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Home My WebLink About2019-12-12 Stormwater Management Oversight Committee Summary MinutesStorm Water Management Oversight Committee Thursday, December 12, 2019 Special Meeting Art Center Meeting Room, Palo Alto Art Center 2:00 pm Committee Members Present: David Bower, Marilyn Keller, Hal Mickelson, Ron Owes Committee Members Absent: Peter Drekmeier, Dena Mossar, Bob Wenzlau Public Members Present: David Moss (Parks and Recreation Commission, Liaison) Staff Present: Maybo AuYeung, Phil Bobel, Pam Boyle Rodriguez, Michel Jeremias, Karin North, Vicki Thai, Isabel Zacharczuk Call to Order: 1:03 pm by Chairperson Mickelson Oral Communications: None Old Business 1. Meeting minutes from the March 20, 2019 meeting to be updated to correct typo under “Call to Order”. New Business 2. Presentation of Proclamations  David Bower and Hal Mickelson presented with proclamations from the City. Staff acknowledged that Marilyn Keller’s proclamation was previously accepted. 3. Staff Report on Capital Improvement Project  Loma Verde Ave Project: i. Jeremias: provided overview of the project. Vicki Thai is preparing design plans and will go out to bid January 2020. Construction for this project will take about 2 – 3 months. The pipe update in this project is key because these downstream updates will allow staff to make additional updates upstream. ii. Keller: what is the reason for increasing the pipe size to a 48‐inch pipe? 1. Jeremias: the Storm Drain Master Plan (SDMP) identified pipes that cannot accommodate a 10‐year storm (typical design standard). Loma Verde project identified as a high priority in order to better capture 10‐ year storms. Storm Water Management Oversight Committee iii. Keller: there is a potential for current 10‐year storms to become future 5‐year storms – how is this being addressed? 1. Jeremias: the City’s pump stations will cover potential discrepancies between certain sized storms in the future. 2. North: installing green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) will also help with potential discrepancies in parallel with storm drain upgrades. iv. Owes: did the City conduct a flooding analysis? 1. Jeremias: SDMP identified ponding areas as part of the development of the Plan. The Stormwater Management Fee (SWMF) projects were then identified and ranked high, medium, and low based on this analysis.  Corporation Way and E Bayshore: i. Jeremias: this is the higher priority project from the SWMF. The outfall is gravity‐driven, so the water cannot get into the creek if the creek levels are too high.  Owes: are there any constraints with in‐house project management for SWMF projects? i. Jeremias: there are three (3) staff in Public Works Engineering – Storm Drain group (PWE SD). Staff is squeezed thin between the high priority SWMF projects and smaller projects in‐between (e.g. box culvert rehabilitation project over Oregon Expressway).  Bowers: for #11 Louis Road project, why has this project jumped up the priority list? i. Jeremias: the City cannot afford to do all of the Louis Road upgrades within the same project, so the City is splitting these upgrades into two segments. The City is prioritizing the Louis Road segment that is closest to the Pump Station. 4. Staff Report on Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2021  Boyle‐Rodriguez introduced David Moss—current Commissioner on the Parks and Recreation Commission (PRC) i. Moss: main concern is GSI and the impact that it has on parks. What role do parks play in the stormwater system? Also concerned with items like permeable pavement in Mitchell Park parking lots—wants to know more information.  AuYeung: budget starts in about six (6) months on July 1st, 2020 through June 30th, 2021  Estimating a 2.7% increase for SWMF Revenue (based on CPI). Last year’s increase was 4.5% for reference.  Operating Budget: i. Bobel: clarified the term “allocated charges”—each enterprise fund, like storm, pays attorney’s office and IT office. ii. AuYeung: proposing “no change” to maintenance cost 1. Bobel: maintenance cost is proposed to stay the same, but we cannot keep holding maintenance costs at the same level, while true maintenance costs are actually rising iii. Owes: are rebates just stormwater‐related? 1. Bobel: yes, we’re only talking about stormwater rebates for now, although the City offers additional rebates through other Departments. Storm Water Management Oversight Committee 2. Keller: attended the Stormwater Rebate Workshop hosted the previous weekend by Utilities and Public Works and thought it was done very well.  Bobel: FY 18 and FY 19 each dedicated $330k to Charleston‐Arastradero since this was the only “shovel‐ready” project at the time. Now, we want to use the stormwater fund as more of “seed money”, as opposed to funding an entire “green” portion of only one project. Focus more on leveraging SWMF funding.  Bobel: City staff is working on a policy for projects managers to consider implementing GSI into any future projects i. Keller: Canopy is planning to plant a few hundred trees along San Francisquito Creek. The biggest issue is how to water trees once they’re planted – could a stormwater project help with this? Catherine Martineau, Executive Director of Canopy, is the best contact for this project. ii. Moss: the Buckeye Creek Study was recently completed. The total project is about $9 million – the project is being split into smaller sections, but each piece is still $3 million. Daren Anderson is the best contact for this project. iii. North: staff is considering GSI for the North Ventura Coordinated Area Plan (NCVAP) as well. iv. Bower: is the Public Safety Building going to have additional GSI that could use these funds? 1. Boyle Rodriguez: staff has been working with PWE to consider additional GSI. The parking garage extends past the footprint of the building and under the sidewalk, which limits the areas for GSI.  Bower: Council is concerned about how to fund all of the Storm Drain Master Plan (SDMP) projects (~$350 million worth of projects)—SWMF is being used to fund 13 priority projects that PWE SD is focusing on.  Owes: add a column to the budget chart to indicate “which problem is being solved” for each of the Capital Improvement Projects (CIPs) that the SWMF is paying for. 5. Staff Report on Stormwater Program and Green Stormwater Infrastructure Plan Improvements  Keller: what is the timeline the Sustainability Climate Action Plan (S/CAP)? i. Bobel: the approval for the S/CAP Framework happened in 2016. The approval for the S/CAP happened in 2018. One of the overall goals is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80% by 2030. The GHG emission goal includes transportation.  Owes: are there upcoming issues with changes from decreasing setbacks? What happens if we don’t have enough space to implement GSI like bioretention? There are competing issues from different state agencies. Particular concern about SB 50. i. Boyle Rodriguez: monthly talks with the Water Board have included discussion about housing concerns. Properties that are built out “lot line to lot line” will have options to treat land offsite.  Owes: is there any kind of goal for percentage of impervious area for the City? i. Boyle Rodriguez and North: staff has an upcoming contract that will help the City model the amount of imperviousness for the City to establish a baseline. Storm Water Management Oversight Committee Committee Member Comments and Announcements Tentative Agenda Items for Future Meetings  Staff will send out a Survey Monkey for which groups to hear from at the next meeting, regardless of whether the items are funded by the SWMF (since they’re still related to stormwater). Potential topics include: i. PW Storm Drain Engineering regional projects (e.g. Shoreline, SF Creek) ii. PW Storm Drain Operations (including street sweeping) iii. Recycled Water  Mickelson: Alert the SWMOC when there are other related events going on that are relevant to this SWMOC – members can attend and learn.  North: will send out regular calendar invites for SWMOC members.  AuYeung: next meeting on February 13th will focus on finalizing the upcoming budget and discussing past year’s actual spending. This meeting will be at least two hours.  Bower: request that staff send out pre‐composed documents (if they’re available) ahead of any upcoming meetings so that the documents can be reviewed prior to the meeting. Adjournment: 3:04 pm by Chairperson Michelson