desirability of the local neighborhood. These are our aspirations, but we have a lot of work yet in front of us to actually accomplish this. In the meantime, we will simply work on what our appetite for risk, and our pocketbook allows us to do without bank help. Â
We hope you like our website. We have tried to give you information that is relevant and which we have actually settled on. We included a simple history timeline you might find interesting. And we have outlined a little bit about our thoughts about Suisun Valley. You don’t have to agree with our thoughts, and I imagine some won’t, but at least you will know where we are coming from. Â
We will be soon scheduling a series of neighborhood meetings. We will be reaching out to those who live or own property close to our holdings, to share our vision and discuss the issues surrounding our application and its impact. If you don’t live nearby, but still would like to discuss our project, then please reach out on the “Contact Us” portion of the website.
Now that things are beginning to gain momentum, look for more updates in the future…
