Project Overview and Recommendations
Updated Version:
Save Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park
Project Overview and Recommendations
Introduction
The City of Folsom is preparing to build a road about 2,500 feet long thru much of the Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park to allow sewer maintenance vehicles to access a sewer line that services approximately 40 homes. The proposed road parallels the 2,000-foot sewer line. It would be located on the north ridge of the park just below the back property line of the homes located on Canyon Rim Drive, Rock Canyon Court and River Ridge Way. Between 125 and 250 mature oak trees will be cut down to clear the path for the road. This is a destruction of 13 percent of this entire woodland. The cost to construct the road is over a million dollars.
The road surface is 12 feet wide & with cut-and-fill = 21 1/2 feet; but effect on trees is another 50 feet totaling a whopping 71 ½-foot wide destruction of the beautiful oak woodland forest of Hinkle Creek Nature Area. Doing the math [2,550 x 71 ½ = 4.2 acres]. This will destroy 13% of the 31.8-acre park (main unit). This drawing illustrates the destruction:
--auto cad drawing by Marty Speer
Between 1995 and 2000, the City of Folsom had several sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) of raw sewage, ranging in volume from 84,000 to 700,000 gallons. These SSOs spilled into the American River and the Folsom South Canal. In March 2000, the City of Folsom was fined $700,000 for not properly maintaining their sewer system which allowed 700,000 gallons of raw sewage to flow into the American River. Since the sewer line in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area has not been maintained to City standards and Hinkle Creek flows into the American River we face the real possibility of a replay of the same situation the City experienced with the 700,000 gallon raw sewage overflow into the American River. Our community fully supports expeditiously getting the sewer line properly maintained or replaced. We do not want raw sewage flowing into the American River!
However, we believe the City Staff have overlooked obvious solutions to resolve this situation which would: (1) Get the sewer maintenance completed before sooner than the road, (2) Save the City + $1 million dollars, (3) Not require City to kill up to 250 oak trees and (4) eliminate the need for the road completely. Despite these facts, we believe City Staff is still pursuing the road that will kill the trees.
The City Staff plan to bring this issue before the City Council soon. We will need your support. You can stay connected: Send an email with your name/email address to: SaveHinkleCreek@gmail.com, log on to NextDoor.com – Hinkle Creek Park, or Facebook: Hinkle Creek.
Location
The American River Canyon community in Folsom has a number of parks to enjoy. Two outstanding of these are the Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park and Lew Howard Park which are located just south of Oak Avenue Parkway between Auburn Folsom Road and American River Canyon Drive. While adjacent to one another, they are very different. Lew Howard Park is a traditional park with basketball, tennis, swing sets, jungle gyms and a very nice picnic area. Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park is pristine nature area with a half a mile of self-guided dirt trail, where trees, habitat and cultural/historical points of interest are allowed to remain in their natural state.
If you have not already, we encourage you to experience the 36 acres in the Hinkle Creek Nature City Park for yourself. The trail head is across the street from the Hinkle Creek Nature Center in Lew Howard Park at 7000 Baldwin Dam Road (at the intersection of Oak Avenue and Baldwin Dam Road). The trail proceeds across Hinkle Creek on a new walking bridge and then parallels the creek for about a half a mile until you reach Oak Avenue Parkway northeast of the fire station. The City Arborist, Ken Menzer, has installed sign posts—50 Points of Interest--see the park features explained at each sign post, go to: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zQSN9cvYL_X8.kgAEe2E7IQCs&hl=en_US
A great time for the children is to take them to Lew Howard Park and let them walk along the creek through the Hinkle Creek Nature Area and back, then enjoy the facilities in Lew Howard Park. Do be careful of the Pacific Rattlesnake which is here. Also be sure to check out the Hinkle Creek Nature Center for a wide variety of fun learning programs for kids.
History
In the late 1970’s, the developer was approved to build about 150 homes in a development called American River Parkway. The homes completed construction in early 1980’s. Soon after the new owners moved in a series of issues developed in the open space between the new housing development and what is today the Lew Howard Park. Most significant among these issues were a series of robberies where the thieves access the back of the homes undetected through the open space and motor cycle riders tearing up the landscape and creating a major noise issue. In time, the community leaders worked with the City of Folsom City Council, the Folsom Police Department and developer to accomplish the following:
Habitat
The Hinkle Creek Nature Area is a wonderful oak woodland & riparian woodland. Riparian woodland along Hinkle Creek has willows, white alders and valley oaks. Blue oak woodland has blue oaks, interior live oaks, foothill pines and California buckeye. A rich understory of shrubs, forbs and grasses is present including miner’s lettuce, blackberries, & elderberries. The Federally threatened Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle may be present. A few dead trees provide important wildlife values and add to the natural surroundings. A 1984 winter survey by Jack Wilburn showed 41 species of birds and numerous mammals including deer, coyote, opossum, raccoon, gray fox, Audubon cottontail, black-tailed jackrabbit, western gray squirrel. The Pacific rattlesnake is present, so watch your step. Birds include California jays, turkeys, red-shafted flickers, brown towhees, Western mockingbirds, mourning doves, white-tailed kites, crows, vultures soaring overhead, red-shoulder hawk, Cooper’s hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, acorn woodpecker, tree swallows, robins, Oregon juncos, Anna’s hummingbirds, bullock’s oriole, plain titmouse, and passing to and fro overhead to other places are American egrets, Canada geese, mallard ducks, great blue herons and California gulls.
photo: Marty Speer
Note the proximity of sewer manhole to property line
City of Folsom Cultural Resources Inventory
On January 2, 2008, the Hinkle Creek Nature Area was formally added to City of Folsom’s Cultural Resources Inventory. It was added to the inventory because of the following unique attributes:
City Parks & Recreation Commission adopted a Master Plan to guide development & public use. After debating various proposals, the Commission recommended to City Council (1) the natural resources of the park be preserved, (2) existing road bordering Hinkle Creek—Old Oak Avenue—be closed to motor vehicles & reserved for pedestrians & bicyclists, (3) only narrow dirt pedestrian trails be permitted in the natural woodland, (4) small kiosks for information, & (5) the Hinkle Creek Nature Center (renovation of existing but abandoned firehouse which cost $740,000 from State & Federal grants. The Master Plan was approved by City Council 22 August 2006. Thus, City of Folsom Master Plan for Hinkle Creek Nature Area prohibits “the road” & cutting down trees as proposed by sewer department. A copy of the Master Plan is shown on following page.
Sewer Line
When the American River Canyon development was initially approved by the City of Folsom, it included an unusual provision for the sewer system. Rather than connecting homes on both sides of the street to a sewer line that ran down the middle of the street, it approved the installation of two sewer lines. The first more conventional line runs down the center of the street and serves homes on one side of the street. The second sewer line is located in what is today the Hinkle Creek Nature Area, and serves 40 homes that are adjacent to the nature area. In hindsight, we are confident that the City of Folsom wishes they had required the developer to connect the 40 homes to the sewer line that runs right down the center of the street so that homes on both sides of the street would be served by a single sewer line that is easy to access and maintain.
Background
There are a number of areas throughout the City of Folsom that have sewer lines that are located in areas that are difficult for the City Sewer department to maintain and provide emergency service. Many of these areas contain creeks that flow into the American River.
Between 1995 and 2000, the city had several overflows of raw sewage into the American River and the Folsom South Canal. The largest overflow occurred in 2000, when the Central Valley Regional Water
Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB) fined the city $700,000 after a spill sent 700,000 gallons of sewage into the American River. State regulators cited the city’s failure to conduct preventative maintenance.
In 2003, Folsom embarked on a 10-year, $20 million program to upgrade its pump stations, fix leaks and deal with an eight-year maintenance and repair backlog.
As recently as October 2015, the sewer line serving the 40 homes adjacent to Hinkle Creek Nature Area overflowed an estimated 3,000 gallons of raw sewage above Hinkle Creek. Fortunately, testing above and below Hinkle Creek established that the waste did not reach the creek.
Master Plan for Hinkle Creek
City of Folsom Road Construction Study
On February 11, 2014, the City Council gave the Environmental and Water Resources Department approval to spend $268,000 for design and construction administration of roads in the three areas: Canyon Rim (Hinkle Creek), River Rock and Winding Canyon. We believe the City Council and the Environmental and Water Resources Department overlooked some very obvious alternatives to building a road they should have considered before spending over a quarter of a million dollars on a project to do a preliminary road design.
For a complete copy of the February 11, 2014 City Council Resolution 9309 please visit the Folsom City Council website at:
http://www.folsom.ca.us/city_hall/WebAgenda/Agenda/MG126724/AS126731/AI126617/DO127434/DO_127434.pdf
City of Folsom Sewer Maintenance Improvement Plan
Almost a year after the Folsom City Council approved $268,000 for the design of the roads, the City held its first public meeting to describe the proposed plan to improve the sewer maintenance in three communities: Canyon Rim (Hinkle Creek Nature Area), River Rock and Winding Canyon.
Public Meeting 1 - January 28, 2015
The first public meeting was led by Marcus Yasutake, Director of Environmental and Water Resources (EWR) Department (Sewer Department) on January 28, 2015. During that meeting the City representatives stated that City of Folsom was required to have a Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP) with State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB).
“Flushing, visual and video inspections for preventative maintenance
– 5 years max interval for Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP)
– City does this annually in these areas”
The bottom line of the presentation was these areas were difficult to reach and the City wanted to build roads to allow sewer trucks to drive up to the manholes to provide maintenance and emergency service. The community voiced strong opposition to the plan to build roads that destroy natural habitat and asked the City to explore other alternatives to provide proper sewer maintenance. It is important to note that our community clearly understands the importance of proper sewer maintenance and is very disappointed that our City was responsible for major sewer breaches into the American River. Specific to the Hinkle Creek Nature Area, we have very high degree of confidence that the current sewer line has not been maintained in accordance with the sewer department standards. We believe there are significant sections of the sewer pipe that have not been flushed or video camera inspected in well over five years. As you will see later in this document, we have a very high degree of confidence that the environment can be protected from sewage spills and at the same time preserve our pristine nature areas. We believe that the City should practice what its tag line suggests “Distinctive by Nature” by protecting our City’s nature areas.
For a complete copy of the City’s presentation go to: http://www.folsom.ca.us/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=22685
Public Meeting 2 – August 12, 2015
The second public meeting was led by Marcus Yasutake, Director of Environmental and Water Resources (EWR) Department on August 12, 2015. This meeting was primarily focused on the Canyon Rim/Hinkle Creek area. There were two important slides from the presentation. First is cost. The City is recommending building a road that will cost +$1 million dollars. The other two alternatives that were investigated were building a second sewer line in the center of the street to provide service for the 40 homes. This cost was estimated at $6 million dollars. The second alternative they considered was to add pumping stations for each of the 40 homes currently served by the Hinkle Creek sewer line to pump the waste from behind the 40 homes into the sewer beneath the street which would cost $1.5M.
The second, and maybe most interesting, conclusion the City reached was there were no other practical alternatives to the road. (See the third bullet point from August 2015 presentation below.) This is a very important conclusion as we believe the City overlooked a very practical and obvious alternative which City staff has yet to explore.
For a complete copy of the City’s presentation go to: http://www.folsom.ca.us/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=23699
2016 Updated Cost to Build the Road Increase to $2 million!
In reviewing the 2016 budget we discovered that the budgeted amount to build the road has increased from the $1M estimate presented in the August 2015 meeting seven months ago to $1,970,000 as published in the FY16 Budget Final approved. The City of Folsom recorded $205,143 expended in FY15 Budget and $1,764,857 in the 2016 approved budget. Refer to the link below for the details on pages 464 & 465. We can only imagine how much it will grow after they actually begin construction.
http://folsom-web.civica.granicuslabs.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=23027
City of Folsom Staff Recommendation
During a City Council meeting upcoming in next few months we expect the Environmental and Water Resources Department will present the array of alternatives, listing pros & cons, costs, & impacts to the forest of trees in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area. Reference the City’s diagram on the next page:
Save Hinkle Creek Nature Area Recommended Alternatives
We believe there are at least two viable alternatives to the proposed road.
Capital Cost Operating Costs
Alternatives Capital Cost - Annual Maintenance Cost* Displacement Cost of City Workers Net Operating Cost
Road Construction + $2,000,000 $30,000 NA $30,000
Independent Contractor Zero! $31,000 $30,000 $ 1,000
Pumps #1 +$1,500,000 $30,000 NA $30,000
Pumps #2 +$1,000,000 $30,000 NA $30,000
____________________________________________________________________________________
*Notes:
*Road Construction: We are estimating it costs $15,000 to have the City perform sewer line maintenance with the road plus an additional $15,000 in annual expenses to maintain the road
*Improved Maintenance: Cost of professional services to have the sewer line flushed annually and video inspection every other year is $15,000 ($7,000 to clean + $6,000 to video + associated costs). This expense will be offset by $5,000 of savings since the City of Folsom workers will no longer have to provide annual maintenance of the line and we avoid the annual road maintenance expense (~$30,000).
The net result is the City of Folsom can save $2 million dollars in capital investment with no material impact in operating expenses, save the oak trees, eliminate the road, and eliminate the risks stemming from the fact that the current sewer line has not been properly maintained and could over flow any day! Why would the City wait for a + 1 year to construct a road to service the sewer line when the necessary actions to improve sewer maintenance & protect the environment could actually be completed a lot sooner—months, not years.
Conclusions:
In conclusion, feasible alternatives should be fully explored well before a discussion of building a new road ever occurs. Proceeding forward with a Qualified Independent Contractor is the least expensive & most environmentally superior. It will ensure that maintenance of sewer lines in Hinkle Creek are maintained to the very highest standards, light years above the maintenance they receive today. Our Independent Contractor option eliminates a needless waste of well over $2 million in capital costs without materially impacting annual operating costs. The Reconnect Alternative Pumps #1 would allow maintenance vehicles to access all manholes. Pumps #2 would be a less expensive variation. Both the Qualified Independent Contractor & Reconnect protect and preserve Hinkle Creek Nature Area. The Qualified Independent Contractor option is superior and is recommended since it eliminates the need to carve up the steep slopes of the park with a road that will be expensive to maintain and destroy a large number of oaks and other trees, among other unacceptable environmental impacts to the forest resource of the park.
Recommendation Action by the Folsom City Council
Direct staffs to expeditiously investigate alternative proposals outlined in this document and provide an analysis of their findings and recommendation to the community and the City Council. The City Council needs to ensure that staff takes a hard look at alternatives’ feasibility and compare to building a road in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area with a keen eye toward quickly performing annual sewer maintenance to minimize spills and managing the financial resources of the City of Folsom prudently.
• Private Contractors: Maintenance and emergency service requirements document needs to be developed and shared with qualified contractors. Identify qualified organizations with the equipment, personnel and experience to perform the required service. This should include interviewing current customers to determine the firm’s performance and the customer’s satisfaction.
• Pumps: In addition to City alternative using individual pumps at homes, explore installing pumps along the sewer line that serve multiple homes. These pumps would lift the waste into the existing sewer line beneath the streets.
Please join us in getting the Folsom City Council to exercise common sense instead of moving forward with an expensive, unnecessary road in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park. If you would like to be kept up to date, just go to: Facebook: Hinkle Creek; NextDoor.com – Hinkle Creek; or email us at: Save HinkleCreek@gmail.com
SAVE Hinkle Creek Nature Area!
Revision History
Revision 18 March 2016
Revised road length, width & impact on forest resources. Road is 2,550 feet long & 71 ½ feet wide & impacts 13 percent of forest. Sewer is 2,000 feet. Cost of Improved Maintenance Alternative is $15,000. Added Reconnect Alternative variation--Pumps#2 @ $1M. In original edition road was longer, narrower, impacted 10 percent of forest; Qualified Independent Contractor cost was $31,000; Reconnect Alternative Pumps#1 remains $1.5M. Other minor changes were made.
Revision 22 March 2016
Revised tree count up to 250. IMP to IMA throughout document. Changed formatting: page numbers, revision history to back, version in footer. Removed duplicate 50 points of interest link. Changed wording to indicate use address not click on link for resolution 9309 access. Updated address for resolution 9309.
Revision 17 April 2016
Update the cost of building the road to $2M as detailed in the City of Folsom 2016 approved budget.
Save Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park
Project Overview and Recommendations
Introduction
The City of Folsom is preparing to build a road the entire length of the park to allow sewer maintenance vehicles to access a sewer line that services approximately 40 homes. Road construction would require that between 50 and 100 mature oak tress be cut down. The proposed road would be located on the north ridge just below the property line of the homes located primarily on Canyon Rim Drive, Rock Canyon Court and River Ridge Way just below the property line. The road would require a 20 foot wide section of the forest to be destroyed to create a 10 foot flat road surface. The cost to construct the road is over a million dollars.
Between 1995 and 2000, the City of Folsom had several sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) of raw sewage, ranging in volume from 84,000 to 700,000 gallons. These SSOs spilled into the American River and the Folsom South Canal. In March 2000, the City of Folsom was fined $700,000 for not properly maintaining their sewer system which allowed 700,000 gallons of raw sewerage to flow into the American River. Since the sewer line in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area has not been maintained to City standards and Hinkle Creek flows into the American River we face the real possibility of a replay of the same situation the City experienced with the 700,000 gallon raw sewage overflow into the American River. Our community fully supports expeditiously getting the sewer line properly maintained or replaced. We do not want raw sewage flowing into the American River!
However, we believe the City Staff have overlooked obvious solutions to resolve this situation which would: (1) Get the sewer maintenance completed before the end of April 2016 (2) Save the City + $1 million dollars (3) Not require them to kill 50-100 oak trees and (4) eliminate the need for the road completely. In light of these facts, we believe the Staff will still recommend to the Folsom City Council that the road be built.
This issue should be brought before the City Council in late March or early April. We will need your support. You can stay connected by: Sending an email with you name to; info@savehinklecreek.com , HinkleCreek@gmail.com, log on to NexDoor.com – Hinkle Creek Park or Facebook: Hinkle Creek.
Location
The American River Canyon community in Folsom has a number of parks to enjoy. Two outstanding of these are the Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park and Lew Howard Park which are located just south of Oak Avenue Parkway between Auburn Folsom Road and American River Drive. While adjacent to one another, they are very different. Lew Howard Park is a traditional park with basketball, tennis, swing sets, jungle gyms and a very nice picnic area. Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park is pristine nature area with a half a mile of self-guided dirt trail, where trees, habitat and historical points of interest are allowed to remain in their natural state.
Many of those new to the area, and even some who have been here for a long time, might not have visited this beautiful place. We encourage you to experience the 36 acres in the Hinkle Creek Nature City Park for yourself. The trail head is across the street from the Hinkle Creek Nature Center in Lew Howard Park at 7000 Baldwin Dam Road (at the intersection of Oak Avenue and Baldwin Dam Road) https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zQSN9cvYL_X8.kgAEe2E7IQCs&hl=en_US . The trail proceeds across Hinkle Creek on a new walking bridge and then parallels the creek for about a half a mile until you reach Oak Avenue Parkway northeast of the fire station. A great time for the children is to take them to Lew Howard Park and let them walk along the creek through the Hinkle Creek Nature Area and back, then enjoy the facilities in Lew Howard Park. Also be sure to check out the Hinkle Creek Nature Center for a wide variety of fun learning programs for the kids.
History
In the late 1970’s, the developer was approved to build about 150 homes in a development called American River Parkway. The homes completed construction in early 1980’s. Soon after the new owners moved in a series of issues developed in the open space between the new housing development and what is today the Lew Howard Park. Most significant among these issues were a series of robberies where the thieves access the back of the homes undetected through the open space and motor cycle riders tearing up the landscape and creating a major noise issue. In time, the community leaders worked with the City of Folsom City Counsel, the Folsom Police Department and developer to accomplish the following:
Habitat
The Hinkle Creek Nature Area is a wonderful oak woodland & riparian woodland. Riparian woodland along Hinkle Creek has willows, white alders and valley oaks. Blue oak woodland has blue oaks, interior live oaks, digger pines and California buckeye. A rich understory of shrubs, forbs and grasses is present. A few dead trees provide important wildlife values and add to the natural surroundings. A 1984 winter survey by Jack Wilburn showed 41 species of birds and numerous mammals including deer, coyote, opossum, raccoon, gray fox, Audubon cottontail, black-tailed jackrabbit, western gray squirrel. The Pacific rattlesnake is present, so watch your step. The most common of the birds include California jays, turkeys, red-shafted flickers, brown towhees, Western mockingbirds, mourning doves, crows, vultures soaring overhead, red-shoulder hawk, Cooper’s hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, acorn woodpecker, tree swallows, robins, Oregon juncos, Anna’s hummingbirds, bullock’s oriole, plain titmouse, and passing to and fro overhead to other places are American egrets, Canada geese, mallard ducks, great blue herons and California gulls.
City of Folsom Cultural Resources Inventory
On January 2, 2008, the Hinkle Creek Nature Area was formally added to City of Folsom’s Cultural Resources Inventory. It was added to the inventory because of the following unique attributes:
When the development was initially approved by the City of Folsom, it included an unusual provision for the sewer system. Rather than connecting homes on both sides of the street to a sewer line that ran down the middle of the street, it approved the installation of two sewer lines. The first more conventional line runs down the center of the street and serves homes on one side of the street. The second sewer line is located in what is today the Hinkle Creek Nature Area, serves 40 homes that are adjacent to the nature area. In hindsight, we are confident that the City of Folsom wishes they had required the developer to connect the 40 homes to the sewer line that runs right down the center of the street so that homes on both sides of the street would be served by a single sewer line that is easy to access and maintain.
Background
There are a number of areas throughout the City of Folsom that have sewer lines that are located in areas that are difficult for the City Sewer department to maintain and provide emergency service. Many of these areas contain creeks that flow into the American River.
Between 1995 and 2000, the city had several overflows of raw sewage into the American River and the Folsom South Canal. The largest overflow occurred in 2000, when the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB) fined the city $700,000 after a spill sent 700,000 gallons of sewage into the American River. State regulators cited the city’s failure to conduct preventive maintenance as one factor in the incident. This not only damaged our American River and adjacent habit, but placed a significant unnecessary financial burden on the citizens of the City of Folsom.
In 2003, Folsom embarked on a 10-year, $20 million program to upgrade its pump stations, fix leaks and deal with an eight-year maintenance and repair backlog.
As recently as October 2015, the sewer line serving the 40 homes adjacent to Hinkle Creek Nature Area overflowed an estimated 3,000 gallons of raw sewage above Hinkle Creek. Fortunately, testing above and below Hinkle Creek established that the waste did not reach the creek.
City of Folsom Road Construction Study
On February 11, 2014, the City Council gave the Environmental and Water Resources Department approval to spend $268,000 for design and construction administration of roads in the three areas outlined in the January 2015 meeting. We believe the City Council and the Environmental and Water Resources Department overlooked some very obvious alternatives to building a road they should have considered before spending over a quarter of a million dollars on a project to do a preliminary road design.
For a complete copy of Resolution 9309 please click the link below:
http://www.folsom.ca.us/agendas/MG126724/AS126731/AI126617/DO127434/1.PDF
City of Folsom Sewer Maintenance Improvement Plan
Interesting that almost a year after the staff got the Folsom City Council to approve $268,000 for the design of the roads, they held their first public meeting to describe their plan to improve the sewer maintenance in three communities they titled: Canyon Rim (Hinkle Creek Nature Area), River Rock and Winding Canyon.
Public Meeting 1 - January 28, 2015
The first public meeting was led by Marcus Yasutake, Director of Environmental and Water Resources (EWR) Department (Sewer Department) was held on January 28, 2015. During that meeting the City representatives stated that City of Folsom was required to have a Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP) with State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB).
“Flushing, visual and video inspections for preventative maintenance
– 5 years max interval for Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP)
– City does this annually in these areas”
The bottom line of their presentation was these areas were difficult to reach and they wanted to build roads to allow sewer trucks to drive up to the manholes to provide maintenance and emergency service. The community voiced strong opposition to the plan to build roads that destroy natural habitat and asked the City to explore other alternatives to provide proper sewer maintenance. It is important to note that our community clearly understands the importance of proper sewer maintenance and is very disappointed that our City was responsible for major sewer breaches into the American River. Specific to the Hinkle Creek Nature Area, we have very high degree of confidence that the current sewer line has not been maintained in accordance with the sewer department standards. We believe there are significant sections of the sewer pipe that have not been flushed or video camera inspected in well over five years. As you will see later in this document, we have a very high degree of confidence that the environment can be protected from both the control of hazardous waste and pristine nature areas perspectives. Both can and should be managed to minimize hazardous spills and practice what the City of Folsom’s tag line suggests “Distinctive by Nature” by protecting our limited nature areas
For a complete copy of the City’s presentation go to: http://www.folsom.ca.us/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=22685
Public Meeting 2 – August 12, 2015
The second public meeting was led by Marcus Yasutake, Director of Environmental and Water Resources (EWR) Department was held on August 12, 2015. This meeting was primarily focused on the Canyon Rim/Hinkle Creek area. There were two important slides from the presentation. First is cost. The City is recommending building a road that will cost $1 million dollars. The other two alternatives they investigated were building a second sewer line in the center of the street to provide service for the 40 homes. This cost was estimated at $6 million dollars. The second alternative they considered was to add pumping stations serving multiple homes to pump the waste from behind the 40 homes into the street which would cost $1.5M.
The second, and maybe most interesting, conclusion the City reached was there were no other practical alternatives to the road see the third bullet point from their August presentation below. This is a very important conclusion as we believe the City overlooked a very practical and obvious alternative which they have yet to explore.
For a complete copy of the City’s presentation go to: http://www.folsom.ca.us/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=23699
City of Folsom Staff Recommendation
During a City Council meeting upcoming in March or April we expect the Environmental and Water Resources Department to recommend proceeding with the construction of the road. Reference their diagram below:
We are confident that the staff recommendation to the Folsom City Council will be to proceed with the road through the Hinkle Creek Nature Area.
Save Hinkle Creek Nature Area Recommended Alternatives
We believe there are at least two viable alternatives to the proposed road.
ii.Camera Inspection – At the time of cleaning, a video camera inspection of the sewer lines would be done to determine the condition of the lines. The cost for this additional service is $12,000. We believe this level of inspection would need to be performed bi-annually so the average annual expense would be $6,000.
iii.Lining Upgrade – should there be significant root damage or other deterioration both can provide a new lining which would cost approximately $350,000.
Capital Cost - Annual Maintenance Cost* Displacement Cost of City Workers Net Operating Cost
Road Construction + $1,000,000 $30,000 NA $30,000
Professional Service Zero! $31,000 $30,000 $ 1,000
Pumps +$1,000,000 $30,000 NA $30,000
*Note:
*Road Construction: We are estimating it costs $15,000 to have the City perform sewer line maintenance with the road plus $15,000 in annual expenses to maintain the road
*Professional Services: Cost to have the sewer line flushed annually and video inspection every other year is $31,000 ($25,000 to clean + $6,000 to video). This expense will be offset by $15,000 of savings since the City of Folsom workers will no longer have to provide annual maintenance of the line and we avoid the annual road maintenance expense (~$15,000).
Net result is the City of Folsom can save over a million dollars in capital investment with no material impact in operating expenses, save the oak trees, eliminate the road, and eliminate the time bomb of knowing that the current sewer line has not been properly maintained and could over flow any day! Why would they want to wait for a + 1 year to construct a road to service the sewer line when it could be completed before April 2016?
Conclusions:
In conclusion, we have alternatives that should have been explored well before a discussion of building roads should have been considered. Our alternatives ensure that the maintenance of the sewer lines in Hinkle Creek are maintained to the very highest standards, light years above the maintenance they receive today. Our alternatives eliminate a needless waste of well over $1 million in capital costs without materially impacting annual operating costs. Our recommended alternatives are extremely powerful since they eliminate the need to carve up the canyon with a road that will be expensive to maintain and destroy 50 to 100 mature oak trees.
Recommendation Action by the Folsom City Council
Order staff to expeditiously investigate the two alternative proposals outlined in this document and report back to the City Council. The City Council needs to ensure that staff takes a hard look at alternatives to building a road in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area with a keen eye to quickly performing annual sewer maintenance to minimize spills and managing the financial resources of the City of Folsom prudently.
• Private Contractors: Maintenance and emergency service requirements document needs to be developed and shared with qualified contractors. Identify qualified organizations with the equipment, personnel and experience to perform the required service. This should include interviewing current customers to determine the firm’s performance and the customer’s satisfaction.
• Pumps: Explore installing pumps along the sewer line that serve multiple homes. These pumps should elevate the waste into the existing sewer line in the middle of the street.
Please join us in getting the Folsom City Council to exercise common sense vs. pushing forward with an expensive unnecessary road in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park. If you would like to be kept up to date, just go to: Facebook: Hinkle Creek, NextDoor.com – Hinkle Creek or email us at: hinklecreekpark@gmail.com
Save Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park
Project Overview and Recommendations
Introduction
The City of Folsom is preparing to build a road about 2,500 feet long thru much of the Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park to allow sewer maintenance vehicles to access a sewer line that services approximately 40 homes. The proposed road parallels the 2,000-foot sewer line. It would be located on the north ridge of the park just below the back property line of the homes located on Canyon Rim Drive, Rock Canyon Court and River Ridge Way. Between 125 and 250 mature oak trees will be cut down to clear the path for the road. This is a destruction of 13 percent of this entire woodland. The cost to construct the road is over a million dollars.
The road surface is 12 feet wide & with cut-and-fill = 21 1/2 feet; but effect on trees is another 50 feet totaling a whopping 71 ½-foot wide destruction of the beautiful oak woodland forest of Hinkle Creek Nature Area. Doing the math [2,550 x 71 ½ = 4.2 acres]. This will destroy 13% of the 31.8-acre park (main unit). This drawing illustrates the destruction:
--auto cad drawing by Marty Speer
Between 1995 and 2000, the City of Folsom had several sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) of raw sewage, ranging in volume from 84,000 to 700,000 gallons. These SSOs spilled into the American River and the Folsom South Canal. In March 2000, the City of Folsom was fined $700,000 for not properly maintaining their sewer system which allowed 700,000 gallons of raw sewage to flow into the American River. Since the sewer line in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area has not been maintained to City standards and Hinkle Creek flows into the American River we face the real possibility of a replay of the same situation the City experienced with the 700,000 gallon raw sewage overflow into the American River. Our community fully supports expeditiously getting the sewer line properly maintained or replaced. We do not want raw sewage flowing into the American River!
However, we believe the City Staff have overlooked obvious solutions to resolve this situation which would: (1) Get the sewer maintenance completed before sooner than the road, (2) Save the City + $1 million dollars, (3) Not require City to kill up to 250 oak trees and (4) eliminate the need for the road completely. Despite these facts, we believe City Staff is still pursuing the road that will kill the trees.
The City Staff plan to bring this issue before the City Council soon. We will need your support. You can stay connected: Send an email with your name/email address to: SaveHinkleCreek@gmail.com, log on to NextDoor.com – Hinkle Creek Park, or Facebook: Hinkle Creek.
Location
The American River Canyon community in Folsom has a number of parks to enjoy. Two outstanding of these are the Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park and Lew Howard Park which are located just south of Oak Avenue Parkway between Auburn Folsom Road and American River Canyon Drive. While adjacent to one another, they are very different. Lew Howard Park is a traditional park with basketball, tennis, swing sets, jungle gyms and a very nice picnic area. Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park is pristine nature area with a half a mile of self-guided dirt trail, where trees, habitat and cultural/historical points of interest are allowed to remain in their natural state.
If you have not already, we encourage you to experience the 36 acres in the Hinkle Creek Nature City Park for yourself. The trail head is across the street from the Hinkle Creek Nature Center in Lew Howard Park at 7000 Baldwin Dam Road (at the intersection of Oak Avenue and Baldwin Dam Road). The trail proceeds across Hinkle Creek on a new walking bridge and then parallels the creek for about a half a mile until you reach Oak Avenue Parkway northeast of the fire station. The City Arborist, Ken Menzer, has installed sign posts—50 Points of Interest--see the park features explained at each sign post, go to: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zQSN9cvYL_X8.kgAEe2E7IQCs&hl=en_US
A great time for the children is to take them to Lew Howard Park and let them walk along the creek through the Hinkle Creek Nature Area and back, then enjoy the facilities in Lew Howard Park. Do be careful of the Pacific Rattlesnake which is here. Also be sure to check out the Hinkle Creek Nature Center for a wide variety of fun learning programs for kids.
History
In the late 1970’s, the developer was approved to build about 150 homes in a development called American River Parkway. The homes completed construction in early 1980’s. Soon after the new owners moved in a series of issues developed in the open space between the new housing development and what is today the Lew Howard Park. Most significant among these issues were a series of robberies where the thieves access the back of the homes undetected through the open space and motor cycle riders tearing up the landscape and creating a major noise issue. In time, the community leaders worked with the City of Folsom City Council, the Folsom Police Department and developer to accomplish the following:
- The developer agreed to transfer ownership of the open space to the City of Folsom to be used as a Nature Area – Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park was created!
- The City of Folsom passed ordinances which gave the City Police the jurisdiction to monitor undesirable use of the land and remove those who would use the property outside of the new city ordinances.
- The community leaders took another important step to install a cable fence around the entire area to prevent unauthorized motorcycle and vehicle access.They got Pacific Telephone to donate the materials and a member of the City Council of Folsom worked with the Folsom Prison authorities to secure the labor to construct the fence.
Habitat
The Hinkle Creek Nature Area is a wonderful oak woodland & riparian woodland. Riparian woodland along Hinkle Creek has willows, white alders and valley oaks. Blue oak woodland has blue oaks, interior live oaks, foothill pines and California buckeye. A rich understory of shrubs, forbs and grasses is present including miner’s lettuce, blackberries, & elderberries. The Federally threatened Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle may be present. A few dead trees provide important wildlife values and add to the natural surroundings. A 1984 winter survey by Jack Wilburn showed 41 species of birds and numerous mammals including deer, coyote, opossum, raccoon, gray fox, Audubon cottontail, black-tailed jackrabbit, western gray squirrel. The Pacific rattlesnake is present, so watch your step. Birds include California jays, turkeys, red-shafted flickers, brown towhees, Western mockingbirds, mourning doves, white-tailed kites, crows, vultures soaring overhead, red-shoulder hawk, Cooper’s hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, acorn woodpecker, tree swallows, robins, Oregon juncos, Anna’s hummingbirds, bullock’s oriole, plain titmouse, and passing to and fro overhead to other places are American egrets, Canada geese, mallard ducks, great blue herons and California gulls.
photo: Marty Speer
Note the proximity of sewer manhole to property line
City of Folsom Cultural Resources Inventory
On January 2, 2008, the Hinkle Creek Nature Area was formally added to City of Folsom’s Cultural Resources Inventory. It was added to the inventory because of the following unique attributes:
- Prehistoric Milling Stations:Hinkle Creek Nature Area contains three bedrocks with a total of twenty mortars and two nutting cupules created by the Maidu tribes over 200 years ago.
- Historic Railroad Alignment:In 1856 the Sacramento Valley Railroad completed the section of track from Sacramento to Folsom, expanded to Wildwood in 1862.The original railroad line ran along the road that divides Lew Howard Park and the Hinkle Creek Nature Area
- Mining Landscape Area:In 1849 mining activities expanded from Mormon and Negro Bar along the American River up into Hinkle Creek.Hinkle Creek Nature Area contains a 184 x 118 foot mining site with a collapsed mining tunnel.
City Parks & Recreation Commission adopted a Master Plan to guide development & public use. After debating various proposals, the Commission recommended to City Council (1) the natural resources of the park be preserved, (2) existing road bordering Hinkle Creek—Old Oak Avenue—be closed to motor vehicles & reserved for pedestrians & bicyclists, (3) only narrow dirt pedestrian trails be permitted in the natural woodland, (4) small kiosks for information, & (5) the Hinkle Creek Nature Center (renovation of existing but abandoned firehouse which cost $740,000 from State & Federal grants. The Master Plan was approved by City Council 22 August 2006. Thus, City of Folsom Master Plan for Hinkle Creek Nature Area prohibits “the road” & cutting down trees as proposed by sewer department. A copy of the Master Plan is shown on following page.
Sewer Line
When the American River Canyon development was initially approved by the City of Folsom, it included an unusual provision for the sewer system. Rather than connecting homes on both sides of the street to a sewer line that ran down the middle of the street, it approved the installation of two sewer lines. The first more conventional line runs down the center of the street and serves homes on one side of the street. The second sewer line is located in what is today the Hinkle Creek Nature Area, and serves 40 homes that are adjacent to the nature area. In hindsight, we are confident that the City of Folsom wishes they had required the developer to connect the 40 homes to the sewer line that runs right down the center of the street so that homes on both sides of the street would be served by a single sewer line that is easy to access and maintain.
Background
There are a number of areas throughout the City of Folsom that have sewer lines that are located in areas that are difficult for the City Sewer department to maintain and provide emergency service. Many of these areas contain creeks that flow into the American River.
Between 1995 and 2000, the city had several overflows of raw sewage into the American River and the Folsom South Canal. The largest overflow occurred in 2000, when the Central Valley Regional Water
Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB) fined the city $700,000 after a spill sent 700,000 gallons of sewage into the American River. State regulators cited the city’s failure to conduct preventative maintenance.
In 2003, Folsom embarked on a 10-year, $20 million program to upgrade its pump stations, fix leaks and deal with an eight-year maintenance and repair backlog.
As recently as October 2015, the sewer line serving the 40 homes adjacent to Hinkle Creek Nature Area overflowed an estimated 3,000 gallons of raw sewage above Hinkle Creek. Fortunately, testing above and below Hinkle Creek established that the waste did not reach the creek.
Master Plan for Hinkle Creek
City of Folsom Road Construction Study
On February 11, 2014, the City Council gave the Environmental and Water Resources Department approval to spend $268,000 for design and construction administration of roads in the three areas: Canyon Rim (Hinkle Creek), River Rock and Winding Canyon. We believe the City Council and the Environmental and Water Resources Department overlooked some very obvious alternatives to building a road they should have considered before spending over a quarter of a million dollars on a project to do a preliminary road design.
For a complete copy of the February 11, 2014 City Council Resolution 9309 please visit the Folsom City Council website at:
http://www.folsom.ca.us/city_hall/WebAgenda/Agenda/MG126724/AS126731/AI126617/DO127434/DO_127434.pdf
City of Folsom Sewer Maintenance Improvement Plan
Almost a year after the Folsom City Council approved $268,000 for the design of the roads, the City held its first public meeting to describe the proposed plan to improve the sewer maintenance in three communities: Canyon Rim (Hinkle Creek Nature Area), River Rock and Winding Canyon.
Public Meeting 1 - January 28, 2015
The first public meeting was led by Marcus Yasutake, Director of Environmental and Water Resources (EWR) Department (Sewer Department) on January 28, 2015. During that meeting the City representatives stated that City of Folsom was required to have a Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP) with State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB).
- General Requirements of the Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP) included:
- Provide uninterrupted sewer service
- Minimize the risk of Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs)
- Mitigate any unforeseen Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs)
- Ensure adequate sewer capacity
- Sustain aging sewer infrastructure
“Flushing, visual and video inspections for preventative maintenance
– 5 years max interval for Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP)
– City does this annually in these areas”
The bottom line of the presentation was these areas were difficult to reach and the City wanted to build roads to allow sewer trucks to drive up to the manholes to provide maintenance and emergency service. The community voiced strong opposition to the plan to build roads that destroy natural habitat and asked the City to explore other alternatives to provide proper sewer maintenance. It is important to note that our community clearly understands the importance of proper sewer maintenance and is very disappointed that our City was responsible for major sewer breaches into the American River. Specific to the Hinkle Creek Nature Area, we have very high degree of confidence that the current sewer line has not been maintained in accordance with the sewer department standards. We believe there are significant sections of the sewer pipe that have not been flushed or video camera inspected in well over five years. As you will see later in this document, we have a very high degree of confidence that the environment can be protected from sewage spills and at the same time preserve our pristine nature areas. We believe that the City should practice what its tag line suggests “Distinctive by Nature” by protecting our City’s nature areas.
For a complete copy of the City’s presentation go to: http://www.folsom.ca.us/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=22685
Public Meeting 2 – August 12, 2015
The second public meeting was led by Marcus Yasutake, Director of Environmental and Water Resources (EWR) Department on August 12, 2015. This meeting was primarily focused on the Canyon Rim/Hinkle Creek area. There were two important slides from the presentation. First is cost. The City is recommending building a road that will cost +$1 million dollars. The other two alternatives that were investigated were building a second sewer line in the center of the street to provide service for the 40 homes. This cost was estimated at $6 million dollars. The second alternative they considered was to add pumping stations for each of the 40 homes currently served by the Hinkle Creek sewer line to pump the waste from behind the 40 homes into the sewer beneath the street which would cost $1.5M.
The second, and maybe most interesting, conclusion the City reached was there were no other practical alternatives to the road. (See the third bullet point from August 2015 presentation below.) This is a very important conclusion as we believe the City overlooked a very practical and obvious alternative which City staff has yet to explore.
For a complete copy of the City’s presentation go to: http://www.folsom.ca.us/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=23699
2016 Updated Cost to Build the Road Increase to $2 million!
In reviewing the 2016 budget we discovered that the budgeted amount to build the road has increased from the $1M estimate presented in the August 2015 meeting seven months ago to $1,970,000 as published in the FY16 Budget Final approved. The City of Folsom recorded $205,143 expended in FY15 Budget and $1,764,857 in the 2016 approved budget. Refer to the link below for the details on pages 464 & 465. We can only imagine how much it will grow after they actually begin construction.
http://folsom-web.civica.granicuslabs.com/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=23027
City of Folsom Staff Recommendation
During a City Council meeting upcoming in next few months we expect the Environmental and Water Resources Department will present the array of alternatives, listing pros & cons, costs, & impacts to the forest of trees in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area. Reference the City’s diagram on the next page:
Save Hinkle Creek Nature Area Recommended Alternatives
We believe there are at least two viable alternatives to the proposed road.
- Qualified Independent Contractor: It is extremely disappointing that our Environmental and Water Resources Department and our City Council have apparently not yet explored using qualified independent contractors to perform the required maintenance for the sewer line. We have identified two firms who are eminently qualified to provide this service; they have made onsite visits to examine the opportunity and are supremely confident in their ability to get the job done. Here is an outline of those organizations:
- Experience:The first firm currently provides maintenance for over 3 million feet of sewer infrastructure for Sacramento County.Its total revenue from the County of Sacramento is about $5M annually. It specializes in providing maintenance service in difficult to access areas and can provide multiple examples of successfully providing excellent service in these areas.The second firm has done work throughout Northern California.It has a long list of Counties, Cities and Municipalities it has worked with.Both organizations are based in the Sacramento area, and both own the latest in heavy duty maintenance vehicles (cost =$350,000 each) in addition to the latest ‘rover’ equipment to access difficult areas. Both can also provide the City of Folsom with a long list of references from both the public and private sectors.To emphasize the full service capabilities of these organizations, both can provide the latest internal sleeve lining to old sewer lines, which reconditions them better than new.This service clears the lines of any roots and other debris, inserts a protective lining that has a very low friction coefficient that allows waste to flow freely inside aging sewer lines.
- Cost: Both firms’ budgetary pricing fall within the costs outlined below, say $15,000 annually (including other associated costs).We would expect that the City of Folsom may be in a much stronger position as the RFP process could drive this cost down further.
- Cleaning –Budgetary price for cleaning is $3.00 to $3.50 per foot.We understand the Hinkle Creek line is about 2,000 feet long so the total price to clean the line would be between $6,000 and $7,000.The cleaning job would take 3 days to complete.
- Camera Inspection – At the time of cleaning, a video camera inspection of the sewer lines would be done to determine the condition of the lines.The cost for this additional service is $12,000.We believe this level of inspection would need to be performed bi-annually so the average annual expense would be $6,000.
- Lining Upgrade – should there be significant root damage or other deterioration both can provide a new lining which would cost approximately $350,000.
- Our independent investigation into qualified organizations to provide sewer maintenance yielded two very qualified companies.We are confident that the professionals in the City of Folsom’s Environmental and Water Resources Department should be able to identify many more.
- Reconnect--Pumps & Pumping Stations: The City’s alternative is to reconnect homes to existing sewer line beneath streets. This would require individual pumps at the 40 homes. A variation of this would be to install pumping stations along the sewer line beneath the park to serve multiple homes currently connected to the Hinkle Creek sewer line to transport the waste up into the current sewer line. We believe no trees need be cut down for this variation. The City’s estimate for the road is $2 million; the pumps alternative is estimated by City at $1.5 million; we believe the variation of pumping stations would cost $1 million. Given the minimal environmental impact on the Nature Area, and comparable costs, we believe pumping stations variation would be by far a better alternative to building a road through the Nature Area. Financial Comparison of the alternatives:
Capital Cost Operating Costs
Alternatives Capital Cost - Annual Maintenance Cost* Displacement Cost of City Workers Net Operating Cost
Road Construction + $2,000,000 $30,000 NA $30,000
Independent Contractor Zero! $31,000 $30,000 $ 1,000
Pumps #1 +$1,500,000 $30,000 NA $30,000
Pumps #2 +$1,000,000 $30,000 NA $30,000
____________________________________________________________________________________
*Notes:
*Road Construction: We are estimating it costs $15,000 to have the City perform sewer line maintenance with the road plus an additional $15,000 in annual expenses to maintain the road
*Improved Maintenance: Cost of professional services to have the sewer line flushed annually and video inspection every other year is $15,000 ($7,000 to clean + $6,000 to video + associated costs). This expense will be offset by $5,000 of savings since the City of Folsom workers will no longer have to provide annual maintenance of the line and we avoid the annual road maintenance expense (~$30,000).
The net result is the City of Folsom can save $2 million dollars in capital investment with no material impact in operating expenses, save the oak trees, eliminate the road, and eliminate the risks stemming from the fact that the current sewer line has not been properly maintained and could over flow any day! Why would the City wait for a + 1 year to construct a road to service the sewer line when the necessary actions to improve sewer maintenance & protect the environment could actually be completed a lot sooner—months, not years.
Conclusions:
In conclusion, feasible alternatives should be fully explored well before a discussion of building a new road ever occurs. Proceeding forward with a Qualified Independent Contractor is the least expensive & most environmentally superior. It will ensure that maintenance of sewer lines in Hinkle Creek are maintained to the very highest standards, light years above the maintenance they receive today. Our Independent Contractor option eliminates a needless waste of well over $2 million in capital costs without materially impacting annual operating costs. The Reconnect Alternative Pumps #1 would allow maintenance vehicles to access all manholes. Pumps #2 would be a less expensive variation. Both the Qualified Independent Contractor & Reconnect protect and preserve Hinkle Creek Nature Area. The Qualified Independent Contractor option is superior and is recommended since it eliminates the need to carve up the steep slopes of the park with a road that will be expensive to maintain and destroy a large number of oaks and other trees, among other unacceptable environmental impacts to the forest resource of the park.
Recommendation Action by the Folsom City Council
Direct staffs to expeditiously investigate alternative proposals outlined in this document and provide an analysis of their findings and recommendation to the community and the City Council. The City Council needs to ensure that staff takes a hard look at alternatives’ feasibility and compare to building a road in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area with a keen eye toward quickly performing annual sewer maintenance to minimize spills and managing the financial resources of the City of Folsom prudently.
• Private Contractors: Maintenance and emergency service requirements document needs to be developed and shared with qualified contractors. Identify qualified organizations with the equipment, personnel and experience to perform the required service. This should include interviewing current customers to determine the firm’s performance and the customer’s satisfaction.
• Pumps: In addition to City alternative using individual pumps at homes, explore installing pumps along the sewer line that serve multiple homes. These pumps would lift the waste into the existing sewer line beneath the streets.
Please join us in getting the Folsom City Council to exercise common sense instead of moving forward with an expensive, unnecessary road in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park. If you would like to be kept up to date, just go to: Facebook: Hinkle Creek; NextDoor.com – Hinkle Creek; or email us at: Save HinkleCreek@gmail.com
SAVE Hinkle Creek Nature Area!
Revision History
Revision 18 March 2016
Revised road length, width & impact on forest resources. Road is 2,550 feet long & 71 ½ feet wide & impacts 13 percent of forest. Sewer is 2,000 feet. Cost of Improved Maintenance Alternative is $15,000. Added Reconnect Alternative variation--Pumps#2 @ $1M. In original edition road was longer, narrower, impacted 10 percent of forest; Qualified Independent Contractor cost was $31,000; Reconnect Alternative Pumps#1 remains $1.5M. Other minor changes were made.
Revision 22 March 2016
Revised tree count up to 250. IMP to IMA throughout document. Changed formatting: page numbers, revision history to back, version in footer. Removed duplicate 50 points of interest link. Changed wording to indicate use address not click on link for resolution 9309 access. Updated address for resolution 9309.
Revision 17 April 2016
Update the cost of building the road to $2M as detailed in the City of Folsom 2016 approved budget.
Save Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park
Project Overview and Recommendations
Introduction
The City of Folsom is preparing to build a road the entire length of the park to allow sewer maintenance vehicles to access a sewer line that services approximately 40 homes. Road construction would require that between 50 and 100 mature oak tress be cut down. The proposed road would be located on the north ridge just below the property line of the homes located primarily on Canyon Rim Drive, Rock Canyon Court and River Ridge Way just below the property line. The road would require a 20 foot wide section of the forest to be destroyed to create a 10 foot flat road surface. The cost to construct the road is over a million dollars.
Between 1995 and 2000, the City of Folsom had several sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) of raw sewage, ranging in volume from 84,000 to 700,000 gallons. These SSOs spilled into the American River and the Folsom South Canal. In March 2000, the City of Folsom was fined $700,000 for not properly maintaining their sewer system which allowed 700,000 gallons of raw sewerage to flow into the American River. Since the sewer line in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area has not been maintained to City standards and Hinkle Creek flows into the American River we face the real possibility of a replay of the same situation the City experienced with the 700,000 gallon raw sewage overflow into the American River. Our community fully supports expeditiously getting the sewer line properly maintained or replaced. We do not want raw sewage flowing into the American River!
However, we believe the City Staff have overlooked obvious solutions to resolve this situation which would: (1) Get the sewer maintenance completed before the end of April 2016 (2) Save the City + $1 million dollars (3) Not require them to kill 50-100 oak trees and (4) eliminate the need for the road completely. In light of these facts, we believe the Staff will still recommend to the Folsom City Council that the road be built.
This issue should be brought before the City Council in late March or early April. We will need your support. You can stay connected by: Sending an email with you name to; info@savehinklecreek.com , HinkleCreek@gmail.com, log on to NexDoor.com – Hinkle Creek Park or Facebook: Hinkle Creek.
Location
The American River Canyon community in Folsom has a number of parks to enjoy. Two outstanding of these are the Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park and Lew Howard Park which are located just south of Oak Avenue Parkway between Auburn Folsom Road and American River Drive. While adjacent to one another, they are very different. Lew Howard Park is a traditional park with basketball, tennis, swing sets, jungle gyms and a very nice picnic area. Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park is pristine nature area with a half a mile of self-guided dirt trail, where trees, habitat and historical points of interest are allowed to remain in their natural state.
Many of those new to the area, and even some who have been here for a long time, might not have visited this beautiful place. We encourage you to experience the 36 acres in the Hinkle Creek Nature City Park for yourself. The trail head is across the street from the Hinkle Creek Nature Center in Lew Howard Park at 7000 Baldwin Dam Road (at the intersection of Oak Avenue and Baldwin Dam Road) https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zQSN9cvYL_X8.kgAEe2E7IQCs&hl=en_US . The trail proceeds across Hinkle Creek on a new walking bridge and then parallels the creek for about a half a mile until you reach Oak Avenue Parkway northeast of the fire station. A great time for the children is to take them to Lew Howard Park and let them walk along the creek through the Hinkle Creek Nature Area and back, then enjoy the facilities in Lew Howard Park. Also be sure to check out the Hinkle Creek Nature Center for a wide variety of fun learning programs for the kids.
History
In the late 1970’s, the developer was approved to build about 150 homes in a development called American River Parkway. The homes completed construction in early 1980’s. Soon after the new owners moved in a series of issues developed in the open space between the new housing development and what is today the Lew Howard Park. Most significant among these issues were a series of robberies where the thieves access the back of the homes undetected through the open space and motor cycle riders tearing up the landscape and creating a major noise issue. In time, the community leaders worked with the City of Folsom City Counsel, the Folsom Police Department and developer to accomplish the following:
- The developer agreed to transfer ownership of the open space to the City of Folsom to be used as a Nature Area – Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park was created!
- The City of Folsom passed ordinances which gave the City Police the jurisdiction to monitor undesirable use of the land and remove those who would use the property outside of the new city ordinances.
- The community leaders took another important step to install a cable fence around the entire area to prevent unauthorized motorcycle and vehicle access. They got Pacific Telephone to donate the materials and a member of the City Counsel of Folsom worked with the Folsom Prison authorities to secure the labor to construct the fence.
Habitat
The Hinkle Creek Nature Area is a wonderful oak woodland & riparian woodland. Riparian woodland along Hinkle Creek has willows, white alders and valley oaks. Blue oak woodland has blue oaks, interior live oaks, digger pines and California buckeye. A rich understory of shrubs, forbs and grasses is present. A few dead trees provide important wildlife values and add to the natural surroundings. A 1984 winter survey by Jack Wilburn showed 41 species of birds and numerous mammals including deer, coyote, opossum, raccoon, gray fox, Audubon cottontail, black-tailed jackrabbit, western gray squirrel. The Pacific rattlesnake is present, so watch your step. The most common of the birds include California jays, turkeys, red-shafted flickers, brown towhees, Western mockingbirds, mourning doves, crows, vultures soaring overhead, red-shoulder hawk, Cooper’s hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, acorn woodpecker, tree swallows, robins, Oregon juncos, Anna’s hummingbirds, bullock’s oriole, plain titmouse, and passing to and fro overhead to other places are American egrets, Canada geese, mallard ducks, great blue herons and California gulls.
City of Folsom Cultural Resources Inventory
On January 2, 2008, the Hinkle Creek Nature Area was formally added to City of Folsom’s Cultural Resources Inventory. It was added to the inventory because of the following unique attributes:
- Prehistoric Milling Stations: Hinkle Creek Nature Area contains three bedrocks with a total of twenty mortars and two nutting cupules created by the Maidu tribes over 200 years ago.
- Historic Railroad Alignment: In 1856 the Sacramento Valley Railroad completed the section of track from Sacramento to Folsom, expanded to Wildwood in 1862. The original railroad line ran along the road that divides Lew Howard Park and the Hinkle Creek Nature Area
- Mining Landscape Area: In 1849 mining activities expanded from Mormon and Negro Bar along the American River up into Hinkle Creek. Hinkle Creek Nature Area contains a 184 x 118 foot mining site with a collapsed mining tunnel.
When the development was initially approved by the City of Folsom, it included an unusual provision for the sewer system. Rather than connecting homes on both sides of the street to a sewer line that ran down the middle of the street, it approved the installation of two sewer lines. The first more conventional line runs down the center of the street and serves homes on one side of the street. The second sewer line is located in what is today the Hinkle Creek Nature Area, serves 40 homes that are adjacent to the nature area. In hindsight, we are confident that the City of Folsom wishes they had required the developer to connect the 40 homes to the sewer line that runs right down the center of the street so that homes on both sides of the street would be served by a single sewer line that is easy to access and maintain.
Background
There are a number of areas throughout the City of Folsom that have sewer lines that are located in areas that are difficult for the City Sewer department to maintain and provide emergency service. Many of these areas contain creeks that flow into the American River.
Between 1995 and 2000, the city had several overflows of raw sewage into the American River and the Folsom South Canal. The largest overflow occurred in 2000, when the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB) fined the city $700,000 after a spill sent 700,000 gallons of sewage into the American River. State regulators cited the city’s failure to conduct preventive maintenance as one factor in the incident. This not only damaged our American River and adjacent habit, but placed a significant unnecessary financial burden on the citizens of the City of Folsom.
In 2003, Folsom embarked on a 10-year, $20 million program to upgrade its pump stations, fix leaks and deal with an eight-year maintenance and repair backlog.
As recently as October 2015, the sewer line serving the 40 homes adjacent to Hinkle Creek Nature Area overflowed an estimated 3,000 gallons of raw sewage above Hinkle Creek. Fortunately, testing above and below Hinkle Creek established that the waste did not reach the creek.
City of Folsom Road Construction Study
On February 11, 2014, the City Council gave the Environmental and Water Resources Department approval to spend $268,000 for design and construction administration of roads in the three areas outlined in the January 2015 meeting. We believe the City Council and the Environmental and Water Resources Department overlooked some very obvious alternatives to building a road they should have considered before spending over a quarter of a million dollars on a project to do a preliminary road design.
For a complete copy of Resolution 9309 please click the link below:
http://www.folsom.ca.us/agendas/MG126724/AS126731/AI126617/DO127434/1.PDF
City of Folsom Sewer Maintenance Improvement Plan
Interesting that almost a year after the staff got the Folsom City Council to approve $268,000 for the design of the roads, they held their first public meeting to describe their plan to improve the sewer maintenance in three communities they titled: Canyon Rim (Hinkle Creek Nature Area), River Rock and Winding Canyon.
Public Meeting 1 - January 28, 2015
The first public meeting was led by Marcus Yasutake, Director of Environmental and Water Resources (EWR) Department (Sewer Department) was held on January 28, 2015. During that meeting the City representatives stated that City of Folsom was required to have a Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP) with State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB).
- General Requirements of the Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP) included:
- Provide uninterrupted sewer service
- Minimize the risk of Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs)
- Mitigate any unforeseen Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs)
- Ensure adequate sewer capacity
- Sustain aging sewer infrastructure
“Flushing, visual and video inspections for preventative maintenance
– 5 years max interval for Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP)
– City does this annually in these areas”
The bottom line of their presentation was these areas were difficult to reach and they wanted to build roads to allow sewer trucks to drive up to the manholes to provide maintenance and emergency service. The community voiced strong opposition to the plan to build roads that destroy natural habitat and asked the City to explore other alternatives to provide proper sewer maintenance. It is important to note that our community clearly understands the importance of proper sewer maintenance and is very disappointed that our City was responsible for major sewer breaches into the American River. Specific to the Hinkle Creek Nature Area, we have very high degree of confidence that the current sewer line has not been maintained in accordance with the sewer department standards. We believe there are significant sections of the sewer pipe that have not been flushed or video camera inspected in well over five years. As you will see later in this document, we have a very high degree of confidence that the environment can be protected from both the control of hazardous waste and pristine nature areas perspectives. Both can and should be managed to minimize hazardous spills and practice what the City of Folsom’s tag line suggests “Distinctive by Nature” by protecting our limited nature areas
For a complete copy of the City’s presentation go to: http://www.folsom.ca.us/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=22685
Public Meeting 2 – August 12, 2015
The second public meeting was led by Marcus Yasutake, Director of Environmental and Water Resources (EWR) Department was held on August 12, 2015. This meeting was primarily focused on the Canyon Rim/Hinkle Creek area. There were two important slides from the presentation. First is cost. The City is recommending building a road that will cost $1 million dollars. The other two alternatives they investigated were building a second sewer line in the center of the street to provide service for the 40 homes. This cost was estimated at $6 million dollars. The second alternative they considered was to add pumping stations serving multiple homes to pump the waste from behind the 40 homes into the street which would cost $1.5M.
The second, and maybe most interesting, conclusion the City reached was there were no other practical alternatives to the road see the third bullet point from their August presentation below. This is a very important conclusion as we believe the City overlooked a very practical and obvious alternative which they have yet to explore.
For a complete copy of the City’s presentation go to: http://www.folsom.ca.us/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?blobid=23699
City of Folsom Staff Recommendation
During a City Council meeting upcoming in March or April we expect the Environmental and Water Resources Department to recommend proceeding with the construction of the road. Reference their diagram below:
We are confident that the staff recommendation to the Folsom City Council will be to proceed with the road through the Hinkle Creek Nature Area.
Save Hinkle Creek Nature Area Recommended Alternatives
We believe there are at least two viable alternatives to the proposed road.
- Professional Services: It is extremely disappointing that our Environmental and Water Resources Department and our City Council did not explore using qualified independent contractors to perform the required maintenance for the sewer line. We have identified two firms who are eminently qualified to provide this service; they have made onsite visits to examine the opportunity and are supremely confident in their ability to get the job done. Here is an outline of their organizations:
- Experience: The first currently provides maintenance for over 5 million feet of sewer infrastructure for Sacramento County. Their total revenue from the County of Sacramento is about $5M annually. They specialize in providing maintenance service in difficult to access areas and can provide multiple examples of successfully providing excellent service in these areas. The second has done work throughout Northern California. They have a long list of Counties, Cities and Municipalities they have worked with. Both organizations are based in the Sacramento area, both own the latest in heavy duty maintenance vehicles (cost =$350,000 each) in addition to the latest ‘rover’ equipment to access difficult areas and both can provide the City of Folsom with a long list of references from both the public and private sectors. To emphasize the full service capabilities of these organizations, both can provide the latest internal sleeve lining to old sewer lines which reconditions them better than new. This service clears the lines of any roots and other debris, inserts a protective lining that has a very low friction coefficient that allows waste to flow freely inside aging sewer lines.
- Cost: Ready for this? Both organizations budgetary pricing fall within the costs outlined below. We would expect that the City of Folsom would be in a much stronger position given their RFP process to drive these costs down.
ii.Camera Inspection – At the time of cleaning, a video camera inspection of the sewer lines would be done to determine the condition of the lines. The cost for this additional service is $12,000. We believe this level of inspection would need to be performed bi-annually so the average annual expense would be $6,000.
iii.Lining Upgrade – should there be significant root damage or other deterioration both can provide a new lining which would cost approximately $350,000.
- Our independent investigation into qualified organizations to provide sewer maintenance yielded two very qualified companies. We are confident that the professionals in the City of Folsom’s Environmental and Water Resources Department should be able to identify many more.
- Pumps: An alternative proposal would be to install pumping stations that transport the waste up into the current sewer line is a very viable alternative. We believe that the road will cost over $1 million and that this alternative approach costs would be on par with their road. Given the minimal environmental impact on the Nature Area, and comparable costs, we believe pumping stations are by far a better alternative to building a road. Financial Comparison of the alternatives:
Capital Cost - Annual Maintenance Cost* Displacement Cost of City Workers Net Operating Cost
Road Construction + $1,000,000 $30,000 NA $30,000
Professional Service Zero! $31,000 $30,000 $ 1,000
Pumps +$1,000,000 $30,000 NA $30,000
*Note:
*Road Construction: We are estimating it costs $15,000 to have the City perform sewer line maintenance with the road plus $15,000 in annual expenses to maintain the road
*Professional Services: Cost to have the sewer line flushed annually and video inspection every other year is $31,000 ($25,000 to clean + $6,000 to video). This expense will be offset by $15,000 of savings since the City of Folsom workers will no longer have to provide annual maintenance of the line and we avoid the annual road maintenance expense (~$15,000).
Net result is the City of Folsom can save over a million dollars in capital investment with no material impact in operating expenses, save the oak trees, eliminate the road, and eliminate the time bomb of knowing that the current sewer line has not been properly maintained and could over flow any day! Why would they want to wait for a + 1 year to construct a road to service the sewer line when it could be completed before April 2016?
Conclusions:
In conclusion, we have alternatives that should have been explored well before a discussion of building roads should have been considered. Our alternatives ensure that the maintenance of the sewer lines in Hinkle Creek are maintained to the very highest standards, light years above the maintenance they receive today. Our alternatives eliminate a needless waste of well over $1 million in capital costs without materially impacting annual operating costs. Our recommended alternatives are extremely powerful since they eliminate the need to carve up the canyon with a road that will be expensive to maintain and destroy 50 to 100 mature oak trees.
Recommendation Action by the Folsom City Council
Order staff to expeditiously investigate the two alternative proposals outlined in this document and report back to the City Council. The City Council needs to ensure that staff takes a hard look at alternatives to building a road in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area with a keen eye to quickly performing annual sewer maintenance to minimize spills and managing the financial resources of the City of Folsom prudently.
• Private Contractors: Maintenance and emergency service requirements document needs to be developed and shared with qualified contractors. Identify qualified organizations with the equipment, personnel and experience to perform the required service. This should include interviewing current customers to determine the firm’s performance and the customer’s satisfaction.
• Pumps: Explore installing pumps along the sewer line that serve multiple homes. These pumps should elevate the waste into the existing sewer line in the middle of the street.
Please join us in getting the Folsom City Council to exercise common sense vs. pushing forward with an expensive unnecessary road in the Hinkle Creek Nature Area City Park. If you would like to be kept up to date, just go to: Facebook: Hinkle Creek, NextDoor.com – Hinkle Creek or email us at: hinklecreekpark@gmail.com
