We have good news to report!

The City of Folsom received a positive response from the State Water Quality regulators indicating that a vactor truck was not required to clean up spills in nature areas such as Hinkle Creek. The regulators indicated that there are a variety of methods that can be used to cleanup a sewer overflow effectively. Their opinion allows the City of Folsom the flexibility to develop alternate methods for managing an overflow. No vactor truck required = no permanent road! Folsom city staff has indicated that their next step will be to contract for the design of the repair of high priority sewer segments. The vote to approve the contract for this design firm (Quincy Engineering again) was approved on Tuesday September 12 at the City Council meeting. Going forward we will be closely monitoring the construction plan and its impact on the nature area with an eye to minimize the impact on trees in the park. We would like to have the construction work accomplished without the building of a TEMPORARY construction road and we have had conversations with contractors who have indicated that the work can be performed without a construction road. The City’s approach will be to define a project with minimum impact in Hinkle Creek Nature Area and have this as a key attribute when they evaluate construction proposals to repair the sewer line. In Evert Palmer’s letter detailing the path forward, he included very positive direction regarding restoring Hinkle Creek after the repairs are completed. This is a huge example of standing behind the City motto of being ‘Distinctive by Nature’! “Mitigate removed trees, favoring native trees and particularly oaks, with the largest number and size of tree practical, as guided by a consulting arborist, with an emphasis on emulating the natural development of oak woodlands such as the Hinkle Creek open space area. We would view the City’s tree mitigation ordinance as a starting point, but look at this a more a reforestation project on public property than a tree mitigation project” We also will be working with Folsom staff to develop a feasible ongoing access plan for routine maintenance and SSO response. This will require the support of the homeowners adjacent to manholes to allow access for planned maintenance and emergency service. The City will be adding a dirt walking path to allow sewer workers to access the manholes. Thank you all for your continued support in this protracted process. Your support is helping to protect Hinkle Creek for future generations. City Council Members Andy Morin, Ernie Sheldon and Roger Gaylord were all very supportive to obtain this positive outcome. We encourage you to write a short thank you note expressing your appreciation for their leadership. Andy Morin amorin@folsom.ca.us Ernie Sheldon ernturn@comcast.net Roger Gaylord Rgaylord@folsom.ca.us Evert Palmer epalmer@folsom.ca.us Hinkle Creek Working Group