Santa Cruz Metro Operations Building

The $14M SCMTD Operations building is a multi-story 12,000 SF structure that includes administrative offices and rest areas for the bus operators as well as a new parking lot for 98 buses.  Work also included construction of a new outfall into the sensitive, 303(d) impaired San Lorenzo River.  The outfall drains a new bus operations building and the bus parking lot, as well as the fueling facility which is covered under the Industrial General Permit.  Oil water separators and bioretention areas were installed for stormwater treatment in advance of the outfall.

Keish Environmental staff was part of the CM team brought in to take over the troubled project and turn it around.  Construction had fallen behind schedule and entered Risk Level 3 under the CGP.  Staff prepared and obtained the Regional Water Quality Control Board 401 Water Quality Certification permit and amended the Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreement to include vegetation mitigation measures so the critical-path outfall construction could commence.  Keish Env staff were responsible for NPDES Construction General Permit oversight during construction and assisted the contractor with prioritizing site issues. Keish QSD and QSPs performed oversight inspections of the work to ensure compliance with the required permit measures, assisted with sampling and NPDES Annual Reporting in SMARTS, and assisted client staff with the state system.

Keish Environmental staff performed 100% of environmental oversight for the project from October 2014 to the present, acting on behalf of the agency to coordinate with regulators and meet all project compliance requirements for the federally funded job. Staff are currently performing ongoing monitoring together with biologists to document that the outfall vegetation meets mitigation success criteria.