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___n________n______--------------------------------------------------------------______n_________n______n_-_-- 2) Storm Water Management Program / Flooding Issues (802) REPORT; Utilities Committee of the City Council, May 4,1998 Update: Discussions with Friendly Acres and Centennial Neighborhood Associations Update: February Storms Damage Repairs and Discussions with FEMA Proposed Next Steps in Addressing Flooding Problems Vice Mayor Ruskin, Chairman of the Council Utilities Committee, said he would concentrate his remarks on a specific aspect of the far ranging Report, the most challenging aspect of it - flooding of various neighborhoods in Redwood City. He said, "the flooding has bought an outpouring of feeling recently, because of advent of EI Nino, which was in a sense the straw that broke the camel's back. Recently there have been a series of meetings in the neighborhoods.... at Fair Oaks the Neighborhood Association as well as the special Flood Committee of that Neighborhood where I was present representing Mayor Howard. Peter Ingram and staff were present. The Centennial Neighborhood Association meeting with special emphasis and discussion about the flooding where both the Mayor and I were present along with Peter and staff. "Before the flooding occurred the Utilities Committee made a decision to look into the flooding to see if we could come up with a plan to provide a solution to the challenge. I'm here tonight to talk about the recommendation of the Utility Committee. It is a unanimous recommendation. There are three members on the Committee, Council Member Dick Claire who is not here tonight, Council Member Jeff Ira and myself. "We have a strong, unanimous recommendation, that we face the problem. And we have looked into the situation and think there is only one workable approach to the problem. It is a massive problem demanding significant resources in the millions of dollars. And we feel there is only one workable approach and that is, to combine the sanitary sewer system with the capital improvement of the storm drainage system into one Enterprise Fund. The purpose of that would be to be able to issue Revenue Bonds. We feel that the issuance of Revenue Bonds is the only workable option that the City has to face the challenge of flooding.... We also feel strongly that it is the right thing to do, not only because we are all in this together, and what affects one neighborhood really ought to affect us all, but also because everybody who is upstream contributes to the run-off that eventually impacts the bottom of the basin in the neighborhoods where flooding occurs. It is also imprudent to continue to operate in the way we have, because we are forced into a reactive mode. And every winter when there is a serious storm problem, the entire Public Works Services Department is forced to go into a reactive mode rather than to be in a proactive mode able to do the work we really want them to do. "Although we are unanimously recommending that we take action on this, we also want to bring up the fact that it is a multi-agency problem. It is not simply Redwood City that needs to deal with this. The County needs to be brought in because its run-off is part of Study Session MINUTE BOOK NO. 56 May 4, 1998 Minutes Page No. 440 Page 9