Hollister
– The City of Hollister may be little more than a month away
from starting construction on long-awaited improvements to its
wastewater treatment plant.
Hollister – The City of Hollister may be little more than a month away from starting construction on long-awaited improvements to its wastewater treatment plant.
The City Council received the project’s finalized Environmental Impact Report at its meeting on Monday. The Council will vote on the report’s certification on Oct. 30, and if no further issues arise in the 30-day appeals period, construction can begin.
The report was prepared by Sacramento-based firm Analytical Environmental Services; company representative Josh Ferris summarized the report for councilmembers at Monday’s meeting.
“All direct project impacts can be mitigated to a less-than-significant level,” Ferris said. He added that the only environmental impact that wouldn’t be mitigated is the fact that if the project moves forward and the state-imposed development moratorium is lifted, the city will grow.
Ferris said that from an environmental standpoint, the wastewater project has two main issues: treatment and disposal. Disposal will be the “trickier” issue; initially, treated water will be disposed of through sprayfields near the municipal airport.
Ferris said 10 percent of the water will eventually seep into the soil and groundwater.
“We’re not talking about a huge volume of water,” he said. He added that most of the groundwater used by the county was too deep to be affected by the sprayfields.
According to the report, the use of the sprayfields will eventually taper off, and disposal will shift to recycling the water for crop irrigation by 2015.
Following Ferris’ presentation, Councilman Doug Emerson asked how the report would be affected if developer Del Webb builds a senior living community of up to 4,400 homes near the airport, increasing the city’s sewer needs.
“That hasn’t been analyzed in this project,” City Manager Clint Quilter said.
Quilter told the Council that the report is based on the current general plan, and if the general plan is amended – as it would be under the Del Webb-sponsored Measure S – a new report would be required.
“There’s nothing to say that can’t be done,” he added.
When asked after the meeting how a Del Webb development might affect the project, Quilter said he didn’t know.
“That’s why you do an EIR,” he said.
According to City Engineering Manager Steve Wittry, the report has been in the works for the past two years, although work didn’t begin in “full force” until the beginning of 2006. Wittry said Analytical Environmental Services has been paid more than $500,000 for its work on the project, including $314,000 for the report.
“It’s been a cooperative effort from all agencies, and we haven’t seen a lot of that down here,” Wittry said.
Councilwoman Monica Johnson said she was pleased the city met its deadline for the report.
“I’m excited we completed it when we said it would it would be completed,” she said. But Johnson noted that the Council still has to certify the report and wait for the appeals period, and added, “I’ll be more excited when we’ve really finished everything.”
Of course, before the Council can certify the report, its members have to read the massive, two-volume document.
“Good thing I’m a speed reader,” Mayor Robert Scattini said.
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
