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HomeMy WebLinkAboutReso 92-403 - Adopting preferred Route 3A & Subsite D of FEIR 3-91 as route of the Quartz Hill/Keswick 115/12KV Transmission Loop project, adopt mitigation monitoring, authorize acquisition of subsite D & Easements along route itf f I RESOLUTION NO. A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF REDDING ADOPTING PREFERRED ROUTE 3A AND SUBSITE D OF FEIR 3-91 AS THE ROUTE OF THE QUARTZ HILL/KESWICK 115/12KV TRANSMISSION LOOP PROJECT; ADOPTING A MITIGATION MONITORING/PERMIT COMPLIANCE CHECKLIST; AUTHORIZING THE ACQUISITION OF SUBSITE D AND EASEMENTS' ALONG SAID ROUTE; AND AUTHORIZING REQUESTS FOR PROPOSAL. I WHEREAS, City Council, by concurrent Resolution, found that FEIR 3-91 adequately addressed the environmental impacts of the Quartz Hill/Keswick 115/12kV Transmission Loop Project (Project) ; and that changes or alterations had been required in or incorporated into said Project which mitigate or avoid the significant environmental effects thereof as identified in FEIR- 3-91; and ,i WHEREAS, the Electric Department has recommended that City Council proceed with the Project and adopt the preferred route and subsite; NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Redding that: 1. The City Council adopts preferred Route 3A and Sub- site D of FEIR 3-91 as the route of the Quartz Hill/Keswick 115/12kV Transmission Loop Project. I 2. The City Council adopts the attached Mitigation Monitoring/Permit Compliance Checklist for said Project, as a condition of Project-approval to alleviate possible environmental effects. [The attachments referenced in said Checklist are attached to FEIR 3-91. 1 I 3. The City Manager is authorized to direct staff to J� proceed with the purchase of Subsite D and the acquisition of j easements along preferred Route 3A as may be required to allow N i .i I construction of the Quartz Hill/Keswick 115/12kV Transmission Loop Project. 4. Staff is authorized to release Requests for Proposal to the following consultants for property acquisition, agency permitting, surveying, and design of said Project: Black and Veatch CH2M Hill of Redding Power Engineers R. W. Beck and Associates Resource Management International. I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Resolution was introduced and read at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Redding on the 15th day of September , 1992, and was duly adopted at said meeting by the following vote: AYES• COUNCIL MEMBERS• Anderson, Dahl, Kehoe and Moss NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Arness ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None CHARLIE MOSS, ayor City of Redding i A ST: CONNIE STROHMAYER, C' Clerk 'I A FORM APPROVED: RANDALL A. HA S, City Attorney 2 .i CITY OF REDDING MITIGATION MONITORING/PERMIT COMPLIANCE CHECKLIST j QUARTZ HH.L✓KESWICK TRANSMISSION LOOP PROJECT The attached checklist outlines the mitigation to be incorporated in development of the Quartz Hill/Keswick Transmission Loop project. The mitigation as shown in the checklist have been established to alleviate possible environmental effects. Attached to the checklist are selected excerpts from Draft EIR 3-91 which was prepared for the subject project. This checklist was prepared in accordance with Section 21081.6 of CEQA and City of Redding Policy 1803. ,i 14WW Wo.617 -1- O8n7M II � N n ip U 0 cd cm A.. 8 N r +w� �... cc r W W Y m Q Wcr- -� N U D O D D CL J 6-j U O O v a N m .r cc CL Cc V C3, CL cl CL O (D O O O Q � O � •y •5 5 •5 .c m mCd Y (Q W W W W W a O v CLz Z N mc16 LU 0 — � � N f0 ID X CO 0 Z ie as c 00, ° m p N E = J m s D m 0 m o 0 -0 S N N y a Y N 3 n Ca o Q NC133 c � � m �C -0 (a m m U c H Q . mo co 3 0 m m 3 m — N E .2C N ; .o R. N N > N 9 a a S 'C3 m N O Z Q r: � � m �2 C y p 2 `� � E 2 _ c 3 m c F o v O N m 0 o 0 0 O ctl y — CC c0 N 5 ►w.... . O OD 2 'sm cd m C O w .59 & co co E cm m - W an d m •G 0 C m m C m m m t Of LL � o o H ov 2 cg E c H � rnrn i U cc Z r c c c c c c 0 0 0 0 c c io ca m m C7 ccp �' pc _�' m m . C O ca : ._ Z N Ci d Q. 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Soils in steep slope areas are highly erosive if disturbed. Appropriate construction methods will be used to minimize vehicle travel and the amount and area of soil disturbance, to ensure rapid reestablishment of vegetation. Mitigation measures within the perimeter of the substation should be employed to allow for adequate surface drainage and reduced erosion potential. While substation site soils will be well compacted and tend to inhibit water percolation, the addition of a gravel layer over the entire site will allow an even distribution of water flow, minimizing the erosion potential. Outside the perimeter, it is recommended that disturbed areas be reseeded with a native/introduced seed mixture, to be developed in consultation with the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District. Access road construction to the substation should be designed to provide sufficient road crown and drainage structures to detain water runoff and evenly distribute any runoff toward nearby drainageways. 4.3.2 Surface Water/Groundwater - Impacts and Mitigation Potential impacts can be avoided by ensuring that neither poles nor substations are sited within a floodplain. All creeks within the project area are easily spanned by the transmission line. Transmission poles and access roads would not be located on creek banks where bank failure may occur, thereby causing damage to the facility and increasing the sediment load of the creek. 4.4.2 Flora/Fauna - Impacts and Mitigation Vegetation will be initially cleared along portions of the corridor to allow for machinery and equipment access. For the preferred route, there are few trees which would need to be removed. Selective removal of trees and brush will be completed to allow for pole and conductor installation. The larger trees cut to accommodate the right of way would be permanently lost, as trees are hazardous to the operation of the line and would not be allowed to return. Following construction, grasses and pioneer species are expected to rapidly reestablish growth in the adjacent areas. Access to much of the transmission line will be from existing roads; in other areas, a narrow corridor will be reserved and used for periodic maintenance and repairs to the line. Maintenance visits are expected to be infrequent and will therefore not significantly disturb vegetation. In addition, activities associated with normal operations will not disturb the surrounding vegetation. Wetlands that are present along the transmission corridor will be spanned and will therefore be unaffected. No wetlands were located in the substation site. 140owwo.617 -6- 08MM i i Potential raptor electrocutions would be avoided by the use of single pole structures with horizontal post insulators, which are not suitable perches selected by raptors (see structure drawing, Exhibit C-1). Furthermore, the vertical spacing between the top and bottom phases will be 8 feet. This distance exceeds the 5-foot minimum separation of conductors recommended in "Suggested Practices for Raptor Protection on Power Lines - the State of the Art in 1981" (Olendorff, et al., 1981). 4.6.2 Air Quality- Impacts and Mitigation n would be for the construction contractor to provide water trucks or Suggested mitigation other dust abatement measures in areas along dirt roads where fugitive dust may be a problem. 4.7.2 Noise - Impacts and Mitigation i Suggested mitigation measures include: - Situating transformers near the center of substations. - Maximum feasible setbacks between substation sites and residences. - Using natural screening around the substation to absorb transformer noise. - Using large enough conductor and bus sizes and smooth, tight energized hardware to eliminate corona effects. - Construction activities should be restricted to daylight hours. 4.9.2 Visual Resources - Impacts and NUdeadon The proposed route for the transmission line avoids placing the line in scenic viewsheds " or in areas where the line would be a prominent skyline element. Visual impacts of the transmission line are best mitigated by avoiding, to the extent possible, areas of land use conflict, such as, scenic vistas or recreation areas, etc. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by siting the line adjacent to existing power line corridors, so that the amount of "new" power line corridor will be minimized. Also, the proposed use of wood poles will be much less visible compared to large lattice metal structures as shown in Exhibit 4-1 at the end of this section. Where feasible, the City will also attempt to locate transmission structures in areas that are somewhat less visible from key vantage points. Although the substation would contrast with the surrounding area in terms of form and texture, it would not be expected to cause a major degradation to the visual environment. There are several reasons for this. First, the substation site is not located within a "high use" area, such as a neighborhood or shopping area. The area is basically undeveloped, with flat to rolling terrain, and moderately dense chaparral and scrub oak. Second, since the substation is not a linear feature, the visual impacts would be localized. The substation would be seen only briefly by passing motorists using Quartz Hill Road. The visual impact of the substation would be further mitigated, since the City plans to leave in place screening vegetation between the 140OWWo.617 -7- MOM substation and the adjacent road. To some extent, these trees and shrubs will block the direct view of the facility. 6.2 Mitigation Measures Proposed to Minimize the Environmental Effects i Visual impacts were minimized by selection of a route avoiding scenic areas and recreation areas to the extent feasible and by use of lower profile wood poles in lieu of steel lattice towers. In the area along Lake Keswick the transmission line is located sufficiently upslope so that it is not visible from the lake. Where the line crosses the Sacramento River south of Keswick Dam, the line will be located near the existing switchyard to blend well with the existing transmission line crossings in this area. The crossing is expected to be less visually intrusive than the existing large steel lattice towers in the area. Further, the line avoids ridgetops j to minimize skyline impacts and the wood poles will blend with the vegetation backdrop in the area. 1.6.3 Joint Construction with PGandE The preferred transmission line route has the potential for construction of joint use 12 kV facilities with PGandE in the Quartz Hill area. Any joint construction with PGandE would include placing PGandE circuits which pass through the area on the same structures as the Quartz Hill/Keswick transmission line resulting in less environmental impact and will require negotiation of an agreement. In its January 15, 1992 letter, PGandE has indicated that joint construction of Redding's facilities with their existing facilities can be accommodated provided that certain requirements are met. These requirements generally include time for adequate scheduling and customer notification, and PGandE approval of the specific structure design. Joint construction would also comply with California General Order no. 95 (G.O. 95) requirements for joint use construction. It is anticipated that these type of design/construction issues will be resolved with PGandE as they were on the recently completed West Loop (1990) and North Loop (1988) projects and that similar mutually beneficial joint use designs will be agreed upon. 4.10.2 Cultural Resources - Impacts and Mitigation The most effective mitigation for cultural resource sites is avoidance. For an electric transmission line project, this can be readily accomplished by spanning the archaeological sites ! and by selectively locating structures. At the preferred substation site, Site D, no significant prehistoric or historic sites were located. 5.4.4.1 Alternative Route 3A - Environmental Rating With regard to cultural resource impacts, an archaeological field survey was conducted along Route 3A and did not identify any sites which the line would impact. Staff Report to the Plannine Commission - July 21, 1992 Planning staff would like to point out that Quartz Hill Road, in the area of the proposed alternative substation sites (see attached Exhibit "A"), will likely have to be realigned to accommodate traffic growth in the area and to eliminate existing substandard curves. The 140OWWo.617 -8- 0s27)92 realignment will generally be the responsibility of developers; however, preliminary engineering for the realignment should be done prior to final design of the substation in order to ensure that the best road alignment is not compromised by the substation. Depending on the final decision of the City Council, this may require the electric utility to fund the preliminary engineering for a segment of Quartz Hill Road. Essentially, this is the same requirement that would be placed on any developer of a large project where road reconstruction is a known issue. The future realignment of Quartz Hill Road could also affect the proposed power line if the power line is built in the near term. If the power line is placed adjacent to Quartz Hill Road in the vicinity of the substation, the power line may also have to be realigned with the road. The question then becomes, Who should pay for the realignment of the transmission line? If the y preliminary design for the segment of Quartz Hill Road in question is established prior to construction, the line probably can be located to avoid the need for reconstruction of a segment of the line. 14WWWo.617 -9- O&WN2