TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
Erick Lee, Public Works Director
Prem Kumar, City Engineer
Lourdes Vargas, Utilities Manager
Mamerto Estepa, Senior Civil Engineer
SUBJECT:Title
Consideration of a Resolution Approving the Application for $4,936,566 in Grant Funds for the Urban Flood Protection Grant Program for Manhattan Beach Stormwater Infiltration Project (Public Works Director Lee).
ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 21-0057
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 21-0057 approving the funding application for the Urban Flood Protection Grant Program administered by the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) for the Manhattan Beach Stormwater Infiltration Project and authorizing the Public Works Director to conduct all matters necessary for grant administration of the project.
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FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There is no cost associated with submitting this grant application to the CNRA. The grant is a competitive reimbursement program that awards funds based on the proposed project’s ability to best achieve program goals and meet program requirements. The Manhattan Beach Stormwater Infiltration Project is estimated to cost $17.6M.
The City is eligible to receive approximately $4.9M of the Urban Flood Protection Grant Program funds and it requires a 25% funding match from other sources. The City anticipates the rest of the project funding including the 25% funding match to come from the regional Los Angeles County Measure W Safe Clean Water Act competitive grant funds. The South Santa Monica Watershed Area Steering Committee has ranked and recommended funding for the Manhattan Beach Stormwater Infiltration Project to the Measure W Program Oversight Committee. It is anticipated that the Oversight Committee will then forward its approval recommendation to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to fund the project this fall.
BACKGROUND:
The Manhattan Beach Stormwater Infiltration Project is a regional multi-benefit project that will capture and retain the 85th percentile (“first flush”) stormwater runoff from 62% of the drainage area of the City. This runoff normally outfalls at the beach at the terminus of 28th Street in the northern part of the City. The 28th Street storm drain outfall extends out to the shoreline, is submerged during the tide and is subject to tailwater conditions in the storm drain that can create backflow and localized flooding. The project will divert stormwater from the 28th Street storm drain for subsurface pre-treatment, storage and infiltration. The subsurface storage system will include drywells in the 26th Street Parking Facility (Phase 1) and an infiltration trench on the beach (Phase 2), if needed. The City Council approved Beach Cities Enhanced Watershed Management Program (EWMP) identified the Manhattan Beach Stormwater Infiltration Project as the highest priority capital project to reduce bacterial, trash and debris discharges into South Santa Monica Bay from the storm drain system in alignment with the California Regional Waterboard’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit mandate.
On April 20, 2020, the City Council awarded a Professional Design Services Agreement to CWE Corporation for $198,286 to perform the Manhattan Beach Stormwater Infiltration Project Feasibility Study. This Study was necessary to detail out the project parameters as well as establish the fundamentals for pursuing grant funding.
In June 2020, as part of the City Council adoption of the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 CIP Budget, staff reiterated and validated its commitment to seek grant funding for the Manhattan Beach Stormwater Infiltration Project with the submittal of the grant application to the CNRA. CNRA is the designated agency to administer the Proposition 68 California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018, which is the umbrella for the Urban Flood Protection Grant Program. This grant is geared towards multi-benefit projects in urbanized areas to address flooding. The grant stipulates a rigorous structured step qualification process.
DISCUSSION:
The Urban Flood Protection Grant Program funding will provide partial funding for the Manhattan Beach Stormwater Infiltration Project. This project will address flooding and provide multiple benefits for storm water capture to reduce water runoff and reduce water pollution. On June 9, 2021, the City received feedback from the CNRA that its grant application has now made it to the third and final round of reviews and certain additional documentation is required within 30 days, by July 9, 2021. This includes a City Council Resolution that acknowledges and approves the previously submitted June 2020 funding application (see attached) as well as designating the Public Works Director as the City’s agent to negotiate, execute and submit all documents including, but not limited to, applications, agreements, payment requests, etc. for the completion of the project.
Upon City Council approval of the Resolution and submittal of all required documents to the CNRA by their stipulated deadline of July 9, 2021, the CNRA expects to announce the successful recipients of the grant sometime in late August 2021.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
Public outreach efforts were conducted during the fall of 2020 that included residents of Manhattan Beach (advertisement in the Beach Reporter), the Surfrider Foundation, the Bay Foundation, Heal the Bay, Supervisor Hahn’s Office, and the City’s Sustainability Task Force. All entities have been supportive of the project.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The City has reviewed the proposed activity for compliance with the California Environmental Quality act (CEQA) and has determined that the grant application submittal activity is not a “Project” as defined under Section 15378 of the State CEQA Guidelines; therefore, pursuant to Section 15060(c)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines the activity is not subject to CEQA. Thus, no environmental review is necessary.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution No. 21-0057
2. Project Site and Schematic Layout Overview
3. Part 1 & 2 Urban Flood Protection Grant Application