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BACKGROUND On September 16, 2014, City Council approved the Lions Wayside and Delucchi Parks Master Plan (Master Plan), which envisions unifying and reprogramming the two parks at First and Neal Streets to improve usability, safety and aesthetics. One key component of the original Master Plan is the proposed undergrounding of the drainage swale in Lions Wayside Park to unite the east and west sides of the park. Undergrounding the drainage swale required the City to secure permits from government agencies with jurisdiction over natural resources and review of the drainage swale project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). To satisfy permitting and CEQA requirements, the City, with consultant assistance, prepared a Draft Initial Study/ Mitigated Negative Declaration to accompany the permitting package for the drainage swale project, which was adopted by the City Council on February 16, 2016. This Initial Study/ Mitigated Negative Declaration was submitted to the various local permitting agencies for review to obtain the necessary permitting to begin pre- construction work on the project. Upon receiving the permitting applications for Lions Wayside Park, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Army Corps of Engineers, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife all expressed concern about the proposed undergrounding of 533 linear feet of Kottinger Creek in Lions Wayside Park due to the potential loss of riparian habitat and impacts to surrounding watersheds. Due to these concerns, each of the aforementioned agencies indicated it would likely not issue permits based on the submitted design and plans for Lions Wayside and Delucchi Parks (Attachment 1). In November 2017, in response to permitting agency feedback, the City substantially revised the conceptual design to reduce impacts to Kottinger Creek and enhance segments of the channelized stream while still meeting the City's objectives of augmenting the appearance and use of the parks, upgrading an important downtown recreational amenity, and improving park safety. Compared to the previously submitted design, the new design reduces impacts to Kottinger Creek by approximately 500 linear feet and eliminates more than 2,900 cubic yards of fill in the creek. The originally proposed 533 linear-foot culvert in Kottinger Creek will be replaced with a clear- spanning deck covering 85 linear feet, which is necessary to unite the bandstand with the rest of the park (Attachment 2). Upon review by the Regional Water Quality Control Board staff, this redesign was determined to be unacceptable toward meeting the current objectives and standards of the agency; that this proposed design would therefore not be supported was communicated via a telephone conversation to City staff. DISCUSSION Taking into consideration the feedback and perspectives of the various permitting agencies in regard to the drainage swale in Lions Wayside Park, staff has initiated the process of modifying the originally adopted design of Lions Wayside Park to achieve the intended goals outlined in the Master Plan while conforming to the standards and Page 2 of 4