HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-06-03 Stormwater Management Oversight Committee Summary Minutes
Stormwater Management
Oversight Committee
Minutes
1
Thursday, June 3, 2021
1 pm to 3 pm
Special Meeting
****BY VIRTUAL TELECONFERENCE ONLY***
https://zoom.us/join Meeting ID: 990 9847 5635 Phone: 1(669)9006833
Pursuant to the provisions of California Governor’s Executive Order N-29-20,
issued on March 17, 2020, to prevent the spread of Covid-19, this meeting
will be held by virtual teleconference only, with no physical location.
Agenda posted in accordance Government Code Section 54954.2(a) or
54956.
Committee Members Present: Catherine Perman, Ron Owes, David Bower, Hal
Mickelson, Dena Mossar, Marilyn Keller
Committee Members Absent: Bob Wenzlau
Staff Present:
Karin North, Joanna Tran, Pam Boyle Rodriguez, Michel Jeremias, Jamie Perez,
Loretta Olmos
PUBLIC COMMENT
Members of the public who wish to participate by computer or phone can find
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particular item, we suggest calling in or connecting online 15 minutes before
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Call to Order (5 min) 1:01pm
Oral Communications (5 min)
Members of the public may speak to any item NOT on the agenda. A
reasonable time restriction may be imposed at the discretion of the
Committee Chair.
None
Old Business (5 min)
1. Approval of Minutes from the April 1, 2021 and May 6, 2021 Stormwater
Management Oversight Committee Meeting (5 min)
2 June 3, 2021
a. Approval of the minutes moved by Commissioner Dena Mossar and
seconded by Commissioner David Bower. No objections from other
Committee members.
New Business (90 min)
1. Welcome new committee members and elect Chair and Vice Chair of the
committee (5 min)
a. Catherine Perman – Joined this committee as a pandemic project
after researching information on rebates for rain barrels, later found
out about the Stormwater Management Oversight Committee.
Background and training in earth science and engineering with a
focus in software use. Moved to California to go to Stanford
University, pivoted to Software, and retired a couple years ago. She
would like to give back to community. Born and raised in New York
City.
b. Dena Mossar – Served on Palo Alto City Council for ten years and
Stormwater Management Oversight Committee for four years.
Interested in committee after looking for funding for stormwater
upgrades while on City Council.
c. David Bower – Seven-year resident of Palo Alto, worked as a
residential building contractor and is now retired. Became interested
in stormwater after the 1998 flood that flooded his basement. He
applied for this position after being on the stormwater ballot
committee.
d. Marilyn Keller – Background in biology and environmental science at
Stanford. Interested in Committee and currently works with tree
canopy group in the City. Marilyn was also previously on the Utilities
Commission and wanted to find out how stormwater interacts with
tree canopy and utilities.
e. Ron Owes – Background in civil and environmental engineering, went
to University of Seattle and had a consulting firm, but is now retired.
Work was related to surface water, design, and abatement. He has
done a lot of environmental cleanups in the past. His partner has a
house in Palo Alto.
f. Hal Mickelson – Lived in Southern California and is a Los Angeles
native, came to this area in 1967 for college and stayed since.
3 June 3, 2021
Attorney by trade, corporate staff attorney for Hewlett Packard, labor
and employment law. Has been retired for 7-8 years.
g. Karin North – City of Palo Alto staff, acting Assistant Director for
Public Works in the Environmental Services Division. Undergraduate
and Master’s degrees in Environmental Science from UC Santa
Barbara. Started working for Palo Alto in 2001 in the Public Works
department.
h. Election of Chair and Vice Chair – Dena Mossar nominated Hal
Mickelson for Chairperson, Ron Owes seconded. David Bower
nominated Dena Mossar for Vice Chair and Hal Mickelson seconded
nomination. All in favor.
2. Staff Update on FY 22 Final Budget (12 min)
a. Jamie Perez – Management Analyst for Public Works Environmental
Services. Job duties include working on internal service operations
for the team, budget development, and finance.
b. Not much changed to the proposed budget since the last meeting.
Office of Management and Budget presented to Finance Committee.
Proposed operating and capital books are available. Accepted all
proposals and adjustments, this will be going to City Council for
adoption on June 21st.
c. Recap of proposed budget: increased proposed recommendation of
Stormwater Management Fee by 2% and general increases in the
base program. No real changes in maintenance and Green
Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) projects, adjustment to Capital
budget for stormwater budget partnership with Caltrans for a trash
capture device. Encouraged to partner with local municipalities and
agreed to fund $613,000 (added as own capital project in adopted
budget in FY22). No changes to the staffing allocated to the
stormwater funds.
d. Capital budget – FY22 proposed $6.175 capital improvement total.
Recycled any funds not this year to be used next year.
e. Rinconada project will have to wait until end of Fiscal year to see if it
is moving forward next year, still waiting for Council approval.
4 June 3, 2021
3. Staff Update on Matadero Creek Oil Spill (10 min)
a. Karin North – Communications Office provided an update on City
website. Fire Department is the lead for this effort and was the first
on the scene. Background: Diesel spill due to exploding generator at
Veteran’s Affair campus entered into storm drain system. CA Fish and
Wildlife, Valley Water and Fire Department are working together for
cleanup. Webpage will be emailed to committee.
4. Staff Update on CIP Projects (10 min)
Michel Jeremias – been with CPA for 8 years as Senior Engineer overseeing
storm drain group for 4 years. Oversees Rajeev Hada and Vicki Thai. Their
group handles and constructs Capital Improvement Projects within the City
(13 projects approved by Stormwater Ballot Measures) in the process of
designing three new projects.
a. Update on current rehab projects:
i. Rehab and replacement project – list of locations throughout
the city of pipes that need replacement. Focus is to continue to
maintain the pipes currently in the ground, not to increase
capacity. Goal is to make sure the pipes are continuing to
function.
ii. Pipes were identified through Public Services group when
cleaning and maintaining debris. Staff verified the integrity of
the pipes at this time. 60 pipes were identified by different tiers
and locations. A lot of the pipes are overlapping so the goal is
to target each of the 60 pipes to be replaced or lined this year.
Hopefully a contract will be awarded before next rainy season.
iii. Image of pipe shown during meeting – roots broken through
the pipes, Public Services group removed debris and cleaned
the pipes. Trimming device installed further upstream that cuts
any roots and branches. A camera goes in during cleanup so
staff can see the quality of the pipes. Installed 1940-1980s.
Rust affecting integrity of the pipes. Concrete pipes also have
cracks.
iv. Staff identified a couple locations with pipes that are so severe
that need replacement. Staff will check if any projects align in
the area. West Charleston Arastradero Project (cost savings –
5 June 3, 2021
Streets group is funding the street re-pavement and
Stormwater group will fund the replacement of the pipe they
were already going to work on).
v. Improvement options – when a pipe is failing, a trenchless
method is used where a fabric reinforcement material is
inserted into a pipe with a material that adheres to the pipe.
The soft material is placed into a broken pipe and expands to
take the same shape as some of the pipes. This method is great
for elliptical pipes. Converting from concrete pipes to HDP pipe.
Faster than full replacement. Full replacement would need
trench excavation (another option if rehab doesn’t work).
vi. Rusted pipes can be rehabbed if there are no cracks or root
intrusion. The liner will extend the life of the pipe (at least 20-
30 years depending on the quality of the pipe), the liner will
increase the velocity of the pipe.
5. Staff Update on Caltrans Trash Control Device (10 min)
Pamela Boyle Rodriguez – Stormwater Compliance Manager with
Watershed Protection Group. Work responsibilities include making sure
the City is compliant with the Regional Stormwater Quality requirements,
including business and construction inspections, reducing trash, and
trying to increase the amount of GSI at the City. Originally from the East
Coast, but lived in the West Coast for the last 20 years. Received her
undergraduate degree from North Carolina State in Natural Resource
Management and Master’s Degree in Environmental Science. Career has
been focused in Watershed/Stormwater and has been with the City for ~5
years.
a. Staff wanted to take advantage of a grant opportunity with Caltrans
to form a project on Embarcadero Road but they did not offer
enough funding at first, so staff delayed project due to tight budget.
Caltrans is now Caltrans providing full funding, but the project must
be done during this fiscal year.
b. Background – must follow strict requirements by Regional Water
Quality Control Board, every permittee in the region must reduce
trash by 100% by 2025 (extended from 2022). Reduction
percentage will be compared to 2014 levels of trash as baseline, or
no adverse impact to receiving waters (San Francisco Bay).
Currently City is at 80% trash reduction. Going from 80% to 100%
6 June 3, 2021
will be a large effort. This project will provide a trash reduction
credit and get the City from 80% to 85% due to the drainage area
that will be captured. Trash capture device must catch trash as
small as 5mm.
c. Estimate for design and installation, 2 devices will be installed for
$613k. Caltrans will fund the entire project and City will take lead.
Budget includes replacing the grass and restoring the area to as it
was before.
d. Location – underground in line with the pipes by the Palo Alto Golf
Course. The City’s drainage area is 189 acres, and the Caltrans
right of the way is 21 acres, the project will drain into our storm
drain system. Everything upstream will be captured in this device.
Caltrans can receive credit for reducing trash for those 21 acres.
e. Maintenance over 50 years (lifecycle of this device). Approximately
$272k to maintain from City and Caltrans will reimburse. This is
covered by the fee for maintenance of the storm drain system.
f. Staff will go to Council June 14th to enter an agreement with
Caltrans. Agreement will need to be signed by Caltrans and this will
need to be done by the end of June. We can release RFP in a couple
of months. We will be contracting consulting firm to figure out best
device to install. These devices are only made by a couple vendors.
Designs should not take too long, construction by next summer and
completed before next season in 2022.
g. Dena Mossar, question: Will there be an annual analysis of
effectiveness overtime? Will we ever know how we’re doing?
i. Pam Boyle Rodriguez, answer: We will be able to weigh the
amount of trash and sediment over time and we can look at
numbers yearly.
h. Hal Mickelson, question: How well do we do in comparison to other
cities?
i. Pam Boyle Rodriguez, answer: In Santa Clara County, there
are some cities that are further ahead and some that are
further behind. You get 100% credit with these projects, but
others such as cleanups are only partial credits. San Jose has
put in 8 of these devices and were able to receive a lot of
7 June 3, 2021
credit this way. But other cities that don’t have the
topographic area to install these devices need to do other
things to reduce trash.
i. Marilyn Keller, comment: overflowing trashcans in local parks seem
like its causing litter in the area.
i. Karin North: Parks department increased trash pickups over
the weekends, but we will reach out to those departments to
increase pickups.
j. Dena Mossar, comment: There are trash pickups with automatic
arms that also cause trash in the street.
i. Karin North: Zero Waste is aware of this issue and is
promoting bagging of the trash to prevent stray trash from
flying.
ii. Pam Boyle Rodriguez: Staff can share a presentation on how
we reduce trash and how we can receive credits for reducing
trash in the future.
6. Review Final Workplan (13 min)
a. Loretta Olmos – Public Works Engineering Management Analyst,
helps Michel Jeremias and Jamie Perez on Capital Improvement
Program Projects.
b. Hal Mickelson – highlighted updates made to workplan since last
meeting and what was added in response to past inputs from
committee members.
c. Karin North – Workplan was submitted and will be approved by
Council by the end of June, deadline was May. Workplan kept broad
and highlighted goals and missions. This is the first workplan of the
SWMOC.
d. Hal Mickelson - Council uses these workplans as a management
tool.
8 June 3, 2021
7. Staff Update on EPA Grant (10 min)
Pamela Boyle Rodriguez – Greening Parking Facilities for a Sustainable
Community
a. Staff processed documentation to receive a grant from EPA.
Submitted application May 2020. Staff did not receive the grant at
the time but was placed on a waiting list if more funding came
later. EPA reached out earlier this year to let staff know more
funding became available and staff received the grant.
b. Grant submitted by Palo Alto (lead applicant), the City of Santa
Clara, and San Francisco Estuary Institute (lead researcher for
looking at water quality in SF Bay), Grassroots Ecology, and San
Jose Conservation Corps, Stormwater Clean Water Program for
Santa Clara Valley.
i. Goals of the project:
1. Retrofit two parking lots with green infrastructure in
both the cities of Santa Clara and Palo Alto.
2. Create a guidebook for other cities that include the
lessons learned from this project and how to do a
similar project for their parking lots.
3. How to provide maintenance and training for GSI, look
at what is the best framework for City Palo Alto to
create a workforce program for creating green jobs for
local community and increase local experience in GSI.
4. Community engagement and community education
ii. Project will monitor water quality entering the green
infrastructure features and exiting it, before and after
construction.
iii. Staff would like to involve the community in some way
through education event. City of Santa Clara will be doing
school education programs.
9 June 3, 2021
iv. Budget for parking lot (we need to match by 50% with
partners, 1.2 mil budget). Construction will be in a couple
years 2023.
c. Lot A Emerson/Lytton; Staff looked at multiple parking lots with
grading/drainage and proximity to storm drain systems:
i. This location was chosen because troubling location to
Watershed Protection Group - over 10 restaurants use trash
bins here and spills in this location.
ii. Office of transportation would like to revamp this area. Trees
need to be retrofitted. No amenities for bicycles, pedestrian
friendly
d. Ideas – proposed retrofit (preliminary)
i. GSI integration
ii. EV chargers, EV lighting
iii. Updates for community parking lot (like a Farmer’s Market)
iv. Water quality – main purpose
v. Sustainable parking lot
vi. Take concrete out and add landscaping, pervious pavement,
and integrate more trees.
e. Expensive project, Staff is not recommending making every parking
lot like this, but this project was awarded a grant.
f. Marilyn Keller, question: Trees slow down peak flows, filters the air,
and makes nicer community space. Is there also any consideration
for solar panels?
i. Pam Boyle Rodriguez, response: talked to Utility Department
and that was another idea came up. Solar panels could be
funded with the EPA grant if it fits in the budget.
10 June 3, 2021
8. Staff Update on Stormwater Rebate Program (10 min)
Joanna Tran – Program Assistant in the Watershed Protection Group and
works on the Policy and Outreach team. Recently took over as the lead
for the Stormwater Rebate Program as the lead from Isabel Zacharczuk.
Bachelors Degree in Environmental Studies from San Jose State
University and has been with the City for almost five years.
a. Outreach campaign for the stormwater rebate program ran for the
months of April and May. Campaign consisted of:
i. Residential and commercial Utility Bill Insert in partnership
with the Utilities rebate program.
ii. Ads on Google, Facebook, Youtube and Palo Alto Online.
These ads were in the form of images, gifs, and videos.
iii. Social media posts by City Managers Office on Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, and Nextdoor.
iv. Newsletters to Green Stormwater Infrastructure and
Sustainability lists.
b. New supporting webpage was created, “Building Resiliency to
Drought with Stormwater Rebates”.
c. Two workshops in partnership with BAWSCA: Landscape Design
(rain gardens) and Pervious Pavement. Both workshops were well-
attended.
9. Staff Update on GSI Program (5 min)
Pamela Boyle Rodriguez
a. A new Utility Bill Insert will be sent out in July with the topic of
“healthy creeks”
b. Staff plan to create new yard signs for people that participate in
rebate program. Slogan along the lines of “I helped protect the
Bay!”
c. GSI Program: In the Works
11 June 3, 2021
i. Dena Mossar and David Bower have been working on the
SWMOC Funding Adhoc Group. Figuring out new opportubities
to leverage stormwater fee for additional funding to maintain
and construct GSI. Will come back to the group in Sept with
update
ii. Rinconada project is pending, funding is ready for GSI but it
was intended to be part of the improvement projects with
Rinconada. Not determined what to do if the project is put on
hold and whether staff will move forward on including
drainage on Hopkins and GSI features.
d. GSI Implementation Project Kick-off this month. Finalizing contract
with consultant, will be implementing new tools from GSI Plan
e. Staff is researching how to make rain barrels more available to Palo
Alto residents without having to go through regular rebate
application process.
Committee Member Comments and Announcements (10 min)
a. Hal Mickelson – thanked and recognized Karin North for working on a
lot of projects for the SWMOC.
b. David Bower – When will meetings be back in person?
a. Karin North – City staff is still remote. There is discussion about
potentially bringing back staff in August, but still anticipating
official word from City Manager. Council will go back end of
August and is looking to do a combination of Zoom and in-
person meetings.
c. Karin North – Confirm with Michel Jeremias of potential field visit for
next August meeting.
a. Michel Jeremias – Project has not gone out to bid yet and not
sure when contract will start. Group can schedule a field visit to
see rehab work that happens. Realistically, Sept/Oct timeframe
is more ideal to see something worth watching after project
starts moving along.
Tentative Agenda Items for Future Meetings and Review Action Items (5 min)
Adjournment 2:56pm
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITY ACT (ADA)
Persons with disabilities who require auxiliary aids or services in using City
12 June 3, 2021
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contact (650) 329-2550 (Voice) 24 hours in advance.
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