04-17-89 Public Hearing Continued MINUTES
CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARING
SOUTH TAHOE PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT
APRIL 17, 1989
The Board of Directors of the South Tahoe Public Utility District
met for a Continued Public Hearing, April 17, 1989, 3:30 PM, City
Council Chambers, 1900 Lake Tahoe Boulevard.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Chairman Mason, Directors Walker,
Jones, Olson. Director Sinclair
arrived at 3:45 PM
ROLL CALL
STAFF:
Cofer, Mamath, Taylor, Gilbert,
Schroeder, Fischer, Attorney
Weidman
GUESTS:
Andy Hauge-Quad Consultants, Jim
Dipeso-Tahoe Tribune, Allan Patton-
SWRCB, Daniel Siegel, Deputy Attorney
General-State of CA, Tom Martens-League
to Save Lake Tahoe
3:30 PM Hearing reopened by Chairman
Mason.
Public Comment: Attorney Weidman
stated there were two members of the
public who wished to make oral state-
ments concerning the Draft EIR/EIS:
PUBLIC HEARING: SOUTH TAHOE
PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT, 0.2
MGD WASTEWATER TREATMENT
FACILITY EXPANSION, DRAFT EIR/
EIS, MARCH 1989
Dan Sieqel, Deputy Attorney General,
State of California, made an oral
statement to the Board. He acknowledged
the Draft EIR/EIS recognized the need to
relocate the export pipeline out of the
flood zone, the need for an additional
emergency retention pond and pointed out
the District's ongoing I/I program, but
felt certain changes in two areas needed
to be made in the EIR/EIS to be legally
adequate. First, a commitment to make
improvements needs to be "tied-down".
His office does not believe an expansion
is justified without definitive, concur-
rent actions to remedy existing problems.
Second, he felt the present document
could be read (interpreted) as if the 0.2
expansion is, in fact, part of a larger
project and under CEQA law, one cannot
CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARING MINUTES - APRIL 17, 1989 Paqe 2
avoid an analysis of a large project by
chopping it up into many small projects.
He believed, however, remedies could be
found and offered to work with District
staff to reach solutions.
Director Jones pointed out how costly
it is for the District to postpone plan-
fing of this project in the manner
identified by Mr. Siegel; that Public
Works projects took a long time to
plan. Chairman Mason agreed with this
statement and commented on this issue.
Discussion ensued.
Tom Martens, Executive Director, League
To Save Lake Tahoe, made an oral state-
ment to the Board. He stated he felt
there was confusion between this short-
term expansion and the connection to the
EPA grant and what's going to come up in
the long-term, but added, no one knew
what that was because TRPA has not taken
a very long-term view of it.
He felt the present document does not
account for (number count) the changes
he's hearing about going on now and we
seem to have 57,000 gallons that remain
unallocated that's in our plan, which
he assumes is available. He said STPUD
has additional capacity reserve from the
Forest Service and State Parks (150,000/
gallons). He stated this information was
not in the document but has come out in
the newspaper under various stories.
Based on these figures he felt the Dis-
trict didn't need the 200,000 gallons
to accommodate the 3 years growth of
TRPA because it was there already.
He stated his second concern was the
District's plan to add to the capacity
with the present bottlenecks in the
plant, i.e., the export line. He also
mentioned the restraints put on the
District by EPA.
He would like to see a specific com-
mitment by District staff as to what
actions will be taken to put in these
CONTINUED PULBIC HEARING MINUTES - APRIL 17, 1989 Page 3
correctiVe actions to deal with pre existing
problems: lining the holding pond, con-
struction of the 2nd holding pond and the
leaky export line. They would like these
problems resolved prior to plant expansion.
He stated he felt there was a half-way
point they can come to agreement with
District staff on all of these issues so
they will know these spills in the long run
are not going to occur again.
The other area of concern is the 98 EPA
mitigation measures and the District's role
in tracking them. He reviewed the ones
he felt the District could and could not
control and gave examples in both catag-
ories.
He felt one glaring mitigation measure
missing from the document was water
supply and water supply monitoring.
The last thing he felt was missing from
the document was the policy of borrowing
and loaning (to be recaptured at a later
date) sewer capacity, particularly by
public agencies,(i.e., Community College)
and should'be addressed in the document,
especially if it crossed over into the
private sector. He wanted to be sure there
would be enough reserve for public projects.
Mr. Martens stated he would be willing
to work with District staff to resolve
the issues he addressed.
Attorney Weidman responded to some of
the issues Mr. Martens reviewed.
Chairman Mason stated he would like to
have something worked out so the plant
could run at 75%-80% capacity rather
than 95%-99% capacity and hoped there
would be a solution for more flexibility
in operating the plant.
Director Jones noted that prior delays
caused by the League To Save Lake Tahoe
and others have contributed to some of
the spills experienced by the District
and felt these delays were the League's
way of controlling growth within the Lake
Tahoe Basin. Director Jones further
stated he felt TRPA was the Agency where
the League should address Tahoe growth
and the District was only trying to pro-
vide a service to the community.
CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARING MINUTES - APRIL 17, 1989 Page 4
Hearing Closed: Chairman Mason closed the
Public Hearing at 4:00 PM
ROBERT MASON, CHAIRMAN OF BOARD
SOUTH TAHOE PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT
ATTEST:
PA- MAMATH~ C~ERK OF BOARD
SOUTH TAHOE PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT
SOUTH TAHOE PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
CONTINUED
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT THE PUBLIC HEARING HELD ON
April 6, 1989, 3:30 PM HAS BEEN CONTINUED TO
April 17, 1989 AT 3:30 P,M, AT the
City Council Chambers, 1900 Lake Tahoe Boulevard
BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE SOUTH TAHOE PUBLIC
UTILITY DISTRICT TO CONSIDER the South Tahoe Public Utility
District, 0.2 MGD Wastewater Treatment Facility Expansion,
Draft EIR, EIS, March, 1989.
PAT A, MAMATH, CCERK OF BOARD
SOUTH TAHOE PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT
DATED: April 10, 1989