Dec. 3 SLT city manager's notes

CITY OF SOUTH LAKE TAHOE
Electronic Version

December 3, 2007

MANAGEMENT OBSERVATIONS

“Some people make things happen.
Some people watch things happen.
Some people wonder when it happened.” Zinerva White


“Change is inevitable, in our work lives as well as our personal lives. Most of us deal with far more change than we give ourselves credit for.” Zinerva White

STATE BUDGET UPDATE – A view from the League of California Cities - December 2, 2007

“Forecast of FY 2008-09 State Budget Looks Grim
The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) issued a dour FY 2008-09 state budget forecast earlier this week, warning that the state must prepare for a $9.8 billion budget deficit. The report follows a statement from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week, calling for state agency department heads to reduce spending plans by 10 percent.
The state budget is expected to carry over $2 billion in debt from FY 2007-08. That amount, combined with the projected $8 billion shortfall between spending and revenue, brings the deficit to nearly $10 billion. Confirming the budgetary news at a press conference on Wednesday, Nov. 14, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill also cautioned that the shortfall is anticipated for a number of years into the future.
LAO identified several factors contributing to the state's budget problem, including the lower state revenue projections due to the economy's current outlook, lower property taxes and impact on K-14 education funding. Additional factors include an expected delay in the sale of EdFund and its value, the delay in new tribal compact implementation and a court ordered payment to the state's teacher retirement system.
The Governor will issue his proposed FY 2008-09 state budget on Jan. 10, 2008…”



BIJOU EROSION CONTROL AND DRAINAGE PROJECT ALTERNATIVES BEING EXAMINED

Overview
Department of Public Works staff will be holding a public meeting on December 5, 2007 beginning at 6:30pm at the South Tahoe Ice Arena to discuss alternatives for addressing storm drainage and erosion control in the Bijou Area. The alternatives are not final plans. Staff will be looking for community comment on the alternatives, questions so that they can go back and develop a preferred alternative to be brought back later to the City Council and public for final review and action.

I told staff that it is important in emphasizing to all concerned parties that the three alternatives are just that…alternatives. Public works staff and our regional partners are examining options to improve drainage and erosion control in the Bijou Area and they want to have extensive public comment before making any final recommendations to the City Council for action. Staff is in an information- gathering stage now that is important to ascertain the best project, the most feasible project and the one that is most acceptable to the community. It is also important in my view to avoid where possible the acquisition of more privately-held land for project purposes and to use existing public lands for drainage improvements to the extent feasible and practical. Private owners of land who may be impacted by the final project alternative selection need to be actively consulted, listened to and fairly treated by local government.

Staff will also be requesting permission from the City Council on December 11, 2007 to get in line for possible grant funds to build the eventual preferred once it is identified. It is also important for staff to identify for each option the cost of maintenance for each alternative before making a final recommendation to the City Council after the initial public review and comment stage is over. City staff continues to see grant funds to be the primary source to pay for project construction. A Power Point presentation of the alternatives is available at the City’s website at: www.cityofslt.us/

The Project Manager is Sarah Hussong Johnson, PE who provides the following background information:

“Project Summary (Bijou Area Erosion Control Project Alternative Executive Summary)
The Bijou Area Erosion Control Project (ECP; Project) is a storm water quality improvement project for a developed area in the eastern portion of the City of South Lake Tahoe. The Project is a part of the TRPA’s Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) No. 172.

Project planning is being conducted pursuant to the Storm Water Quality Improvement Committee (SWQIC) process. In accordance with the SWQIC planning process, the Project Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), which is comprised of City staff, the City’s consultant (Entrix, Inc.), permitting, funding, and regulatory agencies within the Tahoe Basin, has developed three possible alternatives for the overall watershed conceptual plan. The proposed project alternatives seek to improve the existing water quality conditions, recreational uses, and Stream Environment Zone (SEZ) areas within the project area. Pursuing alternatives that benefit all three thresholds is consistent with the EIP and achieves a broad range of benefits.

Alternatives
Due to the sensitivity of the project alternatives, City Staff will be presenting the proposed project to the City Council to gain feedback and support of the project. The following is a brief summary of the major components of each alternative, which may be of interest to the City Council due to financial, liability, land acquisition, and long-term planning issues.

1. Project Alternative One proposes a storm water drainage transfer from an adjacent watershed into the Project area, to improve storm water quality and reduce flooding in the adjacent watershed. This opportunity was identified in a hydrology study prepared for the City by Lumos and Associates in 2005. This alternative utilizes the Bijou Meadow to treat and infiltrate the storm water from the adjacent watershed, which has very limited opportunity for treatment, but has potential drainage law liability and cost issues.
Project Alternative One also proposes to relocate three holes of the Bijou golf course (including clubhouse and parking) from the lower portion of the meadow (closest to Fairway) to upper meadow in order to allow for SEZ restoration and improved storm water quality treatment in the lower portion of the meadow. This proposal would benefit the City by relocating the club house and parking to City owned property (from its current private property leased location), but has funding constraints.

2. Project Alternative Two proposes to restore the northern portion of Bijou Creek channel from the outlet of the Bijou Meadow to Lake Tahoe, which is currently contained in a constructed channel, piping, and culvert system from the outlet of the meadow to the lake. Inspections of the existing drainage system show that the drainage facilities in this area are undersized and failing. Additionally, there is currently no opportunity for treatment of highly-impacted storm water runoff from the Highway and commercial corridor before it enters the lake. This alternative will provide for conveyance of flood flows and treatment of storm water from the commercial corridor.
This alternative requires extensive property acquisition along Fairway and in the commercial corridor. The City estimates that five properties would require full acquisition and two properties would require easements. The full acquisition properties include parcels currently occupied by Heidi’s, Ski Run Liquors, a residence owned by Melvin Springmeyer, a vacant parcel, and conservation easement parcel owned by the Lake Shore Lodge. Easements would be required from the Bijou Center (Longs) and a vacant parcel owned by Knox Johnson. This alternative is beneficial from a water quality, flood control, SEZ restoration, and scenic perspective and is in accordance with the Bijou-Al Tahoe Community Plan. However, due to major funding constraints the City has applied for California Department of Water Resources Flood Control grant funding to support this alternative. If this funding is not received, the City does not anticipate this as being a viable option.
Additionally, Alternative Two proposes to relocate the Bijou golf course, clubhouse, and parking to the Bijou Park facility in the upper meadow. This would allow for increased SEZ restoration and improved storm water quality treatment in the lower portion of the meadow, as well as co-located recreational facilities. This proposal would benefit the City by relocating the club house and parking to City owned property (from its current private property leased location), but has funding constraints.

3. Project Alternative Three has the fewest changes to the existing condition, with the exception of a proposed pumping system to treat highly-impacted storm water runoff from the highway and commercial corridor. This alternative proposed to reroute the existing storm drain pipes that currently run under the Bijou Center and Lakeshore Lodge properties north of the Highway. This alternative proposes to reroute the storm drain piping to the City owned right-of-way along Bal Bijou Road to the existing outfall location, and to collect and pump highly-impacted storm water from the commercial corridor to the upper portion of the Bijou Meadow for treatment. This alternative is beneficial in that it provides for treatment of the highly-impacted storm water from the highway and commercial corridor. However, it is controversial in that it combines private BMP responsibility with a City project and it requires high capital cost for construction and has long-term operations and maintenance funding issues.”

HIGHWAY 50 ENVIRONMENTAL ENHANCEMENT PROJECT

The Director of Public Works and I recently met with the District Director of Caltrans (and her staff), the Executive Officer of Lahontan (and his staff), County staff and the Executive Director of TRPA (and his staff) in Placerville to discuss the status of the Highway 50 Project. Out of that meeting questions were raised about the project. The District Director provided me with the following comments in response to questions and concerns raised. The reality is that at this time, the project in its entirety costs more than available dollars to Caltrans and TRPA. The District Director and her team remains and active partner in trying to find solutions to outstanding issues and concerns.

The District Director provided me with the following comments on November 30th:

“David, below are the answers to your questions. Tom Brannon has several meetings over the next few weeks with the agencies at Tahoe and is planning on going over all of this in detail. Please let me know if you have any further questions, or you can have John Greenhut contact Tom directly…



Splitting the projects for programming:

This week, we submitted our PCR to divide the "mother" project (EA 1A730, water quality improvements from Echo Summit to State Line) into four smaller projects:

1A731, Echo Summit to Myers, delivery in the 10/11 FY
1A732, Airport to Y, delivery in the 11/12 FY
1A733, Trout Creek to Ski Run (same limits as the STIP project),
delivery in the 9/10 FY
1A734, Ski Run to State Line, delivery in the 9/10 FY

As explained at our last meeting, we are moving the delivery years because there is insufficient funding capacity in the next two fiscal cycles to pay for all of the planned projects.

Budget discrepancies:

Our engineer's estimate for the STIP project from Trout Creek to Ski Run is higher than the programmed dollars. Nick Haven and I have discussed this. Nick had a larger figure for programmed dollars than we and we determined that this was because his figure included both construction support and construction capital dollars. Our shortfall is in the construction capital figure. I’m continuing to work with Nick to resolve this issue, but the fact is that we don't have sufficient funds to build the project at this time.

Water Quality Improvements:

We are working closely with our water quality consultant to complete the feasibility study of BMP's in the projects. We are communicating with Lahontan, and our commitment remains that as soon as we have a complete water quality strategy, we will meet with them. The current problem is that while we know where the water flows, there are locations that require the completion of the feasibility study before we know what treatment options are possible.

Elimination of the two way left turn lane from Ski Run to State Line:

We've completed an analysis of this idea. A full explanation will be presented at a future meeting, but there are such serious concerns with this idea that it will not be recommended:
maintenance snow removal operations would be adversely affected (snow
storage on the shoulder will block driveways; drainage systems will
be choked, causing flooding; snow removal will be much slower)
traffic operational issues (backups and congestion from left turns
out of the number 1 lane)
safety concerns (a rise in sideswipe and rear end accidents is
anticipated due to the increased congestion)”


SKI RUN BOULEVARD BUS SHELTERS TO BE INSTALLED

The Director of Public Works and Director of Parks and Recreation will be coordinating their respective Department efforts in the very near term to have installed on Ski Run Boulevard before the first snow two new bus shelters. One is set to be installed on Ski Run near Highway 50 and the other will be placed near the Deerfield Lodge.

When private parties could not proceed with the installation of these shelters, the Public Works and Parks and Recreation Directors stepped up to do so. Good job, gentlemen!

MEETING WITH LAFCO EXECUTIVE OFFICER

On Monday of this week I will be meeting with the Executive Officer of the El Dorado County Local Agency Formation Commission to discuss the status of the City’s existing sphere of influence and service delivery issues. Other City staff will be present for the meeting and the County CAO and staff will be joining us by telephone.

According to State law, in addition to other powers and duties including the establishment of spheres of influence, LAFCO’s in California are responsible for the following:

“56301. Among the purposes of a commission are discouraging urban
sprawl, preserving open-space and prime agricultural lands,
efficiently providing government services, and encouraging the
orderly formation and development of local agencies based upon local
conditions and circumstances. One of the objects of the commission
is to make studies and to obtain and furnish information which will
contribute to the logical and reasonable development of local
agencies in each county and to shape the development of local
agencies so as to advantageously provide for the present and future
needs of each county and its communities…”

LAFCO’s have no jurisdiction over land use.

AIRPORT REFUELING STATION ?

Airport staff has been approached by a company called Air Products that wants to locate a Hydrogen Refueling Station at the Lake Tahoe Airport.

Fred Mercado of the City Attorney’s Office provides the following explanation:

“Air Products, in conjunction with the forest service has approached us regarding installation of a mobile fueler system in the airport parking lot. Air Products, the company that owns and services the refueling trailers has a contract with the Department of Energy to site several of these around the country. One of the areas they want to use them is Lake Tahoe.

The Trailer will only be here during the summer months (removed during snow season). It will refuel the USFS vehicle and perhaps a couple more. (It will not be open to the public) It should not present an operational problem and would be good PR to support efforts to enhance the environment.

Fire Marshal Ray Zachau has reviewed the proposed site and plan and been involved in conference call discussions with Air Product Representative. The Trailer that houses the equipment is bulletproof with emergency bells, auto shut off and other safety features. ”

Staff will be examining the matter further to evaluate revenue opportunities, impact on existing airport and city hall operations, and aesthetic impacts. Staff will keep the City Council and Airport Commission updated.

AZTEC TRANSPORTATION USING AIRPORT PARKING LOT

For those of you who visit the airport, the Airport Director tells us that Aztec Transportation Bus Service will be using parking spaces in the upper airport parking lot throughout the winter season until the end of April. The parking spots they’ll be using are 22 spaces at the North end of the lot, in the vicinity of the fueling site. If there are any questions about the matter, please discuss them with the Airport Director Rick Jenkins. City government will be paid $440.00 a month for use of the space.



DAVID JINKENS
City Manager