Valley Water is searching for top-tier candidates to fill this exciting opportunity. Internal candidates will get first consideration.
Overview: Would you like to join a special district working on meaningful community projects that ensure safe, clean water supply, and protect natural environments in the heart of Santa Clara County? Do you have specialized skills or experience that could be applied to a rewarding career in environmental planning and natural resource permitting? Are you versed in the fundamentals of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and/or National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) document preparation or regulatory compliance? If so, consider expanding your environmental planning career as an Associate Environmental Planner for Valley Water.
Valley Water is seeking an Associate Environmental Planner who will support development and execution of plans, programs, and/or projects in water supply, water utility, flood protection, and watershed stewardship. This is a journey-level environmental planning position that will perform a variety of professional duties relative to assisting project teams in planning, design, and construction phases. They will guide teams through impact avoidance and minimization, and coordinate and prepare environmental documents compliant with both CEQA and NEPA. Positions will also guide teams through the process of obtaining and implementing applicable natural resource agency permit requirements, including development of appropriate mitigation, application preparation, strategic negotiation, and environmental compliance monitoring and reporting.
Environmental Planners can look forward to working on a broad range of projects spanning creek and bay rehabilitation, wetland creation, public safety, flood protection, imported water, water treatment and conveyance system upgrade, and cutting-edge public-private partnerships. Successful candidates will join teams working on projects such as:
• San Francisco Bay Shoreline Protection
• Calabazas Creek Bank Rehabilitation
• Guadalupe River Flood Protection
• Pipeline Reliability and Maintenance Program
• Water Utility Infrastructure
• Water Supply and Transfers
Key Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
• Work collaboratively on teams with engineers, biologists, and other technical specialists, as well as consultants, to develop project elements, identify potential environmental impacts, and evaluate opportunities to avoid or minimize impacts.
• Provide advice and guidance to project teams regarding the level of CEQA and NEPA documentation required.
• Oversee and carry out the appropriate CEQA process approved through internal decision memoranda, including exemptions, Negative Declarations (ND), Mitigated Negative Declarations (MND), Environmental Impact Reports (EIR), and related public notices; assist with developing project descriptions; solicit input from responsible and trustee agencies; identify potential significant adverse and beneficial impacts; identify alternatives.
• Support natural resource agency permitting and regulatory compliance efforts through conducting background research, assisting in development of permitting and mitigation strategies, preparing submittals, coordinating with environmental regulators, negotiating the need for permits and permit conditions, and tracking and managing the permit acquisition and compliance processes.
• Serve as a liaison with internal staff and external parties on input and questions pertaining to the environmental aspects of the project or activity; receive and respond to written comments from agencies and the public; plan logistics, including the setup of scoping meetings; prepare meeting materials; moderate public hearings; collect verbal comments as necessary; and incorporate and address comments in CEQA documents.
• Assist in consultant management to promote high quality contract work products; monitor progress and maintain close contact during development of work products; review work products.
• Support environmental compliance monitoring of project activities.
Ideal Candidate’s Background Includes:
The successful candidate will be an environmental project manager who understands the importance of resilience and adaptability and has an in-depth knowledge of CEQA and NEPA, along with federal, state, and regional permitting regulations and processes. This position demands strong organizational skills with strategic and analytical thinking. The ideal candidate will lead with a positive attitude, possess strong written and verbal communication skills, and build positive working relationships with others. Problem-solving and critical-thinking skills are essential for this role, as is a customer-service-oriented mindset. We are open to considering journey-level candidates as well as candidates who have professional experience in another specialty (i.e., air quality, biology, cultural resources, noise, transportation/traffic, water resources, construction management, or closely related engineering field) and can demonstrate that they have transferable skills and experience.