HomeMy WebLinkAbout6 Donner Tract Agenda Item # 6 (additional)
1W @ rY1 O
To: Board of Directors
From: Peter Holzmeister
Date: October 1,2003
Subject: Donner Tract
Why this matter is before the Board:
Scott Saibini, President of the Donner Tract Homeowners Association addressed the
Board on September 17, 2003 under public input. He asked the board to pay the cost to
bring the water service line from the customer's house to the water service box. The
Board agreed to agendize this matter.
History:
When the original request was made by property owners at Donner Lake for TDPUD to
take over the Donner Lake water system, Donner Tract was not included in the plan. It
was a small privately owned water system separate from the system owned by Del Oro
Water Company. After we began the process of acquiring the Donner Lake water
system, 1 had conversations with Tom Bennet, then the President of the Donner Tract
Homeowners Association, and with other members of the Donner Tract Board of
Directors. Eventually, the Donner Tract people agreed to become part of the
assessment district.
The idea at that time was to build the new water system such that it would be available
to serve Donner Tract if its private water system ever failed. So Donner Tract property
owners would pay the assessment of $6,925.52 on their property bills (not $9,400 as
stated by Mr. Saibini), but would not actually connect to the water system and would not
receive a monthly water bill.
Then things changed. Nevada County Department of Health ordered Donner Tract to
either make improvements in the operation of its water system or shut it down and
receive water service from TDPUD. So at that point, Donner Tract decided to shut down
its water system and asked to receive water service from TDPUD. Since none of the
other existing Donner Lake water customers were charged a standard District
connection charge, we did not charge Donner Tract a connection charge. Those costs
were part of the assessment district charge.
When we began to construct the water system through Donner Tract, we began to
discuss with the property owners the connection to their service laterals to the homes.
The old Donner Tract water system was constructed without regard to streets,
easements or property lines. It was constructed from the spring box to the homes
through back yards, front yards or whatever worked. It was a private water system so
normal public water system design did not apply. The system served Donner Tract quite
well for many years.
TDPUD builds its water system in roads and easements and sets a service box at a
property corner. Our traditional practice requires the homeowner to construct the
service line from the home to the TDPUD service box. In Donner Tract, we built the
water system in their private roads and set service boxes at property corners as best we
could, given the unusual arrangement of roads and driveways in the Tract.
In many cases, because of the way the Donner Tract water system had been developed
over the years, there was no house service lateral near our service box. However,
Southwest Gas was constructing a gas line to each home. We suggested that
homeowners joint trench with Southwest gas to have the water service lines constructed
to their homes. This option would not work in all cases because of the path chosen by
Southwest Gas to get to the home. There was no single plan that worked for everyone.
In some cases, the old Donner Tract pipeline was close to the TDPUD service box and
could be used as the house service line. In some cases the homeowner could joint
trench with Southwest Gas. In other cases, the homeowner was on his own to construct
a service lateral from the house to the TDPUD service box. None of this is the result of
anything done by TDPUD. It is the result of the original construction of the Donner Tract
water system.
New information:
In an effort to help the homeowners of Donner Tract, Neil Kaufman worked with our
contractor and Southwest Gas to provide for the joint trenching options where
practicable. Steve Hollabaugh's memo goes into this in detail.
Recommendation:
I recommend that the Board deny the request. Granting the request would be a very
expensive precedent that will haunt us in the future.
Agenda Item # �1
Memorandum
To: Board of Directors
From: Stephen Hollabaugh
Date: September 26, 2003
Date of Board Meeting: October 1,2003
Subject: Discussion of request of Donner Tract for TDPUD to pay for their water
laterals from the meter box to the home
1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD
Scott Saibini (President Donner Tract Homeowners Association) came before the Board during
Public Input on September 17, 2003, Mr. Saibini presented the Board with a letter and
discussed the Donner Tract water system. Mr Saibini requested that the District pay for the
water laterals from the meter box to the home for the Donner Tract homes.
2. HISTORY
The District codes and policies define the Requirements for the Water system in section
6.56.080. This section is attached. Below are a few sections.
6.56.080.1 Water System
6.56.080.1(A) The water system shall be considered as made up of two parts: the utility system
and the customer system.
6.56.080.1(B) Utility system shall consist of the source facilities and the distribution system and
shall include all those facilities of the water system under the complete control of the utility, up to
the point where the customer's system begins.6.56.080.1 (A) The water system shall be
considered as made up of two parts: the utility system and the customer system.
6.56.080.1(C) The source shall include all components of the facilities utilized in the production,
treatment, storage, and delivery of water to the distribution system.
6.56.080.1(D) The distribution system shall include the network of conduits used for the delivery
of water from the source to the customer's system.
6.56.080.1(E) The customer's system shall include those parts of the facilities beyond the
termination of the utility distribution system which are utilized in conveying utility-delivered
domestic water to points of use.
3. NEW INFORMATION
The Donner Lake Tract Pipelines project consisted of the following work:
• About 2,340 feet of water mains
• About 2,100 feet of water service laterals
• About 3,700 feet of gas main and service laterals
• Water meter boxes
• Fire hydrants and laterals
• Connections to existing pipelines
• Ancillary items such as fittings, valves, locator wire,
As a result of this project, water service was made available to 37 houses within the Donner
Tract. 21 of those houses are currently connected to the water system. For the remainder,
service laterals have been stubbed out and the District is awaiting internal work by the
homeowners before the final connection can be made.
Prior to commencing construction on this project, three meetings were held with Mr. Saibini and
Mr. Peter Gerdin regarding the connection of the residences to the water system. Peter
Holzmeister, Neil Kaufman and Ed Taylor attended these meetings for the District. At these
meetings, Mr. Holzmeister outlined the District's position regarding financial responsibility of the
various components to be installed. Mr. Holzmeister indicated that the District would be
responsible for installation of all mainline piping, valves and fire hydrants. The District would
also cover the costs of the meter boxes and the cost of the service laterals from the main to the
property line. He noted that the cost of the lateral from the property line to the point of
connection would be responsibility of the property owner.
The initial project design was also presented to Misters Saibini and Gerdin. This initial project
design called for installation of completely new services from the main to the residence. This
initial design did not utilize any portions of the existing water system.
Misters Saibini and Gerdin expressed a desire to minimize the overall cost to the property
owners. Based upon their statements, the layout of the services was revised to maximize use
of the existing piping. This approach of maximizing use of the existing piping was used in
constructing the new laterals.
The old Donner Tract water system was not constructed in a single project. It consisted of a
number of small pipes (about 1.5" diameter) that were installed at various times as houses were
built in the tract. Many of these pipes ran across properties and back yards and houses were
fed from the back in some cases. Due to the haphazard nature of the construction, there was
not an overall method that could be applied to the usage of the existing system.
In some cases, it was possible to install a meter box and connect to an existing pipe at the
property line with no cost to the property owner. In other cases, it was necessary to install a
completely new lateral from the main to the house. The longest lateral installed was 170 feet
long. It should be noted that the system was constructed so that each house could be metered
individually, per District and State requirements.
During May and June, the District was in discussions with Southwest Gas regarding their share
of the joint trench installation. Prices of $21/foot for main line pipe and $13/foot for service
laterals were agreed to with SWG as their of joint trench installations.
On June 26, Bids were opened for construction of the project. The Board awarded a Contract
for the project to Herbert Suter Construction (HSC) on July 2. Construction began during the
week of June 14.
The following Bid Prices were given in the HSC Bid for service lateral work:
Bid Item Bid Price
2" PE Water Service Lateral with 1" Gas Pipe $45.00/foot
1.5" PE Water Service Lateral with 1"Gas Pipe $44.00/foot
1.5" PE Water Service Lateral without Gas Pipe $43.00/foot
Two 1" PE Water Service Laterals with 1" Gas Pipe $43.00/foot
1" PE Water Service Lateral with 1" Gas Pipe $42.00/foot
Two 1" PE Water Service Laterals without Gas Pipe $41.00/foot
1 1" PE Water Service Lateral without Gas Pipe $40.00/foot
L 1" Gas Pipe (No Water) _ $40.00/foot
After the Bid Opening, Mr. Saibini was provided with a copy of the Bid results. He stated that he
would like to pursue finding another Contractor to perform the work that would be paid for by the
homeowners. He was told that the District had no objection to such a plan. Staff discussions
between Misters Holzmeister, Kaufman and Taylor determined that it would be much in the
District's interest to have the homeowners hire their own contractor. That would potentially save
them some money and would greatly reduce the administrative requirements and staff time
devoted to the project. Mr. Saibini later called Mr. Kaufman and stated that he was unable to
find another contractor. He agreed that HSC should proceed with the lateral installation using
the Bid Prices.
During the months of May, June and July, Neil Kaufman had individual meetings with property
owners regarding the unique aspects of each property. These meetings involved discussing the
existing point of service, the planned point of natural gas service and the possible methods of
connecting the house to the water system. The costs to the homeowner were discussed, and
the homeowners were told that their cost would be reduced by $13/foot where water and gas
laterals were installed jointly due to the SWG contribution. In a number of cases, homeowners
initiated the process of connected to the SWG system in order to benefit from the reduced cost.
Actual installation of the laterals was based upon these meeting. During construction of the
project, Mr. Kaufman was on-site daily and in daily communication with SWG regarding the
installation of joint laterals. Joint laterals were installed wherever possible, and in some cases,
installation of laterals was delayed until the necessary paperwork had been received by SWG.
A total of about 2,070 feet of service lateral was installed by HSC. Of that total, 957 feet was
paid for by the District. The remainder is the responsibility of the homeowners. The final cost
per foot to the homeowners ranged from $15 to $42 per foot. Costs were split between two
property owners for trenches with two water laterals. The total cost to the homeowners is about
$34,500. With individual costs ranging from $0 to $4,340. There are 12 homeowners who were
connected at no cost to the owner.
During the past few weeks, Mr. Kaufman began mailing individual letters to homeowners
describing their costs and requesting payment. After Mr. Saibini's, presentation to the Board,
the mailing of letter requesting payment was halted and six letters have not yet been sent.
4. RECOMMENDATION
The Board consider the information presented herein and take action as necessary.
Truckee Donner PUD
As President of the Donner Tract Homeowners Association I was involved in working
with Neil Kauffman in the design of the water system that you installed in our area this
summer.
We met with Neil who had preliminary ideas for the original concept; we furnished him a
copy of our existing water system. We were told that we had a unique system and that by
utilizing some of our existing piping that we would have every house hooked up at no
charge to the home owners. The next meeting we were shown revised drawings using
parts of our existing pipes. At no time did we ever ask to be compensated for the use of
our system. The next meeting Neil begin to waiver from his original promise for the no
charge connections, stating that it was not going to be every home now. As the promise
began to give way increasing the number of houses being responsible for the costs from
the meter box to the home we asked for a meeting with Peter Holzmeister. This is were I
feel that all the good faith dealing that we had was reversed. Peter kept reiterating that it
was not the PUD policy, even though the Engineer had made promises we would receive
the services. We dealt with the PUD representative in good faith only to have every
promise taken away and leaving me with the feeling of either take what we are offering
or else we will not install the water system. As the construction progressed the count of
who was paying kept increasing. There was a lot of false information that we were given
and were deceived as to the PUD intention from the beginning. I came to find out that
the Gas Company is paying the PUD $13.00 per LF for the joint trenching. This was
never brought up and I believe with all the deception that it was the intent of the PUD not
tell us but pocket the monies yourself.
A meeting that I had with Neil and the contractor on site, Herb Sutter to discuss some
issues, I asked Neil if he would as a good faith gesture install a asphalt valley gutter at a
location on Robin Ln. He asked Herb to get a price for the work, that he would install it
if the price was reasonable. The $500.00 for the asphalt valley must have been too much
since I found out that we should have our joint service trench price reduced by the $13.00
paid by the gas company.
In closing I feel that we were deceived by the PUD by false promises, not following
through with what we were promised. I know in business you are only as good as your
word, and your engineer and manager's word is not even worth the paper their business
cards are printed on. Your engineer and manager appear to be honest people, but lied to
us and who know who else.
Please have the board discuss these issues on September 17`n
Thank You
Scott Saibini
President Donner Tract Homeowners Association
Scott Saibini
2150 Eva Adams Dr.
Reno,NV 89509
Home- 775-826-2258
Work- 775-329-0407
6.56.080 Requirements
6.56.080.1 Water system
6.56.080.1(A) The water system shall be considered as made up of two parts: the utility system
and the customer system.
6.56.080.1(B)Utility system shall consist of the source facilities and the distribution system and shall
include all those facilities of the water system under the complete control of the utility, up to the point
where the customer's system begins.
6.56.080.1(C) The source shall include all components of the facilities utilized in the production,
treatment, storage, and delivery of water to the distribution system.
6.56.080.1(D) The distribution system shall include the network of conduits used for the delivery of
water from the source to the customer's system.
6.56.080.1(E) The customer's system shall include those parts of the facilities beyond the
termination of the utility distribution system which are utilized in conveying utility-delivered domestic
water to points of use.
6.56.080.2 Policy
6.56.080.2(A) No water service connection to any premises shall be installed or maintained by the
District unless the water supply is protected as required by state laws and regulations and this
policy/rule. Service of water to any premises shall be discontinued by the District if a backflow
prevention assembly required by this policy is not installed, tested and maintained, or if it is found
that a backflow prevention assembly has been removed, by-passed, or if an unprotected cross-
connection exists on the premises. Service will not be restored until such conditions or defects are
corrected.
6.56.080.2(B) The customer's system should be open for inspection at all reasonable times to
authorized representatives of the District and County Health Departments to determine whether
cross-connections or other structural or sanitary hazards, including violations of these regulations,
exist. When such a condition becomes known, the District shall deny or immediately discontinue
service to the premises by providing for a physical break in the service line until the customer has
corrected the condition in conformance with State, County and District regulations relating to
plumbing and water service.
6.56.080.2(C) An approved backflow prevention assembly shall also be installed on each service
line to a customer's water system or near the property line or immediately inside the building being
served; but, in all cases, before the first branch line leading off the service line wherever the
following conditions exist:
6.56.080.2(C)(1) In the case of premises having an auxiliary water supply which is not or may not
be of safe bacteriological or chemical quality and which is not acceptable as an additional source by
the District, the public water system shall be protected against backflow from the premises by
installing an approved backflow prevention assembly in the service line appropriate to the degree of
hazard.
6.56.080.2(C)(2) In the case of premises on which any industrial fluids or any other objectionable
substance is handled in such a fashion as to create an actual or potential hazard to the public water
system, the public system shall be protected against backflow from the premises by installing an
approved backflow prevention assembly in the service line appropriate to the degree of hazard.
6.56.080.2(C)(3) In the case of premises having internal cross-connection that cannot be
permanently corrected or controlled,or intricate plumbing and piping arrangements or where entry to
all portions of the premises is not readily accessible for inspection purposes, making it impracticable
or impossible to ascertain whether or not dangerous cross-connections exist, the public water
system shall be protected against backflow from the premises by installing an approved backflow
prevention assembly in the service line.
6.56.080.2(D) The type of protective assembly required under subsections shall
depend upon the degree of hazard which exists as follows:
6.56.080.2(D)(1) In the case of any premises where there is an auxiliary water supply as stated in
subsection of this section and it is not subject to any of the following rules, the public water
system shall be protected by an approved air-gap separation or an approved reduced pressure
principle backflow prevention assembly.
6.56.080.2(D)(2) In the case of any premises where there is water or substance that would be
objectionable but not hazardous to health, if introduced into the public water system,the public water
system shall be protected by an approved double check valve assembly.
6.56.080.2(D)(3) In the case of any premises where there is any material dangerous to health which
is handled in such a fashion as to create an actual or potential hazard to the public water system,
the public water system shall be protected by an approved air-gap separation or an approved
reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly. Examples of premises where these
conditions will exist include sewage treatment plants, sewage pumping stations, chemical
manufacturing plants, hospitals, mortuaries and plating plants.
6.56.080.2(D)(4) In the case of any premises where there are "uncontrolled" cross-connections,
either actual or potential, the public water system shall be protected by an approved air-gap
separation or an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly at the service
connection.
6.56.080.2(D)(5) In the case of any premises where, because of security requirements or other
prohibitions or restrictions, it is impossible or impractical to make a complete in-plant cross-
connection survey, the public water system shall be protected against backflow from the premises
by either an approved air-gap separation or an approved reduced pressure principle backflow
prevention assembly on each service to the premises.
6.56.080.2(E) Any backflow prevention assembly required herein shall be a model and size
approved by the District. The term "approved backflow prevention assembly" shall mean an
assembly that has been manufactured in full conformance with the standards established by the
American Water Works Association entitled: AWWA C506-84 Standards for Reduced Pressure
Principle and Double Check Valve Backflow Prevention Devices; and have met completely the
laboratory and field performance specifications of the Foundation for Cross-connection Control and
Hydraulic Research of the University of Southern California.
The following testing laboratory has been qualified by the District to test and certify backflow
preventers: Foundation for Cross-connection Control and Hydraulic Research, University of
Southern California, University Park, Los Angeles, California 90090-0231.
6.56.080.2(F) It shall be the duty of the customer at any premises where backflow prevention
assemblies are installed to have certified inspections and operational tests made at least once per
year. In those instances where the District deems the hazard to be great enough certified
inspections maybe required at more frequent intervals. These inspections and tests shall beat the
expense of the customer and shall be performed by a tester certified by the American Water Works
Association, California-Nevada Section. It shall be the duty of the District to see that these tests are
made in a timely manner. The customer shall notify the District in advance when the tests are to be
undertaken so that an official representative may witness the tests if so desired. These assemblies
shall be repaired,overhauled or replaced at the expense of the customer whenever said assemblies
are found to be defective. Records of such tests, repairs and overhaul shall be kept and made
available to the District.
6.56.080.2(G) All presently installed backflow prevention assemblies which do not meet the
requirements of this section but were approved devices for the purposes described herein at the
time of installation and which have been properly maintained, shall, except for the inspection and
maintenance requirements under subsection _, be excluded from the requirements of these
rules so long as the District is assured that they will satisfactorily protect the utility system.
Whenever the existing device is moved from the present location or requires more than minimum
maintenance or when the District finds that the maintenance constitutes a hazard to health,the unit
shall be replaced by an approved backf low prevention assembly meeting the requirements of this
section.
(Ord. 8803)