Property-Related Agreeements with Twin Lakes Baptist Church, Cabrillo Community College District, & Santa Cruz Seaside Company for the Pure Water Soquel Project

Property-Related Agreeements with Twin Lakes Baptist Church, Cabrillo Community College District, & Santa Cruz Seaside Company for the Pure Water Soquel Project

On December 18, 2018, the Soquel Creek Water District (District) certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR), adopted Findings of Fact (including a Statement of Overriding Considerations) and a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRP), and approved the Pure Water Soquel: Groundwater Replenishment and Seawater Intrusion Prevention Project (PWS or Project). The Project will supplement natural recharge of the Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Basin with purified water. The purified water will be produced from existing secondary effluent from the Santa Cruz Wastewater Treatment facility (SC WWTF) and delivered to treatment facilities located in either the City of Sant Cruz or unincorporated Santa Cruz County. Purified water will then be used to recharge the aquifer. The EiR evaluated potential environment impacts that could occur as a result of implementing the Project and/or alternatives and provided applicable mitigation to reduced the intensity of potential environmental impacts. This included evaluation of Tertiary Treatment at the SC WWTF and an Advanced Water Purification Facility (AWPF) at the Chanticleer Site. Since certifying the EIR and approving the Project, a parcel adjacent to the Chanticleer Site was listed for sale (New Parcel), and the District has now approved the acquisition of the New Parcel so that it can be incorporated into the design of the Project, specifically into the construction plans for the Chanticleer Site AWPF, including a building and parking area. In addition to this New Parcel, the District approved modification of the project to revise certain water treatment process and facility layout refinements to 1) the Tertiary Treatment System at the SC WWTF and 2) the AWPF at the Chanticleer Site. A sewer lift station and equalization tank will also be added at the AWPF on the Chanticleer Site. A sewer lift station and equalization tank will also be added at the AWPF on the Chanticleer Site to meet the hydraulic grade at the connection point located at Soquel Avenue and 17th Avenue. An Addendum to the previously certified EIR was prepared to evaluate the potential for any new significant impacts, or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant impacts, to occur. The Addendum determined that neither the Project modifications, nor any changes in circumstances surrounding the Project, result in any new significant impact, or substantially increase the severity of an impact identified in the 2018 PWS EIR. The Addendum further determined that no new mitigation is required beyond those measures in the adopted MMRP. The Addendum was adopted on November 17, 2020. On May 18, 2021, the Board approved three property-related agreements associated with the PWS Project. One agreement pertains to a land easement with Twin Lakes Baptist Church for a recharge well at Twin Lakes Church, the second agreement is with the Cabrillo Community College District for three monitoring wells at Cabrillo Community College, and the third agreement is for a pipeline easement with Santa Cruz Seaside Company at the Auto Plaza area off 41st Ave. These activities are a part of the PWS Project evaluated in the certified EIR and Addendum, and, pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21166 and State CEQA Guidelines section 15162, approval of these property-related agreements will result in no new or more severe impacts requiring additional environmental review of the approval action.

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