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ITEM: |
PUBLIC HEARINGS
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17. |
CONSIDER COMMERCIAL-TO-JURISDICTION
WATER USE CREDIT TRANSFER (DISTRICT RULE 28-B) FROM
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Meeting
Date: |
October 16, 2004 |
Budgeted: |
N/A |
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From: |
David A.
Berger, |
Program/ |
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General
Manager |
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Prepared
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Cost Estimate: |
N/A |
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General Counsel Approval: Staff note provided for review |
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Committee Recommendation: N/A |
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CEQA Compliance: CEQA review by City of |
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to District Rule 28-B (Property-To-Property And Property-To-Jurisdiction Transfers Of Water Use Credits For Commercial And Industrial Uses), Foursome Development Company has applied to transfer 0.789 AF (acre-feet) of Water Use Credits from 784 Foam Street (a.k.a. 738, 765, 790 Foam Street) in Monterey to the City of Monterey (Exhibit 17-A). The District will retain 15 percent of the Water Use Credit (0.118 AF) as permanent conservation savings, resulting in a net transfer of 0.671 AF. A copy of District Rule 28-B is attached as Exhibit 17-B.
RECOMMENDATION: The application to transfer Water Use Credits from 784 Foam Street to the City of Monterey meets the criteria to transfer credit listed under Rule 28-B. Staff therefore recommends the Board grant the transfer by motion.
If the application is approved, the property owner will be required to remove the unused water meter on the site and record a deed restriction on the property stating that the Water Use Credits have been permanently abandoned as a result of the transfer. The applicant is also required to verify under penalty of perjury that no valuable consideration has been given in exchange for use of the water credit.
BACKGROUND: Foursome Development Company’s Water Use Credit originated from demolition of 11,474 square-feet of commercial space on the site in November 1994. The water credit expires November 1, 2004, unless transferred to the jurisdiction. The location of the Water Use Credit is presently a parking lot adjacent to the Foursome Development Company office complex. The parking lot landscaping is irrigated via a water meter that served a former triplex on the same site. Transfer of the credits associated with the triplex is not part of this credit transfer request.
District Rule 28-B requires Board approval of a Water Use Credit transfer, subject to the provisions of the rule, if the transfer will not have an adverse impact on the water supply. The City of Monterey, as Lead Agency under CEQA, reviewed the water credit transfer and determined that the proposed water credit transfer could not have a significant effect on the environment and is exempt from the provisions of CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act). In making its CEQA determination on this project (Categorical Exemption under Section 15302 Class 2), the City of Monterey acknowledged that the water credit would be released to the originating site in the future to allow construction of a structure of similar size to the one that was demolished. CEQA Guidelines Section 15302 allows an exemption for replacement or reconstruction of existing structures on the same site when the new structure will have substantially the same purpose and capacity as the structure replaced. A copy of the City’s correspondence approving the transfer and transmitting the Notice of Exemption is attached as Exhibit 17-C.
Rule 28 calls for consideration of the impacts of the application under consideration, as well as the cumulative impacts of other transfers, on the water supply. This transfer does not result in cumulative impacts for the following reasons: First, the City of Monterey, as Lead Agency, determined that a Categorical Exemption applied to this transfer. That Categorical Exemption would have been inapplicable to the project in the presence of cumulative impacts pursuant to CEQA Guideline 15300.2. Second, the City has committed this increment of water to reuse at the same site from which it originated, and the Class 2 exemption upon which the City relied requires that the reconstruction involve negligible or no expansion of capacity. Finally, this transfer is a simple transfer where all water originates from a single site for a proposed use on the same site. This transfer is not a complex transfer involving multiple originating sites or multiple receiving sites. Staff accordingly has not identified any cumulative impact that could result from the proposed transfer.
17-A Application for Water Credit Transfer
17-B District Rule 28-B
17-C Correspondence from City of Monterey and Notice of Exemption, Received September 30, 2004