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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary Storm Water Utility Board Minutes 2-24-2022_revised February Storm Water Utility Board Minutes 2-24-2022_revised Page 1 of 4 STORM WATER UTILITY APPEALS BOARD Minutes February 24, 2022 7:30 am (Via Webex) Present: John Kiefer, Kyle Clark, Kristopher Ulrich Absent: None Also Present: Justin Gierach, Engineering Division Manager / City Engineer; Alyssa Deckert, Civil Engineering Supervisor; Mike Wegner, Brown and Caldwell I. Call to Order. A. Mr. Kiefer called the meeting to order at 7:32 am. II. Approval of November 18, 2021 Meeting Minutes A. Motion to approve November 18, 2021 minutes (Mr. Clark / Mr. Ulrich). Approved 3-0. III. MS4 Annual Report. A. Mr. Ulrich indicated he reviewed the document and did not have any questions or comments. B. Mr. Wegner provided a summary of purpose of the report and the materials included. C. Mr. Kiefer asked if there were any changes/differences from prior years. 1. Mr. Gierach stated that there were significant changes with the format last year (2020 MS4 Annual Report) as the WDNR modified the requirements as part of the new MS4 permit cycle. This year the submittal is very similar in content / materials to last year. The materials submitted also showed similar results to last year on topics such as IDDE results and information and education program activities. D. Mr. Clark asked about construction site erosion control of commercial sites and whether the 64 notice of violations for construction site pollution control was high. 1. Ms. Deckert indicated that for most of these a letter was generated after a site inspection. 2. Mr. Gierach said that in the case of commercial sites the notice of violation is typically issued at the same time as a written warning. E. Mr. Kiefer asked if the City had plans to ramp up information and education programs this year as we are coming out of Covid. 1. Mr. Gierach said that in general the City has continued to do outreach the last couple of years. This includes working closely with FWWA/NEWSC to complete I&E efforts, and also the Rotary Club medallion program as example. The program has been modified to change to include more social media effort. He doesn’t expect to have a significant increase this year as the City has continued to be meeting or above the minimum permit measures the last two years. F. A motion was made to recommend of the 2021 MS4 Annual Report to the Common Council (Mr. Clark /Mr. Ulrich) – Approve (3-0) IV. Program and Project Updates (J. Gierach). A. 22-01 Bowen Sanitary Sewer 1. This project is in the design phase with an estimated bidding date of Mid-March. The City is working with AECOM on finalizing storm sewer sizing in order to complete the design. 2. Mr. Kiefer asked about the location of the project. Mr. Gierach said that sanitary sewer replacement will take place on Bowen Street, from Murdock Avenue north to Anchorage Drive and storm sewer improvements would be from Murdock Avenue to Greenwood Court. 3. Mr. Kiefer asked if there will be more work on Bowen Street to the south of Murdock Avenue in the future. Mr. Gierach replied that work is planned for Bowen Street between Waugoo Avenue and Sterling Avenue in between 2024 and 2026. He said that there is also work planned on Bowen Street between Murdock Avenue and New York Avenue in 2025. The City is working on applying February Storm Water Utility Board Minutes 2-24-2022_revised Page 2 of 4 for STP Urban Funding, state program, to try to fund the southern portion. These funds were used for Main Street projects previously. B. 22-02 E. 9th Avenue 1. This project is currently under design. The paving layout is complete and the City is working on design of the utilities. C. 22-03 Bradley Street 1. The City is considering applying for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding for this project for the culvert replacement. This would potentially delay project to wait for funds to become available. D. 22-04 Algoma Boulevard & Vine Street Reconstruction 1. The contractor plans to start work on March 7th with construction of Vine Street. The have been meeting with University officials and the general public to prepare for the start of construction. 2. It is anticipated that the first month of construction will be the worst part for traffic disruption. This period will include work on Vine Street crossing of High Avenue. After that crossing the work should be onto Algoma Boulevard and High Avenue will be converted to a temporary 2-way street. At that point the contractor will be trying to get work in the university area done and paved before the start of the fall semester. The entire project is anticipated to last into November. 3. Mr. Clark asked about whether the City had coordinated with the County on 911 response and impacts to nearby fire stations. Mr. Gierach said they have been working with the City police and fire departments and that they are aware of project. He is unsure if that communication has reached County 911. Mr. Gierach will follow-up with them to verify. 4. Mr. Kiefer asked about whether the City will do additional social media outreach to notify residents of the project. Mr. Gierach said that there will be press releases as it approaches. He also said the City has shared heavily that people can subscribe to weekly project notifications. There is an email list that people can sign up for on the City’s website. Mr. Gierach provided a demonstration of where to find the sign-up. E. 22-05 East Lincoln & Rosalia Street Reconstruction 1. The contractor is scheduled to start the project on March 21 with utility work in Lincoln Steet. The contractor would then move to utility work in Rosalia Street and paving would occur in Lincoln Street. Tentatively the project is scheduled to be complete in mid to late Summer. F. 22-07 Oregon Sanitary Sewer 1. Bid opening for the project is scheduled for next week. Currently the City is working with AECOM on dewatering plans and requirements for project because of a TCE area defined by WDNR. 2. Mr. Clark asked for an explanation of TCE and the impacts. Mr. Gierach said TCE is a contaminant from past manufacturing in the area. The City has been working in the TCE area the last 3 years. There is regular monitoring of discharge from groundwater dewatering pumps. The City works with the WDNR and AECOM to test samples and manage discharge. The discharge can go to surface water until a certain threshold is hit. Once the threshold is hit, then the water is discharged to the sanitary sewer, and it is treated at the WWTP. If needed, the City could also apply for a secondary discharge permit with additional treatment using GAC instead of discharging to the sanitary sewer. There has been one instance when they discharged to sanitary, otherwise TCE has been below the limits. 3. Mr. Clark asked what is the volume of groundwater pumping? Mr. Gierach indicated it was a high volume but did not know a specific number off-hand. He said it also varies by area. Last year the pumping in Fond du lac Road was the highest volume. In Oregon Street groundwater was less significant. 4. Mr. Clark said he has observed shipping containers in the area, and these seemed like large pumps. Mr. Gierach said that those were likely settling chamber with baffles inside that are used for TSS treatment to settle construction sediment is conjunction with addition of a flocculant. G. 22-20 Mini Storm 1. The plans and specifications should be finalized and out for bidding next week. This project will clear the backlog list for mini-storm sewer request, unless there were recent submissions. February Storm Water Utility Board Minutes 2-24-2022_revised Page 3 of 4 H. 21-03 Oregon Street and Fond du Lac Road Sanitary Sewer Interceptor 1. The paving of Oregon Street between 29th Avenue and Waukau Avenue will be paved this spring. I. Mr. Gierach also provided an update to the committee regarding additional efforts to obtain funding in 2022 from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The City is working with Strand Associates to complete quick-turn projects that can be applied for funding. The projects are typically Mill & Overlay projects for this year because the 2022 funding cycle is very fast paced. 1. Mr. Clark asked about parameters and limits for the funding program, such as could they be used for stormwater projects. Mr. Gierach said that for 2022, projects need to be bid by late summer. Projects that required complex coordination (such as working with the railroad) won’t fit into it. The current expectation is that there may be excess funding of the $75 million program. The state is encouraging communities to apply for projects. The City was originally going to apply for two projects, but is now looking at additional projects. 2. Mr. Kiefer asked about the City having the means to meet the cost-share for grant funding. Mr. Gierach said the cost-share is 20% of the project cost and that the City has some money to use for project, but are still in the stage of figuring out exactly how to provide the needed funding. 3. Mr. Clark asked about using money for stormwater projects or inflow and infiltration reduction projects that the City regularly does. Mr. Gierach that these types of projects don’t fit into the current year funding program. But they expect that there would be potential funding sources over the next several years. Such as the STP program which can fund stormwater portions of a road project.) V. Mask Mandate to be lifted and meetings to return to in person. A. Mr. Gierach provided an update on this topic. He said that at this weeks Common Council meeting the City manager is not going to propose extending the mask mandate in City buildings. The Council has previously directed that all meetings will return to in person format when the mask mandate is removed. B. It is anticipated that the March meeting will be in City Hall Room 404 at the regularly scheduled time. C. Mr. Kiefer stated that at a recent meeting of committee chairs, the Mayor and City Manager asked about boards missing members. Mr. Kiefer made them aware openings on the Stormwater Utility Appeals Board. He also said that he posted the openings on a Facebook group on the topic. VI. Update on Sawyer Creek Floodplain Mapping. A. Mr. Gierach provided an update on the topic. B. The City met with County officials and they are now looking to continue the process of updating the floodplain mapping. The next step is trying to schedule a meeting with City, County and landowners affected by flood storage districts. They are looking to schedule this in mid to late March. C. An additional topic that recently came up is the DOT is looking to improve the culvert just south of the James Road Detention Basin under STH 91. The DOT is looking to upsize the culvert from twin elliptical pipes to six box culverts. These culverts would pass a lot more water downstream. The City looked at how this would impact the James Road Detention Basin and downstream area. An initial look shows a benefit by optimizing the time of concentration and not much change to the flows into and out of the James Road Detention Basin. But there would be negative impacts downstream within the City. Results show a potential increase in flooding by 6-9 inches. The City is working with DOT on developing a solution to optimize culvert sizing. D. In looking at the culvert sizing, the flood storage districts are still needed as there is not much change upstream of STH 91. E. Mr. Clark asked for more clarification about how the James Road Detention Basin performance would be impacted. Mr. Gierach said the immediate area showed the culvert replacement was a benefit because of a reduction is stormwater overtopping STH 91 which changes the flow pattern in that area. There would be more flow through the culverts and less road overtopping. The flow into and out of the detention basin does not change much. VII. Review Discussion of Future Meeting Agenda Items. A. IDDE 2021 Report – March February Storm Water Utility Board Minutes 2-24-2022_revised Page 4 of 4 1. Mr. Gierach said that staff from Westwood is scheduled to on this topic at the March meeting. B. Review public information through Oshkosh Media Department. C. Tour of Storm Water facilities (tentative for a meeting after board positions are filled). D. Other topics 1. Mr. Clark asking to consider a topic looking forward to the CIP and City budgeting in the summer. 2. Mr. Gierach said that the City is working with Brown and Caldwell to update the stormwater utility progress maps and this would be a topic for the committee in the future. 3. Mr. Kiefer asked if there could be an update on the long-range stormwater utility rate analysis. The utility is in the range when bonding for early projects would start being paid off. He said that this is not necessarily a topic that is the charge of the board, but members get questions about the topic. Mr. Gierach said he could look at having Ehlers present to committee again. He would discuss the topic with Ehlers when they are working on their financial analysis. VIII. Adjournment. Mr. Kiefer asked if there were any other items that needed to be discussed. Hearing none, a motion to adjourn was made and seconded: (Mr. Clark/Mr. Ulrich) Approved 3-0. Adjournment at 8:20 am. Respectfully Submitted Justin Gierach, P.E.; Engineering Division Manager/City Engineer