2008-06-02 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

8 supply of potable water for the Charlottesville-Albemarle community for the next 50 years; and, WHEREAS , since 2004 there have been 10 major well-attended public meetings on the alternatives for a local water supply plan; and, WHEREAS , during the consideration of alternative strategies a strong emphasis was placed on developing a water supply (1) that would meet the needs of the community for the next 50 years; (2) that would be within a watershed area locally controlled by Albemarle County; and (3) that would represent the least environmentally damaging, practicable alternative; and, WHEREAS , this process identified a new dam at the Ragged Mountain Reservoir as the best alternative to achieve the community’s stated goals and criteria; and, WHEREAS , the Ragged Mountain alternative provides for significant enhancement of the natural conditions in the Moormans River and optimizes the balance between human and natural needs within the South Fork Rivanna River basin; and, WHEREAS , while the Ragged Mountain alternative does result in the loss of additional forest adjacent to the reservoir, the alternative includes a mitigation plan that provides permanent riparian protection to 75,000 linear feet of streams in the South Fork Rivanna watershed, provides for 200 acres of new riparian forest and wildlife habitat, provides 142 acres of new water surface for additional lacustrine aquatic habitat and passive recreation, relocates and lengthens existing walking trails around the reservoir, and provides for four acres of new wetlands adjacent to the southeastern boundary of the City along Moores Creek; and, WHEREAS , the construction of a new Ragged Mountain dam would protect the public health, safety and welfare by fully correcting existing dam safety hazards with the lower and upper Ragged Mountain dams; and, WHEREAS , the Ragged Mountain alternative also provides that old and obsolete water supply and treatment infrastructure will be replaced or updated, and where necessary expanded, in order to provide continuously reliable service; and, WHEREAS , the expanded Ragged Mountain reservoir will allow for the replacement of the Sugar Hollow pipeline, which was built in 1927 and is prone to breaks and iron corrosion, with a new, shorter pipeline from a much larger watershed; and, WHEREAS , the concept of the water supply plan which focused on meeting the community’s need for capacity for the next 50 years through a larger Ragged Mountain dam and reservoir and a pipeline from the South Fork Rivanna reservoir was endorsed in 2005 and supported at that time by the Rivanna Conservation Society, Piedmont Environmental Council, The Nature Conservancy, Advocates for Sustainable Albemarle Population, League of Women Voters Charlottesville/Albemarle, Southern Environmental Law Center, Citizens for Albemarle, and Friends of the Moorman’s River; and, WHEREAS , in June 2006 the Charlottesville City Council endorsed this preferred alternative, as did the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, the Albemarle County Service Authority and the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority; and, WHEREAS , the Ragged Mountain alternative has been reviewed, approved and permitted by the Department of Environmental Quality of the Commonwealth of Virginia; and, WHEREAS , on May 6, 2008 City Council held a work session devoted exclusively to presentations on the proposed water supply plan, followed by a public hearing at the regular City Council meeting on May 19, 2008, at which time interested members of the public provided additional input on the proposed local water supply plan; and,