For City Council Meeting March 25, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Tanya Williams, City Manager
AUTHOR: John Rossi, Interim Utilities Director
Toyasha Sebbag, Assistant to the City Manager
Title
Request City Council/Rialto Utility Authority set a Public Hearing for May 13, 2025, to consider public comments and adopt a Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Dr. June Hayes and Deborah Robertson Habitat Nature Center.
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council/Rialto Utility Authority set a Public Hearing for May 13, 2025, to consider public comments and adopt a Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Dr. June Hayes and Deborah Robertson Habitat Nature Center.
BACKGROUND
This Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) has been prepared by the City of Rialto (City) to evaluate potential environmental effects resulting from the proposed Dr. June Hayes and Deborah Robertson Habitat Nature Center (Nature Center) Project.
The Nature Center involves constructing approximately 13-acres of outdoor public space including an approximately 10-acre non-contact/non-watercraft lake consisting of two connected lakes, 1 mile of pedestrian perimeter trails, passive recreation, environmental education programming, and public outreach on a vacant portion of the City's Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) property. The lakes would be created by intercepting fully treated (primary, secondary, and tertiary) effluent from the WWTP that is currently discharged into the lined Rialto Channel and routing a portion of the effluent flow into the proposed lake. The treated water from the WWTP would be reclaimed and temporarily stored in the lakes prior to being discharged back into the concrete-lined channel at the existing location. The City currently discharges treated effluent into the concrete-lined Rialto Channel that flows downstream and changes into an unlined portion of the channel south of Agua Mansa Road prior to flowing into the San...
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