The following information is intended to address the questions that have been directed to Dean Allison and myself by several City Councilmembers and City Council candidates regarding storm drain projects funded since 1996.

1. According to Dean Allison’s research of City Council minutes, the City has spent about $8,375,000 on storm drain related projects since January 1, 1996. A list of those projects, including the cost of the project and the reference date of City Council action to approve the projects is attached.
2. On January 7, 1997 the City Council awarded a $100,000 contract to AKM Consulting Engineers to prepare a Master Plan of Drainage for the City. That plan was completed and received by the City Council on January 1, 1998. A copy of the 1998 Master Plan of Drainage (without full scale plan sheets is attached). The purpose of the plan was to provide an accurate assessment of existing drainage facilities; including identifying the facilities, evaluating capacities of existing storm drains, identifying deficiencies, evaluating alternative solutions to deficiencies and recommending a prioritized list of improvement projects and their respective capital costs. On August 19, 2003 the City Council approved an update to this plan which will incorporate information developed over the five years since the original study was prepared, further investigate storm drain deficiencies including video of certain facilities and update priorities and costs. The cost of the video work is $40,000. The cost of the Master Plan update is an additional $40,000. The Master Plan update should be completed in the Spring of 2004.
3. In addition to the planning studies mentioned above , in April 2001the City awarded an engineering contract in the amount of $205,000 to further study the storm drains along PVDE. This area of the City was identified in the 1998 Master Plan as having the majority of the City’s deficiencies.
4. The 1998 Master Plan of Drainage identified a drainage problem on PVDE at Bronco Drive as the highest priority storm drain deficiency project for which there were significant costs involved. That project was undertaken and completed in FY 2001at a cost of over $1,000,000.
5. The Sunnyside Ridge Drainage project was another high priority project identified in the 1998 Master Plan of Drainage. In July 2000 the City awarded a contract in the amount of $40,000 to make interim repairs to the Sunnyside Ridge Storm Drain. The design of the Master Plan Sunnyside Ridge Storm Drain was undertaken and completed at about this time also, but the project has not been funded.
6. Other major drainage projects undertaken by the City since 1996 were selected more on the basis of funding opportunities than Master Plan priority. For instance, the developer of Oceanfront Estates (CPH) was required to construct a major drainage structure to carry drainage over the bluff to the ocean. The City entered into an agreement for the developer to size the outfall pipe to also accommodate drainage that was collected in a pipe below City Hall and carried in a ditch across the Point Vicente Interpretive Center site and then simply discharged down the bluff to the ocean. The cost to the City of over-sizing the Oceanfront Estates drainage outfall was about $261,000.
7. In October 2000 the City entered into an agreement with Palos Verdes Estates to participate in a second ocean outfall project near the City’s Western boundary. Again surface drainage that flowed across an undeveloped parcel and then over the bluff was collected into pipes and ultimately into an outfall pipe that concentrated drainage at the top of the bluff and discharged it into the ocean at the foot of the bluff. Our share of the project was $585,000. Prior to initiating the joint project, the owner of the undeveloped property that received the surface drainage had filed a claim against the City for damages to his property due to the discharge of our runoff water onto his property.
8. In May 1997 and again in October 2000 the City reconstructed portions of PVDS through the landslide and upgraded all the storm drains under the portions of the roadway that were rebuilt. The cost of the drainage improvements was $221,605 in 1997 and $327,000 in 2000.
9. In October 2001 the City awarded an emergency contract to repair a failing storm drain structure under PVDS near Peppertree lane. The project cost was about $150,000.
10. While repairing PVDS near 25^th Street in August 2002 the City improved street drainage facilities that may have contributed to settlement problems along the roadway. The total cost of the project was about $400,000.
11. Nearly half of the $8 million in drainage expenditures since 1996 were utilized to stabilize the San Ramon landslide and install related storm drain facilities. The San Ramon storm drain was identified as deficient in the 1998 Master Plan of Drainage as Priority Number 13. The failure of an inlet structure on PVDE in the winter of 2000 led to the discovery that an inadequate outlet structure was accelerating a landslide in San Ramon Canyon. This landslide, that threatened several homes, prompted the project to be undertaken on an emergency basis.

Generally, the City has not been able to adhere to construction of the projects identified in the 1998 Master Plan for two reasons:

1. Unanticipated drainage failures created demands for available funds on projects not listed as high priorities in the Plan.
2. Opportunities to leverage funds and construct drainage projects as part of roadway improvement projects or development projects were deemed to be a more efficient use of available funds.