Hollister
– In the ongoing effort to get the state to lift the sewer
moratorium that it placed on Hollister about four years ago, City
Council members will vote Monday to hire a consultant to oversee
the planning and construction of the city’s new sewage treatment
plant.
Hollister – In the ongoing effort to get the state to lift the sewer moratorium that it placed on Hollister about four years ago, City Council members will vote Monday to hire a consultant to oversee the planning and construction of the city’s new sewage treatment plant.
Council members will decide whether to pay Colorado-based consulting firm CH2M Hill up to $375,249 to manage the sewer project until construction begins. The firm may also manage construction of the plant as well, according to City Manager Clint Quilter, but that will be determined at a later date, he said. If approved, the money to pay the contract will come from the Hollister Redevelopment Agency or a sewer enterprise fund.
The state imposed a moratorium on sewer hook-ups – which stopped new construction in the city limits – in Hollister in 2002 after 15 million gallons of treated sewage spilled into the San Benito River. Since then, economic development in Hollister has essentially come to a standstill. Completion of the new treatment plant, which will prompt the state to lift the moratorium, is slated for mid-2008 or early 2009.
“My direction from the City Council is that this is the No. 1 priority of the city,” Quilter said.
He said that the city is also working with San Francisco firm Stone and Youngberg to, “identify and tighten up funding alternatives,” to finance the construction of the new sewage treatment plant – the cost of which will be between $109 million and $120 million, according to city estimates.
Construction on the plant should begin late this year. The average construction time for similar projects is 22 months, according to Quilter.
When it imposed the moratorium, the state gave Hollister until Oct. 15 of 2005 to construct a new plant. In October, the city dodged $200,000 in fines when, at the request of Quilter, the Regional Water Quality Control Board gave the city more time to construct a new sewage treatment plant. At the same time that it granted the extension, the RWQCB gave the city a series of revised deadlines.
The city met the first deadline last in December when it submitted a long-term wastewater plan. The other revised deadlines include awarding a construction contract for a new treatment plant by late this year and drafting a disposal plan for treated wastewater by March, 2007. Each deadline missed will result in the possibility of more than $66,000 in fines being levied against the city.
