To: Board of Supervisors
From: Brian M. Balbas, Public Works Director/Chief Engineer
Report Title: License Agreement between Flood Control District and Tesoro Refining & Marketing, LLC
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Acting as both the Board of Supervisors of Contra Costa County (County) and the governing body of the Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District (District):
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Chief Engineer, or designee, to execute on behalf of the District, an access and stockpiling license agreement (License) with Tesoro Refining & Marketing, LLC, (Tesoro) to enable the District and its contractor to access, at no charge, real property located between Waterfront Road and Lower Walnut Creek in Martinez, having Assessor’s Parcel Numbers 159-120-031, 159-120-036, and 159-120-037, for the purpose of stockpiling sediment materials connected to the Walnut Creek Desilting Project.
CONSIDER the approved Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) for the Walnut & Grayson Creeks Desilting Project (Project).
APPROVE the following changes to the Project: additional desilt area, reduced desilt volume, reduced desilt schedule, revised desilt approach, additional access points, sediment disposal from Grayson Creek, the License with Tesoro for sediment disposal from Walnut Creek, and observation of a beaver dam (together, Project Changes)
DETERMINE that the Project Changes are only minor technical changes or additions and none of the circumstances that would require a subsequent environmental impact report or subsequent negative declaration under CEQA Guidelines section 15162 have occurred.
ADOPT the Addendum to the IS/MND in accordance with CEQA Guidelines section 15162 based on the Project Changes.
SPECIFY that the Contra Costa County Public Works Director is the custodian of the documents and other material that constitute the record of proceedings upon which the Board’s decision is based, and that the record of proceedings is located at 255 Glacier Drive, Martinez, CA.
DIRECT the Contra Costa County Director of Conservation and Development, or designee, to file a Notice of Determination with the County Clerk.
AUTHORIZE the Chief Engineer, or designee, to arrange for payment of a $50 fee to the County Clerk for filing the Notice of Determination, and a $25 fee to the Department of Conservation and Development for processing.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with the License. The Walnut Creek Desilting Project is funded 100% by Zone 3B Funds.
BACKGROUND:
License with Tesoro: The Project is needed to minimize the flooding along Walnut Creek and fulfills the District’s responsibility to maintain the channel. The proposed Project work consists of desilting approximately 115,350 cubic yards of sediment material from the Walnut Creek channel from approximately 1,200 feet downstream of Diamond Boulevard to approximately 1,300 feet downstream of Concord Avenue. Instead of disposal at a landfill, Tesoro has been working with the District and regulatory agencies to obtain approvals to accept spoils from Walnut Creek for reuse by Tesoro.
The License is needed to provide the District and its contractors with temporary access to Tesoro’s property along a specific route to a pre-designated placement site to place 115,000 cubic yards of the spoils. Both the access route and pre-designated placement site were determined by Tesoro.
As a condition of the License, Tesoro is requiring the District to indemnify Tesoro from liabilities arising out of the District’s operations under the License.
Addendum to IS/MND: On May 17, 2022, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors approved the Project and adopted the Project-related IS/MND. The Notice of Determination was filed with the Contra Costa County Clerk on May 19, 2022.
Since the Project and IS/MND were approved, there have been Project modifications. The modifications include an additional desilt area, reduced desilt volume, reduced desilt schedule, revised desilt approach, additional access points, sediment disposal from Grayson Creek, License Agreement for sediment disposal from Walnut Creek, and observation of a beaver dam in Grayson Creek. The environmental staff of the County’s Public Works Department reviewed the Project Changes to determine if they resulted in a substantial change to the Project that would require a subsequent environmental impact report or subsequent negative declaration under CEQA Guidelines section 15162. Public Works Department environmental staff and Department of Conservation and Development have determined that the Project Changes do not result in a substantial change that would result in new significant environmental effects, and no new information of substantial importance, requiring a subsequent environmental document. Public Works Department staff have also determined that there are only minor technical changes or additions and none of the circumstances that would require a subsequent environmental impact report or subsequent negative declaration under CEQA Guidelines section 15162 have occurred. For these reasons, Public Works Department staff recommend approving both the Project Changes, and the CEQA Addendum pertaining to these Project Changes, in accordance with CEQA Guidelines section 15164.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If the License is not approved, the District will not be able to access the subject property to place the sediment material generated by the Project on Tesoro property for reuse.