Appendix B Plan for Services
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APPENDIX B PLAN FOR SERVICES PLAN FOR SERVICES Reorganization of the Northeast Antioch Area to the City of Antioch and the Delta Diablo Sanitation District, consisting of three separate applications for Subareas 1, 2a, and 2b REQUEST: The City is requesting the reorganization of a total of approximately 630 acres of land to the City of Antioch (City) and to the Delta Diablo Sanitation District (DDSD). The land being considered for reorganization is referred to as the Northeast Antioch Annexation Area, and consists of three separate Subareas that differ significantly from each other in terms of physical setting, existing and planned land uses, existing General Plan and zoning designations, typical lot sizes, and other characteristics. All three Subareas are located within the Spheres of Influence of the City and DDSD, and also fall within the City’s Urban Limit Line (ULL), as approved by Antioch voters in November 2006. PHYSICAL AND REGULATORY SETTING: The Northeast Antioch Annexation Area is located northeast of the current Antioch City limits, and includes three Subareas, designated as Subarea 1, Subarea 2a, and Subarea 2b. These three Subareas are described below: Subarea 1: This is an approximately 481 acre area almost entirely occupied or previously occupied by heavy industrial uses. It is located in the “Eastern Waterfront Employment Focus Area” of the City’s General Plan. Subarea 1 is designated within this General Plan Focus Area with a combination of “General Industrial” and “Rail Served Industrial” designations. The City’s prezoning for this Subarea is primarily “Heavy Industrial” with a smaller section south of Wilbur Avenue prezoned as “Light Industrial”. The Federally owned wildlife preserve at the western end of Subarea 1 is prezoned “Open Space”. The County General Plan and Zoning designations are “Heavy Industrial” for all of Subarea 1. This Subarea was developed with industrial uses from the late 1940’s to the early 1970’s, and provided the East County area with thousands of jobs during this time frame. The majority of these industrial uses are no longer in operation, and in many cases the industrial buildings have been torn down. At present less than 50% of the land is occupied by operating businesses. This Subarea presents both the City of Antioch and the region with an excellent opportunity for future economic growthand job creation, given the amount of vacant land, the large size of the parcels, and the access to electrical power generation. Also increasing the potential for future job growth in this Subarea is the accessibility provided by the Burlington Northern rail line that runs east/west through Subarea 1, and the presence of the San Joaquin River deep water channel that is located along the Subarea’s northern boundary. There is an existing deep water port located on the “Northstar” property within this Subarea. No residential uses are located in Subarea 1. In 2008 PG&E completed construction of the 430 megawatt “Gateway Power Generating Station” at the eastern edge of Subarea 1. Another large power generation facility, the 730 megawatt GenOn “Marsh Landing Generating Facility” located just west of the Gateway power plant , is under construction in this subarea. LAFCO in 2008 authorized the City of B - 1 Antioch to execute an “Out of Agency Service Agreement” to provide sewer and water services and DDSD sewer treatment services to the PG&E Gateway Facility. An Out of Agency Agreement for Gateway was subsequently executed in September 2008. LAFCO in 2011 granted the City the authority to enter into an Out of Agency Service Agreement with GenOn to provide City sewer and water services to the Marsh Landing Power Plant. The Out of Agency Service Agreement was executed with GenOn in August 2011. There is an existing approximately 70 acre Federal Wildlife Preserve located in the western portion of Subarea 1. This Preserve serves as habitat for endangered species. Subarea 2a: This Subarea consists of 94 acres, and lies east of Subarea 1, north of Wilbur Avenue, and west of SR 160. This Subarea has City General Plan designations under the “Eastern Waterfront Employment Focus Area” of “Marina Support Uses” and “Commercial”. The County’s General Plan and Zoning Designations are “Heavy Industrial”. Subarea 2a is much different in character from Subarea 1, and consists almost entirely of two existing marinas and storage uses. While the intensity of existing development is low, the amount of vacant land in this area is minimal. Approximately five residential units are located in this Subarea, along with a few “live aboards” on boats docked in the two marinas. Both of the marinas currently receive City potable water based on previous arrangements with the City that predate the formation of LAFCO. All existing uses in this Subarea utilize on site septic systems to handle their waste water. Subarea 2b : This Subarea is 103 acres in size, and consists almost entirely of residential uses. The City General Plan Designation for this Subarea is “Medium Low Density Residential”, which allows residential densities of up to 6 units/acre. The County’s General Plan and Zoning designations for Subarea 2b call for residential uses with 10,000 minimum square foot lots in the eastern portion of Subarea 2b, with a combination of very low density with 40,000 sq. ft. minimum lots and A-2 Agricultural. This area is generally located south of Wilbur Avenue and north of East 18th Street, with most of the residential uses located in close proximity to Viera Avenue. There are approximately 120 existing residential units in this area, with the majority of these being single family homes that were built in the 1940’s and 1950’s. There are a number of newer homes located in the southwest portion of the Subarea, most of which date back to the 1970 and 1980’s. Almost all of the residential uses within Subarea 2b rely on aging septic fields and drinking water wells. Based on information from the County Health Department none of the existing wells and septic fields in Subarea 2b meet the current minimum separation requirements between the boundary of the septic field and the potable water well head. The majority of the residential properties within Subarea 2b also don’t meet the lot size requirements to contain a septic field and potable water well. In addition, most of the wells are older and therefore lack an impervious casing to protect the well from infiltration. The County Health Department has stated to City staff that they are concerned about the public health situation facing Subarea 2b, given the small lot sizes coupled with the almost total reliance on wells and septic fields that don’t meet current standards. However, the ability of the County Health Department to inspect and monitor the condition of these wells and septic fields is limited, and typically only occurs on a complaint basis or if a building permit is applied for and issued. The few wells the County Health Department has the authority to monitor on a regular basis are limited to those wells that provide water to multiple properties. While these regular inspections of wells serving multiple properties B - 2 have not to date resulted in the closure of any wells for public health reasons, the County Health Department has noted high levels of nitrates in the wells. County Health staff has indicated that high nitrate levels are commonly precursors to bacterial contamination. The streets in the area are in poor to very poor condition, and lack storm water drainage. Most of the streets, other than Viera Avenue lack paving, with their surfacing consisting largely of gravel and dirt. The lack of storm drainage creates “ponding” during moderate to heavy rains. While the majority of the streets in the area are public streets, there are a number of private streets. These private streets are located in the southwest section of the Subarea, just north of East 18th street. PROVISION OF CITY, DDSD, AND OTHER AGENCY SERVICES AND INFRASTRUCTURE TO THE THREE SUBAREAS: Overview The following sections describe the means by which the City, DDSD, and other agencies will provide municipal and special district services and infrastructure to the three annexation Subareas. The description of the services being provided is applicable to all three Subareas unless otherwise noted. The attached table (see Attachment 1) presents a summary of which service provider is currently providing services to the annexation area and which provider will be providing services after annexation, along with additional information. Level of Detail Provided: While all three Subareas are addressed collectively, more detailed information is provided on the sewer, water, and storm drain infrastructure systems to serve Subarea 2b. This is due to the fact that the City, through the terms of its Tax Sharing Agreement with the County, has agreed to jointly fund with the County the sewer, water, and storm drain infrastructure to serve Subarea 2b. The additional detailed information provided for Subarea 2b includes data such as pipe sizes, pipe depths, pipe locations etc. The information for the other two Subareas (1 and 2a) is more conceptual, and presents a “broad brush” picture of the proposed infrastructure system needed to serve those two Subareas. The other point to note in relation to Subarea 2b is that the funding needed to install the infrastructure within Subarea 2b is presumed to come from the tax revenues the City anticipates from the annexation of Subarea 1. From a financial perspective, given the high infrastructure costs to serve Subarea 2b (a minimum of $6 million) and given Subareas 2b’s almost total reliance on wells and septic fields, tax revenues generated by the annexation of Subarea 1 are necessary to pay for the costly water and sewer infrastructure system to serve Subarea 2b.