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2019 SBEC Summer Social-Pleasanton Hotel

9/28/2019

 
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June Meeting - City of Dublin

6/6/2019

 
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Keeping Up - California’s Fastest Growing City
Recently the U.S. Census Bureau named Dublin as the fastest growing city in California by percent of population change between July 1, 2017, and July 1, 2018.  Also, since 2010, Dublin’s population has increased by over 37%.  Dublin’s growth in the past decade, as well as changes in the Bay Area region, have required the Public Works Department to adapt to these changes, while striving to maintain a high level of service to the community.  This presentation will provide an overview of the methods, programs, and tools the Dublin Public Works Department is using to keep up.


Presenter: Andy Russell, P.E., City of Dublin, Public Works Director
Andy Russell is a civil engineer with over twenty-two years of experience.  After doing structural design for a few years in Tucson, Arizona, Andy started his municipal engineering career as a junior civil engineer with the City of Fremont.  He recently became the City of Dublin’s Public Works Director, after being Dublin’s City Engineer for almost six years.  He currently oversees a Public Works Department with an annual operating budget of $16 million, a 5-year Capital Improvement Program of $162 million, a staff of 18, and several contractors and staff augmentation consultants. Andy is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, and spends his spare time with his wife and three kids.


May Meeting- Alameda County Transportation Commission

5/2/2019

 
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Presenter: Alameda County Transportation Commission
Gary Huisingh

Deputy Executive Director of Projects
ghuisingh@alamedactc.org
As Deputy Executive Director of Projects, Gary Huisingh is responsible for project delivery and oversight of Alameda County Transportation Commission’s (Alameda CTC) $3 billion capital program and programming of the various fund sources administered by the agency. He brings over 28 years of experience, from both local government and private sector, ranging from major transportation and residential development projects to maintenance and redevelopment projects. He has extensive experience in eminent domain proceedings having served as an expert witness on technical issues for public projects. Huisingh is a graduate of the University of California at Davis and is a registered professional engineer in California.


Presentation:
Update on key issues in Alameda County, SB1 and upcoming projects.

April Meeting-Gerald Desmond Bridge Approaches, Port of Long Beach

4/4/2019

 
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Presenter:
MARTIN BODEMAR, S.E.

Martin Bodemar has over 24 years of experience in Project Management and Structural Engineering.  Martin works on a wide variety of structural projects with a special emphasis on unique bridge designs including concrete box girders, steel trusses, arch bridges, and stage-constructed bridges.  During his 19 years at Biggs Cardosa Associates, Martin has led the design of many multi-disciplinary bridge projects in the California. His recent work includes leading the quality control for the structural design of the approach bridges and bifurcating ramp structures for the replacement of the Gerald Desmond Bridge near the Port of Long Beach.  In his spare time, Martin enjoys various outdoor activities including biking, running, hiking, snowboarding, and others.
 
Presentation:
GERALD DESMOND BRIDGE APPROACHES, PORT OF LONG BEACH, CA
The low level approaches consist of long-span post-tensioned box girder bridges with most spans exceeding 200 feet. These structures are similar to Caltrans’ standard box girders.  The low level approaches include bifurcations for the various ramps that occur at the ends of the bridge project. The bridge frames with column heights of approximately 70 feet or less are considered “low level approaches”.
The high level approaches consist of primarily single-cell box girder superstructure supported by hollow rectangular columns. The superstructure was modeled and analyzed considering stage-construction and time-dependent effects due to the span-by-span construction method used. The span-by-span construction was used to accommodate a movable scaffolding system as a replacement for traditional falsework. With very tall columns (ranging from 70’ to approximately 150’ in height), traditional falsework construction methods were not economical for the high level approaches.
 


SBEC March Meeting-Green Stormwater Infrastructure

3/7/2019

 
Presentation
Methods and considerations for Green Stormwater Infrastructure requirements:

 
Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) is the implementation of constructed landscaping elements designed to divert stormwater runoff to softscape areas, encouraging groundwater infiltration. Despite trash management efforts, typical runoff from impervious surfaces carry with it pollutants of concern, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mercury, through standard “gray” storm drain infrastructure into our waterways. Instead, GSI in both public and private projects allows for runoff filtration and groundwater replenishment. 
As a result of mandates under the NPDES Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit (MRP), local municipalities are required to commit to increasing their GSI development and implementation. This presentation is aimed to help industry professionals better understand GSI design and construction, as well as provide tools to navigate the requirements set by the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
 
Presenter
The Alameda County Clean Water Program (ACCWP) is a partnership of municipalities and agencies committed to reducing the contamination of our creeks, wetlands, and the Bay. The Program, under Alameda County Public Works, facilitates local compliance with the Federal Clean Water Act, coordinating water quality monitoring, grants for community-based projects, and providing technical guidance and resources for both professionals and the public.
Christine Chou, with the Engineering Division of the City of Newark Public Works, and other representatives will present GSI strategies on behalf of the ACCWP.  it.

SBEC February 2019 Lunch Meeting- Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): Understanding Emerging Environmental Issues with these Widespread Compounds

2/7/2019

 
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Presenter:
Amy Wilson, PhD, PE
TRC
Technical Director-Environmental, Construction and Remediation

Amy Wilson is a civil engineer and hydrogeologist with over 20 years of engineering consulting experience. Amy’s focus is on groundwater and soil vapor remediation; contaminant fate and transport; conceptual site/hydrogeologic modeling; numerical modeling; water quality; and feasibility analyses, with an emphasis on developing technical solutions for large-scale, complex sites. Amy has directed and served as technical advisor for cleanup sites throughout California and other western states, and she is currently focused on developing management strategies for contaminants of emerging concern. Amy holds BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, and a PhD in Civil/Environmental Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.


Presentation:
PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) are a diverse group of man-made chemicals that were developed to be resistant to heat, water, and oil. PFAS have historically been produced for widespread uses such as carpeting, apparel, firefighting foams, and metal plating, and are likely to be found at refineries, military bases, airports, landfills, sludge/biosolids land application sites, fire training facilities, rail yards, chemical facilities, plating facilities, and semiconductor manufacturing facilities. PFAS have been detected at concentrations above state standards and EPA Health Advisory Levels in public water systems throughout the United States. They are widespread globally, and have been detected even in remote places. The toxicology of PFAS is only beginning to be understood. Their persistence, ability to transport, and resistance to typical natural attenuation processes are of increasing concern. The demand for PFAS testing and analysis has increased, and the ubiquitous presence of PFAS presents both a sampling challenge and an important consideration in source attribution. This presentation will provide a broad overview of the various issues and most up-to-date information associated with PFAS, including its unique chemistry, history and sources, toxicology, fate and transport, sampling and analytical challenges, Federal and state regulatory status, and remediation and treatment issues associated with PFAS' complex properties.

Update of Subdivision Map Act and Significant Land Use Legislation and Case Law

1/10/2019

 
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Presentation
​The Subdivision Map Act is a state law that is implemented and enforced by cities and counties as the primary mechanism by which they regulate and control the subdivision of real property in California. The goals of the Map Act are to (i) encourage orderly community development for the benefit of adjacent landowners, prospective purchasers, and the public, (ii) control and regulate the design and construction of improvements, (iii) ensure that the areas dedicated for public purposes will be properly improved by the subdivider so that such areas do not become an undue burden on the taxpayer, and (iv) protect the public from fraud.  Matthew Gray will present significant land use legislation and case law to explain how cities and counties will be affected by recent updates to the Subdivision Map Act.
 
Presenter
Matthew Gray focuses his practice on land use entitlement processing, environmental compliance, and real estate transactions. He represents a range of local agencies, real estate developers and landowners in all stages of the land use entitlement and development process. He assists clients in negotiating and securing approval of development agreements, general plan amendments, specific plans, zoning, subdivision approvals, and annexation of property into cities and special districts; regularly appears before planning commissions and city councils; and advises clients on compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act and other federal and state regulatory programs during the development process. Matt also has experience negotiating affordable housing agreements, complex mitigation fee agreements and conservation easements; forming land-based financing mechanisms, including Mello-Roos Districts; securing cancellation or termination of Williamson Act contracts on agricultural lands; advising clients on issues relating to water supply; and using the initiative and referendum process in the land use planning context. Matt negotiates purchase and sale agreements; site development agreements; CC&R's and easement agreements; and related transactional documents in connection with mixed-use, commercial, and residential development projects.

2018 Holiday Luncheon

12/6/2018

 
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November 2018 Meeting- California Earthquake Authority (CEA)

11/1/2018

 
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Speaker:Janiele Maffei, Chief Mitigation Officer with the California Earthquake Authority.

Presentation
The California Earthquake Authority (CEA), a not-for-profit, publicly managed and privately funded entity, was created in 1996 by the State of California in the wake of the Northridge earthquake. This unique organization has a public mission to educate Californians about earthquake risk, offer insurance coverage and encourage residents to mitigate these potential risks.
 
Janiele Maffei, CEA’s Chief Mitigation Officer, will describe how her perspective and experience as a structural engineer plays a critical role in achieving CEA’s strategic goals to Educate, Mitigate and Insure. Working with a multi-disciplinary team of professionals and consultants, Ms. Maffei manages the Mitigation and Research departments. These efforts include the development of residential seismic retrofit standards, sponsoring building performance studies, and managing a seismic retrofit grant program in the state.
 
With an overarching goal to encourage Californians to act—specifically, mitigate and insure—before the next big one, Ms. Maffei will discuss CEA’s multi-disciplinary approach and the opportunities to impact behavior change.
 
Bio
Ms. Maffei is licensed as both a Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer in California with 36 years of experience in the design of new buildings, retrofit designs of existing buildings, seismic evaluations, seismic loss estimation studies, design of equipment anchorages, preparation of construction documents, and construction administration.
 
After fifteen years as a project manager and regional office director with Degenkolb Engineers, she opened her own practice where she managed complex design projects involving many disciplines.
 
In 2011, Ms. Maffei joined the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) as its Chief Mitigation Officer. In this capacity, she serves as the Executive Director of the California Residential Mitigation Program.  She was a Board Member and Chair of the Economic Development Committee for the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and was Chair of the Technical Advisory Committee for the Piedmont School District Measure E Seismic Retrofit Program.
 
As Executive Director of the California Residential Retrofit Program, Ms. Maffei has been responsible for developing policies, plans, and incentives for retrofitting wood frame residential construction throughout California in order to, along with insurance, mitigate the consequence of a major earthquake in California.
 
Her professional leadership positions include:  Structural Engineers Association of Northern California, Board of Directors; Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), Northern California Chapter, President (2010-2011); and EERI, Board of Directors, Secretary and Treasurer (2012-present).

Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge

10/4/2018

 
Project Description

The newly completed State Route 1 Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge—a vital link between Big Sur and other communities in Monterey County (Caltrans District 5) – was damaged beyond repair from a landslide due to heavy rains which began in early January 2017. Through innovative design and collaboration, the new $24 million single-span bridge was built and opened to the public in 8 months when a project of this magnitude would normally take 8 years. Due to the severe impact to the community of losing this bridge, Caltrans was able to accelerate the project by ordering the steel in advance, accelerating the design, and using an innovative way to “launch” the assembled steel girder bridge into place.

This national, multi-award-winning bridge was recognized as an Accelerated Bridge Construction project—new to California and the Big Sur Community. Constructing the actual structure across the canyon presented unique challenges: working across the deep canyon, dealing with an active landslide, and needing to complete construction quickly. Dozens of bridge workers worked long hours, 6-7 days a week, to complete the project. The structure features fifteen 62-ton steel girders (fabricated in Vallejo) that span the rugged 310-foot canyon. Eliminating structural vulnerability to future slide activity, the design avoids use of support columns. The new bridge includes 12-foot lanes and 5-foot outside shoulders, making it accessible for all travelers.

Speakers:

Bob Riggins, Jr., MNS Engineers
Assistant Structures Representative
Bob Riggins is a highly experienced, hands-on professional construction manager, assistant structures representative and inspector with over 32 years of heavy bridge and highway project experience. In addition to construction management and inspection, Bob has worked as a project superintendent and project manager for private contractors on numerous bridge and freeway projects throughout California, Oregon, Arizona, Idaho, and Utah. Bob acted as the Assistant Structures Representative on the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge Emergency Replacement Project and was responsible for the daily planning, inspection and coordination with the contractor onsite. Some of his most notable projects include the Salinas River Bridge Widening and Prunedale Improvement projects for Caltrans District 5, the historical restoration of the Hassayampa steel truss bridge for Yavapai County in Arizona, and the Twin Bridges on Interstate 5 over the South Umpqua River for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

When not at work, Bob and his wife love to travel. Part of traveling includes riding their motorcycles across the country thousands of miles each year along with their dog and visiting national parks and historical sites.

David Galarza, PE, Caltrans
Structures Representative, D5 North
David Galarza graduated from Cal Poly with a BS in Architectural Engineering. Upon graduation he worked for medium sized A&E firms, including the Watry Group and Faye Bernstein and Assoc. where he collaborated on the design of several post-tensioned parking structures, the San Francisco International Airport ART system, the seismic retrofit of several historic buildings in San Francisco, and several Caltrans bridge phase 1 seismic retrofits. In 1998 he had the opportunity to work for Caltrans as a consulting assistant Structure Representative, inspecting and administering bridge construction contracts along the Cabrillo Highway in Monterey County. He enjoyed the field work so much he left the private sector and pursued his career with Caltrans as a Structure Representative in northern District 5. Over the past 20 years, he has worked on a multitude of maintenance, new construction, and retrofit projects. Some of his most notable projects include: San Miguel Canyon O/C, US 101/156 Interchange, Highway 1/17 Merge Lanes, North Soledad Overhead Emergency Response, Prunedale Improvement Project, Mal Paso Electrochemical Chloride Extraction, Route 68 Salinas River Bridge Seismic Retrofit / Widening, and Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge Emergency Replacement Project.

In his spare time, David enjoys family activities in the Monterey area including mountain bike riding, hiking, and going to the beach.

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