All homeowners should have received a ballot for an increase in the Storm Water Management Fee. This fee would cover operation of and improvements to the city’s storm water management system. Although most of Palo Alto is in Flood Zone ‘X’ which means little danger of flooding, we do live near a number of creeks (Barron, Matedero) which could flood and cause problems. 

The information from the City is a little confusing. The NEW fee shown is $1033.31 per month, but this is the TOTAL FEE for the entire Barron Square complex. It is paid by the Association as part of our common area utility costs and is included in your monthly homeowner’s fee. It is calculated on the basis of ‘impervious area”, areas like driveways, sidewalks, etc which do not allow penetration of water into the ground. A condominium complex like ours has a slightly higher ratio than individual homes. With 65 units the new rate averages out to $15.89 per unit and represents only a small increase of less than a dollar per unit over the fee we currently pay.

While the planned improvement projects mentioned are located in other parts of Palo Alto, blockages at one end of the creek system in the city have a way of affecting all parts of the city. The recent rainstorms we experienced should be a wake up call that we need to be proactive in our approach to disaster control.  

It was noted that several years ago, one of the agencies in San Jose voted not to pay $7.5M to improve Coyote Creek because they didn’t think any flood damage would result in more that that amount! Fast forward to last month, the damage is estimated at $500M, not to mention how people’s lives were destroyed. Some may never recover.

For more information about the program,  visit http://paloaltostormwater.org.

We would like to suggest that all residents give serious consideration to their vote on this ballot measure. Your ballots must be received not later than Monday April 11, 2017.

UPDATE (3/23/2017): 

Some of you may have noticed that the ballot states that the ballot includes your name and address, parcel number (APN) and your signature and that the accompanying letter states that

“Ballots will not be removed from their envelopes until the tabulation begins. As required by state law, during and after tabulation, ballots will be treated as public records.”

We wondered why these ballots were not treated as normal ‘secret’ ballots, such as those we are required to use for our Association elections, where your name and signature are on the outer envelope and this is separated from the ballot before tabulation. For answers and more questions, check out this article.