REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
December 18, 2014
FROM: THOMAS C. ESQUEDA, Director
Department of Public Utilities
THROUGH: MARTIN A. QUERIN, PE, Assistant Director
Department of Public Utilities - Water Division
BY: MICHAEL CARBAJAL, Chief Engineering Technician
Department of Public Utilities - Water Division
SUBJECT
Title
Approve Amendment No. 2 with Live Oak Associates to provide professional services for the environmental investigative studies and permitting support services for the Friant-Kern Raw Water Pipeline Project for an amount not to exceed $48,000
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends Council authorize the Director of Public Utilities to execute Amendment No. 2 with Live Oak Associates for additional environmental investigative studies and permitting support services for the Friant-Kern Raw Water Pipeline Project.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Department of Public Utilities, Water Division, is finalizing the design of the Friant-Kern Raw Water Pipeline to deliver raw water from the Friant-Kern Canal to the Northeast Surface Water Treatment Facility (NESWTF). With bidding scheduled to begin in late 2015, acquisition of permits for this pipeline project is necessary. Live Oak Associates has been very instrumental in working with the permitting agencies to provide the information and studies to obtain the necessary long lead time permits.
BACKGROUND
Presently, the City's contract with the United States Bureau of Reclamation for Central Valley Project (CVP) surface water, travels nearly 55 miles in open canals from Friant Dam (Millerton Lake) to the NESWTF. The proposed Project consists of the construction and operation of a 5.6-mile raw water pipeline. The new pipeline reroutes the CVP water directly to the NESWTF and will eliminate nearly 47 miles from the conveyance distance. The Project will convey water in an enclosed system and greatly reduce the threat to water quality, in otherwise open canals which are exposed to contamination from environmental debris, and accidental or malicious acts. The pipeline will be constructed across numerous properties in unincorporated Fresno County and connected to the existing one-mile long segment of pipeline constructed in 2007. Additional benefits of the project include reduced power consumption, chemical utilization, and increased operational reliability at the NESWTF.
Coordination with the permitting agencies for the Project has been significantly more effort than anticipated, and the resulting permitting requirements from permitting agencies will require additional services from Live Oak Associates. CITY directed Live Oak Consultants to continue preparation of permits and coordinating with permitting agencies including the United States Fish & Wildlife and California Department of Fish & Wildlife. The parties have negotiated an increase in compensation from $49,900 to a total compensation not to exceed $97,900 for completion of work by Live Oak Associates under this Amendment.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
An initial study and Mitigated Negative Declaration was prepared and adopted on June 14, 2012 for this project. A Notice of Determination was subsequently filed with the Fresno County Clerk's Office on June 19, 2012. The purpose of the Proposed Project is to develop a reliable raw water conveyance system with reduced potential for water quality contamination that will bring the City's existing CVP contract supply water directly from the Friant-Kern Canal to the SWTF.
An analysis has been performed pursuant CEQA Guidelines ยง15162 to determine whether subsequent environmental review is required for the project. Based upon this analysis the following findings are made to support the determination that no subsequent environmental review is required:
1. No substantial changes are proposed in the project which will require major revisions of the previous Mitigated Negative Declaration due to the involvement of new significant environmental effects or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant effects. In this case there are no changes to the project.
2. No substantial changes occur with respect to the circumstances under which the project is undertaken which will require major revisions of the previous Mitigated Negative Declaration due to the involvement of new significant environmental effects or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant effects. In this case, the proposed pipeline alignment has not changed.
3. There is no new information, which was not known and could not have been known at the time of the previous Mitigated Negative Declaration that the project will have significant effect not discussed in the Mitigated Negative Declaration.
Based upon these findings, it has been determined that no further environmental documentation is required for this project.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local Preference was not considered because this action is an amendment of a services contract.
FISCAL IMPACT
Approving acquisition of these easements will not impact the General Fund. Appropriations for the acquisition of these easements are included in Water Division's FY 2015 Capital Improvement Program budget within the 2010 Water Revenue Bonds A-1 Fund (40118). Project construction is expected to start in early to mid-2016.
Attachment:
Agreement - Amendment No. 2