Okay, it is four o'clock, and I'm calling to the order of the meeting of the San Leandro City Council of Facilities and Transportation Committee.

Today is Thursday, April 9th, 2026.

Madam Clerk, would you please take the rule?

Councilmember Bowden.

Present.

Councilmember Aguilar.

Present.

Mayor Gonzalez.

Present.

Would you please make your announcement, Madam Clerk?

After each agenda item is presented, the mayor will ask for committee member comments and then take public comment.

If you'd like to speak during public comment, please complete a speaker card and submit it to the clerk before the item is heard.

Members of the public will have two minutes to share their comments.

An opportunity for the public to address us on items that are not on our agenda.

We have speaker cards today.

I do have four speaker cards.

Okay, would you please proceed with public comment?

Can I have Kat Wilman and Carwood?

Annie, Tyler Dragoni, and Miss Show Harris just stand on the side here after so she can speak and then you can go next.

Thank you.

Can you push there's a little red uh two choices on the microphone in front of you?

Yes, there you go.

New system perfect new system.

Okay system.

Okay.

Welcome.

When the city closed Lake Shabot Road over three years ago, residents of Bao Vista had one overriding concern.

How do we safely and quickly evacuate in the event of a fast moving wildfire or other disaster?

Lake Shabot Road is not just another street.

It is the fastest evacuation route for hundreds of homes, especially those at the top of the hill, where a wildfire would hit first.

This is a serious public safety issue.

When we raise these concerns with city staff, the city council and county fire officials, the city acknowledged the risk.

The gates were opened and bollards were installed.

The city even demonstrated on video at a council meeting that emergency vehicles and residents could drive over the bollards if necessary.

Was it ideal?

No.

But it gave our community some reassurance that in a life or death situation, there was a way out.

Now, without notice to residents or even the city council, the ballers have been removed and the gates are locked.

That decision has taken us backwards and put our community at greater risk.

Wildfires are no longer seasonal.

Disasters can happen at any time, and arson is a growing concern.

Our community now has the results of a timed evacuation study showing clearly that closing Lake Chabot Road negatively impacts our ability to get out safely.

So the question is simple.

Why are we making evacuation harder, not easier?

At a minimum, the city should reopen the gates and reinstall the bollards.

Better yet, remove the gates and fences entirely and install continuous bollards across the entire road, so that in an emergency, no one is trapped because a single narrow gate at either end is blocked.

The real risk here is not the fact that a few violators are driving on Lake Chabot Road now, but loss of life and exposure to fire.

Public safety must come first.

Thank you.

Annie, if you can please come up.

Ann Haywood.

Closing and locking the gates on Lake Shabot Road creates a serious safety risk to the Bay of Vista community.

The bollards that allowed at least a possibility of using this road need to be replaced.

The city is concerned that a few people are driving over the bollards, but maintenance issues should not undermine safety issues.

Lock gates, increase the response times, particularly for a medical emergency in Bay of Vista.

We have one of the oldest and most mobility challenged concentrations of residents in the city.

Emergency response timing is a priority for us.

This extends to our ongoing concerns about wildfire risk and evacuation, where the 2022 Kittleson study estimated 1,500 cars would have to evacuate down to Benedict Drive to the intersections with EsteDo Avenue or Grand Avenue.

A new study conducted by the WEGO group, a startup from the UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies, confirms this major congestion and the high evacuation times it will cause.

In addition to 3,600 residents, the neighborhood has two day care centers, four residential care homes, and the 99-bed acute care kindred hospital.

All will need more time to evacuate.

We still have no evacuation plan, including traffic control for our community.

Lock gates without notice, lack of coordination on evacuation routes, and the lack of authentic consideration of the need to promptly reopen this road, raise serious questions about the city's priorities.

Fire season is starting early.

Earthquakes can happen at any time.

Now is not the time to close and lock any emergency evacuation route.

If the city is not going to prioritize opening this road, at least really reinstall the bollards so it can be used in an emergency.

Clearly, staff decided to lock the gates without any city council input.

Putting the bollards back in place should be just as easy.

Thank you.

Tyler Dragoni and then Michelle Harris last.

Hi, hello.

Nice to meet you.

Thank you for holding this meeting.

I appreciate it in an accessible place.

Um large enough room to accommodate everybody.

One suggestion though is that you know, government in committee is really government at work.

And most of the important stuff gets hammered out in committee.

And so I um don't know why that this is not a hybrid or online as well, but I would just suggest that your committee meetings also be streamed online where people can participate via Zoom or whatever platform it is.

Thank you.

Michelle Harris.

Yes, hello.

I am a resident in the um area that we're speaking of.

I'm pretty much at the top of the hill, so I'm going to have the longest distance to get to safety in the event of an emergency.

I also have health issues that could be a hindrance to me physically getting out.

And I just can't believe that we, after three years, we're still talking and not doing anything about it.

I can't believe that the city or whoever was in charge of locking the gates, like that makes no sense to me at all.

That would some people wouldn't even know that they are locked because last I knew there were bollards in place.

And now I hear that the gates are locked.

And so some people could go that direction, get trapped and burn up or whatever.

So I just really hope that the council takes all this into consideration.

These are real human lives in danger in the event of an emergency.

Thank you.

That's all.

So with that, we'll close public comment.

I will ask just a question of staff.

Do we anticipate having a Lake Spo discussion anytime in the next month or two?

Um thank you, Mayor.

Uh no, that is not on our agenda coming forward.

Okay, so we will discuss that under Canada member comments a little bit later.

At this point in time, we will move to item number three discussion items.

We have three A, the Llewellyn Boulevard streetscape improvements.

And we've got uh assistant engineer Iman Fazi here to introduce the item.

Thank you and welcome.

Um everyone, thank you for having us here today.

We will be presenting to you the Llewellyn Boulevard Class 4 Bikeways project.

So for introductions, my name is Iman.

I am an assistant engineer with the city of San Leandro, and I am the project manager for this project.

With me here today is Sarah from NCE from within our design team as well as Thomas in NC from NCE, also in our design team, and then also Rob from Fair and Pears, uh part of our traffic study team.

So, in terms of agenda, we'll start by going over the project location.

We'll follow that by the guiding policies and why we're doing that project this project.

Um, and then following that, we'll cover the project and design features, and then we'll dive into the traffic study findings and then the costs of this project and funding.

How are we affording any of this?

And then finally concluding with the schedule and the next steps.

So the project location, we're looking at a segment of Lowelling Boulevard starting at Wix Boulevard and ending with Washington.

Along this segment, we have about 12 bus stops that we're taking into consideration with design, six on each side, and we have three main signalized intersections WICS, Farnsworth, and Washington.

So why are we doing this project?

So this all started back in 2022 with the Vision Zero policy, which was set to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries by making travel safer for all modes of transportation and people of all ages and abilities.

With that, we adopted the local roadway safety plan, and that outlined specific goals and policies to meet the vision zero policy and identified seven priority corridors, one of which was lowelling.

And then in 2024, we adopted the bicycle and pedestrian master plan, which further expanded on the local roadway safety plan, and then also helps us guide infrastructure projects.

So this is a little snippet of the bicycle and pedestrian master plan, and it shows the planned bicycle network within San Leandro.

And at the bottom, highlighted in yellow, we have this project, the Lowelling Boulevard project.

And it shows how it connects to the rest of our planned network.

So with the LR the local roadway safety plan, a very extensive collision analysis was completed to identify the different hotspots and select the corridors and selecting low welling.

So here we're showing the past five year collision history, and in that we had about 66 collisions.

Of those, there was three total KSIs.

A KSI is killed or seriously injured.

There was one fatality of a bicyclist and two serious injuries for pedestrians.

And just to kind of clarify, a serious injury is defined as an incapacitating injury.

And with that, I'll hand it over to Sarah for goals and project features.

Thank you.

So to meet some of the project goals, and there's several different project features.

So the project goals include enhancing bicycle safety as well as pedestrian safety, as well as focusing on improvement safety, improving safety at intersections.

So some of the features that will help achieve these goals are protected bike lanes to provide separation between vehicles and bikes, high visibility crosswalks, protected left turn movements, accessible curb ramps, tighter turn radii at corners, pavement surface treatments, and no right turns on red.

So there's two main cross sections along for this project.

This one here shows segment to Washington.

And so the top is the existing conditions, the bottom is proposed, so current conditions, there's a parking, a bike lane, and two travel lanes in each direction.

And the in the proposed condition, the bikes will be pushed closer to the sidewalk with the vertical separation, uh parking, and then one vehicle lane removed in each direction.

And this shows a 3D rendering of what that would look like again with the bike lane closer to the curb, a parking lane, and one vehicle lane in each direction.

And then the next typical cross section is from Wix to Segman, and that is very similar to the previous one.

The main difference is there's no parking in this segment, and there's a planted median, so that planted median would remain, and then and a vehicle lane in each direction would be removed to make space for the uh separation between the bike lane and vehicle lane.

And this is another 3D rendering of what that could look like.

Again, bikes next to the curb with uh separation, uh leaving enough room for emergency vehicles.

Um as part of this project, too, there's level of service was investigated.

So the level of service measures the delays of vehicles traveling through an intersection.

Um that is represented by a grading system from A to F, A with little to no delay and F meaning stop and go traffic.

And so per the general plan policy, an acceptable level of service is uh level D.

And then for this project, the three uh signalized intersections were um reviewed to see that they remain within the acceptable range.

Um there was also recommendations which include updating updating signal timing and separating phases for drivers and pedestrians and vehicles, and so you can see all three intersections during peak hours remained level of service D or higher.

And with this level of service D, they're being reduced.

It is still acceptable, but there's a balance between safety for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as vehicle delays.

And with that, I'll hand it back to Iman.

So next we'll dive into budget analysis.

So what is the cost of the this project?

Currently, for design, we're looking at about 675,000.

And this does include some contingency.

And for construction, our current estimate is for approximately 5.8 million dollars.

This also does include some contingency.

And we are early in design, so this may shift around a little bit, but this is our current estimate.

And for the total project cost, we're estimating approximately 6.5 million dollars.

And then for available funding, how are we paying for any of this?

We have some local funds that were allocated to this project, approximately 1.2 million.

And then we have some capital reserve and grant funds, approximately also 1.2 million.

And then we have the ACTC grant, which is for 2.2 million, and that is the Alameda County Transportation Commission grant.

And then we also have the HIPAA grant, which is the housing incentive pool grant, and that's for approximately 1.8 million, and this totals to 6.5 million.

I will also note that for the capital reserve uh slash grant funds and the local funds.

That does include the 1.5 million federal community project funding request submitted by Congressman Swillwell, which has been advanced to the House uh appropriations committee.

And um with our overall project cost, we are constantly engineer uh value engineering this to try and make sure we're getting the most out of the money spent.

And so just to take you through a little bit of how we arrived to the tack on curb and the flexible posts with other options being out there for bikeway separators.

Um we explored everything out there and the main reason for the attack on curb with the flexible posts is that it's a happy medium between cost and effectiveness, and it um it provides the desire, it folds the desire to be consistent as possible with the class four facilities within the city.

Um and we currently have this uh as you can see from that picture uh Fairmont Drive.

So we want bicycle bicyclists to be familiar with the facilities all throughout and um not have it change and have to adapt.

And then for project schedule and next steps.

So the general sense we're currently in design, we're anticipating being done with design uh by the end of this year, 2026.

We will be doing bid and award award early next year, and then we'll be done with construction uh speaking being done with construction end of 2027.

Uh, as for more immediate steps, we're currently presenting at the facilities and transportation committee.

We will be presenting this project at the bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee later this month, and we will continue to value engineer and design this project um till the end of this year with the final design.

And with that, that's all we have for you today, and we're opening it for comments questions.

Thank you.

So we're gonna just take public comment on this item, and then we'll move to committee member comments and questions.

We have four public comments.

Um Bruce Dougie, if you can come up, Nicholas Bayes Avis if you can come up next.

Uh hello, my name is Bruce Dougie.

Uh, thanks for this project.

I I'm a cyclist.

I totally support this uh project.

I I think I would prefer uh curbs uh rather than the uh the bullards, but uh uh I'm okay with anything uh that separates um cyclists.

I actually do use the uh Fairmont protected bike lanes and uh and and also a little bit of lowelling as well.

Um so uh I'm super excited about the project.

Um I guess the other thing is uh I I know uh I'm I live in the unincorporated area and I've uh actually taken uh one of our traffic uh people actually on Llewellyn to you know as a as a trip for them to experience cycling um in the area and we we took a trip down out to the uh to the bay and so um um I yeah, I think Llewellyn could definitely use some improvements.

I I thought I think she thought so as well.

Um I just want to say something about um you know I I came in um on cat on um Lake Chabot Road, and I really appreciate that uh that that road is blocked uh because not only is that a safe section that's blocked, but it also uh reduces the number of cars that are coming through on the rest of it.

I think I only encountered one car behind me.

And in the past, I used to encounter many, many cars when I would commute to Oakland.

I just want to say something about um you know I I came in um on cat on um Lake Chabot Road and I really appreciate that uh that that road is blocked uh because not only is that a safe section that's blocked but it also uh reduces the number of cars that are coming through on the rest of it and I think I only encountered one car behind me and in the past I used to encounter many many cars um when I would commute to Oakland so I just want to say that thank you for blocking it you know whether you use it with with bullards or or fences I think that's another story but um the blocking is really really excellent and I see people all the time walking their dogs in that area so thanks again uh appreciate the um the project thanks Nicholas B.

Sadis and then after Sarah Bailey Hey um I would just like to speak out in absolute support of this project uh I think that this is going to improve connectivity through San Leandro uh from the there are several schools in that area and it does roll roll on to the uh Bayfair Bart station uh to the recreation area on the Bay Shore there I think it will be good for youth and for seniors to be able to get uh through that through this through the the line corridor much more easily uh without the use of a car um and I think that that's gonna be the way that we need to get around in the future so I'm all for it thank you hi um can we go to slide uh seven who has control I can which how do I do that somebody has to come and tell me how to do that tell me when I get this the chart there we go this one okay I'm gonna hover at this one I have some there are some cyclists here who are gonna tell you more than I can about Louelling and what it's like to cycle there and I'm a pedestrian I'm current chair of uh B Pack but I want you to look at this um because in five years there were 66 collisions and that's reported collision so you have to assume that there's going to be quite a bit more.

And the the case with injuries too because people I I've spoken with cyclists they got so sometimes um distracted by the fact that they've just been hit by a car that they um don't they don't report or they you know they go home.

So um in my opinion if you see if you have one fatality on a cyclist um or just could be like you know somebody riding a bike um that's reason alone to redesign this road the only way you're gonna get cars slow down which is probably what is causing these collisions is to redesign the road it doesn't cops can't it doesn't that never works.

So that's my um my main point um cars do travel really fast on the welling so um I'd like kind of get some knowledge of how fast they're actually going so when you come to B Pack we need to know how fast those cars are going and what the speed limit is um when you come to B Pack to it I'll talk to you later about that.

Tyler Dragoni and he's the last um public speaker hi um so I'm with like Hayward and I think it's important that we support each other's jurisdictions when it comes to these sorts of projects because you know borders are invisible what really matters is where our families live where restaurants are where we shop and you know those sorts of things so I think it's important that um you know I I also live in the unincorporated area and I'm a member of by K word so go figure all this patchwork of um support that you have for this project.

So I want um to say um this is a very very much needed project um like other um people have said I kind of want to uh talk about what Bruce said as well um this is kind of cool I think this is super cool um I I do think I mean if it's it's hard it's difficult because you know we live in a different time you know Eisenhower's and with the freeway and all the money that the trillions that was poured into car infrastructure over the years right and now you know now we're saying oh we have to you know watch you know you know count every penny and whatnot I just think that um what you what you're aiming for is to have these bike lanes used you want them utilized and I'm just I'm just seeing that with with those spaces and those flex posts which get damaged by cars even you know in the middle of those concrete barriers I'm I'm just worried that it's um it's a it's a little bit too much cutting the baby in half so to speak because it's you know the the point is to make people feel safe and um you know so I I just I just want this project to succeed uh first and foremost you know there's you know hardcore like me and Bruce that'll you know um you know ride any place basically um but um

Um I'm just worried that it's um it's a it's a little bit too much cutting the baby in half, so to speak, because it's you know, the the point is to make people feel safe.

And um, you know, so I I just I just want this project to succeed uh first and foremost.

You know, there's you know hardcore like me and Bruce that'll you know um you know ride any place basically.

Um, but um, you know, I would just advocate for that um as well.

Um so uh thank you.

Support the project.

Okay, so we'll return to committee member questions and commentary.

Who'd like to go first?

Councilmember Aguilar.

Sure, thank you for the presentation.

Um this hits home for me, especially because I teach at San La Rosa High School, and so a lot of my kids in those single family homes on that side of Bluelling are coming through there on their bikes.

And so this is important to me.

And I taught at a Royal High School too.

So that's you can imagine had more students coming through that uh through that part of the city.

But um, no, just my appreciation for the presentation.

And I had a couple of questions.

Uh the first question is a very nuanced and super specific question to this slide, actually.

Um I looked into the armadillos, which were new to me.

I'm familiar with flexible posts and bollards and and everything else.

Tell me a little bit on how and why you arrived to the armadillos.

Um I took a little bit of research into the history and looking back at Sacramento and how they kind of came up with the armadillo concept.

But just tell me a little bit about um how you arrived at the armadillos with the flexible posts, because to me that goes hand in hand, those are with, correct?

Um, so the origination of the armadillos, if possible.

I know that's a very niche, nuanced question.

Are you speaking about the um the use in this project or just in general?

So for this project, it's the tack on curb.

So the third column there with the flex post, not the armadillos.

Okay, got it.

Yeah, I'm sorry, Jason and my city engineer.

This slide represents the type of separators that were considered and and it shows the different price tags associated with each.

So uh what the what the team has uh currently landed on is a happy medium where we we we're focusing on the tack on curb, which is the third, uh one at 899,000.

So that uh provides a level of physical separation yet of a more reasonable price tag than the 3.4 million dollars for the totally separated one.

So the armadillos just shows one of the least expensive options that were considered, but it's not being taken any further.

Okay, thank you for the clarification.

I'm I'm learning and kind of piecing it apart.

And so I appreciate that.

Um, and then it was mentioned, and I saw in the slide, and we don't have to go to that slide, but the slide showing the stretch of Llewelling and the 12 bus stops.

What about the bus stops in specific?

Um, tell me a little bit about what you're doing with those bus stops that were mentioned, but I didn't really see throughout.

So we're coordinating with AC Transit to one, make sure if any of the bus stops need to be moved if they're on the near side and need to be moved far side for safety and visibility for the cars driving, and if there's a pedestrian crossing.

Um, and then we're also making sure that they're taken into consideration that if there's a bus stop and a bus is stopping, it's not stopping the road as well.

There's enough room for um for them to stop and pick up passengers.

Uh so it's just uh a general thing that's we're taking into consideration with design.

Awesome.

Thank you.

That's all I have.

Councilmember Bolt, please.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for the presentation.

Um I my I have to redo my question.

My question was um we have a part, there's two different segments that we're using, and I know it's because there's apartment buildings and there's parking on the street available at this moment, but then you get past it and there's none.

The my question was can we get rid of that parking on the street and make it completely no parking so that you have that solid separation all the way down.

And and how I'm changing my question now is uh I was under the impression that we were doing some type of flexible bollards at the first segment.

When you look at the design from the welling uh it says uh Sageman to Washington, you have the flexible ballard separating the vehicle.

Right.

That that's parking, flexible ballard, and then the bike.

Thank you.

I'll just clarify for that.

So over here we have it similar to the second segment where we're um we're doing both the flexible post as well as the median, uh, and we just have the gaps in between.

Um so this cross section is just kind of in between the two, but um we have both along the area.

Um and we're maintaining the parking mainly because we did notice that it's being um highly utilized, so we didn't want to completely uh take it away.

And and so when so on the bottom one, you have one lane parking bike.

But and that would be from Washington to Sageman.

Yes.

But then after that, is it is it still a one-lane road or is it a two-lane road?

Um from Washington onwards?

From Washington to Sageman going west, it's like this where you have one lane parking bike.

You get past Sageman still going westbound all the way down to Wicks and beyond.

Is it back to two lanes or still one lane?

Still one lane.

We'll maintain the the one lane throughout the uh the project.

Oh yes.

Is the road on is the road like a lot?

Um it was not wide enough to um fit both two lanes as well as a separator and then the bike lane, also because this is a truck route.

So we have we're dealing with higher minimums for the lane widths.

Uh so we couldn't like go down to 10 or nine feet per lane.

Oh, and then the median is there, yeah.

Take EDN that takes up a lot of the space between the two segments as well.

Okay, oh, my brain doesn't work as fast as you engineer, so I just had to drive down at my head, and then I realized, yeah, that took probably a lot of space.

So okay.

Um to the funding part of it.

We have the one line local funds.

What where what is the where is the local?

What is that?

Sure.

So the local funds pull from a few different pools.

They pull from the general fund, the gas tax fund, uh, the measure BB fund for local streets, and the measure BB fund for uh bikes and pets.

Okay, so capital reserve grant funds is ACTC is an outside organization, HIP grant outside organization, capital reserve us, local funds us.

Yeah.

And I can also elaborate on the capital reserve funds.

So um that's money that was set aside in the with the budget for if any of the projects went over the anticipated um totals, as well as money that for for other projects that was set for that project, but then we got a grant for it, so then it was just extra and it went into the capital reserve.

Um so that's where that money comes from as well.

The last question I have you mentioned HIP grant, and I believe you tied that into the former congressman Swalwell or no, was it so no?

So that's for the local and capital reserve funds.

So um if the that the 1.5 million um goes through and is approved, then that would replace the local funds and or and the uh capital reserve in the case.

Yeah, I can expand on that city engineer Jason Ewai.

So HIP is the housing incentive pool grant fund, and that came from a grant uh based on um our performance with our housing uh element, so that's totally separate.

The fund that we from Swalwell is the one where our delegation went out there and very effectively lobbied for.

Um, and that uh is the community preservation uh funds or federal earmarks, and that that's a potential fund that we're saying uh it if we do receive that it would offset this the funds that we have uh earmarked for cap from the capital reserve.

Okay, so we wouldn't then we wouldn't have to tap into what we have put aside, we would be able to use that.

Well, let's just pray for something good to come from the federal government because I've lost all hope.

Okay, how do I follow that?

Okay, so let's um let's uh explore a couple of things.

Um I'm struggling to accept the premise that at the Washington intersection that level of service does not decrease by more than 10 seconds.

Um I'm struggling to accept the premise that at the Washington intersection that level of service does not decrease by more than 10 seconds Rob from our traffic team, they put together the traffic study and the results.

Yeah.

And perhaps before you answer the question, will you permit right on red at that specific intersection?

I'll talk through that.

Okay.

Um so I'm uh Rob Reese with Ferrum Pierce, and uh we're providing the traffic engineering support for the project.

Um the level the reason that you don't see much change at Washington and Llewelling is because we are for the most part maintaining the existing lane geometries.

So for example, on Llewelling going uh eastbound, there are two through lanes, and those two through lanes will be maintained.

What we will be doing is taking in the eastbound direction.

There are currently two left turn lanes.

Those left turn lanes are uh for the two lanes is more storage than what we need for left turning traffic.

And so we're going to take one of those left turn lanes, the eastbound and northbound Llewelling, and that will be removed, and that then gives us enough space to um carry the bike facilities up to Washington.

We will be in the eastbound direction.

There's a right turn lane, it's a port chop island that we call it, where the gas station is.

Um that will be maintained so we don't lose um anything, uh any operational issues there.

Uh going in the westbound direction, uh, we will also be maintaining the two through lanes.

Uh the way that we're doing that is that we're taking what is a wide striped right turn lane in the westbound direction, and we are eliminating it.

So that right turn movement will occur in the second through lane.

It'll be a shared through right turn lane.

And so we lose very little capacity for that purpose.

Um we do we are not making any lane changes on uh Washington.

Uh we're keeping the double left turn lanes in the through lanes.

Uh the adjustment that we are making on Washington is southbound Washington.

There's a very odd right turn movement.

Um currently the way it's laid out, it's confusing to pedestrians and traffic as to who belongs there.

Um because of it's it's a tight space, there are some signal controllers on the sidewalk, and then there's a big utility pole in this tiny island.

And so we are going to redesign that.

We're able to keep the utility pole where it is, but by making some other adjustments, we are able then to bring that right turn lane under signal control.

And what that benefit is is that means then we're able, because it's under signal control, when a pedestrian is crossing the street, that signal can be red, which means the pedestrian and the right turning vehicle will not bump into each other or crash into each other.

And so that is the only Because there's no right on red.

Uh there would be no right on red because there's a pedestrian in the crosswalk.

Cars are supposed to stop for pedestrians, um, but sometimes they don't.

And so we will have a right turn on red when there is a pedestrian uh crossing the street, yes.

I've heard two different things.

I just want to make sure I understand.

Will there be right on red?

No, right turns on red will not be allowed at that movement.

At that intersection is my question.

No, just that singular movement, right turns on red are not allowed.

The other movements, the right turns on red at Washington are allowed.

Except when a pedestrian is crossing the street.

Probably.

So every so there are four corners.

Right.

Correct.

Northwest, northeast, southeast, southwest, et cetera.

So the corner that I'm interested in right now, because I do agree that that's a goofy corner.

Uh-huh.

Um and that whole, by the way, that stretch from 880 to Lowelling, that's just a mess.

Right.

It's a complete mess.

I've talked to ACTC about it.

I just, I hate that whole spot.

The traffic does not make sense there.

That's a much bigger issue beyond this discussion.

So I want to focus on Llewellyn heading eastbound on Lowelling turning onto Washington.

Eastbound on low welling turning right onto Washington.

Correct.

That will right on red, yes or no?

Well, we're changing it.

So in the future state, will right on red occur?

No.

Okay.

But can I explain how we are offsetting that?

Sure.

Okay.

So currently what has it would happen, what we are going to do is when the right turning vehicles have a green arrow.

They will have a green arrow at the same time as the northbound left turning vehicles have a green arrow.

And that way the right turning vehicles will actually have a lot of people.

So what happens is that the left turning vehicles do this.

They're protecting the right turning vehicles.

Right.

And so today, those right turning vehicles do not have that element.

It is a red light that they come up to in the pork chop island.

They need to slow down.

They need to uh look to make sure it's clear, and then they can go.

We are changing that so those right turning vehicles will be able to proceed on a green arrow during that time.

The right turning vehicles will also proceed on a green arrow when the eastbound through movement is going.

So we are basically giving the right turning traffic probably about 40% more green time where they have a green arrow, which means they have priority than what exists today.

Okay.

So my my big concern, the reason I keep focusing on that particular spot, is during the morning, and I'm not an expert on that intersection, but I do know that a lot of families drive their kids to Arroy.

I know that the traffic backs up along Washington Avenue as people try to make the right hand turn on whatever that street is that Arroyo is on.

So I know that that the traffic does back up.

Um now we're talking about taking four lanes and making them two.

And so you have potentially a bottleneck.

You may not, you may have a big open funnel at the intersection, but you still have one lane of traffic getting before that.

Where does it go from one lane eastbound to open up four lanes now?

Correct.

Um it does that um approximately uh prior to the gas station, there is a uh residential community, and it occurs somewhere in that area.

Right in front of the by the apartments.

There's the right part.

But to uh we I we hear your concerns and we understand your concern.

I think what we can do is we'll take a look at the operations at the intersection.

We may, I'm gonna look to our echoes also we may we'll have to analyze it.

You can allow there's a difference between being able to make a right turn on red when there's no pedestrians there and having a right turn red restriction.

You're asking if there's a right turn on red restriction.

That's right.

That's what I understood the answer.

Okay, got it.

Uh I I'll double check with our consultants, but we can look to see if we can allow right turns on red when there's no pedestrian push button activated.

Uh that will allow more uh capacity for the right turn or something.

Again, if it's not a problem, right?

And I'm just making up a problem that doesn't exist, that's awesome.

But if it's a problem, I just want to make sure that we're not putting up some wonderful looking number that's not real for people at that time, because in particular we're constraining the capacity further up the system.

Um I don't know what track truck traffic is like at that time of the morning.

But if you're adding trucks, trucks don't accelerate like cars.

So you stop a truck, it's like it takes a while to get that truck moving.

So that inherently will slow traffic down in addition.

Okay, so that's just that intersection.

My uh another question focuses on the configuration.

Uh did we look at the possibility of having three lanes instead of two?

And is there not the space to have three lanes?

Like, you know, two coming out, one going in, or one coming out, two going in, as a case maybe.

Um so for the the bigger part of the project, which is Wix to Sedgman, um, we have the median along the middle.

And for this project, we were our goal was not to touch the middle median because that's a main planting strip.

So um it wouldn't be possible to do the three without eliminating or completely or moving moving the median.

Yeah, it's also because we can't even moving wouldn't be entirely an option.

We'd have to eat a piece of it because we're still having to have at least 20 feet on each side clear from the end of the the separator to the curb of the of the planning strip, which is a rule set by uh fire, which we're also coordinating with, be it uh so that their trucks can get around for emergencies or get through.

Okay.

Um I'm assuming that the same answer applies that because the median is fixed in place that we were not able to do a bidirectional bicycle lane.

Yes, because that would eat uh it would have to be on the sides, and that would eat up a lot more from one side.

Um and we'd still have to have the 20 feet clear after that to the median, so we'd have to pretty much eliminate most of it.

So I guess my question did we consider it?

We can space for it, so no.

So there is not space for a bi-directional bike lane.

Because it typically has to be uh wider for uh and right now we're for the bike lanes, they are uh seven feet wide, so for a bidirectional bike lane, it would have to be, I believe at least 10 feet, and we just did not have the space for that.

To answer the question directly, it was considered, but it was quickly uh taken off the table because there's just not enough space to put it on one side because it's a fire code regulation, you have to have 20 space, 20 feet clear between the median and any other obstructions.

So any compromise to that 20 foot would would violate uh uh fire uh response uh requirements.

Yeah, I was just wondering because when I when I was looking at the Google maps, the sidewalk is not immediately on.

And so I was just thinking, okay, well, you know, you could scoot, take some space that you're adjacent to the sidewalk instead of being close to the sidewalk.

But that's I mean, all of these things affect cost, and I recognize that.

And uh the other question that I've got.

Um you have the expression tighter turning radius.

Is that the that just means that it's not uh uh tell me, can you show me an example of a tighter turning radius?

Because I don't really understand what that means.

I don't believe it.

I mean, I know in concept what a tighter radius is, but I like what what is it before and what is it after?

A tighter turning radius is just uh it's a smaller turning radius.

So instead of a very sweeping curve, it's gonna be a very it's a turning curve, right?

Yeah, it's a sharper curve.

But like you're picturing the radius instead of a 40 foot radius going across around the corner, it's like a 25 foot radius.

So it's a it's a sharper corner.

So it's a it's it's it forces vehicles to slow down uh as they make the turn.

Yeah, where do we have those wide turning radiuses?

To give a bit of a visual.

So if you can see over here, this is quite a wide turning radius.

You can very easily take it at that right turn at a high speed.

Oh, yeah, that the funky, the funky turn that we were talking about earlier.

Okay, yes.

Um so if you're turning here, however, you can see that that's much tighter.

You'd have to slow down a lot more.

So um that is a tighter turning radius.

The main intersection we're doing that for is Farnsworth.

I believe uh we're doing it at the four corners.

We're tightening the turning radius because that was a concern that was raised that oftentimes um drivers are taking this turn at very high speeds and uh accidents have occurred due to that.

And um it was also uh concern voiced by residents.

So we uh are that's one of the main intersections where we're implementing that.

That is the signalized intersection?

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

That's all very useful.

Uh we do appreciate the update.

Do we have any additional questions or comments?

Councilmember Bolt.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I want to go back to what you said about when right turn when will be we're gonna look at whether a right turn would be permitted if there is no push signal.

That so there's a difference.

So you can you can say that there's absolutely no right turn on reds at all, even if there's no pedestrians in the crosswalk, or and that would be signed.

Uh there would be a specific sign saying no right turns on red, or actually a good example is when you go to Estedeal and uh Bancroft by Bancroft Middle School.

Sometimes you'll see this light LED light board that comes on that says no right turn on red.

You absolutely cannot turn red when that sign is on.

When it's not on, you are permitted to turn right on red unless there is a pedestrian in the crosswalk.

So that's you can turn on red if there's no crop uh pedestrians in the crosswalk.

So that's the difference.

I'm confused.

Listen to you.

I don't really like that.

I'm just be honest.

That has so many children coming from the high school back into the neighborhoods, crossing right there.

Um those little medians, uh, you call them pork chops.

I like that.

Um that that's safety for those students, but the one on the north side is garbage.

It's weird, it doesn't make sense.

There's a pole there.

I was hoping you were gonna say we were gonna remove that stinking electrical pole and do something different.

But if if we can't do that, I would rather us do no turn on red.

I'll answer that email or call every day because it's about those students.

And if people are getting used to turning too much, that I don't think it, I don't think that's what we want at that particular intersection.

That's those are my thoughts.

Thank you.

Okay, so I think we are done with that item.

Is there anything else that you would like to hear from us?

Okay.

So with that, we will thank you very much for your presentation, and we will move on to our next item, which is item 3B.

Focusing on our water pollution control capital improvements program.

And I do believe that we have water pollution control manager Hayes Morehouse here to update us.

Yeah.

All right.

Uh so good afternoon, um uh mayor and council members.

As he said, my name is Hayes Morehouse.

I'm the water pollution control division manager, and I'm here to give you an update about our CIP uh program.

So quick agenda overview.

Um first we'll talk a little bit about the facilities that are included in the water pollution control CIP.

Um we'll talk a brief bit about uh the CIP plan that we put together in 2024.

Um after that, we'll discuss the nutrient reduction plan, which is a big part of the CIP.

We'll talk a bit about our sanitary sewer system, and then we'll discuss some of the implementation next steps.

So, real quick uh very high overview about the plant.

Uh, we've been serving this community for 85 years.

Uh the plant uh was has been in operation since 1939.

It's actually one of the oldest treatment plants in the Bay Area.

We serve uh we we process about five million gallons of water per day.

So the SUTI sewer service area.

There's actually two sewer districts in San Leandro.

Uh the northern part is the city of San Leandro sewer district, and then the southern part is serviced by Oraloma.

Uh the city part has 125 miles of sewer pipeline.

We have 12 lift stations, and we have one wastewater treatment plant.

So the overall process of wastewater treatment, uh, we first collect it, and you can see all the little green lines are the uh sewer lines in the city, and we treat it at our at our wastewater plant, and then we dispose of it into the bay.

Um we dispose of it uh in joint partnership with uh other members of the East Bay Dischargers Authority, uh, which is five treatment plants, and all the water joins together from these plants and heads out about six miles out into the bay.

And then the uh solids that we remove from the water, we uh uh use those for uh land application on agricultural land.

So here's the treatment process.

Um I'm just gonna give you the briefest of overviews of how this works.

Uh if you'd like to learn more, uh, we would invite you to come take a tour with us at the treatment plant any time.

Uh we are having a public tour on April 22nd at 10 a.m.

So uh if you'd like to join us at that, that'd be great.

Otherwise you can contact us.

Uh but the treatment process has three main parts of it.

Uh first is the mechanical process where we separate the solids by allowing them to either float or uh or sink to the bottom of a tank.

Um it's the simplest and oldest version of treat treating wastewater.

From there it moves into a little bit more complex system, the biological process, and this removes a lot more of the contaminants from the water.

And finally, uh we treat it with uh bleach, like an industrial strength bleach that kills the uh harmful microorganisms that might still be in the water.

So, yeah, back in 19, I mean back in 2024, uh we uh studied the overall um treatment plant and looked at all of its CIP needs.

Um overall goals were to respond to changing regulations, maintain a high functioning and reliable system, uh set a basis for ongoing cash flow management.

Um the overall plan had approximately 97 million dollars over 10 years.

Um but the and the biggest two parts, the single parts of the plan, uh included adapting to nutrient reduction and uh uh and improving the sanitary sewer system.

So I'm gonna talk a little bit, I'm gonna dive deeper into those two parts of the plan.

So the first one is nutrient reduction, and we do have uh a short video to share um that uh explains the the background for why the nutrients need to be produced.

Um and we say nutrient where we're talking about nitrogen that's in the water.

So I'll start this and hopefully this works.

San Francisco Bay is more than just a beautiful view.

It's a vital natural resource that supports our health, economy, and way of life.

Nearly eight million people live in the Bay Area today.

Double the population since 1970, when much of our current infrastructure was built.

Behind the scenes, over 16,000 miles of sewer pipes and 40 plus wastewater treatment plants.

Work 24-7 to protect public health and the environment.

Every time you wash your dishes or clothes, or use your sinks, bathtub, and shower, and flush your toilet, that water flows through pipes to a treatment plant.

There, the dirty water is cleaned before being safely released into the bay.

This process is called wastewater treatment.

Without this essential service, raw sewage from all of our homes and businesses would pollute our waterways, harming aquatic habitats and our health.

The complex system of pipes, pumps, and machinery totals billions of dollars of public assets that we all own and maintain through the payment of wastewater rates.

Now, the Bay Area's growing population and the changing climate are putting pressure on this crucial infrastructure and the bay's health.

One major concern, nitrogen.

It's a naturally occurring nutrient that all living things need to survive.

But too much nitrogen can be harmful to ecosystems like our bay.

That's because at high levels, nitrogen can act like fertilizer, fueling excess algae growth.

The algae use up oxygen, which can suffocate marine life.

So where is nitrogen in the bay coming from?

The answer is all of us.

Urine, food scraps, and some cleaning products all contain nitrogen.

Each time we flush or wash, we're putting nitrogen into our wastewater system.

Historically, treatment plants in the Bay Area were not designed to remove nitrogen from wastewater.

But changing conditions like increasing population and warmer temperatures mean the amount of nitrogen entering the bay is now too high.

To meet stricter new regulations, Bay Area wastewater treatment plants are improving their facilities to reduce nitrogen discharge in wastewater by 40%.

These upgrades will improve bay water quality, increase resilience, and maximize benefits for all Bay Area communities.

But we need billions of dollars to make this happen.

That's why we're seeking state and federal funding to keep your wastewater rates affordable.

To learn how Bay Area Clean Water Agencies are protecting our bay, and how you can help, visit Baywise.org.

Okay, so the uh what they didn't really dive into too deeply is that the wastewater regulations changed in 2024.

Um they required us to sorry, do the math and they uh require all the treatment plants in the Bay A to reduce approximately 40 to 50 percent of the nitrogen that they're reduced that they're producing.

Um and so when uh this came through, we uh started advancing a plan to decide our course of action.

Um the city engaged with HDR engineering uh to help us create a roadmap uh for how we would reduce nitrogen.

So the first step that we had already embarked on, we actually started this project back in 2018 was the treatment wetland.

And uh prior to the 2024 uh change in the regulations, the treatment wetland should have actually gotten us pretty close to where we needed to be in terms of our nitrogen goals.

Uh however, with the new regulations, uh we needed to work with HDR to model our plant and decide what we could do next.

So uh as we're working on the treatment wetland, we're then going to need to continue to do additional projects.

So oops.

Our mission is to reduce human impacts on the bay habitat, removing nitrogen and other pollutants from our wastewater before it ever reaches these sensitive waters.

How are we doing this?

By transforming a former wastewater storage pond into a thriving wetland using both new technology and the natural power of wetland plants.

This will provide an extra layer of treatment beyond what our water pollution control plant already does, naturally removing nitrogen and other contaminants.

This year we completed phase one of construction, stabilizing the pond bottom with a blend of soil and cement.

In fact, some of the soil used here was reused from the city's 2017 water pollution control plant upgrade, giving new purpose to materials from a previous project.

Take a look at this before and after comparison.

The transformation has already begun.

Where there once was an underused basin, we're now laying the foundation for a living system that benefits the bay.

Here's a look at the renderings of what the pond will eventually become.

The next major phase of construction will launch in 2027, bringing us another step closer to a lush green wetland habitat along the bay trail.

None of this would be possible without the generous support of our partners.

The city has received over $7 million from San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority and the US Environmental Protection Agency for this project.

Their investment is helping us pioneer nature-based solutions for water quality and shoreline resilience.

Thank you for joining us on this journey.

Stay tuned as we continue to shape a healthier, more resilient Bay for all.

Okay, so yeah, the treatment wetland is the first the first step, and it's a very exciting project.

What's interesting about it is that it combines some very advanced uh wastewater technology with some uh uh more nature-based solutions.

And um it's a unique project that is going to be uh uh really a kind of a uh something that people will want to come and look at.

And we have been fortunate to receive uh support from multiple funders on it.

Um so what's the what's happening right now is we're actually piloting some of that advanced technology.

Uh, this is a picture of the treatment unit that's currently at the treatment plant.

Um these this technology uh will prepare the water for discharge into the wetland area.

Um and it's actually the what's really cool about it is modular, we can install it without taking a bunch of tanks, and um it uses a lot less energy than a lot of other processes.

So the next steps are our phase two design and uh uh bidding, uh, and then the contracting and phase two construction.

We're currently working on the on finalizing the design.

Uh you know, most of it's designed already, but there's some extra steps we've realized we need to take.

Um we're also learning from the pilot about uh uh how to install it and how to operate it.

So the next step after that, you know, even while we're working on it, we're we're continuing to move forward with with meeting the regulations.

Um what HGR has indicated that we need to reconfigure how we use our aeration basins.

So the city of San Leandro is very fortunate that we have two uh aeration basins that only currently need to use one to meet our permitting requirements.

Um and that allows us to have an extra tank that we can utilize to do the the nitrogen, the nitrogen removal.

Um digging tanks and installing new concrete is very expensive.

And so uh when we engaged HGR, we really asked them to look at what facilities we already have and see if they could find a way to do the nitrogen reduction in the facilities that we already have.

Um and that uh allowed us to um bring in a project that would cost much less than than lots of other projects that require new tanks.

So we're looking at about 12 million dollars to do this, is the their estimate.

Um that includes not only the uh upgrades necessary, but also other upgrades that we need to do in the area.

And then the last step is side stream treatment.

So side streams like what we call it in the wastewater industry, the water that we take out of the solids after we're done processing them.

Um those solids, though that water has really concentrated nitrogen.

Um we do right now is we just pass it back to the beginning of the plant and let it pass through.

Um but you can actually process that by itself, and that tends to be a much more cost-effective uh means of removing the nitrogen.

Um there are also technologies that are available that'll help to remove the nitrogen in such a way that it uh um could be useful in a fertile for fertilizer.

So we want to explore some of those possibilities.

Uh that can be on a little bit longer of a time frame, but we do want to identify some technologies that we can pilot.

Moving on to the sanitary sewer system.

Again, we have 125 miles of pipe.

Most of the material is clay, uh clay pipe, um, was typical for the installation when it was installed.

Uh it is an aging infrastructure, and we budgeted about 200, about 2 million dollars per year to work on it.

Um so right now we are actually Imon, who was here recently has a project that should be starting soon uh to fix 72 of the of the problems that we've identified in the pipes, uh replace seven pipes and upgrade 30 other manholes.

Um we're also working to update our software to improve how the issues are identified and track them.

I think that'll help us really start to move some projects forward.

We're also researching sources of inflow and infiltration, which are um uh how water that doesn't belong in the sewer system, like rainwater that works its way into it.

So we do have a project uh to start looking into how that stuff is getting into the sewer.

So next I'd like to talk about how we're working on implementing the CIP program.

Um so we have identified three areas in which we need some uh external consultant support to help us move it.

Uh the first is program management, which would be helping us uh manage the overall program, uh helping give advice about uh differ different directions, have some extra background on wastewater to support us.

Um and then there's design, you know, wastewater design is a specialty unto itself.

So uh we have uh identified the need for that, and then there's construction management.

Um that's not always the most efficient, and city resources aren't always available for uh managing the construction of wastewater projects, and so we've identified that we need to do those.

So we completed an uh request for qualifications, which is a little bit different than an RFP, in which you don't necessarily uh request uh proposals about a specific project, you just ask for people to describe your their qualifications to you.

Um and the goal is to establish contracts with firms to allow us to move forward with the design and construction phases um all you know, kind of up front.

Um part of the uh the difficulty or some of the time consuming processes that that uh make CIP projects take a long time is selecting and and contracting with con with consultants.

Um our hope is to reduce some of that uh time by doing them all in one batch.

So uh we're currently working on a staff report that we would uh bring to council on May 4th.

In the staff report, we're gonna uh planning to ask for three-year on-call agreements for three firms for design for uh authorization for up to three million for each of those, three million for construction management with up to uh one and a half million for each of those, and then one firm for actually this is the typo, excuse me, it's program management uh for uh 800,000.

So we are we are looking for any kind of uh feedback that you might have about this.

You know, to my knowledge, it's this is a little bit of a different procurement methodology than we may have done in the past.

So we're looking for feedback on it.

And then uh if you have any questions.

So thank you for the presentation.

At this point in time, we're gonna take public comment on this item.

Do we have any public comments?

Public comment cards receipt.

So we were closing public comment and we were moving to committee member questions and comments.

Council Merbolt.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for the presentation.

Um one thing I know you said and thank you for the tour uh recently makes a big difference.

It allows me to really understand a lot more.

Uh one thing you said then and now is the nature base, right?

The the more we do nature base, the less we got to use chemicals.

I love that I know we can never get away from chemicals.

Um, but uh your guys' efforts in this, it's pretty amazing in that um new project you have for the for the nitrogen out in the back, that pond.

One thing I didn't ask then, and I should have, and I know you said it, but it says this will help the bay.

Is it just the fact that we'll release less nitrogen into the bay somehow?

Or like what what when it says it's gonna help the bay, what does that mean?

Yes, it's it's the the primary way it helps the bay is by uh producing less nitrogen that goes into the bay.

Um I think it also makes that area much nicer looking.

And the hope it's not a pilot project, it's uh you know it's a one million gallon per day project, um, which is about 20% of our flow.

But that's not you know, when you consider all the water that goes into the bay every day, that's not a huge amount.

Um, but what we're hoping is that it has a demonstration, like a full-scale demonstration project.

More places can uh look at it and learn from it and uh use what they learn uh to implement their own projects.

So there is a lot of need for this type of project uh to help the bay be more resilient, and we're hoping that we can you know join in the the knowledge that's needed to do that.

And and I know the birds will love it, right?

Hopefully the smaller ones, the bigger ones, you know, the airport doesn't love.

So all right, yeah.

Um thank you for everything.

Uh really appreciated.

I do uh did what you said something about the ROP and the RFQ and creating uh the idea is that uh contractors would come and give you their qualifications so we could start to look at see who's done this in the past, um, what type of mega projects they've done, um what their connections are.

I love that.

Um is the goal to create like a bid list from that that you would say because of these qualifications, uh these are some of the ones we would pick from and then also eliminate contractors in that process.

It's um it's not for the construction part of it, it's all just for the consulting that happens uh during and I mean before the project happens, and then the construction management would be part of it.

Um the procurement for that is different than like with the contractor.

The contractor you have, you know, you put forth a bid and you just have to accept the low bid.

But with these types of of consultants, uh you're not basing it on the price typically, you're basing it on their qualifications.

So the way it would work is that uh we would open blanket purchase orders, so authorization to spend, and then when we do have a project that we like to consultants' support on, we would put together a request for them, you know.

If we have more than one consultant uh that we have available, we can ask for like little mini proposals for them about that, and then uh and then we can just move directly from the proposal into the project itself.

Thank you.

Um I would highly suggest us doing that for the construction side as well.

I I wouldn't like to, but I don't think you're allowed to.

But Jason can talk about that.

Uh you can't.

We no.

There are, yeah.

There are so multiple agencies have bid lists and they have qu pre-qualled uh qualifications to even be on the bid list.

Yeah.

And that allows us to get some of these ones who would give us just the low bid to win the job and then hit us with change orders at the end that we all can't stand.

So um there are definitely ways to do that, and I I I would highly suggest that we look into that so that we can eliminate some of those type of players.

Yeah, I mean, I do know that there are alternative methodologies of procurement besides the design bid bill, but um we haven't really looked into that for any of our projects.

But Jason, if you want to city engineer, uh JCMY City Engineer.

Yeah, uh, so that's noted.

Uh there is a uh process that you can go through to pre-qualify uh contractors, and then we will uh engineering can help assist in and work with the water pollution control plant to explore and incorporating that on on you know upcoming projects.

But it is a it is a option.

Uh some contractors feel that it limits uh competition, so there's a uh good and bad uh to that.

But uh, you know, on certain really very specialized projects, uh it's warranted, and it's a decision that is can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by staff.

I 100% agree, especially when this is about you know safety of the public, and that's what we're dealing with.

That's let's take every shot and making sure anybody that that bids on it is the highest qualified and has done this before and has multiple years of of doing it.

Thank you.

Okay, so I've got a couple of questions, perhaps not surprisingly, mine are a little bit more financial.

I think I heard you say that there's a plan out there for about 97 million dollars of spend over over 10 years.

Over 10 years, perfect.

And what I think I heard you say is that the nitrogen related work is on the order of 15 million dollars.

And we s we may actually go over that 20 million if it turns out we need to do the side stream.

Uh the side stream project could be upwards of 15 million.

Um again, we but we don't we haven't studied that in depth of like what the different options are, and so we don't necessarily have a good price on it.

Based on the production that we have right now, do we believe that having the aeration basin, the second aeration basin?

Will that be sufficient to meet the need?

The modeling indicates that it will get us ex very very close to where we need to go.

So modelers tend to be fairly conservative.

They like to be right and they like to be right in the in the direction that people want to go.

But again, it's a model, right?

We haven't built it, we haven't tested it.

Um so if like it works as well as the modelers say, then we might be okay for a while more.

I think it's still prudent for us to continue to uh while we're doing that, while we're constructing that to explore other options for what the uh how to treat the side stream in case it becomes necessary.

Because the other thing is is like the you know, we're what we're trying not to just plan just for the current permit levels, but to try to set ourselves up over the next long period of time.

Um so that we wouldn't you know have no plan if the regulations go even lower.

The um the pond that you're making I thought of it as a pilot project, but you use the term demonstration project.

Is that is that just a distinction based on scale?

Pilot projects are usually temporary.

Um so it's not a temporary project, it's a permanent installation.

And it did and it is a key part of our nitrogen reduction strategy.

Uh the modeling doesn't indicate that using the aeration basins alone would meet our our requirements.

And then there's a phase one and phase two.

This phase one what we saw.

Phase one was what you saw.

Phase one was preparing the site for the installation.

Uh what we found as we were researching that site and that the geotechnical uh engineers recommended that we do phase one and then let it sit for a year to let it settle some.

Um because we we do want the the the fine finished version to be fairly flat and sitting on top of bay mud.

And so we think that over time the bay mud will settle some.

So when we come back and do the final stage, we'll need to do some more greeting in that in that area to really level it flat.

So phase two is when it becomes operational.

Exactly.

Okay.

And phase two is expected to uh the go live date will be we're working towards 2028, uh uh sort of spring 2028.

Um we are currently uh testing the pilot, um, but we're actively working with our consultants to finalize the design with the goal of having that together by the end of 20 uh having the final design and bid ready by the end of this year.

Thank you.

And then the replacing of sewer pipe.

Sounds like a at least a chunk of that is end of life.

How much is end of life today?

Is it what 40% of the system?

I wish I had uh an easy button that I could push to tell you that.

Uh and we've identified uh that our software system that we use to manage our sewer system is outdated.

Uh it's one of the unfortunate things about being an early adopter of software.

They started using it back in like 2005.

Uh, but then you you come to a point where you really need to upgrade it.

And so we've been working with the company over the last year to upgrade the software, and we expect to see that over the next year.

At that point, we should be able to like have better visualization tools to really tell us how much needs to be fixed and really identify where we should prioritize and um and how we best do that in concert with uh uh the streets repair.

So you know, one of the goals, of course, is not to dig up a street immediately after it's been paved in order to fix a sewer under it.

So we do try to coordinate that.

Um, but that makes the process a little bit more complicated.

Um I'm gonna go to city manager for the next question.

Um of the things, you know, we're increasing our rates over the next five years specifically to augment the reserve so that we can do this work.

Um hypothetically, if we went on a street rebuilding binge, do you think that we would be able to finance more of this work earlier because we have this sort of we've already passed it as a city council, the rate increases and all that kind of stuff.

Could we could we leverage that in some way, borrow against it, borrow against those future rate increases?

Um you're asking, can we borrow from the water pollution control plant fund to fund other city projects like no no no no no?

I what I'm really trying to figure out is if all of a sudden we started to pave a bunch of streets, but we're very sensitive to the reality that we have to dig up that street to replace the line.

I'm trying to figure out how we can bootstrap doing both at the same time.

Should we get money?

Because if we're only getting, let's say, an extra whatever five million dollars per year or two million dollars per year, but we gotta dig up streets to get these pipes replaced because the residents will kill us if we pave a street and then we dig it up to put in new pipe.

But we know that we need to do new pipe.

I'm really just trying to start to begin to evaluate how we can do both.

I think that's an excellent point.

Um, as you see, we have our public works director and our city engineer still in this meeting because they do work together to make sure we at all as much as possible avoid that scenario.

But I do think there's some more work we can do, just seeing if there's any way to gain some leverage as we work on streets and pipes.

If I may, uh please the the CIP plan didn't call for any additional borrowing on top of it.

Um, my general thought as a manager is to try to avoid borrowing unless it's really necessary.

Um, if but there's nothing to say that if the city decided it really wanted to launch forward.

Um, and you know, ideally there would be the right borrowing environment.

It might not be today that we'd want to do that, but if borrowing rates are a little more favorable, it might be that it might make sense for us to borrow in the Ford.

Yeah, we'll look on the financing part.

Oh yeah, I was just saying that yes, you you know that we didn't we didn't launch it into that, but yes, you could you could borrow it.

So I am quite concerned.

This is the commentary part of the question.

I'm quite concerned when we talk about a system that's anywhere between uh 75 and 100 years old.

Um saying, well, we've got uh whatever uh a 50-year plan to replace it to two miles a year times 50 years gets us to 125.

Not really, but you get the point.

Um I'm just quite concerned about that timing.

Um the financing, i.e.

the increased rates for consumers were designed to increase the reserve by 25 million, 50 million?

Does anybody remember the reserves currently at about 30 million?

And then we do have projects that are moving forward that are not just sewer that are expected to draw that down.

But my question really focuses on we just increased rates.

We committed to a five-year plan of increasing approximately eight and a half percent, nine percent per year for five years.

The delta is anybody again that this is not a quiz, it's just I don't remember myself if anybody remembers.

I don't I I don't remember what the delta between not raising the rates and I'm a little confused by what you're asking.

But I the goal for between the rate increases was to try to maintain the fund balance.

It wasn't necessarily try to it was try to build it up some so we can handle our nutrient removal uh needs, but um in general was to try to stay afloat.

Mayor, if I may, your question specifically is what is the net revenue coming in as a result of those rate increases?

Correct.

Over X number of years.

We can piece that together uh and and bring that back to you.

Um I think the other thing that would be useful, because again, our job is to have the super big picture, right?

And not get into the details.

Uh super big picture when I think of uh we have potentially up to 125 miles of pipe to replace.

Oh, it's not gonna cost.

And again, not for you to answer this moment, but the point being that we need to understand that that's where we're going.

And if it's 10 years, 20 years, or 50 years, we need to know.

Because we can always do this in real dollars and assume certain inflation rate, blah, blah, blah.

But if if it costs a million dollars for linear mile of pipe, that's that's a number.

If it's half a million, if it's two million per mile, I don't care what the number is.

But we just need to know so that we can begin to evaluate what does that look like.

And when we go to residents and we say, we just raised your rates 50% over the last five years.

And this is what you're going to get.

And by the way, we need to increase them another 50% because we've got these pipes that need to replace.

And you know, um thank your grandparents for for you know getting you here thus far.

But now you and your children, your great-grandchildren will need to pay for these pipes that are going in.

Just right now, uh I don't I don't have comfort on what that looks like in terms of that future investment.

So that would make my life a lot a lot easier if if as you think about this going forward.

Certainly, we can work on that.

You could come back with information like that.

Uh any other questions or comments.

Seeing none, uh, we will close out this item.

Again, thanking you for all that you've done to get us here thus far.

Uh at this point in time, we'll go to committee member comments.

Is there anything that you would like to explore?

Councilmember Bolt.

Yeah, I just wanted to ask some questions if this is the appropriate time, Mayor, about some of the public comments from earlier.

If yes, okay.

Um so obviously we had quite a few people come in about the gates.

So I just wanted to ask a couple questions.

Number one, well, you know, why is the gate locked?

Is it because someone made a comment?

Is it for safety or maintenance?

Um I I think I know the answer to that, but I'm gonna let you speak to it.

Uh it does not require a city council vote to open or close, and it is what I believe I know, so I would like to make sure that um when locking that gate.

I I will agree that maybe there is some notification that that should go out uh when we do that.

But uh I wanted to to you or to yeah.

So I will start with city manager, just and again, I'm always sensitive to Brown Act, all that kind of stuff, but I do think that I've been at plenty of agencies where there is some exploration of what community members have said.

So use your judgment.

So um thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilmember Bolt.

So because it's not on the agenda, we will only answer questions but not be able to take direction at all.

So I'm gonna and I think all you did was ask questions.

I just wanted to make sure we're aligned with that.

So I'm gonna um pass this to uh public works director Marquises.

He's the best person to answer all of those questions that you forget.

Thank you.

Councilman Bolt.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Sheila Marquise's public works director.

The fencing and the gates that were installed on Lake Shabo Road, it was designed so that the gates can be opened or closed depending on the requirement of the activity to repair the roadway.

Um during the fire season, uh, it was requested by both our police department and fire department uh that they can expeditiously access the roadway.

They can access the roadway with the gates closed.

They have the keys to the lock gates.

Now, even quicker response, we tried to find that balance of the safety of the roadway users and the quick response.

So we designed the flexible red bollards.

And the gates are open during the fire season.

And when we say fire season, I rely on our fire chief to let me know when that um begins and ends.

So uh late last year, when she gave us the clearance and um the police department, that's when we closed the gates.

And the reason to do that during the winter season is that we receive reports of actually vehicles using the roadway for not emergency purposes for actually cutting through.

The references to the bollards removed, it would they weren't removed, they were broken because of vehicles passing through.

So uh in coordination with the police and the fire department that we kept the gates closed, and uh we're waiting for their direction to open the gates.

And then at which time we will return the red flexible ballards.

So the gates been sounds like the gates have been closed for a few months then.

Since I believe I'd have to look back by November.

Oh, wow, okay.

And then I will speak to that with people using it when they shouldn't, because everybody wants to go look at the road and talk about the road and and suggest their feelings about the road.

And I can't remember one specific time where I didn't see someone driving on that road that shouldn't have been driving on the road.

And I just said, wow, um, that's interesting that they're taking their life in their own hands because some of that road is not safe to drive on.

So I appreciate that.

And not trying to give direction.

But I will speak my opinion here.

I think uh that kind of notification may be worth uh because I know we did a video on just driving over the ballards and showing that it in an emergency.

So maybe having a little bit of uh my opinion, having a little bit of notification about the reason we shut it down and during the fire season, we do anticipate.

Would we put the ballards back up when we open that we would do the same process, yeah?

Okay, all right.

Uh and then the last one was a question, and and it's not just because it was a question tonight, but it's been asked countless times to me, and I'm sure to you too.

So we don't stream this meeting.

We don't have um uh the opportunity for the public to participate.

Can you explain that I think it's about money, but I've never asked this question, so now I would that that is currently being considered by the rules committee.

Okay.

What we do, don't do, because there's and I think it is coming very soon to the entire city council.

Strike the question for a discussion.

Don't create a problem.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay.

Um a couple of things from me.

Um, I do think that the power of notification is important.

That's just the world is a lot more connected, maybe than it was 40 years ago.

And and especially when this topic is particularly sensitive.

So I just want to emphasize the importance of communication, communication, community.

Let's overly communicate.

So toward that end, I do want to publicly praise for our uh city project's web page.

Every time that someone says, what's the status of the Llewellyn project of the Casa Peralta of the Haas Bridge?

I say, have you looked at the city page?

I was literally at Koana's, and out of 15 people, 17 people that were present, only two knew that there was a city page.

So I think we just we need to keep driving that message.

We have a page, it's the place where you go for information.

You don't call your your special friend at the city who's got the secret code on what the information we're publicly uh publishing information so that everybody can see, and we're creating a historical record of what we said.

So I'm I'm very grateful for the fact that not only we created it, but we keep updating it regularly.

So thank you to the team for all that's been done there.

I have seen some preliminary drafts of C click fix information.

Um, and I think again, information about how quickly we're we're dealing with graffiti or with illegal dumping cleanup and the like.

And I think that's very powerful when we communicate to the public all the wonderful things that we are doing.

And we also lay out explicitly what our target is.

And when we're falling short, we just say we're falling short of our target, and that's okay because that helps them understand that we have this goal, and we're trying to find ways to get to that goal, and we're gonna keep working until we can hit that target.

And that's that's good stuff.

So I hope that that goes up full time permanently in the very near future.

But thank you for all the work that you have done on that.

Uh, together with, I think the IT team is not present here at all.

But thank you to the IT team and to the communication team, the city communication team who I know has been working on that with the actual web page construction.

So all of these folks working together to get data organized, logical, each department explaining how they think about closing out tickets.

That's that's precious, precious stuff that we are doing.

And so thank you for all of that.

Seeing no other comments, I will say that it is 5 35 and we are adjourned.