A risky development
EDITORIAL, San Francisco Chronicle, December 6, 2010:
When DMB Associates, a developer from Scottsdale, Ariz., began talking to the city of Redwood City about building an enormous housing project on a sprawl of salt ponds near Highway 101, company officials were told that they had to find their own water solution.
"One of the first things we learned from Redwood City was that they're already upside-down on water," said DMB Associates Vice President David Smith.
So DMB put together a complex water transfer with a family from Bakersfield to buy enough water for their development - and, if needs be, to kick back a little water to Redwood City in tough times. The water agreement is precedent-setting, just like the development itself. But both of the precedents being set here are the wrong ones.