Chico council OKs sewer compact with Paradise
Public focuses on Community Fridge, Teichert Ponds, library
CHICO >> As winds whipped outside, citizens filled City Council chambers Tuesday night to provide their views on several contentious issues, including two touching Chicoans buffered by the elements.
A sewer intertie with Paradise highlighted the agenda, and the council unanimously authorized an agreement to connect the town to the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Members of the public focused their attention on homelessness, library hours and the Chico Community Fridge — the latter two brought up for discussion later, with the fridge not drawing ample support.
The open comment period, known as Business from the Floor, drew 15 speakers. Five residents, all from the Heritage Oaks subdivision, asked councilors to prioritize enforcement at Teichert Ponds’ encampments — a dozen neighbors standing in solidarity.
Eight speakers, including Planning Commissioner Bryce Goldstein, advocated for the Community Fridge, a food donation site in the Chapman neighborhood for which the city is requiring a permit costing $1,679. Several were among the citizens lining the rear wall bearing posterboard signs of support.
Volunteer Sierra Sandoval applied for an administrative use permit — raising $1,700 to defray the fee. “The Community Fridge brings the community back together,” she told councilors, referring to the Camp Fire that displaced people from her childhood hometown.
One speaker, 2022 council candidate Nichole Nava, questioned distributing food in a residential area versus via established service providers.
The council took up the topic later in the night, after most of the supporters departed. Councilor Addison Winslow requested his colleagues consider offering regulatory relief to public-benefit projects like the Community Fridge. His motion, seconded by Tom van Overbeek, failed 4-3, with Dale Bennett the only councilor joining them.
Sewer
Culminating two years of negotiations, the council voted to accept with amendments an intermunicipal agreement approved last week by Paradise.
Officials from both jurisdictions have met since April 2021 to develop a regionalization plan to allow the city’s Wastewater Pollution Control Plant to process flows from the town’s new sewer system. The Paradise Town Council unanimously endorsed the framework proposed by an advisory
committee with one minor change, on audits.
“It’s a legal, binding document, but it’s not static,” Public Works Director Erik Gustafson said, as the municipalities will review the agreement every five years.
Terms call for Paradise to pay $14.9 million for Chico to process up 464,000 gallons of wastewater a day, the volume projected at the town’s full build-out in 20 years. Town sewer customers will incur monthly fees; Chicoans will not incur added costs to increase capacity at the plant, which has expansion plans in place.
Gustafson explained that Paradise will own, operate and maintain the pipeline to the plant and Chico’s responsibility starts at that connection point.
Winslow clarified with Gustafson that “we own all the poop that comes down the poopline” — that the city will determine how it’s treated and discharged. Fees from the city to the town are limited to treatment.
The compact goes to the Butte County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), whose authorization would move the project toward an operating agreement.
Library, commissions, broadband
• Councilor Deepika Tandon requested the council supplement the Butte County Library branch in Chico to keep it open longer. The county cut $1 million from the library system’s budget; Tandon sought city funding to add a fifth day a week of operations and bolster services.
“The library is a vital resource for our community,” she said, reinforced by affirming comments from five speakers.
Councilor Sean Morgan pushed back, citing the county’s history of cutting funds and the city filling the gap. “If everything’s a priority, nothing is,” he said.
Ultimately, councilors requested more information on library finances for a future discussion and appoint Tandon to the county’s ad hoc committee on long-term funding. Tandon’s motion passed 6-1 over Morgan’s dissent.
• After reviewing the city’s advisory boards at the Feb. 7 meeting, councilors proceeded with appointing residents to the arts, park and planning commissions while reopening recruitment for the architectural review board, airport commission and climate commission.
City Clerk Debbie Presson presided over candidate interviews, during which applicants got a chance to share their qualifications. Each commission had three of its seven seats open; only one incumbent arts commissioner (Mary Gardner) and parks commissioner (Larry Willis) sought reappointment. Two former planning commissioners (Bob Evans, also a former councilor, and Ken Rensink) applied to return.
Kasey Reynolds, van Overbeek and Winslow — the three councilors elected in November — designate a commissioner each, subject to approval of the full council, and any of the seven may choose finalists for one vacant spot on the arts commission.
Presson requested the nominations by Feb. 28 for appointment at the March 7 meeting.
• Josh Marquis, the city’s deputy director for information services, updated the council on the broadband master plan, which includes $4.8 million of federal funds allocated by councilors last year to set up a pilot project serving the Chapman/Mulberry area.
With grants covering costs, Marquis said construction is expected to begin in September with service rolling out over the span of a year to 18 months.