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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Read Before Packet - 1/15/2013CIi of Natural Areas Department 1745 Hoffman Mill Road Fort Collins970.416.2815 0 Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.41 970.416.2211 - fax /cgov. comInaom/natura/areas To: Mayor Weitkunat and City Councilmembers From: Daylan Figgs, Senior Environmental Planner, Natural Areas Department CC: Darin Atteberry, City Manager John Stokes, Director, Natural Areas Department Mark Sears, Program Manager, Natural Areas Department Date: January 11, 2013 RE: Agenda Item 15: Ordinance No. 008 — 011, 2013, Items Relating to Public Service Company of Colorado's Request for Utility Easements and Temporary Construction Easements Across Four Natural Areas Please find attached the minutes from the January 91h, 2013 Land Conservation Stewardship Board meeting related to Public Service Company of Colorado West Main natural gas pipeline project and associated easements in City Natural Areas. MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS LAND CONSERVATION & STEWARDSHIP BOARD Regular Meeting DATE: Wednesday, January 9, 2013 LOCATION: 215 N Mason Street, Conference Room 1-A TIME: 6:00 p.m. For Reference: Trudy Haines, Chair - 225-2760 Aislinn Kottwitz, Council Liaison - 692-9915 Mark Sears, Staff Liaison - 416-2096 Board Members Present - K-Lynn Cameron, S. Kathryn Grimes, Michelle Grooms, Trudy Haines, Linda Knowlton, Kent Leier, Scott Quayle, Edward Reifsnyder, Linda Stanley Board Members Excused — All members present Staff Present— John Stokes, Mark Sears, Daylan Figgs, Kristin Powell, Tawnya Ernst Guests — Craig Foreman (Parks Planning), Stephanie Phippen (Tetra Tech), Randy Blank (Xcel), Dan Tekavec (Xcel), Todd Anderson I. Xcel Gas Line Easements — Recommendation to Council Introductions: Randy Blank — Xcel Energy, Project Manager, West Main Pipeline Project Stephanie Phippen — Tetra Tech Dan Tekavec — Xcel Energy, ROW Project Manager Todd Anderson — Area Manager for Northern, CO Daylan Figgs: Tonight I'm going to give another project update and ask for an official recommendation on the easements from the Board, there are a series of recommendations for permanent and temporary easements across four Natural Areas, I will provide some brief background information on the project and then discuss the easements property by property. The West Main Project is designed to replace an existing 8" gas pipeline with a 16" high pressure gas pipeline. Public service has roughly .9 miles of existing easements in place Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Wednesday, January 09, 2013 Page 2 of 5 and they are requesting about 2.6 miles of new easements across Natural Areas property. The purpose of the easements is to build, operate, and maintain the pipeline. In previous meeting we have discussed the biological and vegetation resources along the line. I will revisit those details again tonight, discuss the cultural resources, and show the alternative analysis conducted. I will show how we have worked to avoid and minimize impacts to the natural and cultural resources. There are two categories for minimizing impacts timing limitations around nests and den sites and boring under sensitive areas such as wetlands and riparian areas. The project enters the Natural Areas at Coyote Ridge runs parallel to Shields Street to Horsetooth, crossing Coyote Ridge, Colina Mariposa, and Hazaleus working its way north to Kingfisher Point Natural Area. Coyote Ridge (Daylan): There is a blanket easement that allows for oil and gas pipelines to be anywhere within the easement location. There are a few raptor nests and mammal dens in the area of the blanket easement. We will continue to monitor and make adjustments to the alignment as we know the status of the biological resources in the area. We will make our decision based on the timing of the project. The request on Coyote Ridge includes 1) redefine and issue a 50' easement for the pipeline; 2) public service has agree to vacate the blanket easement and replace it with a 50' easement; 3) a 25' temporary easement that parallels the permanent easement; and 4) temporary use areas for storage. Colina Mariposa (Daylan): Xcel is asking for a 50' permanent easement and a 25' temporary easement. The wetland on Colina Mariposa will be bore under and come out in the upland which is a grassland dominated by smooth brome. There are several temporary access easements being requested. In the south portion of the site there is an existing valve set that is currently allowed under a lease and we would prefer to replace lease with an exclusive easement. Michelle Grooms: What is the difference between the two? Daylan Figgs: They function roughly the same way but the easement will be less of an administrative process. Hazaleus NA (Daylan): Smooth brome dominated property, asking for a 50'pemanent easement, a 25' temporary easement, and a series of temporary access easements and temporary use areas. The wetlands on Hazaleus will be bored underneath. Near the old farmstead there is a raptor nest that will initiate the need for timing restrictions assuming the nest is occupied. Kathryn Grimes: Will boring be done 24 hours a day or just during day light? Randy Blank: We will try and work during the day. 1 don't anticipate needing to do night work in this area. In town we might have to but not in this area. Michelle Grooms: Does the boring cause significant vibrations on the surface of the ground? Randy Blank: There might be a little vibration but generally we are deep enough to not cause significant vibrations. Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Wednesday, January 09, 2013 Page 3 of 5 Mark Sears: You would be able to hear the boring machinery. Daylan Figgs: We will avoid the area during nesting. The areas being impacted by project will be restored by Public Service. Kathryn Grimes: Will there be above ground structures in the yellow squares (on map)? Daylan Figgs: No above ground structures will be associated with the project on our areas. There will be some above ground markers that mark the pipeline. The existing valve set will remain in place. Linda Stanley: Has anything changed from previous presentations? Daylan Figgs: There has been a little fine tuning but nothing has changed. Kingfisher Point Natural Area: There are existing easements across the property. There is an existing right-of-way that Xcel will stay within along Timberline, there is an old right-of-way crossing Kingfisher that predates our ownership, Public service has an electric line in it, the gas line will go in it, and there is a sewer and water line in it as well. We want to vacate the right-of-way and issue two easements one for the new gas line and one for the buried electric line. There is a license agreement for where the current gas line exists and we will vacate that as well. We are going to narrow these blanket type easements. We want to vacate the right-of-way so we can control who comes through the property. We may have to adjust the location of the easements depending on if Xcel gets approval to bore under the levee. Mitigation (Daylan) — Cash payment to the City of $2 million, mitigates impacts to the Natural Areas and the City as a whole. There are also in -kind payments. Trudy Haines: Very nice mitigation, thank you. Does that include the restoration or is restoration on top? Daylan Figgs: The initial restoration is in addition to the mitigation contribution. Kathryn Grimes: Who does the physical restoration? Randy Blank: We will probably use Erosion Control of Colorado. Daylan Figgs: Part of the in -kind contributions includes vacating a utility easement across Meadow Spring Ranch. Michelle Grooms: Where is the $2 million going? Daylan Figgs: It was based on the initial idea of building a trail across Colina Mariposa, Hazaleaus to Loveland but it is up to City Council to make the decision. Daylan Figgs: Our easement policy sets the amount of money we charge for easements. Xcel paid an upfront administration fee of $7,500; the value of the easements / easements fee is $83, 557; the restoration and maintenance fee is $65, 940; Ecosystem Impact Fee is $23, 155. Our total compensation at a minimum is $172, 672. Kathryn Grimes: Is this the final? Daylan Figgs: It will go up a little more because of the administration fee. Mark Sears: The $2 million won't go up, depending on what Council decides to do with the $2 million, $172K will have to come to Natural Areas. Michelle Grooms: What are the other impacts that bring the mitigation price tag to $2 million? Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Wednesday, January 09, 2013 Page 4 of 5 Daylan Figgs: Based on a couple of things including traffic impacts. There is also a significant cost saving by staying in the natural areas. The savings is about $2 million. Part of the mitigation is recognizing the savings Public Service is getting by going through the Natural Areas. Linda Stanley: Which is why I think a lot of the money should go to Natural Areas. Mark Sears: That is why we suggested it as a recommendation you might want to make. Trudy Haines: It is not clear in the memo that the cost saving is due to going through the Natural Areas. How much will the trail cost? Daylan Figgs: Approximately $2.2 million Mark Sears: If it goes all the way to 571h Street it will be quite a bit more. Part of completing the trail might become Loveland's responsibility. Daylan Figgs: We want the board to consider a recommendation to council addressing the easement we just covered. Linda Knowlton: It does not include our opinion about what to do with the $2 million mitigation dollars. Daylan Figgs: If there is a suggestion you would like to make I would encourage it. John Stokes: The AIS to Council includes a staff recommendation for the expenditure. Trudy Haines: Important to point out to council that the savings incurred are because the pipeline is going through the NAs and not through streets. Our opinion is that the program and the people should benefit from that because there is a cost when we go through a NA. Linda Stanley: Moved that the Land Conservation and Stewardship Board recommend that City Council authorize the following utility easements for the Xcel Energy West Main Pipeline Project: • A non-exclusive utility easement and a temporary construction easement on Coyote Ridge Natural Area to Public Service Company of Colorado. • An exclusive utility easement, a non-exclusive utility easement, and a temporary construction easement on Colina Mariposa Natural Area to Public Services Company of Colorado. • A non-exclusive utility easement and a temporary construction easement on Hazaleus Natural Area to Public Service Company of Colorado. • Two non-exclusive utility easements on Kingfisher Point Natural Area to Public Service Company of Colorado With the addition that we also recommend that Council approve the spending of the $2,000,000 in mitigation funds offered by PSCo on the construction of the 10' wide concrete regional trail along the east side of Shields Street from Fossil Creek Drive south towards Loveland as far as the funds will allow. Trudy will explain in a Memo to Council the rational due to the cost saving incurred because of the use of Natural Areas. Linda Knowlton: Second Land Conservation & Stewardship Board Wednesday, January 09, 2013 Page 5 of 5 Discussion: Linda Stanley: I would like to say that the whole process has been pretty painless because Xcel has been willing to work with the City and Daylan. I think you all have done a great job and good work. Dan Tekavec: I would like to complement the process as well. We feel we have had good quality discussions about the project and good negotiations. Kathryn Grimes: I appreciate that Xcel has listened to what we had to say. Randy Blank: When you say we are saving money by going into NA that is true, but as Xcel Energy Public Service Company we want to do things as safely as we can, we want to put the pipeline in the safest location possible. Once the pipeline goes in, it will be in operation for a long time and being out of harms -way outside of the road right-of-way is the better place for it. There is benefit there as well. We are motivated more by safety than cost savings. Ed Reifsnyder: What is the estimated life expectancy of the pipeline? Randy Blank: The one that is there now was put in in 1929, 83 — 84 years ago and that was prior to the technology that we have today. With today's technology it could legitimately last forever but there is outside damage that could affect it. Vote: The LCSB unanimously approved the motion.