(A) Adoption. In order to realize the objectives of the RGVSP Act and to enable people to enjoy the recreational, environmental, educational and wildlife benefits of the river, that the Rio Grande Valley State Park Management Plan attached to Resolution No. 37-1986 is hereby adopted as a Park Management Plan and shall be submitted to the State Parks and Recreation Division of the Natural Resources Department.
(B) Amendments.
(1) The following special conditions be incorporated into the Management Plan and be made a part thereof:
(a) All temporary fills shall be removed from the waterway upon work completion, and the banks and river bed returned to approximate original contours.
(b) No toxic pollutants shall be released into the Rio Grande during construction of the project.
(c) The cofferdams shall not unduly restrict normal or flood flows of the Rio Grande. Should undue restriction of flows occur, the permittee shall remove portions or all of the cofferdams at the permittee's discretion or as directed by the District Engineer.
(d) The removal of Kellner jack lines or tie-back lines shall be coordinated with the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. Remaining jack line segments shall be adequately re-anchored prior to project completion.
(e) Destruction of bosque shall be avoided as much as possible during construction. Borrow material shall not be taken from bosque areas. Clearing of rights-of-way shall be limited to the minimum needed. Work roads adjacent to the bosque shall be temporarily fenced during the construction period to prevent equipment entry into the bosque.
(f) Dredged or fill material, downed trees, brush or other debris shall not be dumped or placed in riparian areas except as noted in condition “G” below.
(g) Disturbed bosque, approachway and depression embankments, areas under the bridge, and work areas shall be revegetated to minimize erosion and encourage habitat re-establishment. Trees shall be planted along the north and south roadway rights-of-way between Taylor Ranch Road and Rio Grande Boulevard to reduce visual and noise impacts to adjacent properties. Brush piles shall be placed under the bridge for habitat improvement. A detailed revegetation plan incorporating these requirements shall be submitted to and approved by the District Engineer prior to the start of construction.
(h) An archeological survey of all impacted areas shall be performed. Impacted areas include rights-of-way, ancillary parking lots, storage areas, staging areas, and borrow and waste areas. Two copies of the survey report shall be submitted to the District Engineer. The Corps will coordinate Section 106 consultation requirements with the State Historic Preservation Office. Construction of the project shall not begin until after the Corps notifies the city that the coordination is complete. Archeological monitoring of the initial earth-moving stages of construction shall be performed by a qualified archeologist to reduce loss of archeological resources.
(i) The city shall comply with the provisions and stipulations of the Memorandum of Agreement regarding cultural resources dated June 16, 1987, between the Corps of Engineers and the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Office, concurred in by the city and accepted by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
(j) Unavoidable impacts to riparian habitat will be mitigated by procuring not less than four acres of private riparian or wetland bosque within the Albuquerque reach of the Rio Grande. The mitigation lands will be specifically identified by the permittee and the site designation submitted to and approved by the District Engineer prior to acquisition. The mitigation lands shall be deeded to the Rio Grande Valley State Park or otherwise permanently placed in the public domain and managed for the primary purpose of wildlife habitat. The permittee will develop a plan for management of the mitigation lands in coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the New Mexico Natural Resources Department and the District Engineer. The plan shall be submitted to and approved by the District Engineer prior to start of construction.
(k) The permittee shall insure that vehicular access by the general public to the bosque is prohibited during and after construction. Work roads shall be eradicated upon project completion.
(l) Flows to the “oxbow” wetland via the Corrales Riverside Drain shall not be interrupted during project construction. The quality and quantity of flows in the two riverside drains shall not be significantly altered as a result of the project construction.
(m) Noise walls shall be installed as shown on Sheet 4 of the Montano Crossing Plans to reduce noise impacts to the Simms property and the Dietz Farms residential area.
(2) The following additional special conditions shall be incorporated into the Rio Grande State Park Management Plan and shall be made a part thereof.
(a) Maintain or replace/reinstall in-stream debris which existed prior to construction. Consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on replacement of in-stream debris-piles prior to initiation of in-river construction (i.e., before the winter season). These debris-piles provide refuge and habitat which is particularly important during winter months.
(b) Limit disturbance of stream channel morphology and substrate to the area occupied by cofferdams and work platforms. Cofferdam construction methods will be used that limit channel constriction, will not create accelerated current velocities, and will minimize disruption of substrate and suspension of sediments.
(c) Limit development of low-velocity, depositional areas by restoring the stream channel to preconstruction configuration, exclusive of the in-stream changes caused by the bridge piers. Removal of cofferdams and work platforms must not result in the creation of deep, low velocity backwater pools that provide habitat for non-native predatory fish species. Minnow eggs may be deposited in these areas, where they settle to the substrate, are covered with silt, and are smothered.
(d) Implement best management practices, such as silt fences, non-erosive cofferdams, and site drainage, to prevent erosion and transport of sediment to the river. Introduction of sediment causes degradation of in-stream habitat.
(e) Prevent the introduction of toxic construction related materials into the river, particularly waste concrete and petroleum. These materials can directly and indirectly result in the death of the fishes and other aquatic communities. Obtain temporary fills from clean upland sources.
(f) Prohibit refueling of vehicles in the river channel, store and site hazardous substances and refueling areas in bermed and lined locations outside of the 100-year floodplain in an environmentally suitable area, control the release of slurry materials, and reduce the creation and discharge of sediment into the river. Equipment entering the river shall be cleaned of petroleum and lubricants daily before entering the river channel. Any equipment entering the river shall carry an emergency oil spill sit and blanket. The contractor shall have an oil spill contingency plan in place prior to initiation of the project. Waste materials will not be dumped into acequias, drainage ditches and vacant areas. Concrete trucks will not clean-out in these areas. Waste materials will be deposited in disposal sites designated for construction debris.
(g) Contain all lubricating slurries, drilling muds, and waste in a steel cofferdam approximately 6 to 10 feet in diameter at the bore hole. The cofferdam will be sealed to isolate the contents from the river. Elected and waste drilling materials will be collected and trucked from the construction site for appropriate disposal. No slurry material shall be released into the river channel or adjoining terrestrial areas.
(h) Limit in-river construction activities to the low-flow period (i.e., late- July through early-March) to minimize impact to the aquatic community. Divert remaining river flow to the opposite river half, allowing the normal braiding effect. Maintain at least one half of the river width available for flows.
(i) Implement a monitoring plan designed to gather data on the potential impacts of the proposed Montano bridge on the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow.
(j) Use culverts and stable materials (e.g., gravel, rubber bladder, gabions, Jersey barriers, flexible armoring, geo-fabric, etc.) for cofferdams and work platforms to minimize siltation and possible downstream impacts of egg/larvae smothering. Whenever possible, sandbars should be used for construction activities to reduce fill amounts in the river channel. (Note: minimize vegetation destruction on sand bars.)
(k) Ensure that public access, particularly during winter (December through February), from the new road and bridge is prohibited and prevented through fencing and/or signing. This will minimize disturbance to bald eagles and their avian prey.
(l) Plant cottonwood poles at a 4:1 replacement ratio for the estimated 22 mature cottonwoods greater than 18 inches in diameter that will be lost during construction. Monitor the plantings for a minimum of four years to insure a minimum of 80% survival of the trees by the end of the fourth year following planting.
(m) Protect remaining mature cottonwoods near (within 100 feet) the road right-of-way from beaver damage.
(n) Regularly monitor (one day/week-December through February) the river one half mile above and below the bridge during construction for bald eagle use. Attempt to determine roost site(s) of any eagle seen from the construction site. Regularly inform the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the results of this monitoring effort. Additionally, if a bald eagle is observed perching or roosting in the project area (0.25 mile either north or south of the proposed bridge site) from December through February, the contractor will postpone all project-related construction. Construction will be postponed until the eagle leaves the area of its own volition or, after consultation with the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it is determined that the potential for harassment caused by the postponed construction activity is minimal, whichever comes first. This provision shall not apply to eagles that move with the 0.25-mile limit while construction is occurring.
(o) Work areas will be fenced to restrict equipment from accessing riparian areas other than the project right-of-way, and to keep equipment from the oxbow wetland.
(p) To mitigate any possible noise effects by traffic, noise walls no less than 32 inches high should be installed on both sides of the bridge and approachways.
(q) During the cutting and clearing of the proposed bridge corridor, some of the cut trees and brush can be pushed up against the edge of the bosque (to the extent that fire hazards are not increased). These brush piles will reduce visibility into the bosque and thereby reduce potential effects on neotropical migrants such as the southwestern willow flycatcher.
(r) To preclude effects to the southwestern willow flycatcher and to evaluate the suitability of willow-vegetated islands for southwestern willow flycatcher nesting habitat, intensive surveys (using established U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service protocol) for the subspecies will be conducted before, during, and after construction along the bosque river and levee edges and on the islands within 1,500 feet of the bridge. If southwestern willow flycatchers are documented in the area, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be contacted to determine potential effects and recommend appropriate mitigative measures.
(s) A wetland/willow complex suitable as nesting habitat for the southwestern willow flycatcher will be developed on the 18.4-acre mitigation lands as described in the management plan for the mitigation land.
(t) Develop and implement an overall monitoring plan to assure that all of the above conditions are implemented. The monitoring plan will be approved by the Corps of Engineers prior to project construction.
(3) This legislation will become effective upon City Council approval of the following:
(a) A resolution (to be submitted to the City Council for introduction and final action at its next regularly scheduled meeting) providing evidence that good faith negotiations to consummate an agreement with Los Ranchos have occurred; providing the elements of the agreement, if one has been negotiated; and identifying the recommendations of the City Council's Montano consultants that the Administration proposes to follow, and how each of these recommendations would be carried out.
(b) A resolution committing specified funding from defined revenue sources to fund the entire Montano Bridge Project. This may occur at the next regularly scheduled City Council Meeting.
(Res. 37-1986, approved 3-17-86; Am. Res. 97-1995, approved 7-21-95; Res. 2017-102, approved 11-13-17)
Cross-references:
Formerly codified as § 4-4-3