CAPITAL OUTLAY COMMITTEE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES SHASTA-TEHAMA-TRINITY JOINT COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2009 MINUTES

Transcription

1 CAPITAL OUTLAY COMMITTEE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES SHASTA-TEHAMA-TRINITY JOINT COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2009 MINUTES The Board of Trustees of the Shasta-Tehama-Trinity Joint Community College District met on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, in the Board Room of the Shasta College Administration Building. 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mrs. Patricia Hunn, Committee Chair, at 6:00 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Roll Call indicated the following: Trustees Present Mrs. Judi D. Beck Mrs. Patricia A. Hunn Mr. Harold J. Lucas Mr. Duane K. Miller Mr. Kendall S. Pierson arrived at 6:15 p.m. Mrs. Rayola B. Pratt Mr. Scott J. Swendiman Trustees Absent Mr. Dan Kinney, Student Trustee 3. RECESS TO TOUR OF LIBRARY ANNEX Mrs. Patricia Hunn, Chair of the Capital Outlay Committee, recessed the meeting to a tour of the new Library Annex at 6:01 p.m. 4. RECONVENE Mrs. Hunn reconvened the meeting at 6:31 p.m. and thanked the Administration for the tour. Mr. Gary Lewis, District Superintendent/President, stood so the Board could see the aerial photo of the main campus. He explained that initially it was determined that the solar project located along Highway 299 was not going to work. They then looked at moving it north to some fields that have a gravel stratum. Mr. Lewis said he attended a meeting of the Ag Advisory Committee with Joan Bosworth. The Administration then tried to work the space

2 COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AUGUST 12, 2009 needed in three fields that are currently not being used and not planted. Mr. Lewis said because of the need for this project to have a rectangular shape for the tracking system, they would have had to go into another field where the field sends the effluent to two other fields. They would have needed 20 acres and it would have an additional cost of $150,000 to do this. This is Option 1. Then it was proposed to put it on one of the soccer fields and on the old sod farm (which was the old landing strip). This is Option 2. So they measured that. They would have had to cut down all the trees along the road and all the pin/red oaks because of the shade (he noted that you can t have shade hitting the panels if you want solar productivity). Mr. Lewis said some members of the Ag Advisory Committee wanted this site farther north. There is a grove east of what used to be the catfish pond. The area contains large valley oaks. Because of the concern for trees, Mr. Lewis said he made a number of phone calls to try to figure out which of these sites would be best mediated and would work. Other than the north site, which is Option 3, the other two sites were opposed by agriculture staff and community members because they are all prime ag land. Mr. Lewis said he then talked to a few people, including GIS/Geography Instructor Dan Scollon, regarding the feasibility of the site farther north. Mr. Scollon agreed that these trees are primarily what they call live oak. Mr. Lewis said he, Harold Lucas, and Duane Miller went out there to walk the site. Mr. Miller said live oak trees are not covered by the California Oak Protection rules. Mr. Lewis said 90% of the trees at this site are live oak trees and apparently not protected. Valley oaks are more protected trees. Another recommendation was expand into where the old pond was but that would allow only a couple of rows because of the shade. Also, it may have been turned into a vernal pool. It hasn t had water for a long time; there are willows growing in there. The Ag Department, for a num-

3 COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AUGUST 12, 2009 ber of years, planned to fill it in, which would have prevented the potential of a vernal pool. There is another potential vernal pool where the ground was possibly hollowed out for the cattle, so water would collect for them. Several people thought that might have to be studied as a vernal pool so we ll try not to work in that area. Mr. Lewis showed everyone the area on the far north of the campus that he recommends as the site for the solar array. The array will take approximately eight acres. Mr. Kendall Pierson asked where we tie in and whether it is 12 thousand volts. Mr. Lewis said, yes, and it would be at the cell tower, which is actually a shorter distance than one of the other options. Mr. Pierson asked what the savings were. Mr. Lewis said the savings are not that much; there will be additional costs because we ve done some studies at the other sites but not at this third location. Mr. Pierson asked if there was a line loss. Mr. Wyse said yes, a little, but it was not significant. Mr. Pierson said maybe there is a loss on hard economics but not on loss of prime ag land. Mr. Lewis agreed, saying there is potential at this third site for better student opportunities. Mr. Pierson asked if they have a rating for the site in terms of exposure. Mr. Lewis said yes. They tried to make all sites consistent on exposure so that s not a variable for comparison. Mr. Lewis said feet need to be cleared of trees because of shading. The advantage is the trees are pretty small and most of them are the live oaks. Mr. Lucas said from the beginning the Ag Department has been part of the input here. He said his question is why this didn t come to the Board earlier. Secondly, Mr. Lucas said he understands they are going to get a letter from the Ag Advisory Committee regarding this site, Option 3. Joan Bosworth, Dean of the Industry, Natural Resources, and Public Safety Division, stated that they had the meeting today 4-6 p.m. Mr. Lucas asked what the letter will say. Mrs. Bosworth said she believed it would state that they will support the site but would prefer the parking lots. Bill Burrows, retired Shasta College Ag Instructor, said

4 COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AUGUST 12, 2009 the committee is very thankful to the Board and Administration for the time and effort they are putting into picking the right site. If we are going green we need to protect a green food source. Mr. Burrows said they are pleased that it was going somewhere other than the farm. The consensus was to go back and reevaluate and do more leg work and go to the parking lots. He said the District will get a letter from the committee. Mr. Lewis said it is not feasible to place the solar array on one of the parking lots. The District has a signed contract with this company. He pointed out two parking lots and said they are not nearly wide enough. It would cost approximately $500, ,000 more Mr. Wyse added that it would produce 30% less power. Mrs. Beck asked about future expansion. Mr. Lewis said they researched the rooftops and the parking lots. None of the buildings have the load capacity to handle the solar arrays. This particular solar array panel configuration will not go to DSA because we won t have people under them. If we put them on the parking lots they have to go to DSA. Butte College is doing that on the parking lots but they had several million left over from their bond. Mr. Lewis reminded everyone that when the college added the smoking gazebos they had to go through DSA, they had to put in very large caissons to hold the structures. At the Trinity Campus, the covered walkway was required to have three foot caissons eight feet deep for each of the supports. Mr. Pierson asked why this wasn t vetted initially. Mr. Lewis said there were people from the Ag Department involved in the initial meetings. He personally didn t hear about a concern until a meeting with Joan Bosworth and the Advisory Committee. He has the minutes of the meeting. They thought we should move it over to the gravel area, so we were progressing and he was asked to see if the site would work. We got to the point where we couldn t fit it onto the pie-shaped area; that is one of the things that caused this option to go south. Kendall Pierson asked if the Ag Department looked at producing crops under the solar panels. Instructor

5 COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AUGUST 12, 2009 Leimone Waite said they were told they couldn t have people under them. Mr. Pierson said there is a function of cost by the time it goes through DSA. President Lewis said it became a political hot potato. We will still face some opposition from folks who won t want these trees cut down. There were numerous meetings; the Board approved the site; they didn t have opposition; and then opposition came up at the advisory committee. It was Joan Bosworth s idea to try and put it in this pie shaped area but it doesn t work. Harold Lucas said it looks like we got the cart before the horse, particularly in terms of CEQA. He asked why they didn t look at CEQA first. Mr. Lewis said they had an opportunity last September or October to lock in on the $3.5 million rebate with PG&E. It was decided to lock in and we put the required $20,000 deposit down on it. Mr. Pierson said the project won t pencil out without the PG&E rebates and we do want to produce green power. It would be optimal to place it on the roofs or in the parking lots or to grow something under them but that doesn t work. Mr. Lewis said he also stated numerous times that we wouldn t and couldn t do it unless it penciled out not to create a cash flow issue. Mr. Pierson asked if there is a cost of putting the solar array on the parking lots. Gary Lewis said he talked briefly with the President of Butte College a while ago. They had extra money. They passed a bond for approximately $150 million. Kendall Pierson said there is no such thing as extra money. Mr. Wyse said PG&E announced a 6.8% rate increase two weeks ago. At $9-10 million it wouldn t work. Kendall Pierson said he wouldn t vote for it if it cost extra money. Mr. Lewis noted that Shasta College had extra money for the Tehama Campus because the bids came in low and that is also how Butte came up with their money. They are promoting themselves as the community college leader in sustainability. Kendall Pierson said he would question investing more of taxpayers money than they get back.

6 COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AUGUST 12, 2009 Judi Beck asked if this wasn t just Phase 1. She asked if there will be more monies down the road. Eventually our goal is get off the grid and sell power back like Los Angeles. Mr. Lewis said if we have funds available and if the Board is willing to look at it, yes. He said he could honestly say, at this point, we can t change. Joe Wyse said when he was talking with the solar salespeople, they didn t want to show him the figures for placing it on the parking lots because we insisted that it had to pay for itself. Mr. Lucas said we gave almost no mention to the placement. The issue here tonight is placement. Scott Swendiman said clearly there is only one site. There is objection to the farm; it can t be placed on the roofs; the parking lots face the wrong direction; so there is one site. Everything else doesn t work for big reasons. You can t elevate it because of the cash flow. If you toss in more money it doesn t make sense. Mr. Lucas stated that he doesn t think the Board got enough information on the site selection. Mr. Lewis said the Administration brought this to the Board in October and he first learned about the objection in March. Kendall Pierson asked about CEQA. George Estrada said the Corps of Engineers would add six months to the timetable if they think there are vernal pools. We have a consultant for CEQA, Steve Towers. Mr. Lewis said they don t intend to go to the old pond or possible vernal pools. Mr. Wyse said he thinks they can even fence around them. Pat Hunn asked if there is any other place on campus, away from ag, that could be acceptable. Mr. Lewis said yes, just west of the football stadium but it would require a huge number of oaks and valley oaks to come out. The fire training center is on low ground that comes up and over. We need relatively flat ground and that area

7 COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AUGUST 12, 2009 isn t big enough. Joe Wyse noted that it is also on a flood plain. Duane Miller asked, if we can avoid the wetlands issues, whether we can keep this project on track. Mr. Wyse said yes, the college has until June 24, 2010 to complete the project. We can ask for three, three-month extensions. Rayola Pratt asked Bill Burrows, from his point of view, whether he feels, at this point, that they have gone through as many sites and possibilities that they could to put this solar site together. She asked if he would approve. We need this green portion; we can t do one thing and disrupt another. She asked him for his thoughts. Bill Burrows stated that the college s concept and idea of going green and getting solar energy is phenomenal. The college will be able to demonstrate to students the advantages of this kind of activity. Mr. Burrows said he realizes that there are many circumstances here. The third location is probably the best. It is Class 2 and 3 soil; not as good as Class 1 ground. If he had a magic wand, he would have wanted preliminary planning to get CEQA done and planned. The bottom line is, any time you cover land (he noted that we are having that problem in California), you take potential future crops out of production. As an Aggie you have to be concerned about that. If you need to move ahead and this money is something you want to take advantage of, then this recommended site is the best of the three they are evaluating. Rayola Pratt stated that the District does have a signed contract and we have to figure out something that takes care of the community and first of all our students. From her point of view, we could still do something under those panels. It will not produce in the same way but comparing solar panels to concrete or blacktop we re giving it our best shot. Mrs. Pratt told Mr. Burrows that she hoped he could support the Board s decision. Mr. Lewis said Joan Bosworth s division has new curriculum in solar and wind power. We are basically putting our money where our mouth is. Sustainability is something we have been talking about for two years. We wanted to change the culture but found we were not doing recycling

8 COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AUGUST 12, 2009 or composting at all. If we are going to be an instructional institution we have to set an example. That was one of the thoughts of having it along Hwy to show people what we are doing. We have had our first sustainability conference. Joan s area is putting in an organic teaching garden. We are trying to do some things that will allow us to not be hypercritical about what we teach. The intentions are good. Mr. Lucas said his conclusion is that this college will grow and we must consider the value of our land. Pat Hunn asked, if $50 million was dropped in our lap, could we change the contract to go on the roofs. Mr. Wyse said it would be hard. We ve gone through an RFP and an RFQ. Mr. Lewis said we would have to start over. Mr. Lewis said we are getting off track. We can t afford to do that. Leimone Waite said the Sunpower System that Sierra Nevada put in is a tracking system. Mr. Estrada stated that we are regulated by DSA and they are not. Mr. Lewis said look at the Library Annex and the overkill on the cross-members we had to put in because of DSA. Kendall Pierson said they need to look at the hard analysis on cash flow and rebates. They have the hard numbers that it will provide a cash flow. You take the intangibles on teaching advantages and setting an example but you have to look at the money. He said he thinks this is a good project. It s unfortunate that it wouldn t pay for itself going overhead. Mr. Lewis noted that this is not an action item. It is not on the regular Board Agenda because they have a meeting on Friday to look at the ability to put it on this third site. Mr. Lucas said he wants to be sure the Board gets a copy of the letter from the Ag Advisory Committee. 6. ADJOURN It was moved by Mr. Pierson, seconded by Mrs. Beck, and carried TO ADJOURN THE MEETING. Capital Outlay Committee Chair Patricia Hunn adjourned the meeting at 7:12 p.m.

9 COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AUGUST 12, 2009 Respectfully submitted, Susan Vanderwerf Recorder