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HomeMy WebLinkAboutColma Creek Advisory Minutes 09-13-16 - 1 - San Mateo County Flood Control District Colma Creek Flood Control Zone Citizen’s Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes Tuesday, September 13, 2016 I. CALL TO ORDER Helen Fisicaro called to order the regular meeting of the Colma Creek Flood Control Zone Citizen’s Advisory Committee at 3:06 p.m. on Tuesday, September 13, 2016, in the City of South San Francisco – Corporation Yard Conference Room, 550 North Canal Street, South San Francisco. II. ROLL CALL Present: Helen Fisicaro, Chair – Town of Colma Judith Christensen – City of Daly City Irene O’Connell – City of San Bruno Gail DeFries, Member at Large – City of Daly City Richard Irli, Member at Large – City of South San Francisco Sue Digre – City of Pacifica Ed Bortoli, Member at Large – City of South San Francisco Absent: Mike Futrell – City of South San Francisco Sam Bonanno, Member at Large – City of South San Francisco Staff in Attendance: Jim Porter – County of San Mateo (Director of PW/San Mateo County Flood Control District) Ann Stillman – County of San Mateo/San Mateo County Flood Control District Mark Chow – County of San Mateo/San Mateo County Flood Control District Michael Barber – County of San Mateo/San Mateo County Flood Control District John Fuller – City of Daly City Heather Ruiz – City of South San Francisco Brian McMinn – City of South San Francisco Brad Donohue – Town of Colma Staff Absent: None. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes of the June 14, 2016 meeting were approved. IV. PUBLIC COMMENT None. - 2 - V. DISTRICT PROJECTS, ETC.: SUMMARIZED IN A HANDOUT AND OPEN FOR ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION 1. El Camino Box Culvert and Mission Road Diversion Structure Ann advised that there are no updates on this section of the channel to report. 2. BART Co-op Project Ann advised the City of South San Francisco Fire Department Code Enforcement issued the District a Notice of Violation (NOV dated August 4, 2016) for the overgrown Pampas Grass and other vegetation inside the access road between the channel and the Kaiser Permanente parking garage north of the Centennial Park Trail bridge at Mission Road. The District’s preference is to have the City’s contractor remove or trim the Pampas Grass and vegetation under the new Memorandum of Agreement, once fully executed, and reimburse the City for costs. 3. Colma Creek Improvements between Spruce and San Mateo Avenues Ann advised that there are no updates on this section of the channel to report except that the District will continue to monitor this section of the channel regularly for wall movement or settlement at a segment of the south wall immediately downstream of the San Mateo Avenue Bridge. 4. Mitigation Sites downstream of Utah Avenue Ann advised that the District staff and Sheriff Work Program (SWP) participants continue to perform planting, weeding, and trash pick-ups at Mitigation Sites (2a, 2b, 2c, 3 and 4). The next SWP cleanup date has been scheduled for September 24, 2016. On September 17, 2016, the District will also sponsor a cleanup event for Coastal Cleanup Day. The event is scheduled for 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Volunteers will meet at the Utah Avenue Bridge and pick up trash from both banks of Colma Creek between South Airport Blvd. and the Bay Trail Pedestrian Bridge. District’s contractor, Ecological Concerns, Inc. (ECI), has been providing maintenance services, including: plant procurement, habitat restoration, non-native plant removal, planting, weeding, and trash/sediment/debris removal at the existing mitigation sites. ECI continued to perform monthly maintenance at Site 4 and quarterly maintenance at Sites 2 and 3. The following table summarizes the amount of trash removed from the Mitigation Sites since 2005 and the trash pick-up dates from 2014 thru 2016. An additional 3.86 CY of trash have been removed from the Mitigation Sites since the last Advisory Committee meeting. - 3 - Year Amount of Trash Removed (Cubic Yard) Event Dates * 2016 19.93 1/2, 1/23, 2/13, 2/27, 3/19, 4/16, 4/23, 5/14, 5/22, 6/11, 7/23, 8/20 2015 38.98 1/10, 1/24, 2/7, 2/21, 3/7, 3/21, 4/4, 4/18, 5/2, 5/16, 6/20, 7/18, 8/15, 9/13, 9/19, 10/17, 11/14, 12/12 (18 times) 2014 26.34 1/25, 2/22, 4/26, 5/14, 5/17, 6/7, 6/28, 7/12, 7/19, 9/13, 9/20, 10/4, 10/25, 11/22, 12/13 (15 times) 2005 – 2013 476.76 12-19 times per year Total 562.01 * Number of event dates increased per mitigation required for Channel Wall Repair Upstream of Spruce Avenue. 5. Maintenance of Existing Channel Ann advised that the August 2016 NOV from the City, as mentioned in the BART Co-op Project section above, also cited the District for the illegally dumped debris and overgrown vegetation on the gate access road between San Mateo Avenue and Produce Avenue. District staff has removed the illegally dumped material and is in the process of hiring a contractor to repair the badly damaged gate and fence at Produce Avenue. It is also the District’s preference to utilize the City’s contractor to trim the vegetation at this location. The District performed a quarterly inspection of the Colma Creek Flood Control Channel on August 18, 2016 (See Maintenance Matrix Binder). Representatives from the City of South San Francisco accompanied District staff during the inspection. Issues requiring enforcement by the City of SSF or the Town of Colma have been forwarded to the respective entity. The District continues to monitor the channel walls immediately upstream and downstream of the Produce Avenue Bridge. On June 14, 2016, the District authorized CDM-Smith to perform geotechnical and geophysical investigations on the cause of the wall movements, develop repair options, and prepare a report with recommendations for a Not-to-Exceed amount of $260,320. The scope of work includes drilling of four borings, one in each of the distressed areas as shown on the map below. Two of these boring are within Caltrans right-of-way which are difficult to access and would require coordination with Caltrans for traffic control to close the US101 southbound exit ramp to southbound Produce Avenue and temporary lane closures for both northbound and southbound Produce Avenue, which contributed to the high cost of the study. The drilling of soil borings have been tentatively scheduled to occur in September but will depend on when Caltrans issues its encroachment permit. The total duration for the study is estimated to take 4 to 5 months. - 4 - As noted in the summary for the June 2016 Advisory Committee meeting, the District submitted the permit applications for the long-term maintenance permit to the regulatory agencies on December 29, 2015 and the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) to the State Clearing House on June 10, 2016. During the public review period, one comment letter was received from Caltrans. The Caltrans letter was dated July 6, 2016, and included requests for clarifications and guidance that an encroachment permit will be necessary for any work or traffic control activities that encroach on the State right-of-way. The comments received do not affect the IS/MND’s conclusions that the proposed activities would not have any significant effect on the environment. District plans to present the IS/MND to the County Board of Supervisors for their approval in October 2016 and file a Notice of Determination with the State Clearinghouse thereafter to complete the CEQA process. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife permit has been finalized and the District is prepared to sign it once permits from the US Army Corps of Engineer and the State Regional Water Board have been issued. 6. Utah Avenue to Bay Ann advised that as previously reported, the District submitted to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) a full application for FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funding of the flood walls downstream of the Utah Avenue bridge on June 16, 2016. The required benefit-cost analysis evaluation was conducted and resulted in an initial ratio of 6.65, which is considered cost-effective and exceeded the minimum requirement of 1.01. In a letter dated August 25, 2016, CalOES requested additional information and that revisions be made to the application by September 7, 2016 in order for them to recommend our application to FEMA for grant funding consideration. Although FEMA funding approval is not guaranteed and it would be dependent on the availability of additional funds or if other projects drop out, CalOES believes the project stands a very good chance of getting funded. However, results from the additional analysis required by CalOES to include pre-award costs and storm surge condition (in addition to the 100-year event, 100-year tide, 3 ft. of freeboard), and the SLR for the projected useful life of the project indicated that the flood walls will need to be constructed to the elevation of 16.8 feet (0.3 feet higher that the previously recommended elevation of 16.5 feet). The additional cost is estimated to be approximately $180,000, which increased to total project costs from $4,100,000 to - 5 - $4,280,000. The additional cost would be funded with Zone revenue as the maximum allowed grant amount remains at $3,000,000. 7. Clean Water Action “ReThink Disposable” (Formerly known as “Taking Out the Trash” Pilot Project) Ann advised that the EPA grant-funded portion of the ReThink Disposable project is now complete. District and County staff plan to meet with CWA staff in the coming months to discuss our future partnership, new ReThink Disposable efforts and campaigns, and integration of ReThink Disposable materials and publications into existing County programs, such as the Office Sustainability’s Green Business Program and other trash load and solid waste reduction efforts. 8. Tracking California’s Trash Project Ann advised that there are no updates to report. 9. Sea Level Rise Preparedness Ann advised to see discussion under Utah Avenue to Bay section regarding potential grant funds to include design elements to include SLR mitigation in the construction of the project. 10. Multi-jurisdictional Regional Stormwater Capture Project at Orange Memorial Park (SSF and San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program) According to the preliminary concepts developed by consultants, the project consists of two offline subsurface infiltration chambers at Orange Memorial Park. The Park is a prime location to site a regional stormwater capture project and captures stormwater from large portion of the upper Colma Creek watershed and multiple city and county jurisdictions. The potential capture area of the project is roughly 6,300 acres that drains portions of the cities of South San Francisco, Colma, and Daly City and Unincorporated San Mateo County. A stormwater capture project at this location would aid these jurisdictions in meeting stormwater permit compliance and alleviate flooding in the lower reaches of Colma Creek. The Project would also contribute to reductions of high-priority pollutants discharged to San Francisco Bay (including TMDLs that require reductions of mercury and PCB loads), augment water supply by recharging the Westwide groundwater basin, and provide community enhancement through integration with the recreational facilities of the Park. With the incorporation of a hydrodynamic separator for pretreatment of diverted water from the Creek, the project also provides the reduction of trash transported through the Creek to the San Francisco Bay. The Orange Memorial Park Master Plan (2007) was referenced in this design to ensure that the concept is consistent with the goals of future development for the Park. This Project currently has an estimated cost of approximately $34.5 million. SSF and San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program anticipate submitting the project for grant funding and contributions from other public agencies, including the Zone and Caltrans. 11. Colma Creek Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Meetings Ann advised that the TAC met on July 12, 2016 to continue the discussion on collaboration between the District and SSF, Daly City, and Colma for maintenance type activities. A final maintenance agreement has been accepted by the County, SSF, and - 6 - Colma. The agreement between SSF and the County is in the process of being executed and could become effective September 15, 2016. The TAC also discussed ideas for future capital improvement projects to add to the existing list and process for developing new design standards to address SLR. VI. DISCUSSION ITEMS • Colma Creek Financial Summary: Ann distributed the updated Financial Summary showing revenue for FY 15-16 thus far along with expenditures. • Reserve Allocation in Annual Budgets: The District suggests setting aside $3.0M in reserves to use for any emergencies. • Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Application Status for Colma Creek Flood Control Zone Channel Improvement Project (Utah Avenue to Navigable Slough): This item was covered in the summary. • Colma Creek Capital Improvement Project (CIP) List: Ann updated the Committee with the status of the current CIP projects. The highlighted information has been modified/updated since the last Committee meeting. Irene O’Connell suggested the County generate a 5-year CIP plan. VII. ACTION ITEMS None. ADJOURNMENT Helen Fisicaro adjourned the meeting at 4:23 p.m. Next meeting: Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. City of South San Francisco Corporation Yard Conference Room 550 North Canal Street South San Francisco, CA 94080 Minutes submitted by: Heather Ruiz, City of South San Francisco