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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 4033 City of Palo Alto (ID # 4033) City Council Informational Report Report Type: Informational Report Meeting Date: 9/16/2013 September 16, 2013 Page 1 of 4 (ID # 4033) Title: Status of the CPI Technical Study Subject: Update on the Budget and Schedule for Technical Analysis of Hazardous Materials Implications for Zoning at Industrial Locations and for Plating Shop Operations at Communications and Power Industries (CPI) at 611 Hansen Way From: City Manager Lead Department: Planning and Community Environment Recommendation Inform the City Council on the status of the schedule and budget for the technical analysis of hazardous materials and their implications for zoning at industrial locations and for plating shop operations and at Communications Power Industries (CPI) at 611 Hansen Way. Information only, no action required. Executive Summary On June 4, 2012, in response to concerns of neighboring residential property owners, the City Council approved a budget range of $35,000 and schedule for the preparation of Phase 1, a technical analysis of hazardous materials for the plating shop operations at CPI. Phase 2 of this analysis is to provide a basis for reviewing zoning requirements affecting industrial locations and plating shops in particular including CPI. In this authorization action the Council asked that if the study fell behind the proposed timetable of 6 months staff should notify Council and prepare an update. Because of the difficulty of finding an acceptable independent technical consultant, the contract for this work was not signed until March 2013. Further the project has been impacted by the necessary participation of CPI both to meet with the City’s consultant and to release necessary information for the technical analysis as well as clarification of the neighbor’s expectations. In response to these changes, the budget for the work has been adjusted and staff has prepared a new time line which will bring the technical work to conclusion in November with presentations to follow in December and January. Phase 2 is the application of the technical findings to potential text revisions in zoning and other regulations. Phase 2 should be completed by March, 2014, with adoption to follow. Background On June 4, 2012, the City Council took action directing City staff to retain contract services of up to $35,000 to conduct an assessment of CPI’s plating shop operation, inculding evaluation of September 16, 2013 Page 2 of 4 (ID # 4033) both past reports and methodologies related to CPI’s operations; and to prepare technical support information related to zoning and hazardous materials issues. The motion included instructing staff that “should the consultant study fall behind, the Council will receive a report updating on the status prior to the 6 month completion date.” Included in the motion was the direction that the consultant would conduct a peer review study of the CPI consultant work. (City Council Minutes June 4, 2012) A critical part of the discussion around this study was the time line for completion of the technical study and for preparation of any changes to the zoning or other city ordinances. It was noted in the staff report that it would take about 90 days to prepare the technical report and another 60 days to review and finalize the report and identify potential zoning and fire code amendments. It was noted that the schedule would have to be adjusted to accommodate the subsequent review processes of the Planning and Transportation Commission and City Council which could potentially extend the schedule. (City Council Staff Report, Hazardous Material Evaluation and Standards Program, June 4, 2012) Discussion Following Council action, staff immediately began to seek out a consultant who would be considered to be independent by the City, the neighbors and CPI. A contract with AECOM an environmental firm was signed on March 11, 2013. AECOM staff began the document review with data the City already had. Essential to their data gathering was the site inspection and review of any current documents that CPI might have. The site visit occurred on July 23, 2013. City staff attended the briefing to start the site visit. At this meeting CPI indicated that there were more recent studies completed in 2012 and 2013 which could provide essential data needed for modeling.CPI determined that they would only allow our consultants to review these documents at CPI. On July 30, 2013 City staff and the AECOM environmental planner met with a small group of residential neighbors adjacent to the CPI plate shop so that they could acquaint us with the hazardous materials issues as they saw them. The scope of work was discussed briefly and the neighbors noted:  the strong desire to have the air quality model analysis include a ‘worst case’ alternative in addition to the two senarios based on ‘human error’ which were included in the original scope;  the study progress in a timely fashion and that the technical work be completed within the 90 days indicated in the staff report; and  Phase 2 be clearly funded and occur within an additional 90 days. The original staff report committed to completing the zoning text within 6 months of initiating the study. As the staff report pointed out the time for public review and adoption is difficult to determine and was not included in the original time line. September 16, 2013 Page 3 of 4 (ID # 4033) Given the present circumstances staff anticipates the following timeline for this project:  Complete document review – September 2013  Draft Technical Analysis study – September – October (60 days)  Final Technical Analysis Study – November-early December , 2013 (4-5 weeks)  Meeting with Barron Park Neighborhood (tbd - their choice of date) – before December 15 or early January  Presentation of Technical Analysis Findings and Recommendations to City Council- January 2014 (as agenda allows)  Prepare and complete zoning and ordinance text – February-March  Begin zoning adoption process – April (completion of review and action will depend on Planning Commission and Council agendas) Barron Park neighbors expressed concern that in the original scope of work for the second phase of the study did not appear to be funded. Phase 2 includes:  evaluating zoning approaches used by other cities,  recommended amendments to the Palo Alto Fire and Zoning Code standards based on findings from the technical study, and  an analysis about how the technical report might affect amortization options. The revised scope of work expands the role of AECOM working with City staff in the drafting of the ordinance revisions. Total time for this work commencing August 15 through completing the zoning text is 7.5 months. This schedule is dependent upon CPI making documents available to AECOM in a timely manner. The time table assumes the space on the City Council’s agenda in Janaury for presentation of the technical study. Resource Impact The original expectation was that the technical study (Phase 1) and ordinance revisions supported by City staff (Phase 2) would cost about $35,000. However, given the initial scope of work the contract was $50,000, funded by the Planning and Community Environment budget in FY 12-13. An additional $27,000 has been added for the recent amendments: 1) adding an air quality model run and analysis of a third senario, 2) the cost of having AECOM employees travel to CPI in order to review documents, and 3) an increased involvement of AECOM in preparing and presenting potential zoning revisions. The additional $27,000 is funded from the FY 13-14 Planning and Community Environment budget. The total cost for the technical study and ordinance revisions is $77,000 ($65,000 for Phase 1, the technical study, and $12,000 for Phase 2, ordinance revision). Phase 2: In the original contract $7,000 was set aside for consultation in Phase 2 by AECOM. In the amended contract the role of AECOM has been expanded to include a closer working September 16, 2013 Page 4 of 4 (ID # 4033) relationship with the City and $5,000 was added for Phase 2. The total Phase 2 budget is now $12,000. To control this contract cost City staff will continue to provide support to AECOM in the drafting of regulations and preparation of staff reports.