18 - Back Bay Center Easement Agreement Costa Mesa Sanitary District …an Independent Special District Protecting our community’s health and the environment by providing solid waste and sewer collection services. www.cmsdca.gov Memorandum To: Board of Directors From : Alan Burns, District Counsel Date: July 24 , 2014 Subject: Back Bay Center Easement Agreement Summary The Easement Agreement is provided for your review . It allows the District to construct and maintain an emergency generator for the Irvine Pump station. The terms and conditions were negotiated between the property owner and the District pursuant to author ity given by the Board in closed session. This Easement Agreement represents the final legal document that memorializes the agreement and provides the public disclosure of the agreement reached. Staff Recommendation That the Board of Directors receive and file this report. Analysis The operation of the District’s sewer system requires pump stations to lift the wastewater in the sewer main to higher ground so the wastewater can continue flowing by gravity to the treatment plant. If those pump stations have a power failure , the District must have a back up emergency generator. Our Irvine pump station requires such an emergency generator and the District negotiated with the Back Bay Center property owner to obtain an easement on their property for the emergency generator. Because the generator will be in a first floor open area, the generator will use natural gas instead of the standard use of diesel fuel. Those negotiations resulted in a final price of $38,000 for the easement itself plus additional sums to mak e the owner whole. The price was authorized in a closed session occurring on March 27, 2014. In the succeeding months we have been working on the
Board of Directors July 24 , 2014 Page 2 of 3 other terms of the agreement and the District Engineer has been working on the engineering plans , map and lega l descriptions for the easement . The agreement has been executed, as authorized by the Board in closed session, and w e have now opened escrow and will soon own the easement. At that point the construction of the emergency generator can begin. This staff re port represents the public disclosure of the final agreement reached after negotiations and within the authority provided by the Board in closed session. Strategic Plan Element & Goal This item complies with the objective and strategy of Strategic Element 1.0., Sewer Infrastructure , which states: “Objective: Our objective is to collect and transport wastewater to meet the needs of existing and future customers .” “Strategy: We wi ll do this by the careful management of the collection infrastructure using prudent planning and maintenance, with financial strategies to maintain sufficient capacity and respond to changing regulatory demands .” Legal Review The District Counsel negotiated the agreement with owner’s counsel and, working with the Board, General Manager and District Engineer, prepared the Easement Agreement with the owner’s counsel. Environmental Review The addition of a backup generator to an existing pumping station is categorically exempt under the California Env ironmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Public Resources Code Section 21000 et. seq.) under Section 15301 as a “Class 1” “minor alteration of existing public or private structures”, as further described in Section (b) as “Existing facilities of both investor and pu blicly -owned utilities used to provide .... sewerage ...”. In addition to being a minor alteration, the proposed generator will use natural gas, thereby minimizing impacts to the environment. Financial Review The total cost of this agreement is $38,785 wi th escrow and other processing costs including the lender’s counsel review . Previously, the District provided the owner with a $5,000 check for their legal review . There are sufficient funds available in the CIP budget to cover these costs.
Board of Directors July 24 , 2014 Page 3 of 3 Public Notice Process This review constitutes the public notice of the agreement reached for the purchase of an interest in real property. The authority was given in closed session pursuant to the authority of Government Code Section 54956.8. Copies of this repor t are on file and will be included with the entire agenda packet for the July 24 , 2014 Board of Directors regular meeting at District Headquarters and on the District’s website. Alternative Actions 1. Refer the matter back to staff. Attachment A: Easement Ag reement Reviewed by: Wendy Davis Finance Manager