REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
June 28, 2018
FROM: Jennifer Clark, AICP, Director
Development and Resource Management Department
SUBJECT
Title
Approve a professional consultant agreement in the amount of $152,526 with Ascent Environmental, Inc., a Sacramento-based California corporation, to prepare an EIR for the proposed Darling Rendering Plant Relocation Project.
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends approval.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Ascent Environmental, Inc. will prepare an EIR to assess the location of a rendering facility within the City's Wastewater Treatment Plant property (otherwise known as the Fresno-Clovis Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility (RWRF)). The EIR will take approximately six months to complete. Ascent was selected due to their prior experience and extensive data collection for the prior initial study and mitigated negative declaration (IS-MND) that was completed for the same project in a different location. The work can begin immediately and will take approximately six months to complete.
BACKGROUND
The City of Fresno adopted an initial study and mitigated negative declaration (IS-MND) and approved the relocation of a rendering plant to a 40-acre parcel between the Fresno-Clovis Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility (RWRF) and a PG&E substation at the southwest corner of South Cornelia Avenue and West Jensen Avenue. The City's action drew a lawsuit from a neighboring property owner. The City has since approved a settlement agreement which calls for the evaluation of a new site located within the RWRF.
Ascent will prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) for the project on behalf of the City. The firm will conduct the environmental analysis in a manner that meets the substantive and procedural requirements of CEQA and that meets the City's schedule objectives. As this firm prepared the IS-MND for the original site, they are thoroughly familiar with the project characteristics, the project site and vicinity, and has si...
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