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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 3 - PH on MWMC Fac. PlanEUGENE CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Public Hearing: 2004 Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission Facilities Plan and 20-Year Project List Meeting Date: June 14, 2004 Agenda Item Number: 3 Department: Public Works Staff Contact: Peter Ruffler www. cl. eugette, or. us Contact Telephone Number: 682-8606 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY This is a public hearing on the 2004 Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) Facilities Plan and associated 20-Year Project List. These items are subsequently scheduled for council action on June 28, 2004. The 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan, adopted by MWMC on May 6, 2004, is intended to address improvements of the regional wastewater facilities needed to meet community growth through 2025, state and federal requirements, and community expectations for protection of the public's health and safety and the environment. It is being forwarded to the City of Eugene for concurrence. BACKGROUND Council Action History The Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) was established by an intergovernmental agreement (ICA) dated February 9, 1977, signed by the governing bodies of Eugene, Springfield, and Lane County. The approved 1977 "208 Plan" for the construction of the Eugene- Springfield regional wastewater facilities set out the original projections, requirements, and projects to serve the wastewater treatment needs of the Eugene-Springfield community for a 20-year period. To address the peak flow capacity issues, the commission, the City of Eugene, and the City of Springfield adopted the Wet Weather Flow Management Plan (WWFMP) in 2001. This plan remains the guiding policy document in setting the cities' annual Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for sanitary sewer rehabilitation and replacement, as well as the commission's capital improvements and operations for addressing peak flows to the regional wastewater facilities. The City Council ratified the MWMC FY04 Budget and CIP on May 12, 2003. The City Council had a work session on the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan on May 19, 2004. At the May 24, 2004, City Council meeting, questions were raised concerning efforts toward public outreach and involvement activities. Attachments to the Agenda Item Summary on the Ratification of the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) FY04-05 Regional Wastewater Program Budget and Capital Improvement Program (CIP) which is being distributed for tonight's City L:\CMO\2004 Council Agendas\M040614\S0406143.doc Council meeting provide the following regarding the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan: 1) a chart of the history of the plan with outreach and involvement activities; 2) a summary table of the regional wastewater program's relevant public awareness, education, and involvement efforts; and 3) a comprehensive memorandum with detailed explanations and representative samples of the history of the plan with outreach and involvement activities. The 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and 20-Year Project List was adopted by the City of Springfield on May 17, 2004, after a public hearing. Lane County Commissioners had a work session on the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and 20-Year Project List on May 19, 2004; a public hearing will be on June 9 and action scheduled for June 16, 2004. Policy Issues The primary policy question before the council is: Does the council agree with the MWMC that the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and 20-Year Project List provide for the wastewater treatment needs of the community in a cost-effective and responsible manner? A related issue is the financial implications of the proposed 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and associated 20-Year Project List. Funding of the improvements identified in the plan will come from user rates and systems development charges (SDCs). Approximately two-thirds of the system's users are located in Eugene. Adoption of the 20- Year Project List is required to establish a basis for the proposed SDC rates needed to fund growth's equitable share of capital improvements. Wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure are critical components in the support of community and environmental health and well-being. Periodic updates to wastewater facilities are necessary to ensure that the infrastructure remains adequate to handle the projected demands for wastewater collection and treatment without an interruption or deficiency in service that can lead to public health risks, damage to the environment, or economic restrictions due to sewer connection moratoriums. Previous plans, established policies, strategies, significant modeling, evaluation, and citizen involvement provide the foundation for the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and 20-Year Project List. The plan provides the most cost-effective set of capital improvements to meet capacity and performance needs while utilizing existing plant assets and building new plant expansions only where necessary. Existing commission policies and guidance, the wastewater discharge permit requirements, and state/federal regulations have provided the context for the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan. No new policies were developed in connection with the proposed plan. The 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan is based on the least costly system-wide set of improvements needed, addressing both the peak flow and treatment requirements. Failure to implement the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan in a timely manner would increase the probability of regulatory violations, pose risk to public and environmental health, result in shorter planning and construction timeframes for reacting to system shortfalls, and increase overall costs to sewer users and the community from less efficient planning and financial management processes. It might also result in restrictions to the community's ability to add new users to the system. Council Goals The 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and 20-Year Project List is related to the council goals of: L:\CMO\2004 Council Agendas\M040614\S0406143.doc · SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT A community that retains a high quality of life and a healthy economy, effectively links land use and planning, and successfully manages growth and change in the urban environment. · HEALTHY NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT A community that conserves and enhances the natural environment and provides an attractive and healthy place to live Financial and/or Resource Considerations MWMC acquired $85,000,000 in federal grant funds to support the construction of regional wastewater facilities that began in the early 1980s. The majority of the facilities were brought on-line in 1984 at a total cost of $105,000,000. General obligation bonds were issued by the Lane County Metropolitan Wastewater Service District (CSD) for $29,000,000 and were repaid through property taxes. The bonds were retired in 2002. Implementation of the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan will require a financial investment which is most significant over the first five years of the 20-year planning period. In 2004 dollars, the 20-year total cost is projected to be $144,000,000. No grant funding is anticipated in the projected capital financing. About $90,000,000 of this need will be realized in the first five years of the CIP to reasonably ensure compliance with peak flow management requirements by the year 2010, as established by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Revenues to support the anticipated capital project needs will be derived from user rates and systems development charges. In order to mitigate potentially significant short-term impacts to user rates, a significant amount of debt financing will be necessary. The MWMC Financial Plan, adopted in 2003, anticipates this need and provides financial policies and tools which will serve the commission in managing the revenue requirements over the coming years to minimize overall costs and user rate increases. (User rates have not yet been finalized, but the anticipated total increase for a typical residence over the first five years would range from approximately $5.60 to $6.50 per month.) SDC rates will increase by approximately 79% to support growth's equitable share of necessary capital improvements. Other Background Information The Facilities Plan is the culmination of a year-long effort involving significant public review. Facility planning analyses conducted by CH2M HILL began in March, 2003, with the oversight of a 12-member Eugene-Springfield staff steering committee. The commission reviewed the draft 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan in a special, publicly advertised evening workshop on November 24, 2003, and gave consensus instruction to finalize the 20-Year Project List to include the recommended preferred solutions and new disinfection system. On January 8, 2004, the commission, after another review of the draft 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and associated costs, gave direction to proceed with the finalization of the 20-Year Project List. A third public open house was advertised and held the evening of March 3, 2004. The commission held a public hearing on adoption of the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and 20- Year Project List on April 22, 2004, and carried over the hearing to May 6, 2004, to allow time for additional public review and testimony. Except for the original 1977 "208 Plan," MWMC has not until this time updated the formal Facility Plan to be approved by the DEQ. An approved Facilities Plan will incorporate the existing adopted plans (the WWFMP and the Biosolids Management Plan), contain updated technical analyses and projections of flows and loads, provide reasonable assurance of compliance with state and federal regulations and new L:\CMO\2004 Council Agendas\M040614\S0406143.doc limitations and requirements in the NPDES permit (see next paragraph), and revise the capital improvement projects to meet the needs for adequate operational facilities. Having a formally approved Facilities Plans will also make MWMC eligible for public loans and grants. As stated, the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan will help to ensure continued compliance with regulatory requirements that govern the quality of effluent discharged from the treatment works as well as conditions for the collection and transmission ofwastewater to the treatment plant. These regulations present legal requirements for the provision ofwastewater services to the community and form the foundation for the design criteria used in formulating the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and associated 20-Year Project List. The DEQ reissued MWMC's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit in May 2002, which prompted the commission to pursue a thorough, updated Facilities Plan to include the new ammonia and thermal load limits of the renewed permit, as well as the new requirements to implement a Temperature Management Plan (TMP) and the WWFMP. Furthermore, a comprehensive analysis of the treatment plant's processes and hydraulic capacities has led the commission to include an evaluation and recommendation of alternative disinfection systems to mitigate worker safety and community risk concerns in the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan. The treatment plant also currently faces a significant peak flow capacity deficit, which was projected in the earlier WWFMP and has been validated and updated to the year 2025 based on an updated modeling using more recent 2003-04 data. The present facility effort is prompted by the original intergovernmental agreement which specified that when the sewage loading into the treatment plant reached 85% of the initial design capacity, the commission would institute a program to expand and/or upgrade the treatment system beyond the initial design capacity. This trigger point is now being reached for several of the unit process capacities. In the mid-1990s, the regional wastewater treatment facilities were modified to improve their performance, and the commission recognized that the facilities were experiencing capacity limitations relative to original design specifications. As a result, additional expansions would be needed to actualize the projected 2004 design life. In 1996, the commission responded with a directive to produce a master plan to evaluate short-term and long-range improvements necessary to improve facility operations and meet increasing capacity and evolving performance demands. The MWMC Master Plan was completed in 1997. Although it is not as comprehensive as the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan, it did provide analysis of historic flows, pollutant loads, and reporting data to identify capital improvements needed to resolve shortfalls in the capacity for biosolids processing and peak flow management. Later in 1997, the commission adopted the Biosolids Management Plan, which was derived from a Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) and engineering evaluation processes. This plan reflects the commission' s adoption of strategy to resolve shortfalls in biosolids processing capacity and is based upon an evaluation of available technologies, cost effectiveness, reliability, and public acceptance. The biosolids dewatering facility (completed in 2001), the ongoing maintenance of drying beds, the composting operation, the cooperative land application on private farms, and the development of the Biocycle Farm are the beneficial results of the commission's adopted biosolids management strategy. To address the peak flow capacity issues, the commission, the City of Eugene, and the City of Springfield adopted the WWFMP in 2001. The objectives of this plan were to eliminate overflows and basement flooding and provide the most cost-effective means to mitigate flows in excess of system capacity. The plan developed a sophisticated hydraulic model that was calibrated and refined with actual system performance over several years of the study. The Wet Weather CAC reviewed a wide mix L:\CMO\2004 Council Agendas\M040614\S0406143.doc of solutions and recommended the policies and capital improvements included in the WWFMP, and the plan remains the guiding policy document in setting the cities' annual CIP for sanitary sewer rehabilitation and replacement, as well as the commission's capital improvements and operations for addressing peak flows. Timing Planning projections indicate that important capacity limitations and needs for upgraded treatment capabilities will be realized in the relative short-term future. In addition, optimization of the various capital projects to meet multiple objectives and maximize the capabilities of existing infrastructure requires an integrated and synchronized process for design and construction. This process needs appropriate lead-time in order to ensure that the necessary projects can be designed, built, and brought on-line in time to meet regulatory deadlines and increased demands on the wastewater system. The significant financial needs presented by the magnitude of the Facilities Plan Project List also require careful planning for adequate cash-flow and implementation of revenue generation processes. While the commission is assigned the responsibility of planning for plan upgrade/expansion, and for constructing, operating, and maintaining them, the MWMC 2004 Facilities Plan and 20-Year Project List is being forward to the governing bodies for consideration, as it will in result expanded capacity and provide for community growth through 2025. Therefore, the commission is formally requesting that the governing bodies acknowledge their concurrence with the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan. The City of Eugene has a public hearing on June 14 and council action on June 28. The 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan will subsequently be submitted to the DEQ for formal review and approval. If the DEQ requires changes, the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan will be re-routed for additional consideration as needed. Timing is also affected by the adoption of The MWMC FY 04-05 Budget and CIP which must go through the established approval process with MWMC and the governing bodies. The budget and CIP was adopted by the commission on May 6, 2004, and is now scheduled for ratification at the Eugene City Council meeting on June 14, 2004. Finally, timing is also affected by the establishment of new regional wastewater user rates and systems development charges (SDC), which need to be adopted for FY 04-05 to provide adequate revenues for MWMC operations, administration, and capital programs. The City of Eugene has a scheduled public hearing on June 14 and council action on June 28 on the SDCs. OPTIONS 1. Approve the motion to move forward with the process for concurrence with the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and 20-Year Project List as scheduled, with council action on June 28, 2004. 2. Provide the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission with specific guidance for revising the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and 20-Year Project List. STAFF RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the City of Eugene concur with the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and 20-Year Project List as adopted by MWMC on May 6, 2004. L:\CMO\2004 Council Agendas\M040614\S0406143.doc Regional Wastewater Program staff has had significant ongoing involvement in the development of the Facilities Plan and project list, and continual guidance from the commission, as well as input from public hearings, during this year-long planning process. The "preferred" Alternative 5 approved by the commission in the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan has been identified as the most cost-effective plan as it has the lowest capital costs to achieve permit compliance and maximizes the use and effectiveness of the existing facilities. SUGGESTED MOTION None; this is a public hearing only. ATTACHMENTS Please refer to the following material distributed for the work session on May 19, 2004: · 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan with 20-Year Project · Frequently Asked Questions About the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and System Development Charge Methodology · Response to April 2, 2004, Questions from Eugene Chamber of Commerce - 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan and System Development Charge Update FOR MORE INFORMATION Staff Contact: Peter Ruffler Telephone: 682-8606 Staff E-Mail: peter.j.ruffler~ci.eugene.or.us L:\CMO\2004 Council Agendas\M040614\S0406143.doc