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BACKGROUND The Lions Wayside and Delucchi Park Master Plan was adopted by City Council on October 7, 2014 A key component of the Master Plan involves the culverting of 533 linear feet of a drainage swale in Lions Wayside Park to unify the large lawn around the bandstand area and to reduce safety risks Unlike the segment of swale in Delucchi Park, the segment of swale in Lions Wayside Park has little biotic value as it only experiences flow during major precipitation events, has little to no vegetation below the top of bank, and is surrounded by mostly non-native vegetation typical of urban park settings Although the drainage swale is located on City property it is considered part of Kottinger Creek, which is a tributary to navigable waters and is thus subject to the jurisdiction of various public natural resources agencies, including the U S Army Corps of Engineers, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Regional Water Quality Control Board Changes to the drainage swale therefore require permission and permits from these natural resource agencies In mid-2014, the City (with the assistance of professional services firm AECOM) initiated the task of preparing the necessary environmental documentation and application materials to secure permits for the culvert project from the three natural resources agencies with jurisdiction over the drainage swale The City submitted the required permit applications along with environmental review documentation in October 2015 Between November 2015 and December 2015, the City received response letters from the three agencies which raised serious concerns with the amount of culvert being applied for and requested that alternatives be explored In April 2016, staff from the City Manager's Office, Engineering and Community Development Departments met at Lions Wayside Park with agency staff to discuss the permit applications, agency representatives again expressed concern with the City's proposal and urged that alternatives be explored Staff from the Regional Water Quality Control Board stated that agency had not in recent years granted a permit for such extensive culverting as is currently being requested by the City Following that meeting with agency staff, City staff determined the most feasible path forward to attempt to secure the necessary permits would be to develop new culvert alternatives to reduce the length of undergrounded drainage swale to 300 feet or less while still meeting the key design objectives of the Master Plan Reducing the length of culverted swale to 300 feet or less would allow the U S Army Corps of Engineers to permit the project under the Nationwide Permit program, a less extensive process than the Individual Permit program, which applies to projects that affect more than 300 linear feet of"jurisdictional waterway " DISCUSSION In recognition that a project involving any culverting of the drainage swale may be difficult to permit, the scope of work comprising the Third Amendment involves the development of three design alternatives of varying degrees of impact These three alternatives include, from most impactful to least impactful Page 2 of 3