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December 3, 2010

Via Hand Delivery

San Mateo County Board of Supervisors

Hall of Justice
400 County Center
Redwood City, CA 94063

Re: Appeal of Planning Commission Action on Big Wave Project

Owner/Applicant: Big Wave Group, LLC
File Nos.: PLN2005-00481 and PLN2005-00482
Location: Airport Street at Stanford Avenue, Princeton
Assessor’s Parcel Nos.: 047-311-060, 047-312-040

Honorable Board of Supervisors:

Please consider this letter a formal appeal of the action taken by the San Mateo County
Planning Commission (Commission) by a 3-2 vote to approve the above referenced “Big
Wave Project” (Project) and Final Environmental Impact Report on November 23, 2010.
For the reasons outlined in more detail below, the Granada Sanitary District (GSD) must
appeal the Commission action due to the following deficiencies in the FEIR:

The FEIR lacks a clear project definition. The FEIR contains numerous instances
where the project description can change based on market conditions or environmental
impacts. Without a clear project definition, the District cannot conduct an effective
analysis of the Project’s impact on our sewer system to allow us to delineate adequate
mitigation measures for the impacts the project will have on our sewer system, and
subsequently, the environment. The Environmental Impact Report prepared for the
Project therefore fails to satisfy the requirements of the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA; Public Resources Code §21000 et seq.).

The District has not been afforded status as a Responsible Agency as required by
the CEQA statute. The FEIR states that the Project will connect to the District’s sewer
system, which will require the Applicant to obtain a Sewer Connection Permit from GSD.
Because of this, the District is required to be afforded status as a Responsible Agency
for review of the EIR. Not listing the District as a Responsible Agency denies the
District the ability to designate sufficient mitigation measures, thereby limiting our legal
protections as a part of the Project approval process.

                               ∼               ∼                              
                          ∼                           ∼                           
 December 3, 2010 Big Wave Project Appeal Letter
Page 2 of 4

The volume of wastewater which will enter the District sewer system is still
undefined by the FEIR. Rather than attempt to document the numerous contradictions
and inconsistencies detailed throughout the FEIR concerning the amount of wastewater
and recycled water which will need to be treated and disposed of by the Project or the
District , the excerpt below clipped directly from the EIR should illustrate the multiple
insufficiencies in the EIR’s analysis of this issue (emphasis added):

Page IV.N-11 (Proposed Project)

The proposed project would recycle all wastewater, through on-site treatment/water
recycling and for use in toilet flushing, surface and solar panel washing, and agricultural
irrigation.

Impact UTIL-2 Wastewater Collection System Capacity

The project proposes to have a sewer connection to the Granada Sanitary District as
a contingency for surplus flows during the wet season and for other emergency purposes.
The applicant has not provided estimates of the amount of sewage flow that would
be directed to the sewer system from the project.
However, based on the analysis in this DEIR, it should be anticipated that there will be
times when the entire daily sewage flow (26,000 gpd) would be discharged to the
sewer. This would occur, for example, as a result of having to suspend water recycling
due to non-compliance with Title 22 treatment limits. No hydraulic analysis has been
completed by the applicant to confirm that the existing 8-inch sewer line in Stanford
Avenue has sufficient capacity to accommodate additional flows of 26,000 gpd.
Analysis by the DEIR authors indicate that an average flow of 26,000 gpd would likely
require a minimum sewer line diameter of 12 inches or greater; thus the existing 8-inch
line would not be adequate for the project. The Princeton Pump Station may also have
inadequate capacity for the additional surcharge of 26,000 gpd sewage flow from the
project. The potential lack of adequate capacity for the project wastewater flows in
the existing Granada Sanitary District sewage collection system may require
improvements that have not been accounted for in the project plans. This is a
potentially significant impact.

Mitigation Measure UTIL-2 Wastewater Collection System Capacity

The applicant shall either: (a) revise the project design to limit the maximum amount of
sewage flow to the Granada Sanitary District sewer system to that which can be
accommodated by the existing 8-inch sewer line in Stanford Avenue and the Princeton
Pump Station; or (b) provide necessary expansion of the capacity of the sewer system to
accommodate the addition of the expected maximum sewage flow of 26,000 gpd from the
project.

GSD has a legally assigned role under CEQA to assist the lead agency and applicant in
identifying potential impacts related to wastewater and garbage, and to propose
mitigation measures to minimize those impacts, which the District is prepared to do.
However, because the lead agency’s EIR process has failed to treat GSD as a
Responsible Agency, and the Applicant has failed to provide the required finite,
consistent and stable Project Description, GSD has simply not been able to fulfill its

                               ∼               ∼                              
                          ∼                           ∼                                
 December 3, 2010 Big Wave Project Appeal Letter
Page 3 of 4

legally established role. GSD has previously assured the Applicant in writing (and
hereby assures the Board of Supervisors) that “The District is prepared to provide sewer
service as needed to the project, provided the proper engineering studies and capacity
analyses are completed, and the subsequent impacts prove mitigable.”

Because the EIR’s analysis of wastewater and garbage impacts is fatally flawed, GSD
respectfully requests that the Board of Supervisors require that the problems listed
above first be cured prior to allowing the Applicant to move forward with the Project. In
practical terms, this means that we would like the Board to reverse the Planning
Commission’s November 23, 2010 approval, and require that the wastewater and
garbage portions of the EIR be adequately revised and recirculated prior to giving it final
certification.

If the Board of Supervisors for some reason declines to honor GSD’s above request
(which GSD believes is legally required), then GSD respectfully requests that the FEIR
be revised to include the following additional mitigation measures, which are designed
to be broad in scope in order to address the failure of the EIR to provide the legally
required finite, consistent and stable Project Description and proper engineering studies
and capacity analyses:

Mitigation Measure Util – 2(c)

The Applicant shall obtain a sewer connection permit for the Project from the
Granada Sanitary District and comply with all conditions of approval for said
permit. The Applicant will be responsible for all fees (including sewer service,
capacity, and Assessment District fees), engineering studies, and additional
infrastructure required to serve the Project.

Mitigation Measure Util – 2(d)

The Applicant shall obtain a private wastewater onsite disposal permit for the
Project’s proposed Wastewater Treatment Plant from the Granada Sanitary
District and comply with all conditions of approval for said permit. Again, the
Applicant will be responsible for all fees related to the Project.

Mitigation Measure Util – 2(e)

The Applicant shall subscribe to and pay for the garbage collection and disposal
system provided by the Granada Sanitary District and otherwise comply with in
all respects with the GSD Ordinance Code provisions related to garbage,
including in particular Chapter 3 thereof.

Given the EIR’s lack of a clear project description and the Applicant’s failure to provide
any detailed information, including any engineering studies and plans showing that the
GSD’s and SAM’s systems can handle the expected flows and/or that the private onsite
system will actually function as anticipated by the Applicant, the District is unable to
propose more detailed mitigation measures at this time. As a Responsible Agency,
GSD must rely on the Final EIR for issuance of required wastewater disposal permits for

                               ∼               ∼                              
                          ∼                           ∼                                
 December 3, 2010 Big Wave Project Appeal Letter
Page 4 of 4

the Project absent litigation to challenge it within thirty days of final certification. For this
reason, GSD believes it has no adequate option but to file this Appeal.

Sincerely,

The Granada Sanitary District

Chuck Duffy, General Manager

____________________________
Delia Comito, District Administrator

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