ITEM:		ACTION ITEMS
22.	CONSIDER REQUEST OF DIRECTOR BROWER TO DIRECT STAFF TO PREPARE A REPORT ON THE STATUS OF THE mpwmd Seawater DESALINATION PROJECT At Sand City, FOR REVIEW ON A FUTURE BOARD AGENDA
Meeting Date:			January 24, 2008	Budgeted:	N/A
From:			David A. Berger,	Program/	N/A
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			Same	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Approval: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: N/A

SUMMARY: The purpose of this item is for the Board to consider a request of MPWMD Director Bob Brower to direct staff to prepare, for review at a future Board meeting, a full description of the proposed scope and location of the MPWMD Seawater Desalination Project at Sand City. Director Brower also requests that the staff report describe the environmental, engineering, permitting, and other technical work that would be required in order to complete this 8,400 acre-foot/year water supply project. Director Brower submitted a timely written request for this agenda item in accordance with section 7 of the District’s adopted Meeting Rules.

RECOMMENDATION: The Board should consider Director Brower’s request for District staff to prepare a report that contains a full project description and provides an updated cost estimate to complete the MPWMD Seawater Desalination Project at Sand City, for purposes of its placement on a future Board agenda.

BACKGROUND: For the Board’s information in considering Director Brower’s request, attached to this agenda report is a June 14, 2007 District Planning & Engineering Division staff memo (Exhibit 22-A), which describes two options for undertaking the additional preliminary engineering analysis and environmental consultant effort required to complete the draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) previously prepared on this project.  This staff memo was provided to the Board in connection with its review of the District's fiscal 2007-8 proposed budget.  The Board did not include a line item for this consulting work in the adopted budget.  A summary of the project description and order-of-magnitude cost estimate are shown in the District's Water Supply Alternatives Comparative Matrix, October, 2006.  The web link to the Matrix is as follows:   http://www.mpwmd.dst.ca.us/asd/board/boardpacket/2006/20061016/13/item13.htm

IMPACT TO DISTRICT STAFF/RESOURCES: If the Board approves this request, its initial workload effect on Planning & Engineering staff would involve obtaining a formal cost proposal from an environmental consultant to complete the project draft EIR, as well as soliciting an engineering consultant proposal(s) to perform the two additional technical tasks described in the June 14, 2007 memo that are needed to determine the feasibility of this project. This is a work effort not currently anticipated by the Planning & Engineering Division, which would have a modest near-term impact on the Division’s highest office staff priority, i.e. processing the existing backlog of approximately 35 Water Distribution System permit applications and pre-applications that have been received by the District.

There is no anticipated, direct financial impact on the District of approving preparation of this proposed staff report. As described in the June 14, 2007 memo, the environmental consultant estimated the cost to finalize the project EIR at $135,000 to $195,000, not including the two engineering tasks required to determine project feasibility, the cost of which is presently unknown but could be significant as described in the memo. At its December 10, 2007 meeting, the Board approved a “pay-as-you-go” approach as an alternative to financing the $1.7 million estimated cost to complete our Phase 1 ASR Project, which will reduce the District’s general operating reserve below the Board’s 5% minimum for the next 12 to 24 months. Since the District would have insufficient reserves to pay for the additional environmental and engineering work required to finalize the draft EIR for the MPWMD Seawater Desalination Project at Sand City, the Board would need to either 1) return to the financing strategy to fund Phase 1 ASR Project completion; or 2) authorize a one-time increase in the District’s user fee to cover the additional environmental and engineering consultant costs to complete a draft EIR for the MPWMD Seawater Desalination Project at Sand City.

EXHIBITS

22-A June 14, 2007 Memorandum from Andrew Bell and Henrietta Stern

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