CITY OF SEBASTOPOL CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA ITEM REPORT FOR MEETING OF: March 5, 2024
=========================================================================================== To: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
From: Toni Bertolero, Engineering Department Consultant, GHD Subject: Approval of Letter of Support for the City of Santa Rosa Community Project Funding Request
=========================================================================================== RECOMMENDATIONS:
Approve the letter of support for the City of Santa Rosa Community Project funding for the Llano Trunk Sewer Line project and authorize the Mayor to sign the letter on behalf of the Council.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The City of Santa Rosa treats wastewater at the Laguna Wastewater Treatment Plant from Santa Rosa and the Subregional partner agencies, including the City of Sebastopol. The wastewater is conveyed via the Llano Trunk Sewer Line and the line is in need of rehabilitation and repair. The City of Santa Rosa is requesting $5.9 million in funding through a federal earmark from a 2022 authorization from the Biden administration and has asked their Subregional partners to submit a Letter of Support to Congressman Thompson for this funding request (Attachment 1).
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION:
The City of Santa Rosa Water Department (Santa Rosa Water) delivers approximately six billion gallons of drinking water annually, to over 54,000 customer accounts, and operates the sanitary sewer system, serving over 49,000 customer accounts, for a population of over 178,000. Santa Rosa Water also operates the Santa Rosa Regional Water Reuse System, which services businesses and residents in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sebastopol, and unincorporated portions of Sonoma County. The hub of the reuse system is the Laguna Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The Llano Trunk sewer line is a wastewater conveyance system and is identified in the Santa Rosa Water’s Sewer Master Plan as the most critical wastewater infrastructure project because the trunk line transports significant flow to the Laguna Wastewater Treatment Plant via large diameter pipelines and are in environmentally critical areas, under paved roadways, and along sewer easements.
The proposed project would improve deficient wastewater conveyance and treatment facilities. Several of the City’s large-diameter trunk sewers require urgent rehabilitation to avoid catastrophic failure, which would interrupt the Regional Water Reuse System that serves approximately 230,000 residents in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sebastopol, and unincorporated portions of Sonoma County. A project description and project map are found in Attachment 2.
STAFF ANALYSIS:
Federal funding for the Llano Trunk Sewer Line project would benefit Santa Rosa and the Subregional partners from a financial standpoint. In addition, the proposed project would prevent a catastrophic failure that would interrupt the System’s ability to serve businesses and approximately 230,000 residents in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Cotati and unincorporated portions of Sonoma County.
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City Council Meeting Packet for March 5, 2024
COMMUNITY OUTREACH:
This item has been noticed in accordance with the Ralph M. Brown Act and was available for public viewing and review at least 72 hours prior to schedule meeting date.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None.
OPTIONS:
The letter could be revised if Council wishes to add verbiage or modified language.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Letter of Support
2. Project Description and Map
APPROVALS:
Department Head Approval: Approval Date: _____2/21/24__________ CEQA Determina�on (Planning): Approval Date: _____2/21/24__________ The proposed ac�on is not a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Administrative Services (Financial) Approval Date:______2/21/24___________ Costs authorized in City Approved Budget: ☐ Yes ☐ No N/A Account Code (f applicable) ___________________________ City Attorney Approval: Approval Date: ____N/A______
City Manager Approval: Approval Date: ____2/22/24___
Agenda Item Number 3
Agenda Item Number 3
City Council Meeting Packet for March 5, 2024
City Council
Mayor Diana Gardner Rich
Vice Mayor Stephen Zollman
Councilmember Neysa Hinton
Councilmember Sandra Maurer
Councilmember Jill McLewis
City Manager
Don Schwartz
[email protected]
Assistant City Manager/City Clerk, MMC
Mary Gourley
[email protected]
March 5, 2024
The Honorable Mike Thompson
U.S. House of Representatives
268 Cannon Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Congressman Thompson:
I am writing to express the City of Sebastopol’s support for the City of Santa Rosa’s Community Project Funding request for the Llano Trunk sewer line project, which aligns with the City of Santa Rosa’s 2024 Federal Legislative Platform.
With your leadership, Congress approved, and President Biden signed into law the Water Resources Development Act of 2022, which includes an environmental infrastructure authorization for Santa Rosa’s water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
The City of Santa Rosa Water Department (Santa Rosa Water) delivers approximately six billion gallons of drinking water annually, to over 54,000 customer accounts, and operates the sanitary sewer system, serving over 49,000 customer accounts, for a population of over 178,000. Santa Rosa Water also operates the Santa Rosa Regional Water Reuse System, which services approximately 230,000 residents in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sebastopol, and unincorporated portions of Sonoma County. The hub of the reuse system is the Laguna Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The Llano Trunk sewer line is identified in the Santa Rosa Water’s Sewer Master Plan as the most critical wastewater infrastructure project because the trunk lines transport significant flow to the Laguna Wastewater Treatment Plant via large diameter pipelines and are in environmentally critical areas, under paved roadways, and along sewer easements.
Santa Rosa’s Regional Llano Trunk Line project is critical to strengthening the region’s water resiliency, protecting our environment, and ensuring underserved areas are shielded from the devastating impacts of climate change.
We kindly request your consideration of the City’s request.
Sincerely,
Diana Gardner Rich
Mayor
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City Council Meeting Packet for March 5, 2024
Project Location: City of Santa Rosa, CA (Sonoma County) Non-federal sponsor: City of Santa Rosa
Authorization:
Section 8375 of Public Law 117-263 (HR 7776)
‘‘(302) SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA.—$19,400,000 for water and wastewater infrastructure, in the city of Santa Rosa California.”
Project Description:
The proposed project would improve deficient wastewater conveyance and treatment facilities.
Several of the City’s large-diameter trunk sewers require urgent rehabilitation to avoid catastrophic failure, which would interrupt the Regional Water Reuse System that serves approximately 230,000 residents in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sebastopol, and unincorporated portions of Sonoma County.
The Llano Trunk sewer line is identified in the City’s Sewer Master Plan as the City’s most critical wastewater infrastructure because the trunk lines transport significant flow to the Laguna Wastewater Treatment Plant, the hub of the Regional Reuse System, via large diameter pipelines and are located in environmentally critical areas, under paved roadways, along sewer easements, and adjacent to other infrastructure that is in the lower income residential and agricultural areas of our community.
On average, during dry weather, the Laguna Wastewater Treatment Plant receives 14 million gallons per day (MGD) of wastewater from the region and has seen flows peak at over 90 MGD during large storms. With the predicted prevalence of less frequent, but more intense storms, there is significant concern that the added flows during these events can add stress to our already decaying infrastructure leading to costly and environmentally damaging failure.
Project Benefits:
Many critical components of Santa Rosa’s infrastructure are currently needing repair or replacement to avoid catastrophic failure. Santa Rosa currently has approximately 48,000 linear feet of sewer trunk lines that need rehabilitation. The estimated cost for rehabilitation is over $77 million.
Funding for this project is crucial for increasing our capacity to repair and replace trunk lines prior to failure and to maintain affordable and essential sewer service for the health and safety of the region’s residents and businesses and to strengthen the local economy, preserve and protect our natural environment, address climate change, and preserve the region’s recycled water supply.
Annually approximately two billion gallons of recycled wastewater from the Laguna Wastewater Treatment Plant is used for agriculture and urban irrigation and over four billion gallons is sent to the Geysers steamfields via a 41-mile pipeline to recharge the steamfields, which produce approximately 100 megawatts of clean and renewable energy, or enough power Agenda Item Number 3 Agenda Item Number 3
City Council Meeting Packet for March 5, 2024
for 100,000 households in Sonoma and other North Bay counties. Santa Rosa’s ability to provide recycled water for agricultural and urban irrigation and to the Geysers steamfields would be severely curtailed if these identified trunk lines fail.
FY24 Funding: Total Cost, $5.9 million
This project is part of the City’s Llano Trunk line and will rehabilitate four segments (approximately 2,296 linear feet) of existing 60" and 66” Reenforced Concrete Pipe (RCP) sewer trunk with cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) from Manholes JJ2613MH003 to JJ2619MH001, excepting two (2) previously lined pipe segments between Manholes JJ2613MH010 and JJ2613MH005. In addition, five manholes will be rehabilitated with epoxy coating. A sewer bypass system will be installed to intercept and route sewer flows around the segments to be rehabilitated. Bypass pumps will be installed to intercept flow at Manhole JJ2613MH002, one manhole upstream of JJ2613MH003. The bypass pipeline will generally follow the trunk alignment and terminate one manhole downstream of the project at Manhole JJ2619MH002. A secondary bypass pumping system will be needed at Manhole JJ2613MH008 to intercept sewer flows from the City of Sebastopol. It is anticipated that 2 pumping systems and approximately 4,990 linear feet of bypass pipeline will be required. Environmental mitigation for endangered species habitat will be required along the entire length of the project. A map of the first project is below for reference and a detailed budget estimate.
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City Council Meeting Packet for March 5, 2024
Agenda Item Number 3
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City Council Meeting Packet for March 5, 2024