minutes

South Bay Irrigation District

April 21, 2003

The Board of Directors of South Bay Irrigation District held a regular meeting on Monday, April 21, 2003, at the Sweetwater Authority Administrative Office, 505 Garrett Avenue, Chula Vista, California. President Pocklington called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.

ROLL CALL

Directors Present: Pocklington, Welsh, Wolniewicz and Wright

Directors Absent: Doud.

Others Present: General Manager Dennis Bostad, Operations Manager Mark Rogers, Legal Counsel Peggy Strand, Board Secretary Marisa Farpón-Friedman, and Sweetwater Authority’s Communications Director Roberts. Also present were Laurie Madigan, Community Development Director, and Leisa Lukes, Bayfront Project Manager for the City of Chula Vista.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Director Pocklington conducted the pledge of allegiance to the flag.

OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT (Government Code Section (54954.3)
There was no comment from the public.

CHAIR’S PRESENTATION
There was no presentation.

ACTION AGENDA

PRESENTATION BY LAURIE MADIGAN, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, AND LEISA LUKES, BAYFRONT PROJECT MANAGER FOR THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA
Western Chula Vista/Bayfront.

General Manager Bostad introduced Laurie Madigan and Leisa Lukes from the City of Chula Vista. Laurie Madigan is the City of Chula Vista’s new Director for Community Development. She has over 20 years of professional experience in the public and private sector focused on planning and development in San Diego County.
Leisa Lukes is the City’s Bayfront Redevelopment Project Manager for the City. Prior to joining the City, Ms. Lukes was a Development Project Manager for the City of San Diego and managed a number of large-scale development proposals including the San Diego Natural History Museum Renovation and proposed Zoo expansion.

Ms. Madigan said she just started working for the City in mid-January as the new Community Development Director. As a result of being so new, Leisa Lukes would give the presentation due to her being much more familiar with what is happening in the City. She noted that the Community Development Department is responsible for the redevelopment and revitalization of the City and is separate from the Planning Department.

Ms. Lukes said that today she would to talk to the Board regarding the revitalization efforts that the City is doing through the Community Development Department, including the Redevelopment Project areas, the increase in housing units as a result of revitalization, and how the public will get involved.

The City has several redevelopment project areas and four of those are located West of Interstate 805. She mentioned the Southwest Redevelopment Project, with the Town Centers 1 and 2 along 3rd Avenue; the Bayfront Redevelopment Project area; and the Otay Redevelopment Project on the east side of I-805. The City is looking at expanding the Redevelopment Project Area boundaries upwards and inclusive of about 500 acres. This project would be completed by December of 2003.

The revitalization benefits are many including increased job opportunities, new culture, shopping and recreational activities, and improved financial assets. With the revenues brought in by sales, tax increment, etc., the City has the ability to do more work with Western Chula Vista. It also improves the safety of our citizens, which in turn attracts new development and becomes a nice cycle for enhancements to the West. Also through the revitalization, the City will try to provide new housing for all income levels.

The Southwest Redevelopment Project area includes three housing developments. The MAAC Senior Housing Project, which will provide housing for 42 seniors, is adjacent to the Charter School on Broadway and K Street. Another project is the Main Plaza, on Broadway and Main, which will bring on line about 106 detached units and 15,000 square feet of commercial. The project at Broadway and J Street will add townhomes and lofts, as well as 9,000 square feet of commercial. The commercial will be along the Broadway street frontage, with lofts above and townhomes towards the rear. This will bring in the mixed use along Broadway and keep the commercial up.

The Town Centre I Project Area is mainly along 3rd Avenue, E Street to I Street. The goal of the Town Centre area is to implement the vision of downtown Chula Vista as a business, entertainment, civic and cultural focal point of the City. The Gateway Project, which was a catalyst for this goal, is bringing on board 347,000 feet of upscale office and 75,000 square feet of retail space with signature restaurants and retail stores, which in turn is bringing 1,200 new employees to the downtown 3rd Avenue area. Phase I is complete and Phase II is just getting underway. There is a third phase and it will be completed by 2007.

The Espanada Project is being proposed adjacent to the Gateway. It is in its early planning stages to be two twin towers and add about 176 upscale residential units to the downtown area along H Street. There will be 16 townhomes behind the two towers along Roosevelt Avenue.

The Chula Vista at Landis project is proposed at the site of the old Leader Building, which has been vacant on 3rd Avenue for a significant number of years, and it is looked at to be a catalyst to jump start the downtown center. It is a 6-story, innovative architectural structure that would bring on 168 luxury units and some commercial. This would cost approximately $36 million.

Another project on the North end on E Street and 3rd Avenue is the North Downtown Anchor Project. It would encompass all four corners of 3rd and E. The principal element in this project is an Anchor Grocery Store. Because this project is in the early stages, it is not yet known how many residential units it will bring to the downtown area.

Further south on 3rd Avenue, South of H Street at Alvarado, is the Sweetwater School District’s property that they are proposing to develop. The District’s headquarters office is at the site and adjacent to it would be townhomes and apartments with some retail stores. That would add about 120 residential units to that portion of downtown.

West of downtown, there is a project called a Transit-oriented development, located between E and F along the Trolley line running east to Woodlawn. It will be focused towards transit use by its residents and businesses and will encompass the E Street Trolley Station and 400 residential units. This is being proposed by Barone Galasso who have been responsible for a number of signature projects in Little Italy and are very experienced in both affordable and luxury units.

General Growth, the owner of the Chula Vista Center, is proposing a façade renovation to the building located at the northwest side of the Center. There are discussions with McMillan Companies for another residential project to the south of the Center. As renovations take place, they may be looking at ways to better use the parking areas that are underutilized right now.

The Bayfront Redevelopment is one of the largest project areas. It has approximately 700 acres and it includes private land, public land owned by the Fish and Wildlife Service, land held by the Port District, and land owned by BF Goodrich. The mid-bayfront area is 400 acres, 300 of which have been dedicated previously to the Sweetwater Wildlife Refuge and are managed by the Fish and Wildlife Agency. The other 100 acres are under the private ownership of Pacifica Development Project for the Bayfront Village. The project and developer entered into an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement last year and came up with a proposal for approximately 3,400 residential units. Through the process it was determined that the density for that project area may have been overwhelming. They continue to get public feedback and have modified their design proposal, which they anticipate getting back to the City probably late May or early June. The initial development proposal had a significant number of residential units, a small number of retail uses, two business-class hotels and one resort hotel. Chula Vista is in desperate need of a nice first- class hotel. Once the developer comes up with a proposal, it will take one to one-and-a-half years before they get it to the California Coastal Commission, and after that it will take about two years to obtain building permits.

The City and the Port have recently entered into an agreement with Carrier Johnson Architects and Cooper, Robertson and Partners of New York to embark on the Port Master Plan. Because of the State Lands Commission, there is not the ability to put residential on the port tidelands area. Several years ago the City embarked on a three-party agreement with the Port and Goodrich to relocate Goodrich. By consolidating facilities north of H Street, they now have control of all the warehousing and structures south of H Street and that will now become part of the Port Master Planning process, which would result in a good front door entry statement into our City.

By 2004, Duke Energy needs to identify the site preferred for relocating the power plant. There are three choices. The power plant can be located on its current site, on an off site on the waterfront in Chula Vista south of the current location, or off site outside of Chula Vista. The City’s choice would be to keep the power plant within its boundaries because of the tax benefits. The City is not a party to the discussions but is trying to come to the table as much as possible just to be aware of what is going on.

Regarding the potential desalination facility, the City recognizes the synergistic relationship between the power plant and the desalination facility. Putting them side-by- side would be a financial benefit to the desalination facility. There is also an environmental benefit. All estimates, according to the Carlsbad facility, would indicate that there could be more than 50 million gallons per day of potable water produced out of the desalination facility. Both the Poseidon Group and US Filter came to the City and had early discussions, but it is all on hold now due to the uncertainty of the power plant. Because of the importance of both of these efforts, the City has appointed Sid Morris to be a liaison for all of these activities.

The City tries to stay in very close touch with the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Business Association, the Broadway Business Association, the Port and other large businesses like BF Goodrich. The General Plan Update Process that is on-line is the City’s plan for the next 20 years. There will be a general plan update meeting at the Town Hall at the end of the summer. The current general plan identifies about 2,500 more units on the west side of the City, but this plan is outdated. The plan today shows 3,500 units approximately coming on-line within the next 5-10 years, and the number could be significantly greater if we look at the next 20 years.

The next public meeting for the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan and the Port Master Planning process is May 21, 2003. The Port encourages citizens to participate in its public meetings, presentations and workshops. There are also public outreach meetings for the Bayfront. In a continued effort to integrate all the activities going on in Western Chula Vista, the City Manager has appointed a Western Chula Vista Development Manager, Chris Salomone, as a liaison person to coordinate the activities of all the departments. There are five interdepartmental teams of the City staff to look at key things like parks, infrastructure, water, sewer,local traffic, regional traffic, and the I-5 corridor.

Questioned by Director Wolniewicz about the traffic issue, Ms. Lukes said the City would be doing a specific traffic analysis to determine where uses can and cannot be intensified and where traffic can and cannot be handled. The City will look at existing and potential traffic patterns and how some of those issues can be resolved.

Answering a question by Director Wright, Ms. Madigan said that the City is not a part of the contractual relationship between the Port and Duke, and it is only trying to monitor and follow, providing influence where it can.

Director Welsh said she was concerned about the movement to take small businesses that are viable and functional but not signature businesses, and destroy them in the attempt to upgrade the community.

Ms. Madigan said that the Department reaches out to businesses and sends letters asking if they want to be involved, and tries to get a sense from the business owners as to where they would like to go. If possible, the City tries to incorporate businesses into the redevelopment process, but that is not always achievable. If that is the case, the City goes through the relocation process with them.

Director Welsh also expressed her concern about tearing down everything and she hoped that there would be some kind of a mix. Ms. Madigan said the City is going to try very hard to maintain a mix of things and that the businesses that are unique to Chula Vista stay unique to Chula Vista. She reinforced the importance of public participation in this plan effort and that will help the City designate where it wants to keep the feel of the existing and where it wants to make big changes.

General Manager Bostad thanked Ms. Madigan and Ms. Lukes for their presentation. He noted the importance of sharing ideas and learning what our organizations are doing. Sweetwater Authority is interested in developing new, more diversified supplies like desalination and wants to continue coordinating with the City and the Port. There are potential issues of available water distribution to the new redevelopment locations, and Sweetwater Authority’s Engineering Department is coordinating with the City’s Planning and Engineering Department. He appreciates the efforts of communicating back and forth so that we can insure an excellent product and provide good service to our customers.

President Pocklington also thanked Ms. Madigan and Ms. Lukes. He said our service area has had a growth factor of only two percent in the last 20 years and we welcome new development because it brings additional funding to continue improving our system. He said he would like them to come back later in the summer with more information on desalination and on the Bayfront project.

There was a 5-minute break at 4:14 p.m.

The meeting resumed at 4:20 p.m.

ITEMS TO BE ADDED, WITHDRAWN OR REORDERED TO THE AGENDA
(Government Code Section 54956.5)

There were none.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Director Wright made a motion, seconded by Director Wolniewicz, that the Board approve the minutes of the regular meeting of March 17, 2003, with a correction to his comment under Directors Comments regarding the plant at Tampa. Director Wright clarified what he meant under Item 11. Directors Comments. After line three, what he said should be changed in the minutes to read: “the problem is that debris in surface litter can foul the membranes. They were working on systems to protect the membranes so that they would not be fouled. The second issue he wanted to comment on was the Water Education Conference, which was very informative. Peter McLaughlin’s presentation on the desalination plant at Carlsbad was given some good slaps by an opposing panelist, one of the issues being the cost. During public’s opportunity to ask questions, he took the microphone to support and defend desalination. He is expecting some paperwork from the Water Education program organizers, which would give the outline of the opposing speaker’s views and major points. The final item, that is general information, was in the morning paper, an article highlighting an article: not oil, water, around the world is the next big fight on the planet. The motion carried.

APPROVAL OF DEMANDS AND WARRANTS

Director Wright made a motion, seconded by Director Wolniewicz, that warrant numbers 9970 through 9980 be approved. The motion carried.

APPROVAL OF DIRECTORS’ ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS AND FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

There were no items to be discussed.

NEW BUSINESS

· Renewal of Contract for Mandated Cost Services with Centration for the period of July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2006. President Pocklington gave a brief report on the services provided by Centration and the estimated amounts that we should be receiving from the State. Director Wolniewicz made a motion, seconded by Director Wright, that the Board approve renewing the contract for professional services with Centration to prepare Fiscal Years 2003-04 through 2005-06 State-Mandated Cost Reimbursement Claims. The motion carried.

· Scholarship Award. Director Welsh made a motion, seconded by Director Wolniewicz, that the Governing Board award its $1,000 scholarship to Cristina Jimenez, a Chula Vista resident and Marian Catholic High School Senior, and that her application be forwarded to the CSDA competition as the South Bay Irrigation District finalist. The motion carried.

· Recommendations of Ad Hoc Committee regarding modifications to Directors’ per diem. Director Welsh gave a report on the meeting that the Ad Hoc Committee, composed of Director Doud, herself, and the General Manager, had held on April 4th regarding the District’s current financial situation and the fact that expenses are exceeding the income. Several issues were discussed, such as what type of meetings could be legitimately claimed as the District’s expense; whether a director who also represents another agency could claim attendance at certain meetings from that other agency; and whether the District should pay per diem to a director who attends a meeting as an interested observer rather than the official delegate. The Committee’s recommendation was to adopt a temporary fee structure establishing compensation at $120 per session for each Board member and to reevaluate the situation in six months.

Director Wright made a motion, seconded by Director Welsh, that the Board hold a Public Hearing at its next Regular Meeting on May 19, 2003 to consider a proposed resolution to change compensation paid to directors to $120 for attendance at meetings or for services rendered as members of the Board. The motion carried.

REPORT OF TREASURER

Ms. Avery noted that the only income that the District has is through interest earned by the investments. The rumors are that the interest rates may drop another ¼ percent.

REPORT OF LAFCO SPECIAL DISTRICTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBER

Director Wolniewicz said that there was no meeting.

REPORT OF LAFCO SPECIAL DISTRICTS REGULAR MEMBER

President Pocklington had nothing to report.

REPORT OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY REPRESENTATIVE

President Pocklington said that the SDCWA is working with the City of Carlsbad on the desalination but there has been some slowdown in the progress. The City of Carlsbad recently indicated that it disagrees with the CWA’s designation as the lead agency and may choose to challenge that designation. Carlsbad appears to base its position on a narrow view of the project as initially envisioned by Poseidon. He hopes the situation will change because we could lose the subsidy that MWD is working on. According to the CWA’s General Manager, the way the City of Carlsbad wants to run the plant would cost the CWA millions of dollars every year. President Pocklington said that all but two agencies had voted in favor of the CWA being the lead agency.

President Pocklington talked about Assembly Bill 1385 sponsored by the Economic Group, which wants to change the voting rules at the CWA. It would keep the weighted vote but change it to having the majority of the agencies approve it. It sounds to him like a good idea but he thinks it should be discussed in the boardroom of the CWA, not in Sacramento. He voted against it once and he will again.

DIRECTORS’ COMMENTS

Director Wright read a press release from September 10, 2001 that stated, “Departure of Krauel roils water issues here. Her resignation stirs talk of a major shift in policy. Her resignation came soon after San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy removed her as delegate to the powerful Los Angeles based Metropolitan Water District’s board where Krauel had been an outspoken critic of the MWD on behalf of San Diego Water interests. Her departure from water policies after years of being a major player has brought strong reactions and speculation. Her removal from the MWD board signals a shift in regional water policy.” Director Wright added he would like to explore the fact that he does not think there is any change. He is suggesting that the CWA had an opportunity in years gone by to throw all its support and water concerns with MWD because the supposition was that “they’ll take care of us, they have the water.” In his opinion what has really happened over the years is that San Diego continues to want to pursue its own interests and wants its own supply and it does not want to be part of the MWD. At one of the last MWD board meetings, they had a whole program of five more elements that have to go in before they would sign off. He thinks it will eventually be solved but he does not see any major change, even with a change in the CWA Directors at MWD, in what San Diego’s position is as regards MWD, Krauel notwithstanding. The second item was a press release regarding Congressman Bob Filner calling for the preservation and expansion of salmon and steelhead habitat in the Pacific Northwest. All species of salmon and steelhead in Washington’s Snake River are listed under the Endangered Species Act. If we do nothing salmon and steelhead in Washington’s beautiful Snake River will be extinct very soon. Another press release, “Endangered Species Act reform can start with critical habitat designation. Idaho Senator accelerated efforts to reform the federal Endangered Species act at a hearing examining the process under which critical habitat to save species is designated and how the process is managed.”

CLOSED SESSION

There was no need for a closed session.

13. ADJOURNMENT

With no further business before the Board, President Pocklington adjourned the meeting at 5:22 p.m., to the hour of 3:30 p.m., on May 19, 2003.