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HomeMy WebLinkAbout8.2 AltamontLandfillSettle CITY CLERK File # O Q - At AGENDA STATEMENT I _ 3o CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: January 15, 2002 SUBJECT: Agreement Between the City of Dublin and the County of Alameda Regarding Expenditures Created by the Altamont Landfill Settlement Agreement Prepared by:Jason Behrmann, Administrative Analyst ATTACHMENTS: 1. Resolution Approving Agreement RECOMMENDATION: 1. Adopt the Resolution. 2. Appoint a Council Member to serve on the Open Space Advisory Committee. FINANCIAL STATEMENT: The Agreement with the County of Alameda(County) will result in more potential revenue for the acquisition of permanent open space in the City of Dublin. There is no direct fiscal impact to the City, although residents and businesses may be impacted, as the open space fee will be included in future garbage rate calculations. DESCRIPTION: Background of Open Space Fees As part of the settlement of litigation over the expansion of the Altamont Landfill,the parties to the litigation (Alameda County, Waste Management of Alameda County, the Cities of Livermore and Pleasanton, and various environmental groups) agreed that the County would charge Waste Management of Alameda County, Inc. (WMAC)two fees totaling$1.25 per ton of waste disposed at the Landfill, which WMAC is required to pass on to its franchisors and other jurisdictions that use the Landfill. Of the two fees, $0.75 per ton must be spent on the acquisition of open space, either by purchasing the land or obtaining a permanent easement. Only twenty percent of the total amount of money acquired through the fee will be spent in the Dublin-Pleasanton area,referred to in the settlement agreement as the western area; the other eighty percent must be used to acquire property in eastern Alameda County, meaning around Livermore. How Decisions Regarding Expenditure of the Fees are Made Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the County must convene an Advisory Committee to make decisions about the expenditure of the funds in the account. The County, Livermore, Pleasanton, and the Sierra Club may appoint voting members to the Committee. Dublin has a non-voting representative. COPIES TO: aa° ITEM NO. 6.2 The Committee will prepare a"priority list" of properties for acquisition in each of the two areas. It will also decide how to allocate funds derived from the fee for expenditure during each year. For the Dublin- ublin- �.. Pleasanton area,the Committee takes action by majority vote of the members representing the County, Pleasanton, and the Sierra Club. Those three members decide which properties in that area will appear on the priority list and how to spend the money allocated for expenditure on open space in that area. The Committee makes annual adjustments to the lists and the proposed expenditure of funds. After the Committee makes its recommendations for the priority list and the allocation of funds, the Committee must submit them to the County and to the appropriate city(Livermore or Pleasanton, depending on the area in which the open space will be acquired). The County and city must hold public discussions on the recommendations at meetings of their respective legislative bodies. Their task is to determine whether the recommendations are consistent with the criteria in the settlement agreement, discussed below. If either does not ratify the recommendations,they will be referred back to the Committee. Summary of the Agreement with Alameda County On July 3, 2001,the City of Dublin entered into an Agreement with the City of Pleasanton to ensure that Pleasanton would use its vote on the Open Space Advisory Committee to assure that funds allocated for open space in the western area would be divided evenly between Dublin and Pleasanton. The proposed Agreement with Alameda County ensures that the County will use its vote in a similar fashion. Both votes are needed in order to secure a majority vote on the Committee. On January 3, 2002, The Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved the proposed Agreement between the City of Dublin and Alameda County. The proposed Agreement with the County contains the same stipulations as the previously approved Agreement with Pleasanton. The key elements of the Agreement are as follows: Dublin agrees to: • Allow WMAC to take the open space fees into account in its calculation of target revenue and, thereby, to include the fees in customers' rates. • Continue to study mechanisms for funding open space acquisition and to share that information with the Committee. • Participate in the Committee and advocate for the division of funds as provided for in the Agreement. Alameda County agrees to: • Vote to put on the list of open space properties for the western area, properties in Dublin that Dublin has approved. • Vote to divide the funds allocated for the western area evenly between properties in Dublin and Pleasanton, unless the two cities agree to an alternate arrangement. • Vote to disapprove the Committee's recommendation if the Committee approves a list or allocation that does not conform to the Agreement between Dublin and the County. Open Space Advisory Committee Formation Alameda County is responsible for convening the Open Space Advisory Committee. Based on recent conversations with the County, it is anticipated that the County will send letters to all affected jurisdictions regarding the formation of the Committee in January or February 2002. At this time it would be appropriate for the Council to appoint a Council Member to serve on the Committee as a non-voting representative. Recommendation Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the resolution approving the agreement and appoint a Council Member to serve on the Open Space Advisory Committee. RESOLUTION NO. -02 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN ********* AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF DUBLIN AND THE COUNTY OF ALAMEDA REGARDING EXPENDITURES BY THE OPEN SPACE ADVISORY COMMITTEE CREATED BY AN AGREEMENT SETTLING LITIGATION OVER THE EXPANSION OF THE ALTAMONT LANDFILL WHEREAS, the Council has been presented with an agreement entitled Agreement Between the City of Dublin and the County of Alameda Regarding Expenditures by the Open Space Advisory Committee Created by an Agreement Settling Litigation over the Expansion of the Altamont Landfill; and WHEREAS, the Council is familiar with the terms of the agreement; and WHEREAS, the City Manager has recommended approval of the agreement. NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Agreement between the City of Dublin and the County of Alameda Regarding Expenditures by the Open Space Advisory Committee Created by an Agreement Settling Litigation over the Expansion of the Altamont Landfill is hereby approved and the Mayor is hereby authorized and directed to execute the Agreement attached as Exhibit A. PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 15th day of January 2002,by the following vote: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: MAYOR ATTEST: CITY CLERK ATTACHMENT 1 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF DUBLIN AND THE COUNTY OF ALAMEDA REGARDING EXPENDITURES BY THE OPEN SPACE ADVISORY COMMITTEE CREATED BY AN AGREEMENT SETTLING LITIGATION OVER THE EXPANSION OF THE ALTAMONT LANDFILL This Agreement is entered into by and between the City of Dublin(hereafter"Dublin"), a municipal corporation organized under the laws of the State of California, and the County of Alameda (hereafter "County"), a political subdivision of the State of California,this day of , 2002. RECITALS A. In 1991, Waste Management of Alameda County, Inc. (hereafter WMAC) applied to Alameda County(hereafter"County")for a Conditional Use Permit(hereafter"CUP")that would have allowed it to expand the capacity of the Altamont Landfill and Resource Reclamation Facility(hereafter "Landfill"). The County granted the CUP in 1996, precipitating litigation over the sufficiency of the Environmental Impact Report prepared in conjunction with the CUP application. The County was one of the defendants in the case. B. In 1999, the parties to the litigation entered into an agreement settling their claims. As part of that agreement, a copy of which is attached hereto and hereby incorporated by reference, the County agreed to impose on WMAC, as a condition of expanding the Landfill, several fees per ton of waste disposed at the Landfill. The agreement allocated a portion of those fees to an Open Space Account (hereafter"Account"); it further allocated twenty percent of the funds deposited into the Account annually to the acquisition of open space in the Dublin-Pleasanton area. C. The settlement agreement established an Open Space Advisory Committee (hereafter "Committee")to administer the Account and the acquisition of open space with funds in the account.The City of Pleasanton, the City of Livermore, the County, and the Sierra Club may all appoint voting members to the Committee. Dublin has nonvoting representation on the Committee. The Committee's tasks, as described in the settlement agreement, are the creation of"priority lists"of properties to acquire in the Dublin-Pleasanton and Livermore areas and the allocation of funds from the Account for the acquisition of the listed open space by obtaining title or a permanent easement. Committee decisions regarding the priority list and allocations for the Dublin-Pleasanton area are made by a majority vote of Pleasanton, the County, and the Sierra Club. Once the Committee recommends a priority list and allocations for the Dublin-Pleasanton area, the Pleasanton City Council and the County Board of Supervisors must ratify the recommendations by determining that they are consistent with the requirements of the settlement agreement. If either body does not ratify the recommendation, it is referred back to the Committee for reconsideration. D. As a further part of the settlement agreement, WMAC agreed, at the earliest point allowed under its franchise agreements, to include the fees in its per ton rate for disposal at the Landfill, thereby passing the fee to its franchisors and other jurisdictions that use the Landfill. The franchisors must then pass the fee along to its customers by increasing rates for solid waste collection and disposal. WMAC has recently included the fees in its proposed per ton disposal rates for Dublin, thereby requesting that Dublin Agreement Regarding Open Space Committee Expenditures between Alameda County and the City of Dublin Page 1 of 3 EXHIBIT A l + include the fees in its customers' rates. Dublin does not believe that, under the terms of its franchise agreement with WMAC, WMAC has the right to include the fees in its disposal rate for Dublin. E. Believing that the acquisition of open space in and around Dublin will benefit the residents of the County who might not otherwise benefit from the settlement agreement and recognizing that the residents of the City will contribute to the Account by indirectly paying the fees discussed above, the parties hereto enter into this Agreement to provide a mechanism for assuring the equitable distribution of the funds from the Account designated for the creation of open space in the Dublin-Pleasanton area. AGREEMENT NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual promises contained herein, the parties agree as follows: 1. Dublin's Responsibilities. a. Dublin shall, pursuant to its franchise agreement with WMAC and when requested by WMAC, include in the per ton Base Rate defined in that agreement all fees imposed on WMAC by the County as part of the agreement settling the litigation over the expansion of the Landfill. b. Dublin shall, to the extent permitted by law,continue to study mechanisms and funding sources for open space acquisition research within and around its boundaries and shall share all information obtained from such studies with the County and the Committee. c. Dublin shall actively participate in the Committee and strongly advocate that the funds in the Account annually allocated for the acquisition of open space in the Dublin-Pleasanton area should be spent equally, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, on properties in Pleasanton and Dublin. 2. County's Responsibilities. a. County shall, at every opportunity, vote to place on the priority list for the Dublin- Pleasanton area properties in Dublin that the Dublin representative on the Committee approves and to divide evenly between Dublin and Pleasanton the funds in the Account annually allocated for the acquisition of open space in the Dublin-Pleasanton area, such that half of the funds are designated for the acquisition of open space in Pleasanton, half for open space in Dublin. b. If the Committee recommends a priority list that contains properties in Dublin that Dublin's Committee representative has not approved or an allocation of funds for the acquisition of open space in the Dublin-Pleasanton area that is not evenly divided between properties in Agreement Regarding Open Space Committee Expenditures between Alameda County and the City of Dublin Page 2 of 3 EXHIBIT A Pleasanton and Dublin, the County Board of Supervisors shall vote to disapprove the recommendation as inconsistent with the requirements of the settlement agreement. 3. Modification. The parties may agree in writing to a different allocation of funds for a single year or for multiple years. 4. Indemnification. Each party agrees to hold harmless the other and its elected and appointed councils, boards, commissions, officers, agents, employees, and representatives from any and all claims, costs, and liability that may arise directly or indirectly as a result of any actions taken pursuant to this Agreement. 7. Term and Termination. This Agreement shall remain in effect for as long as the Committee exists and makes decisions about the allocation of funds derived from fees imposed as a result of the settlement of the above-described litigation over the expansion of the Landfill. This Agreement may be terminated only by the written consent of both parties. 6. Severability. If any provision in this Agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, void, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will nevertheless continue in full force without being impaired or invalidated in any way. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Agreement as of the date written above. CITY OF DUBLIN COUNTY OF ALAMEDA By: By: Janet Lockhart, Mayor Scott Haggerty, Board President Attest: Attest: Kay Keck, City Clerk Crystal Hishida, Clerk Approved as to form: Approved as to form: Elizabeth H. Silver, City Attorney Richard E. Winnie, County Counsel Agreement Regarding Open Space Committee Expenditures between Alameda County and the City of Dublin Page 3 of 3 EXHIBIT A