Title
Department of Transportation recommending the Board take the following actions related to the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Participating Agreement 23-PA-11051900-009 for the North Upper Truckee Stream Environment Zone Restoration Project, Capital Improvement Program project number 36107012:
1) Accept and approve the Participating Agreement, with a total of $400,000 to be provided for the subject Project;
2) Authorize the Director of Transportation to sign the Participating Agreement on behalf of the County; and
3) Authorize the Director of Transportation to sign any future modifications to the Participating Agreement that do not increase the total dollar amount of the Grant Agreement.
(District V)
FUNDING: United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Grant Funding (USFS) (13%), Tahoe Regional Planning Agency / Stream Environment Zone (1%), and To Be Determined (86%).
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
The Department of Transportation (Transportation) submitted a grant proposal to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit to supply necessary funding to begin the planning and development of the North Upper Truckee Stream Environment Zone Restoration Project (Project). The USDA proposes the County execute Participating Agreement 23-PA-11051900-009 (Participating Agreement) to grant the County $400,000 for the Project.
The Project site is within an existing residential development located in the Mountain View Estates subdivision along the northern section of North Upper Truckee Road. The proposed Project will provide water quality improvements within the project area, focusing on flood control and safe storm water conveyance away from subdivision residences, storm water treatment through enhancing existing wetlands resulting in habitat and carbon sequestration, treatment of fine sediment particles as part of the Tahoe Total Maximum Daily Load, and public education / outreach. Storm water runoff will be directed into existing water quality improvements with sediment capturing capacity, thus providing a direct reduction in the transport of fine sediment into Lake Tahoe.
During the term of the Participating Agreement, Transportation anticipates there may be a need to request that the USDA Forest Service further modify the terms of the Participating Agreement, generally related to administrative issues, project schedules, and budgets. Transportation is requesting that the Board delegate authority to the Director of Transportation to execute these types of amendments or modifications. If a future amendment or modification proposes to increase the current funding amount of the Participating Agreement, Transportation will bring it to the Board for consideration.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board could choose not to accept the funds, causing planning of the subject project to be delayed while Transportation attempts to find another funding source.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
N/A
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
County Counsel and USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
Approve staff recommendation.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The funds proposed by this Participating Agreement are included as United States Forest Service (USFS) revenue sources for the North Upper Truckee Stream Environment Zone Restoration Project in the 2023 Capital Improvement Program approved by the Board on June 6, 2023 (Legistar #23-0851, Item 56).
The proposed Participating Agreement requires that the “County contribute an estimated $80,000 towards implementation costs for the project.” A portion of this, $39,000, has already been programmed to the subject project, and is comprised of funds from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Stream Environment Zone Mitigation Funds. The remaining required County contribution will be programmed from additional Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Mitigation Funds when the Project is closer to its construction phase.
The “Funding” section of this report indicates that 86% of the overall project funding is “To Be Determined.” This is because funding for the construction phase of this Project has not yet been identified. The $400,000 of funding proposed to be provided by the USDA under this agenda item is for this Project’s planning/environmental/design phase (also referred to as preliminary engineering or “PE” work). Transportation routinely recommends the Board accept grant funding for use during the PE phases of projects even though construction phase funding is not yet identified at the time of the acceptance of the funding for the PE phase.
Acceptance of the USDA grant funding for this PE phase does not financially bind the Board to the future construction phase of the project.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
N/A
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Infrastructure
CONTACT
Rafael Martinez, Director
Department of Transportation