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HomeMy WebLinkAbout13 Meter Box Project Agenda Item # 13 TRUCKEE DONNER Public Utility District ACTION To: Board of Directors From: Neil Kaufman Date: April 01, 2009 Subject: Consideration of the Award to Perform Environmental and Cultural Reviews for the Meter Box Retrofit Project to Inland Ecosystems 1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD Board approval is required for expenditures in excess of$15,000. 2. HISTORY AB 2572 requires that the District begin reading the water meters installed since 1992 and commence billing on a volumetric basis by January 1, 2010. AB 2572 also requires that all connections be equipped with water meters and billed on a volumetric basis by January 1, 2025. There are about 5,500 water systems customers not currently equipped with a water meter. The Board has set a goal of installing meters for all of those customers by 2013. In many cases, these customers do not have a meter box, or the meter box must be upgraded in order to accommodate installation of a meter. Of the 5,500 customers, about 1,500 have upgraded meter boxes where a new meter can be readily installed. It is assumed that the remaining locations will require some form of upgrade. In 2008, the District issued a request for proposals for a consultant to provide environmental consulting services. Based upon those proposals, the District selected Inland Ecosystems to perform consulting services for a period of up to three years. 3. NEW INFORMATION The District has filed an application for a low-interest loan with the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) in order to construct this project. The DWSRF is administered by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and CDPH requires that the environmental review of proposed projects be completed. The construction work covered by the Meter Box Retrofit Project is considered Categorically Exempt under CEQA. However, the DWSRF involves monies provided by the Federal Government and there are additional requirements regarding environmental review. At the direction of the District, Inland Ecosystems has investigated the available information and determined that additional efforts involving both field surveys and office research are necessary to meet the requirements of the DWSRF regarding biological and cultural resources. Inland Ecosystems has submitted a proposed cost of $23,900 to complete the required studies. The work by Inland Ecosystems will involve documentation of biological and cultural resources throughout the District's service area. This work will have benefit beyond the Meter Box Retrofit Project and can be utilized when conducting future CEQA reviews, thereby reducing the cost of those studies. 4. FISCAL IMPACT The cost of the required field surveys and office research is $23,900. The proposed funding source is the Reserve for Future Meters Fund. 5. RECOMMENDATION Award a Task Order to Inland Ecosystems in an amount not to exceed $23,900 to perform biologiakand cultur resource studies associated with the Meter Box Retrofit Project. C� Ed Taylor Michael D. Holley Water Utility Manager General Manager AA INLAND ECOSYSTEMS, Inc. 3239 Reno Vista Drive Reno,NV 89512 LAND Phone: (775) 786-3223 e-mail: emerron(&inlandecos stems.com ECOSYSTEMS www.inland ecosystems March 17, 2009 Mr. Neil Kaufinan, P.E. Water System Engineer Truckee Donner Public Utility District P.O. Box 309 Truckee, CA 96160 Subject: Proposal to Assist the Truckee Donner Public Utility District with Completing State Revolving Fund Federal Cross-Cutting Requirements for Biological and Cultural Resources Dear Mr. Kaufinan: Inland Ecosystems (IE) is pleased to submit this Proposal to the Truckee Donner Public Utility District (District) to continue assisting with State Revolving Fund Federal Cross-Cutting Requirements for Biological and Cultural Resources for the Meter Box Retrofit/Installation Project. The District proposes to install water meters throughout their service area within the limits of the Town of Truckee (Nevada and Placer counties). The project area encompasses the downtown area, as well as surrounding subdivisions. Meters will be placed along residential and business lateral waterlines, most of which are located within 15 feet from the edge of road pavement. Each meter excavation will generally involve an area no larger than 50 square feet and so project activities will be confined to areas of prior disturbance and no new ground surface disturbances are anticipated. The District is applying for a grant through the Economic Recovery Funds for Drinking Water Infrastructure. As part of the Federal Economic Recovery Plan, these federal funds are being allocated through the State Water Resources Control Board and the Department of Public Health (CDPH) and entitled the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Funds. The following Tasks will be accomplished: 1 TASK 1 —CULTURAL RESOURCES Although the proposed project is categorically exempt from CEQA, the District needs to be in compliance with federal antiquities mandates, which require that the proposed undertaking's Area of Potential Effect (APE) be evaluated for the presence of heritage properties by a professional archaeologist and in accordance with 36 CFR 800, regulations implementing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. IE has secured the services of Dr. Susan Lindstrom of Truckee to carry out the cultural resource assessment. In accordance with federal guidelines, the required archaeological records search at the North Central Information Center (NCIC), California State University, Sacramento will be conducted. The NCIC serves as the archaeological clearing house and maintains records of prior surveys and known heritage properties located on private lands in Nevada and Placer counties. The NCIC has conducted a number of recent record searches involving substantial portions of the District's service area. "Recent" record searches are generally interpreted as those dating no earlier than five years before the present. New record searches will be required for areas where no prior record search has been conducted. Record searches older than five years, will need to be updated, a process that usually involves a lesser level of effort than a new record search-- as the goal is not to duplicate the earlier search effort. Darrel Cruz, Director of the Washoe Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO), will be consulted in order to incorporate the opinions,knowledge and sentiments regarding any potential concerns for traditional Native American lands within the project area. It is anticipated that the ground surface encompassing most metering locales will be obscured by paving or road shoulder, structures, landscaping, or other disturbances and, therefore, field work will largely involve a "windshield survey" of the project area. Selected areas where the ground surface is visible may be inspected on foot. A final report containing Section 106 documentation will be submitted within 60 days of submitting the application for funding. This agreement document (report) will incorporate the following information: • detailed project APE map • detailed project description documenting prior disturbance in APE • brief cultural overview • map of prior records search areas (with NCIC numbers) • description of prior records searches • map of known archaeological sites • description of known archaeological sites • "Finding of Effect" documentation which is anticipated to be a "finding of no adverse effect" with recommendations for construction monitoring in areas containing known archaeological sites The project scope and cost for the cultural resource assessment are itemized in Table 1 and are based upon the encounter of no new archaeological artifacts, features or sites. In the event that 2 archaeological remains are encountered, and based upon their size and complexity, the project scope and cost may need to be revised. TASK 2—BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES Under provisions of section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act, a Federal agency that permits, licenses, funds, or otherwise authorizes activities must consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to ensure that its actions will not jeopardize the continued existence of any special-status species. The Biological Resources task includes preparation of a Biological Assessment that will be submitted to the CDPH to review and forward to the USFWS to assist them in the preparation of an appropriate effect determination for federally special-status species resulting from the proposed project. Special Status Species include: • plant and wildlife species that are listed or proposed for listing as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (50 CFR 17.11 for wildlife, 50 CFR 17.12 for plants; various notices in the Federal Register for proposed species); • species that are listed, or proposed for listing by the state of California as threatened or endangered under the California Endangered Species Act (California Administrative Code, Title 14, Section 670.5); • wildlife species identified by the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) as species of concern (wildlife species that do not have state or federal threatened or endangered status but may still be threatened with extinction); • wildlife species that are designated as fully protected by CDFG (California Administrative Code, Title 14, Section 670.5); • plants considered by the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) to be rare, threatened, or endangered in California and elsewhere; and • plant species that meet the definition of rare or endangered under the California Environmental Quality Act (1970). The Biological Assessment involves developing a GIS layer for sensitive plant and/or noxious weeds, and wildlife species potentially occurring in the service area. IE has secured the services of Overlin Botanical Consulting based in Truckee and Williams Wildland Consulting based in Marysville to carry out the biological survey work. Pre-field research will include a search of the USFWS database and the California Natural Diversity Database for all records of special-status plant and animal species occurring within the USGS 7.5 minute quadrangles encompassing and adjacent to the District's service area. 3 An understanding of the habitat requirements for species potentially utilizing the site and the degree of existing human development in the immediate area will be factors considered in the impact assessment. It is anticipated that the Biological Assessment will conclude that "No Effect" to federally listed species would result from implementation of the proposed project. Dr. Glenn Merron will prepare the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) documentation. The project scope and cost for the biological resource assessment are itemized in Table 1 and are based upon the premise of no biological constraints. CONCLUSION Inland Ecosystems has assembled a highly qualified team to assist the District with the required biological and cultural resource assessments. Dr. Merron will supervise all aspects of the proposed scope of work. He has over 25 years of experience and has authored over 100 environmental documents. He has previously served as Project Manager for several of the District's environmental projects. Our cost estimate for the biological and cultural survey work and preparation of the District's annual environmental document is a "not to exceed" contract amount of$23,900. We bill on a Time and Material basis for each task. I am assuming that there will be no significant findings of cultural or biological resources that would affect the cost estimate. I will endeavor to keep costs below this quote where possible. Inland Ecosystems has an established working relationship with several clients and a proven track record of integrity and quality environmental deliverables. I believe that Inland Ecosystems offers services to the District in a cost effective and efficient manner. Our team is committed to providing a high quality of excellence and responsiveness in our work efforts to ensure that the project is carried out with the least amount of environmental disturbance. Thank you for this opportunity to respond to your request for a Proposal. Should you have any questions pertaining to this proposal please contact me at (775) 786-3223. We look forward to assisting the District with this important project. Sincerely, Glenn S. Merron, Ph.D. Attach: Table 1 4 Table 1. Cost estimates associated with completing the cultural and biological tasks and preparing the required federal cross cutting documentation. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TASK 1. CULTURAL RESOURCES (Dr. Susan Lindstrom) Task Hrs $/Hr Cost I. Project management/agency consultation 12 120 1,440 II. Prefield research --*NCIC required records search Tahoe Donner —1,000 Armstrong/Gateway/West W. River —1,000 Prosser Lakeview/Olympic Heights/ Palisades/Sierra Meadows/Airport —1,000 Glenshire/Hirschdale —1,000 --Native American consultation 1 120 120 III. "Windshield" field survey 8 120 960 V. Report(data synthesis/maps/tables/text) 60 120 7,200 VI. Construction monitoring TBD SUBTOTAL: —13,720 *For a fee,the NCIC will provide an estimate of the actual cost to conduct records searches in these areas. Note that a record search of this size could take the NCIC from 4 to 8 weeks to complete. TASK 2 —BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES (Annie Overlin,Brian Williams,Dr. Glenn Merron) Task Hrs $/Hr Cost I. Project management/agency consultation 12 95 1,140 II. Prefield research --USFWS AND CNDDB database searches 8 95 760 III. Field survey 24 95 2,280 V. GIS mapping 20 95 1,900 VI. Preparation of Biological Assessment 40 95 3,800 VII. Other Direct Costs (subconsultant mileage) 300 VII. Construction monitoring TBD SUBTOTAL: 10,180 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5