DATE: September 25, 2018
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Steven E. White, Director
Department of Public Works and Planning
SUBJECT: California Department of Fish and Wildlife Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreements
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute an Agreement with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for Lake and Streambed Alteration for the Italian Bar Road Bridge Replacement Project, effective upon its execution by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and expiring five years thereafter ($0).
2. Authorize the Director of the Department of Public Works and Planning, or designee, to (1) submit applications for Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreements; (2) execute Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreements subject to review and approval by County Counsel and the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector; and, (3) execute amendments to Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreements with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for various, specifically identified future bridge replacement and rehabilitation projects.
REPORT
Approval of the first recommended action will authorize the execution of a Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreement (SAA) with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDF&W) required for a project to replace the Italian Bar Road Bridge. The location of the bridge, which is in District 5, is shown on the attached location map. Approval of the second recommended action will authorize the Director of the Department of Public Works and Planning, or designee, to submit applications for SAAs and to execute SAAs and related amendments with the CDF&W required for the 24 additional future bridge replacement and rehabilitation projects listed on Exhibit 1. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board may elect not to approve the first recommended action, in which case the project will have to be cancelled and all federal funds received will have to be returned to the Federal Highway Administration. Your Board may elect not to approve the second recommended action in which case the Department would have to return to the Board to execute each individual future SAA.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. The $5,145.75 fee required to apply for the SAA for the Italian Bar Bridge Replacement Project and all costs for the project, including costs associated with the mitigation required are covered by the Federal Highway Bridge (HBP) Program and toll credits. Toll credits are allocated to local agencies by the State to be used in lieu of matching funds the agency would otherwise have to pay on Federally-funded transportation projects.
Only one of the 25 projects listed on Exhibit 1 is fully funded by Senate Bill 1: Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (SB 1). The remaining projects are covered by the Federal HBP and any required matching funds are provided by the toll credit program, by SB 1 funds, or by Road Fund 0010. There will be a fee associated with applying for a SAA for each project. Based on the current fee schedule, which determines the fee based on the project cost and on the duration of the SAA, the fee for most, if not all of the projects, would be $5,145.75, which is the fee for a project with a cost of $350,000 or more and a SAA term of five years. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues for the Italian Bar Bridge Replacement Project are included in the Department of Public Works and Planning - Roads Org 4510 FY 2018-19 Recommended Budget. In addition, sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues for the remaining 24 bridge projects will be included future the Department of Public Works and Planning - Roads Org 4510 budget requests.
DISCUSSION:
The Department has a wide variety of Federally-funded bridge projects in various stages of completion, and whenever a SAA is required, such a project will either:
• divert or obstruct the natural flow of any river, stream, or lake; or
• change the bed, channel, or bank of any river, stream, or lake; or
• use material from any river, stream, or lake; or
• deposit or dispose of material into any river, stream, or lake,
The purpose of a SAA is to establish conditions associated with working on a project within the channel or floodplain of any body of water, which has the potential to impact the water quality or water flow of a natural body of water. Consequently, a SAA may be required for work on a canal if it flows into a natural water body.
In general terms, each SAA will set conditions with which the construction operations must comply and will establish mitigation measures to be enacted upon completion of the project to restore the area as nearly as possible to its original condition.
The SAA for the Italian Bar Road Bridge Replacement Project (Italian Bar Project) is generally representative of a typical SAA for a large bridge project over a natural channel, as it contains the conditions that generally will be required for such projects. General conditions and constraints on work in the channel will be very similar for each such project. The mitigation generally involves planting trees to replace those removed by the project and monitoring to ensure their viability for a number of years after the project has been completed. The specific numbers and types of trees to be planted will vary from project to project depending upon the number and types removed to facilitate construction.
As noted above, under certain circumstances, SAA’s may be required for work in man-made canals. This item addresses SAA’s for projects involving natural channels, and the list provided as Exhibit 1 includes bridge projects that involve natural channels, with one exception as noted on the exhibit. In the event that your Board approves the second recommended action, the Department intends to bring a separate, similar item to your Board in the future for consideration of SAA’s that involve work in man-made canals.
Major components of a SAA include:
Project Description - includes a very detailed description of the project and the means that will be employed for its construction.
Project Impacts - includes a quantitative description of the impacts caused by the project. For the Italian Bar Project, the impacts include:
• approximately 25 trees and shrubs (a detailed table is provided indicating the species and number of each)
• 0.645 acres of temporary impacts due to excavation and fill
• 0.014 acre permanent impacts to the lake shoreline and to an ephemeral stream
• excavation of approximately 563 cubic yards of soil and placement of approximately 440 cubic yards of the material as fill
• placement of approximately 523 cubic yards of concrete and 425 cubic yard of rock slope protection
• noise, vibration, and other miscellaneous impacts
Measures to Protect Fish and Wildlife Resources - requires that the SAA be kept on the project site and that individuals working on the site be trained regarding its provisions. It also states the SAA does not allow “taking,” which means to hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill threatened or endangered species.
Avoidance and Minimization Measures - requires that work be performed during daylight hours, that the limits of work be delineated by fencing, and that certain surveys be conducted to ensure that sensitive species are not present in the project vicinity prior to construction. It also includes provisions for the protection of bats and migratory birds, and requires that trees to be removed be clearly identified and documented.
Compensatory Measures - requires that a revegetation plan be submitted to the CDF&W for approval and that the plan be implemented. Typically, such a plan entails replanting trees to compensate for those which have been removed at prescribed ratios (i.e. plant three new trees for each one removed) and to monitor and ensure that a predefined percentage of the trees and other vegetation planted survives for at least five years after planting. Compensatory measures may also include planting trees or other plants at remote habitat sites to make up for those removed by virtue of the project; however, no such requirement is included in the Italian Bar Bridge SAA.
Reporting Measures - requires reporting on the progress of various aspects of the project relating to the permit conditions, including the submittal of a final project report.
The cost associated with a SAA depends largely upon the extent of the mitigation. If the project involves removal of a large number of various trees, the SAA could lead to significant costs for the planting and monitoring of the replacement trees. This work, in most cases, is performed pursuant to a separate contract awarded for construction after the construction of the project has been completed, and these contracts may last up to five years, which is the standard term for a SAA. If the required number of trees planted has not survived at the end of five years, it may be necessary to extend the SAA and the revegetation contract.
As an example of the potential costs associated with a SAA, the County awarded a contract in 2014 to perform the revegetation and monitoring for three bridges - the Kings River Bridge on Goodfellow, the Byrd Slough Bridge on Goodfellow, and the Turner Slough Bridge on Annadale. The contract costs for the revegetation projects for these locations were $141,050, $116,260, and $22,400, respectively. It is anticipated that, for an average small project, the cost to implement the revegetation plans would be from $10,000 to $35,000. The cost for revegetating large projects on natural channels would be significantly higher, approximately in the $100,000 range. In any case, most projects listed on Exhibit 1 are Federally funded. Furthermore, the Board would have the opportunity to be apprised of such costs when the revegetation contracts are awarded.
In order to reduce costs and facilitate expedient delivery of projects once the design has been completed and the SAA has been issued, it is requested that the Department Director be authorized to execute SAA’s for the projects listed on Exhibit 1, contingent upon prior review and approval by County Counsel and the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #64, October 17, 2017
BAI #44, November 15, 2016
BAI #38, July 15, 2014
BAI #54, September 13. 2016
BAI #38, August 6, 2013
BAI #36, January 8, 2013
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Location Map
Exhibit 1
On file with Clerk - Agreement with California Department of Fish and Wildlife
CAO ANALYST:
Sonia M. De La Rosa