>> good evening. I'd like to call tonight's
meeting of the san mateo planning commission to order.
[pledge of allegiance].
>> can we have rollcall, please.
>> commissioner romaro.
>> present.
>> commissioner ellen mallory?
>> present.
>> chair, diane whitaker.
>> here.
>> thank you.
on the consent calendar for this evening we
have two sets of minutes. The first one is the march
12th 2019 planning commission meeting, and then the
second one is the march 26th 2019 planning commission
meeting which that one we will be holding over to our
next meeting on april 23rd but do I have any additions
or corrections to the march 12th minutes? Nope? Okay.
could I have a motion, please?
>> I motion that we approve the minutes of
the march planning commission meeting.
>> a second?
>> second.
>> thank you. All those in favor say aye.
>> aye.
>> minutes are approved three zero.
the next item is the public comment period,
and this is the opportunity for anyone in the audience
to address the commission on an item not on tonight's
agenda. Do we have any speaker slips for the public
comment period? The general? Nope. Okay.
is there anyone in the audience who would
like to address the commission on an item not on
tonight's agenda? Seeing none we'll close the public
comment period and move on to our study session tonight.
this is a study session. There will be no
vote, but we will be taking input and start with staff
presentation.
>> yes thank you, chair.
so as you mentioned this meeting does serve
dual purposes for this project tonight. This is the for
the underground flow equalization system that is part of
the clean water program that the council has adopted.
so first of all tonight, the staff will be
making a presentation regarding both the project and the
draft eir that's now out for review. Following that
presentation we will first take questions and comments
on the project itself. And then following that we will
take a look at the draft eir intake, and take comments
from both the commission and the public on the draft
eir.
again, there is no decisionmaking tonight.
this will come back to the planning commission and the
council at a later time with a site plan review, special
use permit and a site plan review application.
the deadline for eir comments if you do not
make comments on this tonight, you have until may 7th to
provide written comments, and we'll take them by e-mail,
and we also have in the lobby on the table at the entry
there are some cards made up especially for taking
comments on the draft eir. So we invite you to
participate in that. And at this time I will turn this
over to derrick for the presentation.
>> thank you, richard.
once again, my name is derrick and I'm the
engineering manager with public works helping to assist
with the clean water program. My presentation tonight, I
will be presenting as well as tom williams our senior
engineer, but this is our agenda. I'm going to be giving
an overview of the clean water program, and tom will
provide some updates specifically about the project,
which is the underground flow equalization system and
talk about the sequel process overview and discuss all
the resource areas addressed in the draft environmental
impact report and, as richard indicated, go through the
planning commission to answer any questions related to
the project of the presentation and lastly, receive
formal comments on this document.
so this is the why slide. Why are we here
today, and why is the clean water program even here?
whenever there is weather flows the sewer system gets
inundated, and the capacity gets overwhelmed and the
sewer overflows occur.
on the image to the left there all those
blue dots are either historical sso locations, active
sso locations or model sso locations, and as a result of
overflows they spew out of manholes. And this is
essentially raw sewage, and it spills out on to the
streets, into the gutters and into the creeks and
affects our beaches.
essentially, our san francisco bay and along
every step of that sewer overflow all those components
get contaminated. It's gotten to the point where we've
had to close our beaches and also has gotten to the
point where the regional quality control board has
issued permits mandating the elimination and prevention
of sanitary sewer overflows in our collection system and
waste water treatment facility.
because of both of those regulatory drivers
the clean water program was established to replace the
agent infrastructure and built a wet weather sewer
system capacity to prevent these sewer overflows to meet
current and future regulatory requirements and to align
with the city of san mateo. And in 2016 the city council
adopted and certified the environmental impact report,
and at that same time the city council selected the in
system storage approach which really culminates where we
are today and the suggestion of the treatment system
strategy and this component.
the clean water program, it has multiple
projects within it. This is a map of all the pipeline
projects, and the dots indicate all the pump station
improvements, and in the upper right where that yellow
blotch is is the waste water treatment plant.
multifaceted approach for this clean water
program is to construct an underground equal flow
project, and why is the underground project needed? It
will minimize the cease and desist order to prevent
sewer overflows and provide system capacity and
performance and improve safety and reliability of the
system and relieves discharge of sewage in the bay. And
because of this selected program approach we don't have
to build a treatment plant much larger than what it is
currently being designed for. The fact that we are
holding capacity upstream in the system with this
project allows the size of the treatment plan to be much
smaller.
the imagery to the left here is at the
intersection of saratoga and delaware and happens almost
annually and has been mitigated through our field and
maintenance crews helping to prevent that and through
some flow management with our system right now and along
with improvements in our sewage system that we're
undertaking.
now, the impact report also identified 55
sites for this facility, for this underground flow
equalization facility, and these next slides take you
through the history of how it was selected to be where
it is today. 55 sites were in the impact report and from
there it got shortlisted from 55 down to 12 down to six
down to two to one and the green boxes on the right were
the areas where we started reaching out to the public
after we did the environmental along with the technical
criteria selection and shortlisted it down to six and
from six all the way to one there were 31 meetings with
various stakeholders including the city council, various
commissions, various community meetings and neighborhood
associations some of which are here today. And I
recognize people from all these meetings that are
actually here in the audience today.
august of 2016 is when we revealed the first
six or at that time five locations, and then in january
of 2017 it got shortlisted to the corp yard and event
center. And at that point we did another alternatives
analysis that looked at the economic, technical
consideration and did a matrix to help provide
information to the city council to make their decision
on selecting the event center.
and tom williams here is now going to talk
about the project.
>> good evening. Tom williams senior
engineer with the public works clean water program.
>> excuse me, can we have the microphone
turned on, please.
>> okay. Thank you. Tom williams senior
engineer with the public works clean water program.
so, this structure it's in the corner of the
event center and it's underground. It's about five
million gallons, 150 to about 200 feet. The way it
operates is mostly it sits dormant and in dry weather
other than for maintenance purposes it would just sit
dormant.
in a rain event when the sewer has become
overwhelmed the water begins to divert into the storage
system, and that's part of a complex operation. It's not
just the only thing that manages the overflows, but it's
a key element. So the flow flows into the system, and it
stays there about 24 hours, and then pumps pump it back
into the system when the treatment can handle the flow,
and it flows by gravity into the treatment plant. It has
continuous odor control, and it also cleans itself
automatically. When the flow subsides it has an
automatic flush system that flushes it, and then it will
get an inspection, and if it needs any additional
cleaning then it will be done at that time.
and then it goes back to normal, and it goes
back to being dormant. It's mostly going to handle with
wet weather flow that's combines storm water and sewage,
but sometimes it may hold sewage when it's being used
for maintenance purposes. We may need to hold some flow
pump stations worked on or pumps diverted from a force
main.
when it's finished, all you'll really see on
the surface is like the picture on the upper left.
there will be an airtight hatch, an access hatch to the
controls and pumps, and it will be flush with the
surface of the ground, and there will be an electrical
building, 600 square feet that will have a cnu block
surface similar to the lower right picture and other
than that, there will be a couple of events maybe and
that's all you'll see.
and then to go with that, there will be some
pot construction. There will be two 36 diversion pumps
built in saratoga and delaware, and they will be a part
of diversion system that diverts flow to this.
>> thank you, tom. I'd actually like to go
back a few slides to the layout real quick just to
provide some context for this. The underground structure
is on the east corner just as tom indicated, and there
is the underground structure, the diversion sewer pump
lines and force mains and the continuous odor structure
and the pipelines -- excuse me -- pipelines run along
delaware as well as saratoga and feed into the
underground structure.
to the north across saratoga there is a
sound wall and a channel that separates saratoga from
the fiesta gardens neighborhood, and to the south
there's the bay meadows mark and the bay meadows
neighborhood and to the south there's the train tracks
and to the southwest there's nova school as well.
so the other component we are here for
tonight is the draft environmental impact report, and
the contents are summarized here. We have the executive
summary, the summary of the impacts and mitigation
measures and introduction which includes the background
objectives for the project and the description
components, such as the underground structure, the
pipes, electrical building, etcetera, and of course,
maintenance construction aspects of this project.
there is a significant section on the
environmental resource areas addressed and of course,
alternatives as well. In terms of the environmental
resource addressed in the environmental impact report
this is all of them here. Out of all these, these can
all be avoided through mitigation measures all with the
exception of noise and vibration during construction.
these next few slides are going to really
highlight some of the comments and concerns that we've
heard through the public since introducing this project
in 2016, and also through the comments that we've
received during the common period so far. One of the
main concerns is odor control, as tom indicated. We will
have air tight vaults, which is shown again there in the
top left.
the carbon odor scrubbers, which is the
image to the top right and this is all underground and
all going to be in the vault. Under the surface is what
the two images on the bottom will really show.
these will be covered after we construct the
facility. You will essentially see what the current use
is now, which is parking for the event center, and you
will see the air tight vaults as well, but under the
parking surface is the flushing curbs, the self-cleaning
tipping buckets and part of the self cleaning mechanisms
is to help mitigate odors. Once the facility is used the
buckets tip, clean the facility, and reduce any odors
that may linger there.
in terms of the material being used it is
highly efficient technology used throughout the
industry, and these are carbon odor scrubbers, and they
absorb large massive odors. And three grams of this
stuff has a surface of a football field, and any odorous
components stick to it and going back one slide, you can
see that odor scrubber, that big tank there on the upper
right, and instead of just three grams we're filling
that whole thing up. It's going to be a lot of football
fields that are going to be extracting that odor.
in terms of construction, we understand that
construction noise is an issue. These are images to help
demonstrate what to expect during construction. In the
bottom left there after excavating, walls will be up
there and most of the excavation and construction for
concrete pouring and rebar instillation, etcetera, will
be drawn in that hole so the shoring walls and the fact
that it's down in there will be a noise mitigation
measure all in itself as opposed to constructing much
taller sound walls. The elevation at which this
construction will be occurring once it's excavated will
help to mitigate some of that noise.
the image to the top left shows almost a
finished structure, and the image to the top right is
sort of the finished product of this project. And this
project is up in the seattle area and to the south here,
hopefully I can show it here, where I'm highlighting now
this is actually a daycare or preschool center and all
these residential homes. So this has been built in
similar types of scenarios to what we're trying to build
here in san mateo.
this image here is of a local bay area
construction. This is in pacifica, and they are
constructing a flow equalization system as well. And
they have been in construction as you can see in the
back there.
there is a noise barrier along with a
residential home, and so this is being built under their
community center parking lot. After it's done they are
going to re pave it, and it's going to be used all over
again as a parking lot.
another concern that has echoed through all
the meetings that we've had is traffic impacts, and we
are aware of them. We will be implementing a management
plan and just to provide some background there are
vehicle types that we're considering here, heavy trucks
or other construction trucks, worker vehicles and in
terms of construction it's going to be similar to
construction in bay meadows and also at the hillsdale
mall. And the management plan will be implemented, and
some of the key components that have been listed out in
the report to help mitigate to avoid peak traffic hours
and coordinate with emergency responders.
this image was also in the environmental
impact report. The blue or light blue colored lines are
the current city truck access routes, and these are the
major arterials and major collectors within the city
designated for construction traffic and truck routes.
and the orange lines are the proposed access truck
routes from the project site to those truck routes so
primarily traveling to and from saratoga to either
delaware or towards the freeway on the south.
and in terms of geology the design team
completed geotechnical investigations, and we're
currently monitoring the area to establish base
groundwater levels. And the intent is to mitigate
measures to prevent settlement, and we have a plan to
provide monitoring to make sure measures are taken and
design criteria for the project itself.
this slide is to illustrate the ceqa process
and the permit process and also to identify the public
input opportunities. In october of this past year we had
a scoping period, which is shown there on the far left
box. After that scoping period we received comments and
prepared the draft environmental impact report and we
released the report. And we are here tonight to receive
more commentary, comments on the report, so that we can
implement any measures into the report.
in late summer after all the comments have
been implemented and the eir has been revised we plan on
releasing it. We will come back to the planning
commission to get a recommendation or to request a
recommendation on the eir certification and permit, and
after that in october we plan on going to city council
for the same two actions.
these blue asterisks are for public input,
and it started back in the scoping input and we're here
tonight and there will be planning and city council
opportunities again.
so to echo what richard said in the
beginning we're going to first take any questions
related specifically to the project or presentation
through and from the planning commission, and then
secondarily or mainly the main goal for tonight is to
obtain comments on the draft environmental impact
report. And those could be submitted through verbal
comments tonight. We have comment cards in the lobby as
well as up front here where you could rip off a portion
of the comment card and insert it into the drop box out
front or you could share it with ryan up here. There's
also the opportunity to e-mail or mail the comments in.
thank you.
>> thank you.
does the commission have any questions of
the staff presentation? No? No. Okay.
I'm just going to start, and if it doesn't
flow I'm really sorry.
I was reading in the packet about potential
contamination in the soil that will be brought up during
excavation, and I wondered what type of contamination we
were talking about?
>> so again, I would just emphasize tonight
we're taking comments, we'll respond to those in the
finals. If there's a quick answer we'll give it.
otherwise, we'll respond to those comments in the final.
>> so I can go through and ask them one
right after the other?
>> sure and the consultant of the eir is
here tonight, and we'll be preparing the final documents
and questions raised tonight.
>> I wonder what the agricultural district
meant, if that particular area of land was considered
agricultural because of the event center or what used to
be there?
>> the event center partial is zoned as
agricultural mainly due to its history of being a
racetrack.
>> I wanted clarification of when the
project would be starting. There were several parts of
the packet that said 2019, and there were several parts
in the packet that said 2020. So I just wanted to know
what the plan was on that, and I wanted to know a
definition of dewatering. I assume that relates to when
you start digging down below sea level that there's
leeching of water and how that -- am I correct in that
assumption and then it's how it's pumped out?
>> yes. Essentially dewatering is when we
get below the groundwater table during excavation. This
facility will go down as deep as 50 feet, and we will be
running into groundwater levels and part of it to secure
the site as to dewater it so we can construct the
facility.
>> where does it go?
>> it will get pumped and essentially taken
for treatment elsewhere.
>> okay. So pumped out through our regular
sewer system now?
>> no, it would be through dewatering pumps
specifically.
>> into tanker trucks and then driven away?
>> yes.
>> okay. Is there a potential that any
residents will need to be relocated?
>> not to my knowledge.
>> if you could explain to me what a
piezometer is?
>> it measures ground pressures.
>> ground pressure?
>> yes.
>> okay.
so it said in the packet that the daytime
hours that construction was allowed was between 7:00 and
7:00. Are there multiple shifts that go on during that
time period or is there an eight-hour shift that happens
some time during that time period?
>> we haven't gotten to that level of detail
for the construction contract yet, but we'll take that
comment into consideration.
>> so my question is, will there be
construction activity from 7:00 a.m. To 7:00 p.m.?
that's my question, ongoing? Have we ever used a hotline
in the past on any projects here in the city?
>> the hotline has been established since
2015.
>> so I'd like to know just the history of
that, how many calls we get in a given month.
>> oh, it fluctuates depending on the
topics. For example, when we had to raise rates for
sewers we got a lot of calls.
>> okay.
>> but when there's not much activity we
don't get many calls.
>> is it posted on our website?
>> yes it's on the screen too. On the right.
>> so that's the hotline to the call the
clean water program?
>> yes.
>> okay. How do you notice when construction
is going to incur on the weekend or does it just happen?
>> any type of variance outside of monday
through friday workdays would have to get approved, and
then notifications would go out accordingly.
>> how does that happen?
>> through mailers, typically.
>> does it go through e-mail or is it a hard
copy?
>> typically, for some of the projects in
the collection system that we're doing right now we send
out mailers and then follow up with door hangers.
>> okay. Will the grade separation at 25th
avenue be done before this project starts?
>> I'm not familiar with the timeline of
that project.
>> my concern is, are we going to have a
traffic impact from the grade separation at that exact
point that we have traffic issues affecting delaware at
25th with this project?
there was a table under the traffic section
that detailed 2005 conditions and then potential
conditions from this project. I wondered if there were
any other data points for later than 2005 because
between 2005 and now things have really changed, and I
wasn't confident in that data. It was table 16-4.
on the native american requirements there
was only a letter in the packet from a state department
that just gave how things needed to work. It wasn't a
response from an ohlone representative, and I just
wondered if anyone from the ohlone people had responded
personally to what was going on along the construction
site? My concern with that would be that since it does
have a close proximity to a creek bed that there could
possibly be artifacts that we're going to dig up
underground.
those are my only comments or questions
right now.
>> alright. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> I have a couple of questions. I
understand that your construction time is from 7:00
a.m. To 7:00 p.m.. How would that affect the flow of
traffic from the neighborhood -- the traffic plant from
the neighborhood residents and also for the school? Have
you had conversations with the school and residents
about when would be the best time to have construction
vehicles on that street? I understand that saratoga is
going to be the main point for the construction
vehicles, and saratoga is the main street to go into the
school and the residents.
and also, if the goal was to have mailers or
have door hangers on weekend construction, how would
that affect the use of the neighborhood park where some
of the events, sports events, are held on the weekend as
well? Those are my two questions.
>> thank you. Okay. I will open up the
public comment period on this project, and I see we have
speaker slips. How many?
>> 12.
>> 12, okay. We're going to be using the
timer tonight so each speaker will have three minutes,
and the secretary will call your name.
>> bay meadows neighborhood alliance, kelly
moran and jonathan shafferman.
>> before we begin, we put in a request for
a group presentation and the slip says that allows us
fifteen minutes and we have planned for more than three
minutes as our neighborhood presentation.
>> okay we'll set the timer for 15, and I
hope we won't take up all that time.
>> jonathan is actually going to start, but
I want to introduce the bay meadows neighborhood
alliance. We're 750 for homes, and we've got between
1,000 and 2,000 residents in the neighborhood alliance.
we did not have time to take a position
given the short notice, but we'll be submitting written
comments but we won't be indicating specific positions
on almost anything that we say tonight. We do request
additional time to review the design because the first
time we saw it was friday night. Jonathan is going to
start off with our main comments, and then I'll follow
up.
>> commissioners, I'm jonathan and I reside
at 490 east 28th avenue, and I am speaking on behalf of
the bay meadows neighborhood alliance and also as a
member of the landsdowne homeowners association.
our bay meadows neighborhood alliance has
been actively engaged for two years. Given the
extraordinary project cost many of us actually disagreed
with the city's conclusion that the five million gallon
sewer tank sized for flood overflows was a better
multigenerational solution than full conveyance which we
discussed in several community meetings, addressing the
antiquated storm sewer network from the top of the
watershed and not at the bottom down in the flatlands of
the city. We also expressed concern that placement in
either bay meadows park or fiesta gardens park would
affect park users in either area.
additionally, we remain unsettled with the
additional financial burden that our neighborhood will
shoulder from property assessments to service the bond
debt for the project. Many of our homes are within 50 to
several hundred feet from the project site visible from
some of the diagrams. Today my home is visible from
diagrams that were presented today.
and our concern is that the draft eir does
not adequately address impacts during the construction
and post construction project phases especially the
structural risk to our homes. Our primary concern is
soil stability in the areas surrounding both trunk line
and sewer tank excavations especially given the amount
of dewatering that will be necessary.
the draft eir indicates that groundwater
elevation is shallow here. It has yet to be determined
as was expressed earlier, but it has in the report
expected to be somewhere between six and no more than 15
feet below the surface along most of the site.
now this is a site where the sewer tank
structure will be 50 feet below the surface, and what
wasn't mentioned earlier is that in order to support
that heavy a structure an additional 25 feet of
excavation will need to go down to install the piles
that will hold up the sewer tank. That's 75 feet below
surface.
we in the neighborhood are aware of the
severe unexpected settling, and I believe it was in
excess of three foot unexpected settling that occurred
at the concar rite aid store during excavation and
dewatering for the adjacent projects at 40o and 450
concar. And want adequate assurance that our homes,
streets and the bay meadows park will not survey similar
fate.
we believe no open trench codes will be done
and that pipeline installation discussed in section 4.2
of the project geotechnical report should be mandatory.
furthermore, we ask that the project contract stipulate
that no settlement damage will be made to adjacent
structures especially pipeline trenching and sewer tank
excavation activities, and that the contractor take full
equivocal responsibility for any settlement damage that
occurs to private property or city facilities.
we're concerned with construction noise. In
fact, the eir concludes that significant and unavoidable
impact will occur during the twenty-five month
construction phase of the project.
table 5.5 indicates that pile driving will
result in a noise level at 50 feet, and this exceeds the
threshold outline in a section of san mateo manciple
code and furthermore, 7.2 of the geotechnical report
suggest that quote, drilled in place piles may be
considered if noise and vibration of pile driving is not
acceptable without defining acceptable to whom. We
assert herein equivocally that noise and vibration from
pile driving will be unacceptable from hour homes within
the construction area and pre drilling as opposed to
standard pile driving will be necessary to mitigate
noise impact to punch through the coarse, sandy layers
of soil that show up in your soil locks.
sandy soil is where piledrivers get stuck
trying to punch through stiff soil layers. Measure 12.3
inquired to incorporate project construction to help
reduce the effects of off-site vibration, and these are
vibration reducing methods that can quantifiably
demonstrate noise impacts, but we cannot find any
definition of vibration issues describing how they may
be mitigated. Mitigation 12.3.a. Only calls for site
specific mitigation measures for the project to be
implemented as necessary. We do not want to repeat the
experience.
>> thank you.
to follow up just in a bigger picture we're
used to construction. There's construction going on all
around bay meadows. This project is proposing different
techniques tremendously troubling to our neighborhood.
the city has never allowed a private developer to do
pile driver, the one that goes pound, pound, pound. We
hear that in san francisco. We have never let anyone
violate that ordinance.
second, the proposal to put in sheet piles
instead of the standard water system that is being used
by every other development. So every other development
is doing drilled in place piles and lagging and tie
backs. This is the only proposal that has tried to do
that is cal train.
there were residents running into the street
in the middle of the night when cal train did that and
that was 2,000 feet from homes, and this is less than
one hundred feet from the nearest home and third is the
depth and this is why we're concerned about the
dewatering and we understand there are other methods
that's would be drawing down a lot less water, a
pinpoint watering system and we suggest that the city
review these other techniques and we were shocked when
we opened the eir and found those disturbing precedents
in this project. Nothing had ever been said about that.
we know that having construction near our homes is going
to be a pain, but we don't want damage in our homes.
the other precedent here is about vibration.
the eir, you all get to set the significant standard and
that is no damage to buildings. So the right significant
standard should be ability to use ones' home and work in
ones' office nearby. So that's a lower vibration level.
the vibration that is being proposed almost
reaches but doesn't quite reach at the nearest house as
they predict the level that would cause damage to
buildings. It far exceeds the level that would prevent
normal use of ones' home. It would be like having a mini
earthquake going on. All the dishes would rattle in your
home.
for example, everything would rattle in your
office if you are working at home. That does not create
a condition that would be acceptable in my view for the
city and not a precedent we would want to set for
allowing private developers to do the same thing. I urge
you to define it as such. That sort of precedent could
not be accepted by the rest of the city.
we're also interested in preserving the use
of the parks. The eir admits that there's construction
next to both of the other city parks in the area so this
would be at the same time, construction next to the
city's largest park in this area. Here we'd be looking
for hours of construction to end to allow for that after
school soccer time and quiet time on weekends.
the staff informed you on the city
construction hours. Unless you establish requirements to
provide that kind of notification and self permitting
weekend system, that would not be by default a city
requirement.
there were e-mail notices sent and it kept
the construction to weekdays to allow us to use our
residences and gave us advanced notice so we could plan
our lives around that and not use the park space next to
them.
also, I think there's a very strong city
interest in preventing damage to homes and to prevent
unreasonable noise as precedents, and I think you all
really need to enforce that of staff. I don't think the
staff really want to do these things, but the
information in front of us and our experience which
should highlight the event center has been a really
great neighbor but they've been trying to handle how
they work out late night parties, and they've had a
private person running the sound system and the
vibration causes the exact same vibration I'm talking
about; dishes rattling during a concert, our whole homes
were rattling at night so every half an hour you'd wake
up, shake, shake, shake for five minutes. That's the
kind of stuff. It's just simply not acceptable for
members of our community and to have that go on for six
months, it's devastating to members of our community and
we do as a neighborhood -- it is our pattern to try to
work with people, and we are are interested in working
on this to find an acceptable solution.
I'm pretty confident if the city proposed
techniques and monitoring programs and did some work to
make sure that the park is useable on the weekends and
so forth, that our neighborhood would not oppose the
project, but I'm not 100% sure on that since we haven't
taken a position.
thank you for listening to our neighborhoods
concerns, and we're hoping by laying this more detailed
testimony in front of you that will make it easier for
both you and the other residents who have shared their
concerns to share their concerns with you. Thank you.
>> thank you. Now we're going to go to the
three minute clock and call the individual speakers,
please.
>> jean holbrook followed by joshua
wallstorm.
>> thank you, commissioners, for giving us
this opportunity. I am a member of the amelia members
association. I have sewage tank fatigue. I was at all of
those meetings, and I appreciate that the neighborhood
association and my neighbors are willing to persist on
this because we care very much about the quality of life
in our neighborhood.
both jonathan and kelly laid out the
details, but I just want to say as a member of the
community I'm concerned about continued use of the park
through the construction. It's not just used on weekends
by any means. We have soccer over there every day during
the soccer season and there are many families, children,
parents, dogs, that use that park on a regular basis
since that is our backyard.
I also am concerned about the noise and the
vibration. I thought I heard staff say we can mitigate
everything but noise and vibration which of course I
hope I misunderstood.
also I want to make sure that the
construction methods that are used do make it possible
for us to sleep and enjoy our homes. Bay meadows is a
wonderful community, and that's why we're all here
tonight. We want to preserve that. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> hi. My name is joshua wallstorm, and I'm
a resident of bay meadows and also a member of the
landsdowne homeowners association, and I lived in bay
meadows, one of the first people to move in and of
course, I'm no stranger to construction and living with
construction noise but I just want to reiterate kelly
and johnathen's comments. I think they did a good job
expressing my concerns about the construction techniques
that are being used and whether they are appropriate and
safe and avoid damage to our homes and the surrounding
homes outside of bay meadows as well.
one comment that I'd like to state
specifically about about the noise mitigation, there was
a claim that due to the fact that most of the
construction is going to happen deep inside the tank
that's being constructed, that noise mitigation is not
as much of a concern, but there is that six month period
where they are going to be constructing and pile driving
and I would really urge the commission to require and
the city in fact to require that they erect a tall noise
barrier. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> eranzi followed by ann mclaughlin.
>> good evening. Thank you for giving me the
opportunity to address my concern and rest for
assurance. I'm an owner of a house on 20th avenue and
I'm actually a member of the bright side hoa. The
environmental study that I saw has a lot of shortcoming
and I'm here to -- actually, I was here to try to get
some answers which I guess I'm not going to get this
evening.
my many concerns is actually about the noise
and the vibrations. So, we had the experience with the
cal train issues and we made the noise and well it
stopped but it was really, really bad. It was in the
middle of the night, two a.m. And I don't know how they
got to it and on the weekends it was really bad.
and my main concern is that the vibration
will weaken the foundations. In the event of an
earthquake and because of the foundations that got
weakened, if there's a damage to their houses, my house,
neighborhood houses, will we be compensated? Will the
city compensate us? Will the construction? That's a big
concern that I have. An earthquake can actually hit us
and I understand if it's a 10.0 it's not going to stand
usually, but maybe if it's weakened and it's a 4.0 it
may cause some issues.
and also since I work from home, most of the
days of the week I'd like to limit the noise and
definitely I'd like the noise just to be between nine
and five just like every other work and definitely not
on the weekends and nights.
and also, I wanted to ask if anybody thinks
about the contingency in case we have an overrun on the
budget for this construction because in my experience
everything runs over budget, actually.
well, thank you for listening to me. Thank
you.
>> thank you.
>> ann mclaughlin followed by vanessa
seawell.
>> hi. My name is ann mclaughlin and martin
and I are residents at bay meadows and members of the
bright side homeowners association. And we agree that
the environmental impact report has serious shortcomings
and also support the neighborhoods' requests that the
site change it's approach, and do not involve violation
of the city's noise ordinance. And we believe that
mitigation and several areas of the eir are both
imprecise and lacking include but are not limited to
noise abatement.
I was one of the residents who ran out in
the middle of the night in my pj's. The noise was
unacceptable and frightening.
the cal train project was more limited in
scope and duration than this proposed project. Only
after residents' complaints to cal train was it switched
to alternative methods and the impact of this projects
construction on local schools and parks and it is
unacceptable. A hotline is not mitigation, and the
proposed temporary barriers appear inadequate. I request
that any city official who has not experienced this type
of noise and vibration to sample it personally before
making a decision on this proposal. It is frightening.
second issue, dewatering impact 7-3, this
issue is also concerning without more information. The
risk of dewatering is called out in the report, and I
would also reference the millennial reflux. San mateo
says dewatering. This is from the san francisco
chronicle from an october 2016 article. This article
reports on the resulting litigation and potential
liability and the whole thing sounds like a mess.
as a homeowner I'm concerned about property
damage. As a san mateo taxpayer I'm concerned and
worried about the city leaving tax papers on the hook
for significant financial liability. We would like to
request a precise plan that fully addressed this risk
and adopts all reasonable measures to mitigate these
potential impacts.
traffic, this report estimates a significant
number of truck trips per day with estimates as high as
206 and the mitigation proposal of quote preparing a
traffic management plan is not mitigation. It proposes
no specific actions to address this significant
disruption. The proposed scheduling of this work
concurrently of the closure of the cal train station
promises to make a bad situation even worse. This eir
reinforces the poor site selection and planning for a
project in the middle of schools, parks and housing
areas, and I would urge this commission to reevaluate
this plan.
thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> vanessa seawell.
>> hi, my name is vanessa seawell. I have
twin babies and a three year old. My biggest concern as
a mother is the noise vibration, the construction
process. My home is on saratoga drive, and I'm the
nearest home at bay meadows to this construction project
less than three hundred feet away.
the rite aid is about five hundred feet away
from recent construction that caused their structural
damage. So that is a large concern, and we've touched on
that. My biggest concern is the noise and pile driving.
I had my daughter, my first daughter and
next door the house was demolished and reconstructed
over the course of the next year. I was severely
affected by vibration, by sound that was constant over
that year, so much so that I was hospitalized for mental
health. This is not just something that can physically
affect hearing loss but mentally affect you.
I have three children that sleep in that
home everyday, and they take two naps a day. We're at
home with our kids, we're into the neighborhood walking
to the park every single day, and that's a large issue
if we're looking at something like over one hundred
decibels. That is a hundred times louder than the
eighty-five decibel mark that can cause hearing loss.
it's ridiculous and that cannot be acceptable.
further information or concern that I have
is with the dewatering process and I know that there are
better best practices to mitigate those issues that
could cause foundation and structural damage to our
homes and those need to be addressed. There's also -- I
don't believe the water would be trucked out of the area
if we're looking in excess of millions of gallons of
water during this construction period. We need to look
at recycling or recharging that water in the best
possible way, again, to limit problems with our
foundation.
I'm also concerned about vehicle traffic.
that is a large amount of noise specially because we
live on saratoga and several of my neighbors do as well.
we couldn't have four a.m., five a.m., six a.m. Trucks,
diesel, huge vehicles driving down our street waking us
up every morning for over six months. I have one year
old twins, newborns, I understand losing sleep but the
facts of these large vehicles roaring up and down the
street every day is not acceptable. So I do think we
need to have parameters of times of day in place for
construction and traffic. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> just a couple of things to add. One is
around the traffic mitigation that hasn't been mentioned
around the construction of the new sewer pipelines along
saratoga drive. Given the extra traffic that is flowing
on saratoga due to the parking of the facebook and
google employees. I think you are going to see extra
traffic impacts and as the event center continues to
have more and more events you are seeing more and more
cars in the morning between six and seven a.m. Going to
set up. I think any taking away of lanes is going to
cause major issues and you are going to have to mitigate
through the event center and that could lead to other
impacts.
>> those need to be thought of an
alternative method. There are many
considerations and I won't go over them
now. The vibrations of our homes
foundations and our values
again, I just ask that you hear us and
I want to reiterate there are more
appropriate and safer methods. That's
what's being proposed and I also want to
remind this is a brand new high density
neighborhood. This is not an industrial
commercial zone. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> ray lynn.
public speaker: hi, I'm a resident of
bay meadows and also a member of the
homeowners association. I share the same
concerns with my neighbors. In addition
I
have two questions and I wonder if the
council can help with. My first question
is regarding the environmental impact on
the natural lives in the parks of the
birds. During spring there is a lot of
birds migrating into this area. I wonder
if the team has evaluated the potential
environmental impact on these natural
lives.
second question is regarding the
selection of the exact location. So
there are other spots in the san mateo
area. The proposed area is adjacent to
the park and also very close to the
residential area. So I just wonder if
the
team has evaluated other spots in the
san
mateo area. One wish that I wish for
council to help is that we didn't get
this environmental impact report until
very late lasts week. So that makes it
very challenging to have a thorough
review and provide comment during this
short period. We would appreciate more
time for review in order to have more
constructive and meaning full feedback
to
the council in the future. So that's why
I'm especially preview of today's
opportunity that we can be here to share
our thoughts with this council. I hope
the council can keep the spirit and
we'll
have a very open and transparent
democratic process throughout this
project. Thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>>clerk: jennifer mcadam.
public speaker: hi, there, I would like
to thank the commission for the
opportunity to speak. I'm a member of
the
homeowners associations and I live along
13th avenue. I share some of these
comments regarding the short
accommodations regarding the
environmental impact report, and agree
with my neighbors. I work from home and
I'm very sensitive to noise and I run a
lot of meetings. I'm mostly concerned
about the foundation and the vibration
issues that it could have on my home.
therefore I request that the city will
change the construction approach and may
not involve the violation of the cities
ordinance. In addition I would like the
commission to add a wall barrier during
the noise construction and consider
limiting the construction hours so we
may
have some peaceful days where we are
living. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>>clerk: wendy?
public speaker: I'm wendy, I have a home
in the meadows. I would like to support
all the concerns that bay meadows
alliance has brought up. I think our
homes is like, it's our sanctuary, it's
where we go home and relax and all of
that stuff. The parks in our
neighborhood
are really important to us. So the use
of
that should be somewhat of a priority.
the noise and vibration, I also work
from
home. I would like you all to empathize
with homeowners there. Living there has
been great. We love our neighborhood,
but
if this is going to go on for 6 months
at
a time, it's really going to impact
everyone there. My husband would like to
add.
>> I live with her. A couple things I
will add. I don't know if you read the
recent new york times. There was a
couple that bought a couple brown stones
and they have been driving into the
foundation for months and it's driving
every mad and the local didn't realize
that was happening. So there are a lot
of
unintended consequences to these kinds
of
decisions that people have to live with.
unfortunately those that made the
decisions don't have to live with it.
the people around it do. Many of us are
always involved in planning large
projects. The plan that we have in place
is the most optimistic view. There is
never a plan that actually happens the
way it is planned. Everything always,
something always goes wrong. The fact
that we are this most optimistic view is
already quite horrifying if you live in
the neighborhood should give everyone
pause. It can get worse and it likely
will get worse, but if we already feel
this way of what the optimal view looks
like, that scares me. So I echo
everything that everyone here has been
saying. I look forward to having a
better
dialogue of where this goes after this.
thanks.
>> thank you.
>>clerk: claire?
public speaker: good evening,
commissioners and staff. My name is
claire and president of the homeowners
association's and I thank you for your
time today and thank you for your hard
work to listen to us. I really
appreciate
it. I have a couple of concerns and
first is vibrating and it's impacting
the
homes in our neighborhood. We've all
seen
issues with structure integrity can
actually cause things like windows and
wall cracks and even foundation at
issues. These are expensive problems. My
questions are what is the staff as plan,
mitigation plan for these issues which
are expensive to repair, and do we have
a
fund set aside to pay for potential
damages for private property and homes.
we've all heard about the leaning power
of san francisco caused by transbay
construction. We don't want to be known
as the leaning homes in san mateo. That
is not ideal for all of us. So my
question is, have you considered
alternative construction methods? The
current proposed message is the
polydriven method. How did we reach this
conclusion? Is it the cheapest method,
have you thought about it damaging other
homes. Why is there no report in the
eir.
is there a way that we can actually do
an
analysis and an alternative construction
method. I also want to echo a point that
a neighbor brought up earlier which is
impact to wildlife. In san mateo, we
have wildlife birds that pass through
the
parks. Have we thought about the
wildlife that pass through the parks. I
thank you for your time and effort on
this project. I hope we can work
together
to get to a good conclusion for
everyone.
>> thank you.
>> sally chang followed by lauren lee.
public speaker: hi, I'm sally chang.
thank you for letting us speak tonight.
I'm a property owner and I live near the
proposed construction and also part of
the lands down association.
we just moved into this neighborhood
last
year and we specifically moved out of
san
francisco where there is a lot of
construction because we wanted to live
in
a place where we could raise children
and
we could have like a quiet neighborhood,
a beautiful park to live next to, and to
just have a peaceful home to go home to.
we are planning on starting our family
this coming year, and the fact that this
construction has really loud methods of
construction for 6 months really
terrifies me. As a mother going
through this, it's a really scare
process
at some point having construction
between
the hours of 7:00 a.m. And 7:00 p.m.
that
makes it even more terrifying. I agree
with a lot that has been said so far by
the members of the community, and I
strongly urge the city and commission to
really think of alternative methods of
construction because it just really
affects the livelihoods of many people
--
who are here to speak today and it
affects lives of people who are working,
people who have families, children,
animals, everyone in our community.
thank you.
>>clerk: lauren lee, followed by simon
yun.
public speaker: good evening. Thank you
so much to the commission for the
opportunity for all the of us to speak
here.
I'm lauren lee, and I live at 2868
saratoga drive. From east 28th in
saratoga. Just close to my neighbor with
vanessa. She was here with three kids. I
have four kids and three of them being
boys. We moved from pleasanton. We were
the first building to go up and we were
there before anything came to bay
meadows. And bay meadows park is our
backyard. We left pleasanton and bay
meadows is our backyard and we need it
desperately especially with the boys. I
want to agree with all of my neighbors
and community members here that are
present that you take a closer look at
some of the plans and consider just the
impact that it has in our neighborhood.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>>clerk: simon yun followed by eric
park.
public speaker: good evening, I want to
say thank you to the commission for what
you are doing and the time you are
taking
to look into it. We really appreciate
it.
my name is simon yun, a homeowner in
the
land down hoa, also part of bay meadows.
I thank you for listening to our
concerns
and I want to speak to again the noise
and the vibration. When I think of the
substance of our concerns have been
addressed already. I just want to paint
a
picture of what this looks like.
my bedroom faces bay meadows park so
there is going to be nothing between us
and the construction going on. The issue
with noise and particularly concerning
are going to be imagine that maybe you
work at home and you are trying to work
during the day but there is power
driving
going on. It's not going to affect only
the conferences that you have going on
and you have to get work done and it may
not be easy to get work done because
it's
harder to focus and maybe you lose sleep
and you get woken up in the morning
because of this. I think this is
something we should avoid if we can. The
other thing is I have two young children
anther in school now fortunately and
they
are pretty good at sleeping, but I think
any parent knows the difference between
a
well rested child and a child on sleep
debt in terms of their ability to focus
and learn. I'm concerned about the
impact
that losing sleep is having on them
especially after the power driving
situation. The other thing is vibration,
and I think as residents of the bay area
we are cognizant of risks we have with
earthquakes, but I don't think when we
are buying property we as much think
about human caused risks to our
properties, structural risks to our
properties caused by construction
especially when there may be
alternatives
that are safer for our structures. I ask
that you please consider that. Thanks
for your time.
>> thank you. Eric park followed by tom
t.
public speaker: as everyone else has
said, thank you, commissioners, for
taking the time to listen to our
comments. I'm also with bay meadows
homeowners association. I agree with the
points made by the previous speakers. 2
points that I would like to reiterate, I
would like to say that bay meadows in
particular is a neighborhood of young
families. I have a six-year-old and
almost all houses near mine have houses
with families and near the schools. And
we have many people that work from home
and this is one of the demographics that
will be impacted by work. I have
concerns
about noise, pollution and noise on
families. I would like you to consider
the request made by all the speakers
today. Thank you.
>> tom t followed by dana stuart.
public speaker: hello, my name is tom
chi. I have been part of bay meadows
since 2015. Thank you, commission, for
allowing us to participate. I will keep
it short. I absolutely continue to echo
a lot of points that have been made and
I
can underscore what this allows us to do
except to engage in participation. A
couple of additional points. When we go
through all the construction, it's
absolutely understandable and expected,
right? People didn't move into a new
development expecting that you get peace
and quiet immediately. However, what I
do always noticed is that regardless of
the methods, while construction is
happening, the folks that are in it, the
workers, they have got gear protecting
eyes, ears, mouths, nose. When a mere
25-100 feet, however many feet away, we
are as residents experiencing much of
the
similar impacts without any of that
protection. So that is just another
perspective on what we talk about in
terms fof noise concerns and vibration
concerns. It matters a lot when we have
an expectation when we can have some
level of normalcy. But there is too much
x factor in the air, you know, perhaps
on
that day, not all the time and you want
to go back inside, but there is a lot of
impact there. Lastly, I would like to
just call in the question as we move
forward, let's, I would really love to
be
able to review information that helps us
validate decisions made progressively
with regard to the cost and what the
solution is such that as conditions
change, we allow ourselves the
flexibility. So what I would definitely
appreciate is that a ton of hard work
has
already gone into this over a long
period
of time. But every week, month that
passes and we have these large scale
projects, that it allows for flexibility
to approach solutions and what solutions
are best or matter most. Thanks.
>>clerk: dana stuart.
public speaker: thank you, commissioner
for allowing me to speak tonight. My
name is dana story. The ceo of the san
mateo county event center. I would like
to thank the city staff that I have
directly worked through with this
process. And I would like us to note the
designation of the agricultural
designation of the land. The san mateo
exposition and fair has dealt with san
mateo for the last 70 years. We are not
the oldest host facility, but the oldest
neighbors in the area. We also and I
think it's an important designation
under
the department of california food and
ag,
we are among the network of california
fairs and we are also the designated
office of emergency management resource
for the entire county and in the event
of
a natural disaster. We are self
supporting 501c3. All of the receive
that we operate on the land comes from
activities on the property. We are too
concerned about noise constraints. We
host everything from holiday parties
which you have heard from the neighbors
that can be somewhat disruptive
unfortunately to academic testings to
sony, high profile corporate events. We
also strive to be a really good
neighbor.
so specifically in relative to the event
that ms. Moran mentioned, one with the
issue of vibrations, that was a $200,000
per event of the event center. Because
they weren't able to comply with the
request for the reverberation made, this
is a san mateo corporation that put on
this event, they were asked not to come
back and that's because of our alliance
with the neighborhood. We are important
as a self supporting organization that
noise doesn't override our ability to
sustain that self sustainability and we
don't drive away our clients and we look
forward to working with city staff so
that doesn't happen. So such as
construction time, noise, process, our
buildings are old and not angered. We
are
working through an eir with county
council to achieve our best outcomes. We
look forward to continuing to work with
the community and the neighbors and the
city and hosting the project and looking
for developing as many positive outcomes
as we can along the way knowing that I'm
also a citizen of the city of san mateo
to work together to get to outcomes to
develop and minimize the noise in san
mateo.
public speaker: thank you, jonathan, I'm
speaking on behalf of myself and my
family on this add on comment. I want to
discuss pedestrian, public safety and
pedestrian and bicycle safety
specifically. Both on saratoga during
the construction period, but also the
city have a safer walking route for the
safe bus commuters and to the centers
from the parking lot during the
construction. Saratoga is going to be
less welcoming at best and quite
dangerous at worse. Both pedestrians and
bicyclist during the construction
period.
a suggestion that the city study and
potentially coordinate with the event
center and the county to provide a
pedestrian gate from bay meadows park to
the event center parking lot and that
suggestion would be at an appropriate
location where pedestrian safety and
bicycle safety can be taken into account
perhaps closer to nuevo school. Thank
you.
>>clerk: lily wu.
public speaker: hi, my name is lily wu.
>> please speak closer to the mic.
>> I would like to thank you for giving
us the opportunity to let you know how
we
feel. I live near with my children. I
represent my family and the community.
my concern mainly is the foundation or
the process and method of their trying
to
build the sewage tank. The reason for
that is already, I understand there is
already the way it is proposed right now
it could have some very possible
damages,
and I'm thinking, you know, in san
francisco, we have the problem with the
leaning building and then later on with
the bus terminal area. We are very
concerned about problems with
foundations
because the foundation is most important
to a building. And that is expensive in
the area and even to live in the area,
and if there is a problem affecting the
residents, I think is a lot of stress
because in our bay meadows neighborhood,
I think a lot of people are very
hardworking and a lot of money is going
into the residents but they work hard
for
that, and if something happens, how will
they be able to handle the damages and
the recuperate. Which could be coming
back to the city. So I would recommend
instead of going forward, with
the problems, take the preventative
method. If there is a problem, then
later it might be worse. If you are not
able to prevent the damages, maybe look
at it in a different way. And for the
people that are also of working class,
and to do well, if there is a lot of
noise, that is going to affect the
performance. I think my main concern is
that I don't think this is an ideal area
to have a sewage tank. I don't know if
it's too late to consider, or as was
suggested earlier, there is a location
in
the park that can serve the area better.
I really worry about it for everyone in
that area. Thank you.
public speaker: thank you for the
opportunity to speak as an individual.
I'm here representing myself and my
husband markle yot who was too sick to
be
here tonight. We are members of the land
homeowners associations association. I
want to mention there are numerous
errors
in the eir and I will send those
comments
to you. And I want to mention that
delaware is set to open when it would
start and 25th would close and traffic
would be very difficult and the same for
pedestrian and bicycle situation through
the construction area. Finally, I would
like to point you to design comments I
have sent via e-mail. I will not take
time to repeat those here but I'm
assuming
you will get that. And I would like to
thank you for being here. It's also an
opportunity to get things on course when
they seem off course in the community.
you have that opportunity tonight. Thank
you.
public speaker: hello, my name is mike
brat. I live on 10th street which is 150
feet from where this tank is proposed to
go in. What is I find amazing is that I
was up here when bay meadows phase 1
came
in and I said, look, one of the big
things is the sewage capacity. It barely
meets what we have. You need to increase
it. No no no. When phase two came in, we
said, it a big problem. And you said, no
no no, we are going to have more coming
in, are you goes to increase capacity?
no no, we are going to build a storage
tank. Well for 25 years with all of
these
developments we have been going over the
same stuff over and over again, sewer,
noise, vibration. Honestly, the
neighborhood is done. You have
surrounded us with development that is
just inundating our lives with nothing
that is redeeming. I take it back. I
like bay meadows, both phase 1 and phase
2, they beat the expectation that I had
for them. I enjoy walking through them
and I enjoy it every single day every
weekend. I apologize for my comment.
however, the noise and all of the
construction impacts of those two
developments, and everything that's gone
on around us has taken our quality of
life and made it very stressful. My wife
is a two time cancer survivor. Her
cancer
came on about a year after saratoga was
done. I sustained $5,000 worth of
personal damage to the outside of my
house because of the fungal infection
that came from the air born stuff that
they tore off from saratoga. I asked for
it to be paid for, no, no, no, I
couldn't
prove it. I had proof, but it didn't
matter. But I'm here watching this and
hearing all the concerns which I 100%
appreciate all of the research that they
have done. I hope it doesn't fall on
deaf ears having lived through all this,
having been told everything is going to
be fine and then you find out it's not
fine. But it's already in process and
the impacts are horrendous. Listen to
their comments because they are going to
be impacted like when theirs was
developed. Thank you.
>> I have no more speaker slips.
>> okay, is there anyone else in the
audience that would like to come forward
and make some comments to the planning
commission? You can fill out the yellow
slip afterwards if need be.
>> james yang.
public speaker: thank you for the
opportunity to speak. My name is james
yang. I'm a resident of bay meadows, my
wife and I are and a member of the
meadow
walks and the bay meadows alliance and
the meadow walk homeowners associations.
I don't want to reiterate too much of
what my neighbors have been saying. I
have absolutely agreed with most of the
comments here tonight, and most of the
bay meadows residents have come to
understand that the sewage tank is a
result or I guess it's a solution for
waters that's overflow that's coming
from
pipes that are damaged up and through
the
hills and it's a result of rain and not
really a result of increased population.
we've come to understand that this is
necessary. The residents are a group of
public minding and decent citizens. I
would add that if we allow for potential
property damage or additional noise,
it's
really adding injury to insult. It's
adding an additional layer of things for
residents who have already come to
understand the need for something like
this and come to accept it and actually
be open to it. So I just wanted to add
that. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> anyone else? Okay, we'll close the
public comment period. So continue or
take a short break? Okay. Are you okay?
okay.
so were there any questions or issues
that the public brought up that we can
provide additional information tonight?
>> I would like to introduce heather,
she
prepared the environmental impact
report.
>> I would like to address the public
comments. The public comments will be
considered and considered against the
evaluation that was conducted for the
eir
and formal responses will be made in a
final document and again, as derek
indicated, we are expecting that to be
sometime in the fall. But I did want to
address a few things that the
commissioners brought up. I believe the
agricultural question that you had was
addressed, but if you have additional
questions, we can go over that. There
was
some concern about the contamination or
a
question about the contamination and
there is a phase 1 site assessment in
the
report. I don't want to quote from it
because I don't have it in front of me,
but I would start there and review that,
and we can of course come back with full
quick summary on the contamination that
was determined not necessarily, there
were not soil samples that I understand,
but again, I don't want to quote from
the
report.
>> excuse me, is it in this report?
>> yes, the first part of the report
that
summarizes the phase 1 assessment and
there were errors on the phase 1 on the
thumb drive.
>> I don't have a thumb drive.
>> I'm sorry, I thought a thumb drive of
the reports was provided to the
commissioners? Either way, we can get
the report. It's on the website also.
the full eir and the attachments are on
the website for this attachment.
>> you gave it a name where the
contamination was?
>> a phase 1 site assessment.
>> phase one, thank you. So derek
provided a quick explanation of the
dewatering. If you have any questions on
that, I'm happy to provide an
explanation. He also responded to your
question of what a pedo meter is.
and a question about dewatering and a
question about dewatering to our
waterways. That method has not been
determined. It can also be removed via
truck. The method by dewatering has not
been determined. Regardless of the
method, the contractor will be required
to follow state requirements from the
regional quality control board and the
city of san mateo. The city has
requirements on disposing water as well
through their municipal code.
I believe derek responded to the
hotline,
we have received comments about the eir
via the hotline, the prime use of the
hotline again was during the 2018 rates
which I was not involved with and I
don't
want to necessarily get into that
discussion.
the hours of construction were
addressed,
the municipal code does have
construction
limitations, construction hour
limitations and currently the
construction is planned to be within
those limited hours. I can't tell you
specifically if they are going to arrive
at 7:00 a.m. And leave at 7:00 p.m.. But
I'm currently, the construction is
planned to occur within those time
limits
established by the cities municipal
code.
and there was a question about
consultation with native-american
heritage commission. We did follow the
requirements established by assembly
bill
52 and there is a state consultation
with
tribes and letters and phone calls were
made and there were no tribes in the
area
that requested consultation. We did
receive one letter from the heritage
commission on the draft eir and that
will
be addressed through the mechanism of
the
final eir. That I think addresses the
bulk of the questions that you had.
>> I don't know if tonight is the night
to answer, but there is a question about
the table in the eir and talk about a
traffic study.
>> I'm sorry, you are right. That is a
question that I will have to research a
little bit further. I know that when the
eir was prepared, we did not have recent
date accounts on the roadways in the
area. So we used the materials that were
available. So I will have to go back and
take a look at that at that table to see
if we have updated counts and could
possibly update that analysis.
>> could I just ask of staff when the
station park green development went in,
I
assumed there was traffic data for that
area, right?
>> yes, but as you recall when station
park green went through the development
review process, it was during the
recession. So the traffic counts were
low.
>> what year was it?
>> it was probably around (2) 011-2012.
those were more current. It just jumped
out to me that it was 14 years old. And
in response to comments, we can update
the traffic counts in terms of what is
actually occurring on the ground. So
most
of the conversation tonight has been
about the draft environmental impact
report. The eir document, but we as a
planning commission can talk about the
design. I'm wondering if you have given
any thought to that or have comments or
questions?
>> I have a question for staff. In your
report you indicated there is a project
being done at the pacifica community
center. What methods are they using to
construct their project. Also on the
page
that you showed us, there was also a
sound barrier constructed as well. What
sound levels were shared with those
residents?
>> I don't have the construction. I only
have the photos that I shared and that's
the detail that I know.
>> any other comment?
>> I can make a comment on the design. I
guess I should go back. It's very
difficult, we got the information on
thursday. I know some of the residents
commented that they got it on friday.
it's not a long time to look at large
amounts of data. I feel very fortunate
that I was around on the public works
commission when this whole project was
being discussed and being developed and
we saw a lot of stuff from the seattle
trip that you all went on and got
information, real life information from
cities that were going through it. So,
this is an awful lot to take in over 4-5
days. So, I think it would have been
helpful to have a presentation on this,
just presentation only to the planning
commission to sort of give some
background that would make it a lot
easier for us to analyze what's in the
eir based on the thought process that
was
gone through to develop the program
because it was a very detailed process,
and it's very beneficial to have that
process. I looked through the plans of
the building and the bay meadows is a
very appealing community, and it would
be
great if the building can look like the
houses in the area rather than the brick
so it blends more with the surrounding.
but that would be my only comment on the
structures because I admit, I wasn't
aware we were discussing the actual
aesthetic of the building. So I did take
a quick look, but it's only a quick
look.
>> so I have a few questions that relate
to other aspects of the project beside
the environmental document. There is
fencing proposed along saratoga and the
adjoining property line with the bay
meadows park. The documents we have say
-- is it an 8 or 6-foot. An 8-foot fence
and concrete wall. I think we can
provide direction as to which we would
prefer. Whether we prefer a metal, or
even wood.
>> through the chair if I can make a
comment. Right now the city and the
county and also the events that are in
negotiations on the screening material
whether it's going to be a cme wall or a
fence. That will most likely be part of
the easement negotiation that's being
taken now.
>> so, the planning commission can still
provide their preference and I don't
know
what will come of that at the moment.
>> okay, any preference?
>> not metal.
>> my comments is that what we have on
the other side of saratoga, and that
until the landscaping has reached a
certain maturity, it's going to feel
like
you are driving down the freeway with
two
sound walls. That was my comment there.
also this site plan had a location of
the
air exhaust. It was labeled as 16 inches
diameter and 10 feet tall and it's
located fairly adjacent to the sidewalk,
the public sidewalk. Is there any
latitude as to where that air exhaust
people can be located? Perhaps further
away from the public right-of-way?
>> we'll have to work with the engineer
of design and determine if that is
feasible.
>> and is there only one of those air
exhaust?
>> from my recollection of the plans and
I don't have it in front of me right
now,
I believe there should only be one.
>> okay. And then it was indicated that
there would be many at grade hatches. Do
we have how many of those. I know you
showed them in your presentation.
>> not at the moment. We are currently
passed 60% design and optimizing the
location of those vaults.
>> one of the public comment letters
posed the question about if there was a
spare the air, would construction
proceed
as normal or would construction recede
at
that time?
>> I don't have a response for that, but
we can take that into consideration.
>> okay, and the staff report talked
about as many as 200 vehicle trips per
day during the construction period. How
do we get a number that high and what
would the majority of them be the reason
for?
>> I would have to call in heather for
this. She has the number. There is a
separation of truck trips associated
with
the underground structure and truck
trips
associated with the pipeline
construction
that total the numbers that you stated.
>> right, the estimators for the
project and designers, we did our best
assessment of the type of construction,
the duration of construction, and the
types of equipment that would be
required
to not only build the holding structure
and the associated facilities but also
the pipeline. So the peak daily, we
don't have an average for each of the
different elements, but rather we
analyzed what is going to be the worse
case scenario on any given day but this
is maximum that would occur on any given
day. We estimated a total of 100 truck
trips and that would mean haul trucks,
bringing or removing, bringing equipment
and supplies or removing excavated soil.
for the holding structure and we are
expecting approximately 30 workers on
site. So we estimated a total of 60
truck trips for those 30 workers. A
truck
trip is one trip in and one trip out. 30
workers would generate 30 work trips,
one
in and one out.
the pipeline construction we are
expecting a peak of 30 heavy truck trips
per day, and 8 workers on a daily basis
for a total of 16 truck trips per day
for
a combined total of 206 truck trips or
206 trips on a peak day.
so, just to point out, a point of
clarification, howe, the environmental
document assessed a truck trip as a 1.5
passenger car equivalent. So for folks
who are reviewing the eir, they are
going
to see a peak number of combined trips
at
271, but that is because the truck trips
that are holding the structure are
estimated at 150 passenger car
equivalence and a 45 passenger care
equivalence.
>> okay, based on what you told us, the
pipe line project is it going to run
concurrent with the the construction of
the tank?
>> that is going to be a shorter line.
we
are estimating about 13 months for the
construction of the pipeline, but there
will be concurrent construction.
>> okay.
>> for a total construction duration of
25 months, expected construction
duration
of 25 months for the entire project,
pipeline and holding structure.
>> and then there was a comment tonight
by the public and I don't think it's
going to involve you, heather, you can
sit down. I remember reading it in the
online comments about looking at
installing a new pedestrian gate
between the bay meadows park and the
parking lot at the center that take the
shuttles to their jobs in the area. If
we do nothing, a possible safety issue.
>> that component for having an access
gate between the gate center and bay
meadows is not considered as part of
this
project, but dana is here to talk about
discussions with the recreation and
parks
department.
>> sheila and I have discussed and with
the issues with the center and the city.
one would be to create an access gate
for
those folks that are currently using the
soccer feeds as a relief measure for the
congestion on 28 and we are developing a
process to do that so that's in
conversation.
relative to the commuters, the google
and
facebook commuters that we host, that
traffic is automobile traffic coming
through the saratoga entrance. City
staff and I have worked through the
processes in which that won't be
interrupted based on times when buses
arrive and leave. It has to do with
commuter traffic making sure that if
there is a way that we can alleviate and
enhance safety for not only kids playing
in the park. The access is open to
delaware. It would be open for the park.
the access would be twofold and one
fore
soccer and for bay meadows residents or
any san mateo residents that are going
through the parking lot. Does that help
clarify that?
>> it's under negotiation?
>> right, we are working on that
separately. And then not a part of this
project. Thank you.
>> derek, in the work that you did with
seattle, did they ever address the
vibration and the noise issues? Were you
there to see it?
>> not to my recollection. The noise
issues in seattle, they were completed
or
not active construction sites.
>> I would be really interested to know
from them what their experience was on
this because theirs is a similar
situation with structures right there on
top of what it is they were building. So
I would be interested to know if the
structures were there when it was built
or if the structures came after it was
built. What the impact on those
structures was during their construction
because that's great information to get
from them, also from pacifica as well
since they have a neighborhood right
behind theirs. What sort of things were
they encountering during their
construction. I also would like to know
who is responsible, and who holds the
bill at the end. People commented that
the contractors shouldn't do the decibel
level, but if it is the contractors
doing
the work, who is responsible for it and
the damage and how would the city handle
it. I would like to know what the
thought
process is behind it. People mentioned
other construction methods. Are there
other construction methods, I don't know
about building something like that and I
know you probably looked at all the
different options.
>> I'm not too sure what other
construction methods the public comment
shared tonight other than methods of the
pipe. I'm not too sure about what other
alternatives.
>> have you investigated all of that in
your planning?
>> the design team has evaluated several
options for construction.
>> so they chose this method that's been
considered in the eir?
>> I would have to rely on heather for
that.
>> I'm sorry, can you repeat the
question?
>> my question is are there other
options
for putting supports down into the
ground
to support the tank. I'm not a
construction person so I'm not going to
say it right, but are there other
methods
other than driving piles or is that the
only method that's available to us? I
just want to understand how far along we
are in the process if it's already been
decided because that's the best option,
I
would like to know that. And if there
are
other options why weren't they selected?
>> so, I'm not the best person to answer
that either. I'm not a geotechnical
expert, I'm not a structural engineer,
I'm not an engineer. That would be a
better question for our structural folks
who are not here tonight.
>> I would be interested the know.
>> the eir did not evaluate other
construction methods. So we don't have a
construction evaluation. Based on the
geotechnical analysis and I'm venturing
into an area that I'm not an expert on,
this was the method to build a
structurally sound structure. So I would
say we can take that back to our team to
see what other terms fof method of
foundation have been explored and
provide
and answer for you.
>> I was just curious. I know a lot of
work has been done. It doesn't involve a
long answer. I'm just curious as to
other
options. Thank you.
>> I have a question for heather. You
were discussing other site location
options? What are they?
>> that was covered in the earlier
sites. There were 55 sites.
>> other sites. Okay, I interpreted
there were other site locations on the
event center parking area.
>> not within the center parking area.
this location through discussions with
the event center was the only feasible
location that they were willing to work
with the city on.
>> okay.
>> anything more? So let me ask a
question of city staff. I will start
there. So trying to understand what the
public talked about with respect to the
caltrain construction at 25th, that's
under the jurisdiction of caltrain which
is a regional entity, and what we are
talking about tonight, the underground
flow equalization storage is entirely a
city, a municipal project with the
exception of the easement that we are
asking for from the county for its
location. So we have what I'm getting
at is the midnight 2:00 a.m.
construction
that went on with caltrain, and that we
have more control with this project
because it's a city project in terms of
the hours of construction.
>> this project would be coming to the
city for a special use permit and a site
plan and architectural review and there
will be conditions of approval
associated
with those. So the construction hours
will be addressed in the conditions of
approval.
>> okay. Then one other question, by
calculations, the electrical building is
37 feet long by 16 feet wide and a
little
over 13 feet tall. Does that sound about
right? Okay. And then the underground
storage area is a little over 200 feet
by
a little less than 150 feet in planned
mention and it was mentioned earlier
that
the depth of the storage was probably 50
feet but that we would have to excavate
25 feet below that in order to install
the structure?
>> the depth of the structure is
anywhere
from 32-50 feet. The bottom of it slopes
to facilitate the cleaning mechanism. In
terms of over excavation, I don't have
that information with me right now.
>> okay.
so we are onto comments? You are
finished. Comments? You are good. Well
my input would be that based on the
quantity of input we got from the public
and pretty much a consistent message
that
the project needs to go back and look at
an alternate method of construction and
avoid the pile of driving and the sheet
pile construction that were delineated
in
the environmental document. I think, I
agree with the residents. That's
unacceptable impacts to those homes, and
especially given the duration of this
project. That's it. Just to remind
everyone, you have until may 7 to submit
further comments and questions. We had
an e-mail address I think on the screen
at the end of the presentation. And
those concerns are to my understanding
will be addressed in the final
environmental impact report document
before it comes back to planning
commission and then onto city council.
so, thank you, everyone. If you could
take your conversation to the lobby. We
have to wrap up our meeting tonight.
thank you. So, a couple things. Romero
never got this document. It was passed
out at our last planning commission
meeting and he was absent. And then also
there was mention of a thumb drive with
some additional studies, we didn't get
that and I wasn't aware that that was
available.
>> I wasn't aware that a thumb drive was
available.
>> sometimes in the past we have gotten
a
cd at the back of the draft
environmental
impact report that we can look at.
>> I think another reason that we
included the link in the staff report is
that those technical studies are
available on the website. I realize that
is not a substitute for having a hard
copy. It's a little late now.
[ laughter ]
we apologize. You are correct, they were
handed out at the last planning
commission meeting. We can follow up on
the thumb drive, but again, that's the
reason we also included the link on the
staff report to the web page which has
the document.
>> okay.
>> from a planning point, we could have
handled it better.
>> I'm looking at page 3 of the staff
report where it lists attachment 8, the
geotechnical report. I had heard
references to that but I didn't know how
to get it.
>> if you go to the website listed in
the
staff report. It's got all of those
technical opinions.
>> can I add a statement of
clarification. The report is in the
attachments to the copies you received.
the phase 1 site assessment in
attachment
e is a 400 plus page document. So we
just
took the summary section of that
report and the remainder of that report
is available in full on the website. If
there is a request for that report to be
sent to you directly, please let me
know.
>> I think at this point since we closed
the public hearing, if there are
procedural questions about how can we
get
the documents, we can answer them if
there are questions about the documents
themselves, I think that would be better
handled in a public setting since we
closed the public hearing.
>> yeah. Okay.
>> okay. There are no off the record
questions at a public hearing.
but really, we have closed the public
hearing on this item. If there is more
information, we can forward it to the
planning commission. If there is
anything more, we have a may 6 deadline.
for making comments. I think since we
closed the public hearing, we should
move
onto other business.
>> reports and announcements.
>> okay, let's see, on april 15th, the
city council will be holding a public
hearing on the modifications to the
water
quality control plant that the
commission
heard earlier in march.
if you happen to be at the extravaganza
on saturday april 20th, we'll have a
book
on the efforts that the city has entered
into with the county to provide
affordable housing issues. It's mainly
informational as well as a general plan
information booth. We'll be there that
day.
at your next meeting april 23rd, there
will be a study session on the
mid-peninsula proposal and the new
downtown parking garage and the former
redevelopment sites downtown.
additionally we will have the return of
the kerry school modification. I can't
recall which commissioners were on the
commission when we heard it in study
session.
saturday, april 27th, again the city has
entered into an agreement with home for
all through the county of san mateo to
provide a forum for a housing
discussions
outside of a specific general plan
discussion, outside of the discussion on
a specific development project. Home for
all will be facilitating discussions at
this meeting which will be from 930-1130
at san mateo high school in the
cafeteria. The hope is that not only in
attendance will be people that are
normally involved in housing issues, but
people that are not normally involved in
civic affairs. That is the reason we are
going to the eggs extravaganza and city
staff will be setting up and phil's
coffee shop downtown. The commission is
welcome for all to come saturday but in
the guise of being observers rather than
participants. In the may 14 and 28, we
do have planned planning commission
meetings. We have items on those
agendas.
so, those would include a review of the
bay meadows annual development
agreement,
as well as a return of the windy hill
project on the program and construction.
that's what we have in may for the
planning commission. That concludes
staff announcements.
>> did you want to give an update on the
432 virginia avenue?
>> yes, we have responded. Now, if you
can recollect, did you get cc'ed on the
staff response, there is a building
permit, the results of the building
permit indicate and we've had an
inspection on the property and the work
is within the scope. We have sent a
letter to the property owner and
indicated that it is a permit issue for
the single family dwelling and in the
code that include the single family
dwelling and the definition of dwelling
and I will provide a copy of that letter
to you shortly after adjournment.
>> okay. Any announcements?
we are adjourned.
>> okay. Any announcements?