BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Sunnyvale East/West Channels Flood Protection Project Update.
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Receive an update on the Sunnyvale East/West Channels Flood Protection Project.
Body
SUMMARY:
The Sunnyvale West Channel Flood Protection Project upgrades the capacity of approximately 3 miles of existing storm drain channel to provide 1% (or 100-year) flood protection for 47 acres of highly valuable industrial lands, including the former Onizuka Air Force Station. The Sunnyvale East Channel Flood Protection Project upgrades the existing capacity of approximately 6 miles of existing storm drain channel to provide 1% flood protection for 1,618 parcels. Construction improvements along both storm drain channels will also decrease turbidity and sediment by repairing various erosion sites, thereby improving water quality.
In the early stages of the project design process, staff joined both improvement projects into one combined flood protection project (Project), with a single Environmental Impact Report (EIR), to reduce construction costs and minimize construction coordination issues between the two channels. The Project does not protect against tidal flooding.
Project Update:
• Final EIR was certified by Valley Water Board of Directors in September 2014;
• Completion of the 100% design is on-going and is expected to be completed by Fall 2021;
• To date, five permanent, necessary right-of-way acquisitions have been acquired, and staff is working with Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) to acquire final leasing agreements, for temporary construction areas necessary for the Project. It is anticipated that all acquisitions will be completed by March 2022;
• In June 2017, Valley Water submitted all the required permit applications to the various state and federal regulatory agencies. The permitting process is ongoing and staff is responding to requests for additional information from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Regional Water Quality Control Board. Final permits are anticipated to be received sometime in Winter 2021-22, with construction contract advertisement anticipated to occur upon receipt of the required permits;
• Valley Water has engaged in partnering with Google, LLC since October 2017 to provide an additional environmental enhancement project along 1,100 linear feet of the Sunnyvale West Channel (Caribbean Drive upstream to Caspian Court). These enhancements include improvements to existing public infrastructure and an opportunity for on-site excess mitigation that may be utilized by Valley Water to offset Project impacts. Negotiations with Google are ongoing;
• Google and Valley Water finalized a cost sharing agreement in 2020 for grading and surfacing a portion of the San Francisco Bay trail within the Valley Water Project limits;
• Valley Water and the City of Sunnyvale have a pending draft agreement to construct a shared joint wall for their Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP). This wall will serve as a security perimeter wall for the WPCP and as a floodwall for Valley Water’s Project;
• In 2016, Valley Water and the City of Sunnyvale executed both a Joint Use Agreement (JUA) and Cost Sharing Agreement for public trails along portions of the West Channel and the East Channel; and
• A Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR) application has been submitted to and reviewed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The final CLOMR re-submission for FEMA’s review is pending completion of the CEQA process with the issuance of the various required Resource Agency permits.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no financial impact associated with this item.
CEQA:
The recommended action does not constitute a project under CEQA because it does not have a potential for resulting in direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Valley Water PowerPoint
UNCLASSIFIED MANAGER:
Manager
Rechelle Blank, 408-630-2615