MASON VALLEY
Mayor: Agreement for proposed water rights lease dead
Keith Trout
The City of Yerington will no longer pursue a water rights lease agreement with The Turf Farm, after previously expressing support but waiting for a finalized agreement.
Mayor George Dini announced during the reports section at the end of Monday's city council meeting the city wouldn't proceed with this lease agreement, wherein the cty would have leased some of its water rights for use by the Turf Farm.
He said city manager Dan Newell and himself had researched the situation and found the reason the property didn't have water or enough water is because the property owners had sold the water rights off the property, which wasn't what they had thought at the meeting or as proposed, when they thought the shortfall was due to the drought.
In this instance, he could not support it to bring it before the council, the mayor said. He said based on the first email he received about it, he thought there was no opposition or animosity related to it, but that didn't appear to be the case.
"Water issues in Mason Valley are not new," Dini said.
During the Aug. 25 meeting it was explained the Turf Farm presented to the city the proposal to lease 828 acre-feet of water for two years (with an option for two more), at a rate of $24,840 per year.
However, a final agreement wasn't presented so the action was delayed. The proposal was to lease the water rights and transfer those rights for use in the Turf Farm's wells in south Mason Valley.
Dini said in learning the true situation, and with the three-year drought going on, "I don't feel it is prudent" to proceed with the request. He said before any such action would occur, he would want to involve the city's contract engineer, Farr West, to fully research the situation before bringing it to the Council.
"We only heard one side of the story."
Donald Giorgi, who lives at that area, during the Sept. 8 city council meeting asked about this proposed water lease agreement during public participation and Dini said he planned to discuss that issue later during his report.
Water rights consultant Mike Buschelman told the council at the Sept. 25 meeting the major benefit to the city was that these water rights, which aren't being used by the city, would prove to be beneficial use of the city's water rights, so it would be mutual benefit to both parties.
Newell at that meeting said this would be at no cost to the city, as the Turf Farm and owner Darwin McKay would cover all associated costs, and the water use would be commercial use, so the city would be allowed to lease it to the Turf Farm. He said the city could not lease its municipal water rights for irrigation water use, but it could for commercial, industrial or residential use.
*For the second time, an agenda item for possible approval of the Consent and Certifications Agreement between the city of Yerington, Nevada Copper Inc., and Pala Investments Ltd. was removed from the agenda. The city attorney hadn't seen a draft agreement version back yet to compare for his final consent, Newell reported.
This action was needed due to financing ($20 million) Pala Investments was providing to Nevada Copper for its Pumpkin Hollow and was in relation to a water rights usage agreement between the City and Nevada Copper.