After a one-year delay, the Hollister City Council approved
$17.9 million Tuesday to manage rainstorm runoff for the next 15
years.
After a one-year delay, the Hollister City Council approved $17.9 million Tuesday to manage rainstorm runoff for the next 15 years.
The Storm Drain Master Plan 2001 is a planning tool based on policies from the city’s 1995 General Plan. It will be used as a guide for flood prevention and other issues such as pipe replacements and erosion prevention. The plan is broken down into three five-year periods, each with pipe replacement projects totaling about $6 million.
Hollister last updated its SDMP in 1985. Since, the city has constructed all needed improvements from that plan, according to a staff report.
During the first five-year period of the new plan, city officials will focus on “immediate needs” for improvement, said Luis Aguilar, an assistant engineer for the city.
He cited two areas of the city plagued by storm drain problems – one near the intersection of Sunnyslope and Memorial roads and the other on South Street near the site of the old cannery.
Along Sunnyslope Road, water has often backed up because pipes there are undersized, Aguilar said. He said the same pipeline will eventually connect with the San Benito High School Freshman campus when its construction is finished. SBHS representatives have consulted the city about renovations of those pipes.
“It’s an ongoing problem,” he said. “We need to put in bigger pipes.”
At South Street, the city operates its only pipeline connected to both the storm drain system and the wastewater treatment system. That pipeline will soon be separated, he said.
During years six through 10, city officials will turn their focus to all other storm drain problems within the city limits, and then all problems within the county limits for newly annexed property in years 11 through 15.
Public Works Director Clint Quilter said the city has not experienced any significant flooding in recent years – only some “nuisance” flooding downtown near Fourth and San Benito streets and also near Sixth and Powell streets, problems he said the city will address.
The city hired two partnering firms in November 1999 to prepare the SDMP 2001. The two firms – McKay & Somps and Camp Dresser & Mckee, Inc. – completed the document in early 2002. But city officials did not put finishing touches on the SDMP 2001 at the time because several other land development projects took priority, according Aguilar.
“Now, development is gone with the building moratorium, so it’s giving us a break,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar was referring to Hollister’s state-mandated cease-and-desist order brought on by a 15-million gallon sewage spill May 4 at the domestic wastewater treatment plant. The city cannot issue any new building permits until Oct. 15, 2005 – the completion date for a new wastewater treatment plant.
The storm drain system does not directly relate to the city’s widely documented wastewater problems, officials said.
“The storm system, when it rains it goes to a catch basin, to pipes and to the river,” Aguilar said. “There’s no wastewater treatment involved.”
Other business
In other business Tuesday, the Council:
passed a resolution to adopt the new 3 1/2-year contract with the Hollister Firefighters Union. The deal includes pay raises of 7 percent in 2003, 4 percent in 2004, 4 percent in 2005 and 2 percent in 2006.
appointed 16 members to an Airport Master Plan Committee. The committee will guide the direction of the Airport Master Plan currently being prepared by Phoenix-based Coffman and Associates.
The AMP is a 20-year layout for development at the Hollister Municipal Airport. The AMPC membership includes Mayor Brian Conroy, county Planning Director Rob Mendiola and Community Development Director Bill Card.
passed a resolution to temporarily close streets for three events – the annual Kiwanis Club Snow Day Saturday, the Northern California Band Association Championship March 29 and the SDES Portuguese Parade June 8. The Snow Day event Saturday will take place at Dunne Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
adopted an ordinance to change the number of fireworks sales permit issues from one per 3,000 residents to one for every 3,500.
passed separate resolutions to approve additional funding for two projects – the Veterans Memorial Building renovation and a storage building at the public works maintenance yard. The two appropriations totaled about $22,250.
