Santa Barbara is pursuing extra funding for its desalination plant to address a potential expansion of the facility, a new conveyance pipeline and unforeseen costs associated with getting the plant operational in the coming months.
On Tuesday, the City Council gave the thumbs up to amending the city’s current State Revolving Fund loan application to increase the amount it can borrow to $106 million.
Though the desalination plant is not yet producing potable water, the city is already considering expanding its output from 3,125 acre-feet a year to 7,500 acre-feet a year.
The loan would cover that expansion, along with unforeseen costs that have cropped up during construction. Water resources manager Joshua Haggmark said that the city would not be required to borrow the full $106 million.
Broken down, however, that number consists of the original $55 million project estimate and loan amount, $16 million for new costs and $35 million for the expansion.
The second loan the city is pursuing is to cover the costs of a 15,000-foot, 24-inch conveyance pipeline for moving the facility’s water to a treatment plant and to better move water through the city.
Haggmark said the $12 million pipeline would be necessary to move water to Montecito should the city come to an agreement with the Montecito Water District about selling it supplemental water.
He estimated pipeline construction would last 12 to 16 months, with companies able to begin bidding on the construction in late summer.
Haggmark anticipated securing the loan and amendment in September.
The desalination plant, located at 525 E. Yanonali St., is expected to produce 3 million gallons of water every day, accounting for about a third of the city’s potable water supply.
As of last month, the city anticipated potable water production would start between mid-March and mid-April.
The facility was built almost 30 years ago and then mothballed, until the City Council voted in 2015 to reactivate it. Various testing of its facilities is underway.
But as the project’s costs rise, its water-production timetable has slowed as fresh construction issues pop up.
Many of the plant’s original parts require replacement after testing revealed problems. Record drawings and documents by the original contractor did not match the exact construction of the physical facility.
Requiring story poles for development projects
On Tuesday, the council also approved a new requirement to add story poles for certain development projects proposed under the city’s Average Unit Density Program.
The poles, added around the site of a proposed development project to show the height and bulk of the proposed building, tend to be popular with a development’s neighbors because it allows people to visualize on site what’s going in and serves as a form of development notification.
“I think what’s missing in this balancing act is some notification to the general public who aren’t in the day-to-day activity of checking (government) agendas,” said Mayor Helene Schneider.
Under the new requirements, the poles are required for AUD projects three stories or 30 feet high in residential zones or when no three-story buildings exist within 300 feet of a project.
Four-story buildings outside the city’s historic El Pueblo Viejo district and within 150 feet of designated historic sites require the poles, as do projects that receive comments from the Planning Commission.
The city’s Historic Landmarks Commission and Architectural Board of Review can exempt projects from poles or request them for other projects.
Currently, story poles are required only in certain circumstances determined by city review boards.
The visual aids are not especially popular with the architectural community.
Architect Brian Cearnal told the council that they tend to be expensive to put up and maintain, are a solution to a non-existent problem and are not as helpful as detailed 3-D renderings depicting the final product in its environment.
The council voted 4-3 to approve the new rules, with members Randy Rowse, Gregg Hart and Cathy Murillo disagreeing on the poles’ necessity and usefulness. The seven agreed unanimously, however, to pursue making projects’ 3-D renderings and photo simulations more publicly available.
The council also approved Tuesday a memorandum of understanding with the Santa Barbara Police Management Association that provides a 3-percent salary increase for the association’s nine employees, effective back on Jan. 7 and in effect until Dec. 31.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.