From: Andy Campbell
To: CITY CLERK
Cc: DALTON, KELLY M.; MINTER, JASON
Subject: Public Comment: April 11 Council Study Session, specifically, Fairview Park Recirculation System Date: Sunday, April 9, 2023 9:35:25 PM
RE Funding Consideration for the Fairview Park Pump Station and Wetlands Recirculation System Dear Mayor and Costa Mesa City Council Members:
The Fairview Park Pump Station and Wetlands Recirculation System is earmarked for $500,000 of capital improvement funding for fiscal year 2023/24. Adding a recirculation pump alone will not eliminate the wetlands mosquito, stagnant water, and water discharge problems and may exacerbate the current problems. In the City’s October 2020 evaluation of the system by the Dudek engineer team, adding the recirculation system was only one of many corrections identified for the wetlands system. A recirculation system only addresses water supply but does not consider other impacts of repeated circulation.
The Dudek evaluation stated the recirculation pump system was not installed as originally conceived “to avoid water quality permitting requirements associated with discharge from the wetland.” Ironically, discharge out of the wetlands is what is needed to properly manage the wetlands overflow and poor water quality issues. Likewise, $500,000 would be better spent to properly permit discharges back to the Greenville-Banning channel after flowing once through the wetlands. Piping modifications can likely be made that will allow Pond F to drain back into the existing pipeline originating at the Greenville-Banning channel. These return flows can likely be plumbed at the existing pump to bypass the current pump. If needed, the existing pump plumbing might also be modified to assist in more rapid drainage of Pond F back to the Greenville-Banning channel.
Recirculating the water multiple times in the wetlands during summer months would lead to ever increasing salinity concentrations as pure water is removed by evapotranspiration leaving behind salt.
The changing salinity will lead to stresses on the biology of the wetlands. The Dudek evaluation states that high salinity water “could destroy the pond/wetland mitigation area by killing vegetation, fish, and wildlife that are sensitive to salts”. Adding more water to dilute the salinity cannot be sustained as the ponds will fill. Should the ponds become too saline due to evaporation or due to pumping saline water at high tide from the Greenville-Banning channel, there needs to be a means to drain the ponds effectively.
Absent the ability to drain the wetlands water back to the Greenville-Banning Channel, the wetlands saline water again could only be flushed to the Placentia drain and the ponds would need to be further flushed with several volumes to purge any remaining standing saline water left in the ponds. It’s reasonable to assume draining and flushing the ponds to Placentia drain would need to occur annually.
Thus, the recirculation pump will not have been effective and $500,000 of the public’s money wasted.
In addition to being potentially ineffective, the Recirculation Pump capital improvement project has not been evaluated based on criteria in Measure AA. It is the Fairview Park Steering Committee stated purpose to provide such an evaluation to City Council. The Steering Committee has been asking City staff for several months to bring this project for discussion and evaluation. To date, no details have been shared. At first glance, the recirculation system is a new capital project. It was deemed unnecessary when the wetlands were first built approximately 10 years ago, and the project has not been funded since that time. The project is not a maintenance project as envisioned by Measure AA, which defines maintenance as any activity whose purpose is to keep the park amenities in a neat, clean, serviceable and safe condition for the public’s use. Maintenance is an activity and is not building new structures.
Measure AA prohibits expansion of current amenities; addition of new amenities; laying of foundations; building of permanent structures; installation of water, electric, gas, or sewer lines or delivery systems; and alterations that use geotechnical or structural analyses. Building a new pump station creates a new capital amenity for the City. There are possible exceptions to Measure AA than could be evaluated such as safety; however, there is doubt the recirculation system will work as currently envisioned and thus have no actual safety benefit.
As the chairman of the Fairview Park Steering Committee, I want to see successful projects for the City and Fairview Park. The committee wants to be part of the discussion for developing projects for the park to make them successful. Please direct staff to discuss the recirculation project with the committee.
Please consider delaying this project until its potentially harmful impact can be fully evaluated, and staff relook at discharging back to the Greenville-Banning channel. They may find the City can spend the same funds to permit discharges and pipe the wetland flows back to the Greenville-Banning channel as original consider for the project.
Sincerely
Andy Campbell
Professional Hydrogeologist and Fairview Park Steering Committee Chair CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Report any suspicious activities to the Information Technology Department.
From: GREEN, BRENDA
To: TERAN, STACY
Subject: FW: ATC Project Recommendations
Date: Monday, April 10, 2023 8:27:32 AM
Attachments: ATC CIP FY 23-24 Council Recommend.pdf
Brenda Green
City Clerk
City of Costa Mesa
714/754-5221
E-mail correspondence with the City of Costa Mesa (and attachments, if any) may be subject to the California Public Records Act, and as such may, therefore, be subject to public disclosure unless otherwise exempt under the act.
From: Ralph Taboada <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2023 8:20 AM
To: STEPHENS, JOHN <[email protected]>; HARLAN, JEFFREY <[email protected]>; REYNOLDS, ARLIS <[email protected]>; GAMEROS, LOREN <[email protected]>; MARR, ANDREA <[email protected]>; CHAVEZ, MANUEL <[email protected]>; HARPER, DON <[email protected]>; GREEN, BRENDA <[email protected]>
Subject: ATC Project Recommendations
Mayor Stephens and City Council Members
Attached please find the Active Transportation Committee's Capital Project recommendations for fiscal 23/24. Appreciate your consideration for these projects and if there are any questions please advise.
Thank you
Ralph Taboada
Committee Chair
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Report any suspicious activities to the Information Technology Department.
Date: May 07, 2023
To: Mayor John Stephens and the Costa Mesa City Council Copy To: Raja Sethuraman - Director of Public Works, City Manager - Lori Ann Farrell Harrison
From: Active Transportation Committee
Subject: Active Transportation Capital Projects - Fiscal 23/24 ______________________________________________________________ Your Active Transportation Committee (ATC) is recommending bike and pedestrian capital projects for next year’s annual (FY 23/24) Budget. The full committee unanimously approved the list of projects at our April 5th meeting.
Last year the committee prioritized all the projects in the Active Transportation Plan (ATP) and our recommendations follow that prioritization. Also listed is an important pedestrian project listed in the proposed Pedestrian Master Plan.
In February, an ATC subcommittee reviewed the projects with Staff and a Council liaison. A few minor changes were made from that review. Otherwise, Staff was in agreement with the projects listed. See Attachment A for a list of projects.
If there are any question please advise.
Thank you
________________________
Ralph Taboada – Chair
Committee Members: Bridget Gleason – Vice Chair, Andrew Barnes, Bryan Estrada, Richard Huffman, Flo Martin, David Martinez, Jennifer Vavra, Jimmy Vivar, Trace Yulie
Attachment A
Active Transportation Committee Capital Project Recommendations for Fiscal 23/24.
Adams Ave. Class II – Construction (Fairview Rd. to Harbor) Design is complete.
Construct concurrently with Pinecreek Intersection improvement project. Both projects are designed to integrate with each other. Provides improved safety for OCC students and connects with recently installed Fairview Road bike lanes.
Fairview Road Class IV - Construction (Fair Dr. to NP Blvd.) Design funding approved in January 2023. Class IV bike lanes will provide increased safety for cyclists and installation of midblock sidewalk will benefit students of College Park Elementary School and local residents.
Newport Blvd. South Class I - (Bristol St. to Arlington Dr.) Provides connectivity to and from recently installed Bristol St. Helps build out bike network by connecting to Arlington Dr. bike lane which leads to additional bike lanes.
Class II, III, IV Bicycle Projects – install new and/or improve various Class II, III, IV bicycle projects throughout the city. Priority projects include Class III ‘Bike Route’ Signage (17 identified streets), Golf Course Dr. Class III, and Santa Ana Ave. Class II (Broadway to 17th St.)
Wayfinding Signage –funding to install additional signage. 100 – 125 signs West 19th St. Pedestrian Projects – implement PMP recommended improvements such as sidewalk access, high visibility crosswalks, signal modifications, etc.
Ongoing Projects:
Citywide Traffic Calming – continue pilot projects and/or permanent installations.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure Projects
New Sidewalk/Missing Links – citywide installation of new sidewalks Priority Sidewalk Repair – citywide repair o sections of existing sidewalks
1 TERAN, STACY
From: GREEN, BRENDA
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2023 10:03 AM
To: TERAN, STACY
Subject: FW: CIP re: fence on Placentia at FP
Brenda Green
City Clerk
City of Costa Mesa
714/754-5221
E‐mail correspondence with the City of Costa Mesa (and attachments, if any) may be subject to the California Public Records Act, and as such may, therefore, be subject to public disclosure unless otherwise exempt under the act.
From: Wendy Leece <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2023 8:21 AM
To: CITY COUNCIL <[email protected]>; GREEN, BRENDA <[email protected]> Cc: Andrew Campbell <[email protected]>; Kim Hendricks <[email protected]>; 'Jason Komala' <[email protected]>; 'Debby Koken' <[email protected]> Subject: CIP re: fence on Placentia at FP
Good morning Mayor and City Council,
My work schedule may preclude me from speaking tonight about the CIP.
The Fence along PlacenƟa has been on the list for many years.
I support removing it from the list.
We do not need to build more fences around our public open spaces such as Fairview Park.
We need fewer fences right now.
I am not sure who decided we should put up a fence and the jusƟficaƟon, but I support removing this project now.
Sincerely,
Wendy
Wendy Leece
“The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Report any suspicious activities to the Information Technology Department.
1 TERAN, STACY
From: GREEN, BRENDA
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2023 10:05 AM
To: TERAN, STACY
Subject: FW: Public Comment: April 11 Council Study Session, specifically, Fairview Park Recirculation System
Brenda Green
City Clerk
City of Costa Mesa
714/754-5221
E‐mail correspondence with the City of Costa Mesa (and attachments, if any) may be subject to the California Public Records Act, and as such may, therefore, be subject to public disclosure unless otherwise exempt under the act.
From: Wendy Leece <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2023 8:35 AM
To: CITY COUNCIL <[email protected]>; GREEN, BRENDA <[email protected]> Cc: DALTON, KELLY M. <[email protected]>; MINTER, JASON <[email protected]>; Kim Hendricks <[email protected]>; 'Jason Komala' <[email protected]>; 'Debby Koken' <[email protected]>; Andrew Campbell <[email protected]> Subject: FW: Public Comment: April 11 Council Study Session, specifically, Fairview Park Recirculation System
Honorable Mayor and City Council,
I support Chair Campbell’s arguments re: the Fairview Park Pump Station.
Wendy Leece
Fairview Park Alliance
RE Funding Consideration for the Fairview Park Pump Station and Wetlands Recirculation System
Dear Mayor and Costa Mesa City Council Members:
The Fairview Park Pump Station and Wetlands Recirculation System is earmarked for $500,000 of capital improvement funding for fiscal year 2023/24. Adding a recirculation pump alone will not eliminate the wetlands mosquito, stagnant water, and water discharge problems and may exacerbate the current problems. In the City’s October 2020 evaluation of the system by the Dudek engineer team, adding the recirculation system was only one of many corrections identified for the wetlands system. A recirculation system only addresses water supply but does not consider other impacts of repeated circulation.
The Dudek evaluation stated the recirculation pump system was not installed as originally conceived “to avoid water quality permitting requirements associated with discharge from the wetland.” Ironically, discharge out of the wetlands is what is needed to properly manage the wetlands overflow and poor water quality issues. Likewise, $500,000 would be better spent to properly permit discharges back to the Greenville-Banning channel after flowing once through the wetlands. Piping modifications can likely be made that will allow Pond F to drain back into the existing pipeline originating at the Greenville-Banning channel. These return flows can likely be plumbed at the existing pump to bypass the current 2 pump. If needed, the existing pump plumbing might also be modified to assist in more rapid drainage of Pond F back to the Greenville-Banning channel.
Recirculating the water multiple times in the wetlands during summer months would lead to ever increasing salinity concentrations as pure water is removed by evapotranspiration leaving behind salt. The changing salinity will lead to stresses on the biology of the wetlands. The Dudek evaluation states that high salinity water “could destroy the pond/wetland mitigation area by killing vegetation, fish, and wildlife that are sensitive to salts”. Adding more water to dilute the salinity cannot be sustained as the ponds will fill. Should the ponds become too saline due to evaporation or due to pumping saline water at high tide from the Greenville-Banning channel, there needs to be a means to drain the ponds effectively. Absent the ability to drain the wetlands water back to the Greenville-Banning Channel, the wetlands saline water again could only be flushed to the Placentia drain and the ponds would need to be further flushed with several volumes to purge any remaining standing saline water left in the ponds. It’s reasonable to assume draining and flushing the ponds to Placentia drain would need to occur annually. Thus, the recirculation pump will not have been effective and $500,000 of the public’s money wasted.
In addition to being potentially ineffective, the Recirculation Pump capital improvement project has not been evaluated based on criteria in Measure AA. It is the Fairview Park Steering Committee stated purpose to provide such an evaluation to City Council. The Steering Committee has been asking City staff for several months to bring this project for discussion and evaluation. To date, no details have been shared. At first glance, the recirculation system is a new capital project. It was deemed unnecessary when the wetlands were first built approximately 10 years ago, and the project has not been funded since that time. The project is not a maintenance project as envisioned by Measure AA, which defines maintenance as any activity whose purpose is to keep the park amenities in a neat, clean, serviceable and safe condition for the public’s use. Maintenance is an activity and is not building new structures. Measure AA prohibits expansion of current amenities; addition of new amenities; laying of foundations; building of permanent structures; installation of water, electric, gas, or sewer lines or delivery systems; and alterations that use geotechnical or structural analyses. Building a new pump station creates a new capital amenity for the City. There are possible exceptions to Measure AA than could be evaluated such as safety; however, there is doubt the recirculation system will work as currently envisioned and thus have no actual safety benefit.
As the chairman of the Fairview Park Steering Committee, I want to see successful projects for the City and Fairview Park. The committee wants to be part of the discussion for developing projects for the park to make them successful. Please direct staff to discuss the recirculation project with the committee. Please consider delaying this project until its potentially harmful impact can be fully evaluated, and staff relook at discharging back to the Greenville- Banning channel. They may find the City can spend the same funds to permit discharges and pipe the wetland flows back to the Greenville-Banning channel as original consider for the project.
Sincerely
Andy Campbell
Professional Hydrogeologist and Fairview Park Steering Committee Chair
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Report any suspicious activities to the Information Technology Department.
1 TERAN, STACY
From: GREEN, BRENDA
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2023 11:58 AM
To: TERAN, STACY
Subject: FW: CIP re: fence on Placentia at FP
Brenda Green
City Clerk
City of Costa Mesa
714/754-5221
E‐mail correspondence with the City of Costa Mesa (and attachments, if any) may be subject to the California Public Records Act, and as such may, therefore, be subject to public disclosure unless otherwise exempt under the act.
From: A Campbell <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2023 11:51 AM
To: WENDY LEECE‐ City Council <[email protected]>
Cc: CITY COUNCIL <[email protected]>; GREEN, BRENDA <[email protected]>; Kim Hendricks <[email protected]>; Jason Komala <[email protected]>; Debby Koken <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: CIP re: fence on Placentia at FP
Mayor, City Council and Wendy,
I believe the Placentia fence plan is a legacy of having concerts in the park at Fairview. People park at the train lot and then jay‐walk. The fence would corral them to a safe crossing. If concerts at Fairview Park can be moved to a more suitable location, then Placentia fence need and budget would be eliminated.
Andy Campbell
Fairview Park Steering Committee Chair
Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 11, 2023, at 8:21 AM, Wendy Leece <[email protected]> wrote:
Good morning Mayor and City Council,
My work schedule may preclude me from speaking tonight about the CIP.
The Fence along Placentia has been on the list for many years.
I support removing it from the list.
We do not need to build more fences around our public open spaces such as Fairview Park.
We need fewer fences right now.
I am not sure who decided we should put up a fence and the justification, but I support removing this project now.
Sincerely,
Wendy
2 Wendy Leece
“The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Report any suspicious activities to the Information Technology Department.