Guadalupe is poised to ask the state for funds to upgrade the city’s failing sewer system.
The project—dubbed the 2020 Sewer Enhancement Project—aims to replace $3.2 million of failing sewer infrastructure in various areas of Guadalupe; officials recently announced plans to submit a funding release request to the state.
The city is currently waiting to hear whether it’s going to receive a pending community development block grant to be used to partially fund the project, Shannon Sweeney, Public Works director and city engineer for Guadalupe, told the Sun.
Once grant funding is secured, the city can then submit a request for the release of the funds from the California Department of Housing and Community Development under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, according to a city of Guadalupe notice released on Feb. 20.
“You have to demonstrate readiness,” Sweeney explained of the process. “We are awaiting word if we have won the grant.”
Once the grant has been secured, the project’s readiness can be shown and a request can be submitted to the state to release the funds, Sweeney said.
“The project includes approximately 3,000 feet of sewer replacement,” Sweeney said.
At least half of Guadalupe citizens have been affected by the current failing sewer system, and a majority of the issues they’ve faced—namely overflows and other plumbing difficulties—will be addressed by the 2020 Sewer Enhancement Project, Sweeney said.
Sweeney also told the Sun that Guadalupe residents will not be displaced or majorly impacted by the project, “other than general construction.”
According to the Feb. 20 notice, the city has determined that the project will not have a significant impact on the human environment, and as a result an environmental impact statement—under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969—is not required. Environmental impact statements are not required in cases like this one, which won’t have a significant impact, the notice states.
Sweeney said the city’s environmental review included looking at the effect the project could potentially have on air quality, endangered species, farmland protection, historic conservation, noise, and other environmental factors.
According to the notice, California Department of Housing and Community Development “will accept objections to its release of [funds] and the city of Guadalupe certification for a period of 15 days following the anticipated submission date”—March 10—“or its actual receipt of the request.”
This article appears in Mar 12-19, 2020.