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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM091604S --- I .~ .. ..'. ' Intergovernmental Meeting . Port of Port Townsend/City of Port Townsend Public Utility District #1 of Jefferson County Jefferson County ~utesofTh~day,september16,2004 Point Hudson Marina Room Call to Order: The following representatives and staff were present: . City of Port Townsend: Counci1m.embers Michelle Sandoval and Catharine Robinson; Ken Clow, Public Works Director; Bob LaCroix, Water Services Manager . Port of Port Townsend: Commissioners Bob Sokol, Conrad pimer and Herb Beck; Larry Crockett, Executive Director . PUD: Commissioners Wayne King, Dana Roberts and David Sullivan; Jim Parker, Manager; Bill Graham, Water Resource Manager . Jefferson County: Commissioners Glen Huntingford and Pat Rodgers; )ohn Fischbach, County Administrator . Joanna Sanders, Meeting Secretary Guests: Bill and Kelly Bablburg, Joe Bresk.1n, Barney Burke of the The Leader, Tamara Conway, Diane Dietsc~ Nancy Dorgan, Ray. Harker, and Jim Manders of the Peninsula Daily News, and Kate Pike. Herb Beck, serving as Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m. in the Point Hudson Marina Room., Port Townsend, Washington. Approval of Minutes: Commissioner Sokol moved that the minutes of June 1,2004 be approved as written. The m.otion was seconded and carried by unanimous vote. Discussion of Topics: 1. Public Utility District (POO) #1 of Jefferson CountY - Meeting Current and Projected Future Water Demand in Jefferson Connty: Dana Roberts presented the PUD's regional approach to water resources and East Jefferson County's increasing reliance on groundwater sources. Hard copies of the presentation were provided. The PUD has sufficient water rights to provide service to the Tri-Area UGA and Marrowstone for between ten and twenty years. They have a preliminary water permit to drill at the airport but must show that the drilling would have no adverse effect to the Chimacum subbasin. He reviewed water assessment data on the Cbimacum. subbasin, but noted that these calculations did not include exempt wells. He then reviewed existing water rights and available treatment capacity, adding that the level of consumption per connection greatly impacts how far into the future this supply would last. Instream flows for Chimacum. Creek and other subbasins will be set in 2005. The PUD, along with the Watershed Planning Unit, is advocating an Exempt Well Reservation (EWR) that would be senior to instream flow water rights. EWR would address future water needs for undeveloped parcels. He provided additional resources on Chimacum. Creek and talked about possible expansion of conservation efforts there. He listed sevm:aJ. benefits of the 10f5 PUn Purchasing water from tho City when it is &ea&onably available and explained the possibility of II&ing re-claimed water. The geOgraphic area of the Quimper water system Was explained and the PUD hopes \0 eventually post a sy&tem map on their website. The Port inquired about the possibility of Purchasing storage capacity at Petenon Lake. The PUD responded !bat they have not negotiated !be terms regarding the property and it. is not yet known whether Water would escape ftom !be lake. If it can he shown to be an affiJrdable solution. the PUD would consider it Allbaugh storage related projects are encouraged by the &tate, a water right application jlrocess would &till be neces&aIy. The Port asked about !be relationship between &urfilce water and grouodwater and how you can demonstrate !bat a groundwater well is impacting the flow of the stream. Bill Graham refetted to the USGS report for a good overview of Ibis topic. In the explanation of gaining and losing reaches, it is SUSpected !bat return flow ftom septic systems might account for !be lower reaches of Chimacum Creek gaining water, sllgge&ting!bat &ewering at least the residential area of the Tri-Area might not be a good idea for fish. Michelle Sandoval asked how a policy on exempt well reservation might play into !be PUD's capacity projections. The PUD indicated they are worlcing with !be County to define how much water is going to be needed for foture exempt wells in undeveloped rural areas !bat are not CUIreutly included in service boundaries. Another goal is to lessen the exempt well limit of 5,000 gallons per day (gpd). It is unlikely it Would be lower than 800 gpd. The PUD's calculations for growth in !be new UGA are based on County population projections rather than estimating forther subdivision or parcel size. The PUD water service plan is based on a 50-year projection. Glen Huntingford said !bat densities for !be lDl!iority of Hadlock and .Iroudale are expected to remain static at about 3.5 houses per acre, not necessitating a &ewer for 20 years or longer. The Conservation District bas looked at the water rights in the Chimacum Valley, many of which are water claims. It would be desirable to remove unused claims before trying to set an instream flow. The PUn explained !be challenge of a &eueraI adjudication of unused water right&. However, at one point there was discussion . of having a County Water Boanl, such as the Water Conservation District, address some of these unused rights and claims. It was noted !bat for a claim to be legitimate, it bas to have been put to beneficial use. Wayoe King explained that the PUD's wireless elec1ronic monitoring sy&tem is expected to be on line by January I, which should help provide a better understanding ofwbat is actually happening and inform our decisions regarding conservation. Pat Rodgers observed !bat while only about 4% of !be entire county is buildable, the rest is shle to collect water, much of which finds its way into the aquifers !bat goes to unknown destinations. Noting !bat Kitsap serves its large population with a much &mailer collection area, he suggested !bat Bast Jefferson County bas enough water, but needs to improve distribution. 2. City of Port TOlVnsend: a. Water - City Staff provided background on their divemions and pennitting with !be U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The USFS bas granted three permits a&sociated with the City's divemions ftom !be Big and Little Quilcene Rivers (19.4 million gpd and 9.6 million gpd, respectively), including the divemion sIructures, facility and pipeline. While one permit expires in December 2005, others were written without expiration 2 of 5 ., ... ,. dates but have sluce been ruled to be invalid. However, since tbe uSFS baS held tbeJll all open pending tbe City's completion of its renewal process, they would be ,.ddresSed as one action. A coosuItant was hired to help complete the required enviroUIIlenta1 assessment related to eudanllered species on tbese two river systeroS. a draft of which baS received public comment as well as comments from tbreO tribes requesting more teUIPeratur" data (which the City believes is covered in its assessment). After meetings b_ tbe City and USPS on the City's responses and otber required agency reviews. tbe City hopes to be able to continue operating. Altbough the USPS could restrict the floW or set a higher limit, which is curreut1Y open-ended. tbe City baS already set a vobJntarily diversion limit of 27 cubic feet per second (cfa) in tbe Big Qui\cene River. The City can manage the 27 cfs limit, but raising this limit would cJrarn8lically \rnpllct tbe system's main user, tbe Mill (who uses about 14 million gpd witb no restrietions. and about 10 million gpd or less witb restrictions). The Mill baS also taken manY measures to limit tbeir water use. The rest oftbe City uses roughly 1/10" of the Mill's usage. Once tbe assessment is complete. tbey abould be able to figure out boW much water tbe City baS for its customers and its systeJll capabilities. The City clarified tbey are looking for a 2()..year uSFS permit. . The forty-year buildout is projected to require 8 ruilIion gpd for a populatiOn of 25,000. Glen Huntingfotd said this is why all entities need to woO< together to consider what can be donO about storage. This is tbe main issUe - getting water out at times of peak floW and storing it for later use. Herb Beck concurred. Bob LaCroix, while not claiming to know tbe Mill economics, assumed that any significant economic impact might cause the Mill to close. If roin\JnUlIl jnstreaIIl flow were set higher than 27 cf&, tbe Mill would likely be abut doWn- One option to tbe pennitting process would be to move tbe water intake downstreBD1> out of USPS \and&, but that would be quite expensive. Glen lluntingfotd spoke about tbe importance of not setting unrealistic instream flows. b. Jefferson County's Long-teJ'11l Development l'Jnn' - Clarification of County's development projections and dependeney on the availability of water to support those plans. This topic was ptaced on tbe agenda by the City to ensure a coor<fulated effort on tbese matters because tbey recognized the broader impacts of each entity's policies. Pat Rodgers sought to explain the County's objective as planning to supply a population in the UGA in tbe Tri AIea. While tbey anticipate a redistribution of people and a shifI: to more commercial development, they do not project a net gain in population. The County is acting on its respon81"bility to wod< witb tbe purveyors to provide for the needs of its population. !)ana Roberts explained that tbe density at which development occurs detefJ1\\nOS whether it is economical to service it by pipe. He saw a pipe system as a conservation opportunity, since metered systeroS seem to be a way to discourage usage. He mentioned Exempt Well ca1cuIations and the growth projections of 65K parcels, which did not include the UGA. David sullivan noted that water use does not equate to water loss. Evaporation and tJ:llIlSIl<lrI out of tbe area represent some loss but otberwise use just moves the water ~" ". 3 of5 down the watershed Ife emphasized that any deal to SUPPly others would inVOlve only the extra water - the needs of the City llod the MiJJ will be protected first. Bob Lacroix noted that if YOu PUt a well on each of those 65l{ PlUCels and they PDmpeq up to the liInit of 5,000 gaUons a day, it wonld add up to 40 lDillion gpd. Michelle Sllodoval added that the fi8Ures ofiered at the WRrA meeting used 2.5 persons Per hOUSehold at a USage of 250/gpd llod resulted in 1.5 tUnes the City's Water right The in-City use figure is closer to 3121gpd. Bob Sokol asked about the City Lake overtlow"YSteIn. Bob Lac.roix tll<p/ained that lD1tiJ he was hired in 1991 the City was discharg;"g 2 1DiIlion gaUons of day into DiscovCly Bay. The 19" century technology Water "YSteIn _ lacking modern CODllDuniCations llod valve s}'SteJns with which to control flow Iiom a distant SOUrce- kept the flow CODslant llod the oVerflow Iiom the pipe Was spilled into the bay. Ife tll<p!ained that the ti!lhtening up of controls so this no longer 0CCDls. 3. Port of Port TOWDsend .. Water - Bob Sokol described the Port's e.tlbrts to assist in provjding sufficient water sUPPlies, including Jlartncring with the POD to add a POD Well on the Port's ~ property. In addition, the Port is a water Purveyor in Qui/ceo.. which SUPPlies the DIarina, Coast Seafood llod a few houses. TOWard the Port's goal of illlpport;ing ecoDonlic development, they have provided letters of Sllpport fur the PUn's wod: with Quilcene and the U.S. Forest Service. b. Status of Port Projects: i. Airport Larry Crockett tll<p!ained the 2-)fear p/llllDing J>I'Ocess to UPdate the Master Plan, approved by FAA in March of this )fear (the plan is available at . WWw.portolptCOot).In 2005, the FAA Would help start two projects: I) non- J>recision approach capability, enabling even SIDaII ain:ratt to use GPs sensors to Illod without viSibility. They now think it lDight be POssible to llccoJuplish this with the ~g runway, 2) new area of hangam and lISSociated taxiways. Ife WOuld be meeting with the PUn On extending lire flow to these areas. Permitting Would be done as much in advance as possible to allow hangar developers to begin coDStructing new hangam. Bob Sokol noted that a runway extension WOuld not change the width or capacity of the runway - USage Would 1"eIDain the SlllDe. . Modi1ications WOuld just Provide pilots with much II10re llccurate infODDation during landing. Ife tll<p/ained the additional safety llod IICCessibility offered by having a precision approach rather than non-precision. ii. Marina Rehabilitation - Larry Crockett ""Ported that the $3M rehabilitation project Would remove all creosoted doclm llod pilings. An advisoty CODnnittee WOuld help review COnceptuaJ drawings of a reconlillUration to better utilize the existing 8pace - hopefulJy a 30% increase in 8pace utilization. The 1Darina wonld need to be bronght uP to COlDpliance with the state's new handiCllpped access laws, to inclUde a boardwalk llod esplanade around the marina, rep/ac""'ent of gangways, UP81"ading the lift llod creating a new SIDaII vessel launch area. Ife reviewed the project schedule, which calls fur the 1Darina to be shut down right after next )fear's Wooden Boat Festival. with most of the 1Darina wotk to be CODlp/eted in about 90 days. The 0.08% infrastructure II10ney from the County WOuld be used to DUlke UnprovDntents at Point IfUdson. There Would likely be a nuhon cutting ceremony in the SPring of2006. In celebration of the Rotary's 100" 40f5 ~.r ~ . "" ~ f;- ~ .... .. Anniversary, the local club is partnering with the Port to create a beach access trail, benches and a kiosk. Michelle Sandoval spoke again about the need for education and coordination regarding water storage possibilities. Bob LaCroix said that Lord's Lake currently holds 500 million gallons, or a 2-month supply. He described elevation issues that limit further expansion without reducing the flow. It is possible to store more. water at Lord's Lake or at another lake but any such expansion would be costly and would directly benefit only the Mill, who has in the past not shown any willingness to fund such changes. David Sullivan suggested encouraging site-- specific storage (rain barrels and catchment systems) as alternatives. It was discussed that, technically, there is no exemption for surface water rights. Bob laCroix reminded that the groundwater aquifers are by far the biggest and best storage available and so must be protected from contamination. Public Comment: Joe Breskin, regarding the potential of purchasing "surplus water" from the City, suggested that there are times when capturing and storing that water would not impact fish. Michelle Sandoval said it would be premature to take that approach until insheam flows are set. Wayne King echoed the question as to why the City doesn't sell their excess wat.er to the PUD. Bob laCroix noted that the City's water system policies state that in the event there is surplus, the top priority is to leave it in the stream for instream flow; about the fourth priority is to consider selling water to other entities. Wayne King proposed changing the policy. Michelle Sandoval asserted that a discussion of wholesale or retail sales of City water would have to wait until negotiations with the USFS conclude with known instream flows etc. and a viable arrangement with the Mill. Bob LaCroix noted that several people have expressed opposition to such a plan, as it would negatively impact the negotiations with the Forest Service. Wayne said running out of water could really have a negative effect. Joe Breskin said the problems Vl(.ith the Big and Little Quilcene Rivers are that they are gradient streams with large amounts of gravel that move. In the lower reaches of the Big Quilcene River there are large amounts of gravel and water where the fish take the opportunity to spawn. He hoped that people would have the wisdom to recognize that eY:en if Lord's Lake were drained mtothe river, it wouldn't give them thetlows they're. looking for. Establish next meeting: The County agreed to host the next Intergovernmental meeting and will survey entities for a suitable date. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 11 :20 am. 50f5