On March 14, the Ironhouse Sanitary District provided an update on the District to the Oakley City Council

General Manager Chad Davisson updated the council on initiatives and projects the District was working on which include a joint recycled water project with the Diablo Water District, weather impact on the District, Oakley Logistics Center status update, new technology for biosolids, and an update on Jersey Island land use project.

Here is an overview of his presentation, with more detail on the potential Jersey Island development.

Recycled Water Project

In August 2022, an MOU occurred between Ironhouse and Diablo Water installing purple pipe expansions for recycled water. A $3 million EPA community grant was awarded which the district is now working on finding the best use of the funds to hep get the most recycled water to the community as possible—and coming up with deliverables for each agency. The District is working on outreach for recycled water.

Wet Weather Impacts – Bethel Island

With January and February rains, the District experienced significant flooding on Bethel Island which impacted those customers of the District. The District also says it doesn’t have pipe capacity to handle that much water—such as drainage-ditches, pumped off the island, drainage not functioning properly which some is maintained by private property and some by the county. Illicit discharges and failing laterals allowed 10 times the typical amount of flow into the system.

According to Davisson, they had crews on 24/7 shifts managing the water during the storms with the assistance of a pumping truck moving water that could not be contained within the sewer pipes while also receiving mutual aid from the City of Antioch crews after Ironhouse sustained major equipment failures.

He also explained that there were 4 sewer overflows totally 4,000 gallons of water and that total costs for responding and management are estimated at $300k.

“This is obviously the wastewater that was very dilute, but it was wastewater, and it creates a potential public health hazard, so we really want to get the word out about the real impacts of identifying the root cause and really resolve this,” said Davisson noting its important for Oakley to mitigate the problems on Bethel Island because they get paid for by the ratepayers. “We are working to address the flooding and drainage issues and the big challenge is that ISD we provide the sanitary and sewage services out there so we have no jurisdiction over maintenance of flood control, infrastructure but ISD gets impacted when that system fails.”

Davisson said they plan on having an upcoming meeting with Bethel Island on how to address this in the future.

Note – Morrow: Storm Impacting Ironhouse Sanitary District Infrastructure

Oakley Logistics Center

The project is mostly completed while all connections to the public sewer has been made. All connection fees have been paid. Discharge should begin soon along with a operation plan and a sampling plan not to ensure contaminated ground water from the property through the system.

Dry Vac Biosolids Dewatering Technology

Davisson provided a brief overview of the wastewater treatment process and how strict the state has become with handling and disposal of biosolids. For ISD, they have Jersey Island and the ability to land apply the solids.

The District recently completed a Biosolids Masterplan which includes four options from air drying, lagoon treatment, air bag storage and DRY VAC—which he called a very interesting technology based out of Rio Vista.

“DRY VAC uses heated presses to dry bio solids to 98% solid. Currently, with the belt presses and commercials we use, we product a solid material that is only 15-18% solid and the rest is water,” stated Davisson. “You look at it, it looks like a solid, but we are really trucking 85% water in every load and so if we can get a technology to get us to 98% solids, the physical amount of material we have to convey from the plant to Jersey Island is significantly less and would be a huge reduction in truck traffic on E Cypress Corridor which would be a positive impact on the community.”

He highlighted they could also be a solution for other agencies in the area that are facing biosolid disposal challenges which could help create revenue and manage rates for ratepayers.

Chad Davisson presents an update on Jersey Island

Jersey Island Operational Changes and Planning

The District owns the 3,600 acre island on the Delta adjacent to Bethel Island—purchased for $3 million in 1993 to assist them with water treatment issues. In 2010, the District built a plant to assist with wastewater treatment to that of almost drinking water while creating a recycled water fill station which limited the need for Jersey Island.

Jersey Island has 16 miles of levees around it at a cost of $1 million per year for maintenance with 75% of the funds coming from the state. Davisson said the Island was purchased for $3 million 30-years ago and they have spent $30 million in maintenance which is why if they don’t need it, they began looking at other options and less impact on ratepayers.

The District has since been looking at land use opportunities as they recently divested its cattle operation which had 10 employees with equipment with 400 acres of alfalfa and hay—that brought in $3 million in one-time reserves. Since then, they agreed to a 5-year lease for private farming to run own cattle which is an $800k revenue vs. expense before.

“Now there are no ongoing operational cost,” stated Davisson. “For Ironhouse, we are now break even for the first time since purchasing the island.”

In 2019, they entered into a public private partnership with Montezuma Water in an effort to look at potential land use options for the island—including an aggressive new use evaluation which was introduced in 2021.

The proposal included a range of education, business, employment and entertainment opportunities for the surrounding community according to Davisson. Other elements are both recreational and residential which he stated would require a “pretty significant lift to make this a reality”.

Davisson explained for this to even happen it would take significant CEQA, environmental reviews, regulatory hurdles which Montezuma Water is evaluating if they could even pass any of these reviews—including annexation into City of Oakley or dealing with Contra Costa County.

“There is a lot of moving pieces to this,” explained Davisson which in the first phase the board will determine if they move forward or going into a different direction.

Davisson then provided details of the Montezuma plan for the Jersey Island Development which included 90% open space, including grazing space for exotic animals, recreational areas, ballfields, water amenities, retail and residential around the edges… portions for conservation for mitigation, wind/renewable energy.

“Its really a mixed bag of a lot of different design elements,” stated Davisson. “Again, this is a very initial concept and its really this private partner Montezuma that has the authority and the obligation to see if they can explore this and make this happen and its on their dime to do that.”

Editors Note — background on the Montezuma Plan for Jersey Island Development

PowerPoint Presentation: October 27, 2021 — click here

According to the October 12. 2021 Agenda

CONDUCT WORKSHOP TO REVIEW MONTEZUMA WATER, LLC’S NEW USE EVALUATION AND PROVIDE INPUT TO STAFF

A conceptual land use plan is included in the NUE. The new uses proposed include:

Wildlife and Habitat Refuge
Up to 450 Single Family Homes
Sports and Recreation Center
Public Marina and Watersports Center
125–room Hotel, Workforce Housing, Ferry and Shuttle Terminal, and Neighborhood Retail Center
Wind and Solar Energy Production
Specialty Agriculture
Habitat Enhancement and Mitigation Bank

It is envisioned that Montezuma would submit planning permit applications that include a comprehensive land use proposal (including all of the proposed uses listed above) to regulatory agencies (e.g. Contra Costa County) during the permitting processes.

The NUE provides preliminary information regarding the financing of the project. Montezuma estimates a total project development cost of approximately $180 million with financing costs of $15—30 million. Pursuant to the Partner Agreement, Montezuma is responsible for securing project funding.

The NUE describes the following five potential stages to financing the project:

Stage 1: Feasibility and Exploration Risk Capital: Provided by Montezuma Water LLC
Stage 2: Entitlement Capital: Provided by Outside Equity
Stage 3: Development Capital to Finance 1st Phase Infrastructure (grading and some on–sites)
Stage 4: Revenues from Lot Sales to Finance Remaining Infrastructure and Amenities
Stage 5: Community Facilities District to reimburse some Infrastructure Costs

Montezuma estimates net revenues from the residential development to exceed $50 million. The revenues from the project are estimated by Montezuma to generate a positive return after year 5 or 10

Partnership Agreement

Jersey Island is a 3,500-acre property owned by Ironhouse Sanitary District located between Oakley and Bethel Island.

In May of 2019, Ironhouse Sanitary District entered into a partnership agreement with Montezuma Water LLC to address future uses for Jersey Island. The partnership agreement describes terms regarding how the District and Montezuma Water will study, approve and implement specific new uses or business opportunities on Jersey Island.