Reuse Assistance Grant Progress Report

Nevada County's Reuse Assistance Grant Project
(Part 4: October 1, 2003 to April 30, 2005)

Project Description

Nevada County designed and planned a building materials reuse and C&D Collection facility at the McCourtney Road Transfer Station to benefit contractors, businesses, and residents (in avoiding disposal costs); businesses, residents, schools, artists, and nonprofits (in providing a cost-effective resource for materials); and the County (in increasing diversion, reducing disposal, and providing a high-benefit, low-cost, and long-term program).

Progress Background

The County continued to investigate the feasibility of constructing and implementing a Reuse and C&D Collection facility at the McCourtney Road Transfer Station. The following highlights the current report period progress:

On April 5, 2005, County staff met with CIWMB staff concerning the status of the project. The work plan and budget have been revised per those discussions. If the intent of the grant is to kick start jurisdictions into exploring and developing reuse programs, the grant awarded to Nevada County is a success.

The County continued to work on the development and implementation of a business partnership with Habitat for Humanity (Habitat) to run a reuse facility to be constructed at the McCourtney Road Transfer Station. Several key issues concerning the business plan submitted by Habitat to operate the facility were identified that needed to be addressed before the County could move forward with developing the infrastructure. These issues included criteria for materials acceptance, providing deconstruction services and/or training, and the overall mission of the project.

Due to the fundamental issues with Habitat's business plan identified by the County, several meetings were conducted with Habitat. When it appeared that no resolution with Habitat could be reached, a Request for Proposals (RFP) was prepared to identify a qualified contractor to run the yet-to-be-constructed facility.

On February 10, 2005, the Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission approved submitting the RFP for Board of Supervisors approval. On February 17, 2005, the Board of Supervisors pulled the item and directed the issue back to the Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission.

On March 10, 2005, at a specially convened Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission meeting, County staff was directed to again work with Habitat to determine if there was a way to rectify the fundamental differences between the County's expectations for the Reuse Facility and Habitat's expectations.

Habitat and the County met on March 17, 2005 and mutually agreed that Habitat was not the appropriate contractor to run a Construction and Materials Reuse Facility at the transfer station. Instead, all parties agreed to a different approach.

Habitat for Humanity will begin a ReStore operation, separate from the County's transfer station. The County will explore implementation of a C&D materials drop off operation that will include materials destined for processing, as well as materials destined for salvage. County staff will explore operations elsewhere in the state where a similar approach is being taken and report back to interested Commission members. The County will also explore conducting a waste characterization study and waste generation study focused exclusively on C&D materials that can either be recycled or reused. When data is collected from these studies, County staff will analyze the data to determine how to best move forward with constructing a reuse facility.

The steps required to accomplish their project are as follows:

Task 1: Preliminary Reuse Site.

Task 1.1: Preliminary Engineering.
The Reuse Facility proposed was to be incorporated into the footprint of an overall redesign of the McCourtney Road Transfer Station. Meetings to develop a plan continued throughout the life of the grant project and as new data and information were received, the engineering designs were modified. As described above, the County is taking a new tactic; however, the redesign at the Transfer Station still provides space for the C&D and reuse area.

During this reporting period, the following tasks were completed:

• Prepared basis of design
• Prepared design alternatives

Once the layout is approved, the next steps would be to:

• Begin an Environmental Review of site
• Prepare contract drawings

Task Completion: 75 percent

Task 1.2: Travel to Reuse Facilities.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, Nevada County took advantage of the expertise and lessons learned from other jurisdictions operating reuse facilities. Staff toured the reuse facility in Monterey in December 2003 to gather a myriad of data that included, but was not limited to: site design, functionality, size of facility, materials handled, labor, costs, equipment needs, frequency of use, diversion tonnage, etc.

In November 2004, a site visit was made to two reuse facilities located in the Bay Area: Urban Ore and the Reuse People. The trip allowed Nevada County to obtain more project development and to view first-hand other types of services and working operations. This data would be useful when preparing an RFP. Nevada County also negotiated to hire Urban Ore to provide schematic drawings for the reuse facility. Some of the materials sold at The Reuse People were obtained from deconstructing buildings and they have partnered with Habitat for Humanity as a means of bringing more materials into a reuse facility. Nevada County was investigating offering this type of service as part of reuse facility operations. Task Completion: 100 percent.

Task 2: Research/Data Collection.
There were a number of questions to address when considering how to design a reuse facility. What types of materials is Nevada County able to divert for resale and in what quantities? Where there markets for these types of materials? How effective would this be in helping Nevada County reach the 50 percent diversion mandate? Staff approached the reuse facility from every aspect and angle, and a lot of time was spent collecting data to answer these and other questions. To collect the data staff conducted surveys and analyzed existing sources of data.

Task 2.1: Surveys, Compilation, and Analysis of Data.
Nevada County, in conjunction with the Nevada County Contractors Association, prepared a brief survey to assess the contractor support and gather material resource data. In addition, County staff conducted a follow up survey via fax and phone questionnaire. Questions were asked to gauge how willing a company would be to participate in a non-mandatory materials reuse program. They were also asked to indicate the types of materials that they would donate to the reuse facility.

Habitat for Humanity ReStores are in operation throughout California. To document the success of the ReStores, County staff conducted a survey. The surveys were sent out to the ReStores and a variety of data was gathered, such as hours of operation, pick up service, diversion rates, profit margin, material types accepted, donations, and purchasers. The surveys were followed up with phone calls.

Nevada County was selected to participate in both the 1999 and 2005 California Integrated Waste Management Board waste characterization studies. Staff obtained the data from these surveys and conducted analyses to determine the top disposed material types from the largest trash generating sectors:  self-haul residents, self-haul commercial and commercial sectors. The categories evaluated included lumber, rock/fines/soil, gypsum, bulky items, textiles, and carpet.

Nevada County transfer station attendants had surveyed the materials disposed of from roll-off-box accounts in order to capture an understanding of what was being thrown away. The categories evaluated included: wood waste scrap, painted wood, scrap metal, gypsum, wood, fixtures, doors, plumbing, molding, windows, electrical, furniture, appliances, and recyclable materials.

All the materials data collected was analyzed and evaluated for its potential of being redirected through the reuse facility. The findings were presented in a staff memo to management. Task Completion: 100 percent.

Task 2.2: General Research.
To plan a successful facility required researching reuse businesses located throughout California. Reuse operators were interviewed. Operators shared their success stories, operation and design plans, diversion tonnages, materials list, outreach literature, and more. This information provided the stepping stone to Nevada County formulating its own goals, objectives, conceptual design, and operational plans. Task Completion: 100 percent.

Task 3: Meetings.
Staff time also includes preparing for the meetings and time documenting the outcome.

Task 3.1: Internal Meetings.
The undertaking of a new facility and program by Nevada County involved countless hours of meetings among staff to strategize, plan, review the scope of work, scrutinize data, develop timelines, review proposed design plans, review types of materials to include, receive input and feedback, and more. At critical junctures within the project, approval from the Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission and Board of Supervisors was necessary. Staff spent time on agenda items, resource documents, and presentations. Task Completion: 100 percent.

Task 3.2: Habitat for Humanity.
The second quarter and third quarter progress reports highlight the relationship between Nevada County and Habitat for Humanity. To briefly recap the situation, a partnership with Habitat was created to assist Nevada County in the design phase, as well as to operate the facility. Regular meetings were conducted to ensure the project was on track, discuss goals, direct the project, answer questions, update the Habitat for Humanity board, and review the business plan. Eventually, discussions were held on the dissolution of the partnership. Task Completion: 100 percent.

Task 3.3: Nevada County Contractors Association (NCCA).
The second quarter progress report highlights the relationship between Nevada County and NCCA. In summary, the NCCA has been an integral part of the Reuse project since its inception. It was hoped that by responding to a perceived demand of contractors, the Reuse Facility would be more heavily used than if the Reuse Facility were being designed without the input of the targeted material generators. Toward that end, staff worked with NCCA to better gauge the targeted end users' probable participation.

Nevada County wanted to ensure the success of the reuse facility so regular meetings were conducted to discuss all aspects of the proposed facility. Throughout the life of the project, NCCA was involved in the meetings between Habitat for Humanity and Nevada County. Task Completion: 100 percent.

Task 3.4: Miscellaneous Meetings.
To round out the research, staff met with other potential consultants and investigated other avenues of reuse. Conceptually, Nevada County was approaching the reuse facility from a broader spectrum to deal with all the potential C&D waste. A drop off area adjacent to the Reuse Area was considered to handle the materials that were not otherwise reusable through the planned facility. The two facilities, a Reuse Facility and a C&D materials drop off, would work side by side to provide the best alternative to disposal for the customer. Meetings were held with Yuba-Sutter Disposal Inc., (YSDI) since they are licensed to handle C&D waste. County staff also met with The Reuse People of Alameda, a nonprofit and licensed demolition contractor, to discuss possible alternatives to having Habitat for Humanity be the sole operator of the Reuse Facility. The Reuse People already partner with Habitat in several other jurisdictions so Nevada County considered establishing a partnership between Habitat and The Reuse People. Task Completion: 100 percent.

Task 4: Request for Proposal (RFP).
After months of deliberation, discussions, and negotiations, it was clear that the County's goals did not adequately coincide with Habitat's goals. The County's goal is to divert as much material as possible from the waste stream. Habitat's goal is to raise money to build houses. When Habitat put together its draft business plan, they had issues about not wanting to accept certain materials that the County believes would be reusable. Habitat did not want to accept certain materials such as leftovers from construction sites or remodel jobs because they did not think they would have enough market value. Therefore, staff took the direction of issuing a Request for Proposal. The plan was for an organization to operate the Reuse Facility. It would include developing an outreach program to work with the public and contractors on how to deconstruct buildings in order to maximize the reusable materials and then train the public and contractors on how to use these reclaimed materials in construction. The goal for opening the facility was August of 2006.

The Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission heard the item and gave the go ahead to issue the RFP. The next step was to receive approval from the County Board of Supervisors. The item was pulled from the Board of Supervisors agenda and staff was advised to try and to reconcile with Habitat for Humanity. A meeting was held between Nevada County staff and Habitat for Humanity and both parties came to an agreement that addressed the concerns that had been previously expressed by Habitat.

A special Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission meeting was called once again to discuss the Reuse Facility operations. It became evident that it would be more beneficial for all the parties involved to take 12 to 18 months of accepting C&D material at the McCourtney Road Transfer Station. Habitat would operate its own Reuse store. This would provide the opportunity to then assess the viability of either establishing a reuse facility or decide if it would be better to deal with the C&D material in a less formal manner. In the meantime, the County would give Habitat marketing support and in the process, they will be able to test the market on their own and manage the facility without the constraints of the County's concerns. A motion by the Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission was passed to rescind the previous decision made on February 10, 2005, to proceed with the process of soliciting a Request for Proposal to Operate the Building Materials Reuse Facility at the McCourtney Road Transfer Station.

Task 4.1: Development of RFP.
Staff spent considerable time formulating a Request for Proposal, compiling a solicitation list, investigating advertising options, and preparing agenda items for the Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission and Board of Supervisors meetings. Task Completion: 100 percent.

Task 5: Grant Administration.
Staff time is dedicated to administering the grant, including writing and submitting the grant reports to the CIWMB. The review of the project also involved supervisors and the Department Head of Transportation and Sanitation.

Task 5.1: Grant Reporting—First Quarter.
Task: 100 percent complete.

Task 5.2: Grant Reporting—Second Quarter.
Task: 100 percent complete.

Task 5.3: Grant Reporting—Third Quarter.
Task: 100 percent complete.

Task 5.4: Grant Reporting—Fourth Quarter.
Task: 100 percent complete.

*Permission was obtained from grant recipient to publish project profile.

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Last updated: June 25, 2008