Bonny Doon Denied Its Own Fire District-Santa Cruz Sentinel Article

Bonny Doon denied its own fire district
By Shanna McCord - Sentinel staff writer

Article Launched: 09/23/2008 10:49:59 AM PDT

SANTA CRUZ - Bonny Doon will have to stick with County Fire and give up any hope of breaking away to establish its own fire district. Aspirations of many in the small Santa Cruz Mountains community were dashed Monday night when the Local Agency Formation Commission voted 4-3 to deny a proposal from some Bonny Doon residents to disconnect from County Fire and create an independent fire district financed with property taxes.
Commissioners Cliff Barrett, Bob Begun and Jim Anderson voted to support the Bonny Doon proposal while Jim Rapoza, Roger Anderson, Tony Campos and Ellen Pirie said such a move would be harmful to the entire county.
About 500 people showed up at LAFCO's public hearing, which ran until 10:30 p.m., at First Congregational Church on High Street to make their cases - 75 speakers nearly split between supporting the proposal and wanting it shot down.
In the end, commissioners sided with a LAFCO staff report that said a new fire department for Bonny Doon would jeopardize fire protection in other parts of unincorporated Santa Cruz County, causing an estimated $365,000 annual loss to the County Fire budget.
"The problem is it will come at the expense of Davenport, Corralitos or the Summit area," Pirie said. "We can't pretend that it's not the case and that it won't matter because it will matter. It will matter a lot. I just can't do it."
Bonny Doon resident and retired fire Chief Tom Scully disputed the facts presented in the LAFCO report, saying there was no basis for the $365,000 figure presented by LAFCO Executive Director Pat McCormick.
Scully, who has been working for Bonny Doon's fire fighting independence since 2006, said the area suffers from slow response times, lack of training for volunteer firefighters and poor equipment.
In addition, he said the community was hurt by Cal Fire's failure to dispatch Bonny Doon volunteer firefighters during the Martin Fire.
"This is about the small fire that could become big. It's about the child who suffers an asthma attack or the person who has a stroke," he said. "Each situation demands a life-saving emergency response, and we're willing to take the responsibility on ourselves."
Several Davenport residents said they feared their fire coverage would take a hit if the Cal Fire station on Swanton Road were forced to close in the aftermath of Bonny Doon creating its own.
"It's unconscionable any area be shorted on service," Ken Fein of Davenport said. "Someone will get service at the expense of someone else not getting service, that's not fair."
Kay Todd, a Swanton Road resident, agreed.
"A separate district is not the solution," she said. "It's wrong that we're being pitted against each other. We should find a better way."
There is no avenue to appeal LAFCO's decision.
However, Scully said he would welcome any effort by county supervisors, especially Neal Coonerty, Ellen Pirie and Tony Campos, to help Bonny Doon residents come up with an alternative solution.
"The county never offered any options for our proposal," Scully said.
"They like to ignore the issue and hope it goes away."

Contact Shanna McCord at 429-2401 or smccord@santacruzsentinel.com.

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