HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 5.C 06/06/2005CITY OF PETALUNIA, CALIFORNIA 5.0
AGENDA BILL June 6, 2005
Aeenda Title: Meetine Date: June 6, 2005
Introduce and Consider Revisions to Grading and Erosion Control
Ordinance to Bring it into Compliance with the City's National
Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit Meetine Time: ® 3:00 PM
❑ 7:00 PM
Cateeory (check one): [ I Consent Calendar ❑ Public Hearing ® New Business
❑ Unfinished Business ❑ Presentation
Department:
Water Resources &
Conservation
Director:
Michael Ban, I�P.E.
1"'
Cost of Proposal: Approximately $5,000/year
Amount Budeeted: $5,000
Attachments to Aeenda Packet Item:
Contact Person:
Dean Eckerson,
Agenda Report
Exhibit "X'— Revised Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance
Phone Number:
778-4304
Account Number: 8220
Name of Fund: Wastewater Fund
Summary Statement: In 2003, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) adopted a Phase II
General Permit setting forth the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) requirements
for compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clean water regulations. As the
operator of a municipal stornl drain system, the City of Petaluma approved a Storm Water Management
Program in March 2003 to comply with the Phase II NPDES requirements. The City's Phase H Storm
Water Management Program constitutes the first citywide, comprehensive program to significantly reduce
or eliminate pollutants in our surface waters. This program involves the coordination, monitoring, and
reporting of a number of existing activities, along with the implementation of new activities with the goal
of protecting and improving water quality. As we continue implementation of this program, the City must
consider amending the Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance to bring it into conformance with the Phase
H NPDES requirements to reduce or eliminate pollutants associated with grading activities.
Recommended Citv Council Action/Sueeested Motion: City management staff recommends the City
Council introduce the amended Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance to bring it into conformance with
the requirements of the City's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit to reduce or
eliminate pollutants in our surface waters at the June 6h Council meeting and subsequently adopt the
ordinance on a second Council meeting (scheduled for June 20`h).
Reviewed by Admin. Svcs. Dir:
Date:
Reviewed by City Attornev
Date:
ADDroygd by City Manaeer:
or
Date:
Todav's Date: May 24, 2005 Revision # and Date Revised: File Code: S:\water resources &
# conservation\Storm Water\Grading and
Erosion\Agenda Bill 2005.doc
CITY OF PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA
JUNE 6, 2005
AGENDA REPORT
FOR
INTRODUCE AND CONSIDER REVISIONS TO GRADING AND EROSION CONTROL ORDINANCE
TO BRING IT INTO COMPLIANCE WITH THE CITY'S NATIONAL POLLUTION DISCHARGE
ELIMINATION SYSTEM PERMIT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In 2003, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB)
adopted a Phase 1I General Permit setting forth the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) requirements for compliance with the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) clean water regulations. As the operator of a municipal storm
drain system, the City of Petaluma approved a Storm Water Management Program in
March 2003 to comply with the Phase 11 NPDES requirements. The City's Phase H Storm
Water Management Program constitutes the first citywide, comprehensive program to
significantly reduce or eliminate pollutants in our surface waters. This program involves
the coordination, monitoring, and reporting of a number of existing activities, along with
the implementation of new activities with the goal of protecting and improving water
quality. As we continue implementation of this program, the City must consider
amending the Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance to bring it into conformance with
the Phase II NPDES requirements to reduce or eliminate pollutants associated with
grading activities.
BACKGROUND: In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated
Storm Water Phase 11 regulations for storm water discharges in cities between 10,000 and
100,000 population. The federal Storm Water Phase H Final Rule requires operators of
small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s), such as the City of Petaluma, to
comply with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
requirements to reduce pollutants and protect water quality because storm water
discharges are considered sources of pollution.
The EPA designated the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) as the statewide
permitting authority in California to regulate all operators of MS4s. In 2003, the SWRCB
adopted a Phase H General Permit setting forth the NPDES requirements for all
applicable permittees to promote consistency Linder the EPA Phase H Rule. In order to
comply with the Phase II NPDES requirements as set forth in the State General Permit,
the City approved a Storm Water Management Program in March 2003.
STORM WATER PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
The City's Phase II Storm Water Management Program constitutes the first citywide,
comprehensive program to significantly reduce or eliminate pollutants in our surface
waters. This program involves the coordination, monitoring, and reporting of a number of
existing activities, along with the implementation of new activities with the goal of
protecting water quality. Closely related to this program, the City also implemented a
Storm Water Operations and Maintenance Program in the Water Resources and
Conservation Department to pro -actively manage the City's surface drainage facilities.
The Phase II program required the development of a Storm Water Management Plan,
which was presented to the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) in March
2003, and approved by the SWRCB in October 2003. The City's Storm Water
Management Plan is a program consisting of six elements that, when implemented
together, are expected to achieve significant reductions of pollutant discharges into
receiving water bodies, in our case the Petaluma River and its tributaries. The six
elements in our plan are:
• Public Education and Outreach (PE/0)
• Public Participation/involvement (PP/I)
• Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE)
• Construction Site Storm Water Runoff Control (CONST)
• Post -Construction Storm Water Management (POST -CONST)
• Pollution Prevention for Municipal Operations (Muni P2)
Each of these elements include measurable goals to identify pollutants of concern, such
as sediment or metals, the target audience, who is responsible for implementation, and
several `best management practices' (BMPs) or procedures to reduce or eliminate the
pollutant.
During the development of our Stonn Water Management Program, numerous activities
considered BMPs were identified as already implemented in all six Minimum Control
Measure areas. In addition, many of our other activities have been augmented with new
components such as record keeping, formal training, or public education to make them
eligible as BMPs under this program. As we continue implementation of this program to
improve water quality in our watershed, the City must consider revisions to the Grading
and Erosion Control Ordinance to bring it into conformance with the NPDES permit
requirements to reduce or eliminate pollutants associated with grading activities.
GRADING AND EROSION CONTROL ORDINANCE
The City's Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance was passed in July 1984 to regulate
grading on public and private property. The ordinance provides design standards and
requires the appropriate permits, grading plans, soils and reconnaissance reports, and
erosion and sediment control plans to be submitted to the City for review prior to
commencing work. The ordinance also provides plan review and construction site
inspection guidelines.
The proposed revisions to the ordinance, as shown in the attached Exhibit "A", are
necessary to bring it into conformance with the requirements of the City's NPDES
permit. Specifically, provisions are added to various sections of the permit to officially
require the following: compliance with the State Construction Storm Water General
Permit, including submittal of storm water pollution prevention plans (SWPPPs), review
of SWPPPs for compliance with General Permit, and control of wastes such as discarded
building materials, concrete truck washout, chemicals, litter, and sanitary waste at
construction sites.
The SWPPPs are required for projects resulting in soil disturbance of one acre or greater.
The purpose of the SWPPP is to identify sources of sediment or other pollutants
associated with the proposed project that will affect the quality of storm water
discharges, and to describe and ensure the implementation of appropriate best
management practices to reduce or eliminate pollutants in storm water runoff, as well as
non -storm water discharges.
ALTERNATIVES: The City needs to amend the Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance to
bring it into conformance with the requirements of our NPDES permit. Alternatives
available for malting the revisions include:
a. Introduce the revised ordinance as written,
b. Introduce the revised ordinance with approved changes, so long as the changes
comply with the NPDES permit, and subsequently adopt revised ordinance at a
second meeting (scheduled for June 20"i),
c. Take no action.
4. FINANCIAL IMPACTS: Compliance with the NPDES Phase II General Permit requires
amending the Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance, as outlined in the City's Storm
Water Management Plan.
The labor requirements for ongoing implementation of the revised ordinance will be met
with existing City personnel. The majority of the new requirements resulting from the
changes to the ordinance are the responsibility of the grading permit applicants to
complete prior to the issuance of City permits. City costs for implementation of the
ordinance revisions will be funded from fees collected on grading permits issued. Several
changes to the ordinance include additional requirements on development and
redevelopment activities that must be inspected for compliance with our NPDES permit
as part of our current inspection staff activities. Depending on the level of compliance
and number of development and redevelopment activities, additional resources may be
necessary to implement the revised ordinance, as the Storm Water Program develops.
CONCLUSION: The U.S. EPA promulgated Phase II regulations for storm water
discharges and designated the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) as the
statewide permitting authority. The City prepared a Stonn Water Management Program
'Failure to amend the Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance may result in the issuance of a Notice of Violation by
the Regional Water Quality Control Board. This violation could include fines up to $27,500 per day in accordance
with Section 13385 of the Porter -Cologne Water Quality Control Act, and may expose the City to third -party
lawsuits.
and applied for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Phase H
coverage under the General Permit in March 2003 to continue operating our storm
drainage system. Although the City had already implemented a Grading and Erosion
Control Ordinance, amendments to this ordinance are necessary to bring it into
conformance with the requirements of the NPDES permit. These changes will ensure the
grading activities permitted by the City are conducted in such a way as to significantly
reduce or eliminate associated pollutants from the surface water.
6. OUTCOMES OR PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS THAT WILL IDENTIFY SUCCESS OR
COMPLETION: A key component of the City's Storm Water Management Program
includes the monitoring and evaluation of established measurable goals toward improving
water quality. Following implementation of revised Grading and Erosion Control
Ordinance, our storm water plan includes the development of evaluation criteria to
determine the effectiveness the ordinance in improving water quality. The effectiveness
measures and accomplishments of the ordinance will be reported to the RWQCB as part
of the annual report.
7. RECOMMENDATION: City management staff recommends the City Council introduce the
amended Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance to bring it into conformance with the
requirements of the City's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit to
reduce or eliminate pollutants in our surface waters at the June 6th Council meeting and
subsequently adopt the ordinance on a second Council meeting (scheduled for June 20"i).
Sdwaler resources & conservation\Storm water\Grading and Erosion\Agenda Bill 2005.doc
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EXHIBIT A
Revised Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance
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ORDINANCE NO. N.C.S.
Introduced by Seconded by
AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PETALUMA, STATE
OF CALIFORNIA, AMENDING CHAPTER 17.31 OF THE PETALUMA
MUNICIPAL CODE, THE GRADING AND EROSION CONTROL ORDINANCE
OF THE CITY OF PETALUMA
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PETALUMA AS
FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The Council finds that it is necessary and desirable to amend the
Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance of the City of Petaluma, codified as Chapter
17.31 of the Petaluma Municipal Code, to bring it into conformance with the
requirements of the City's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
permit.
Section 2. Section 17.31.020 of the Petaluma Municipal Code, entitled
"Purpose," is hereby amended to read as follows:
The purpose of this Chapter is as follows:
A. To regulate grading on public and private property in order to:
1. Control erosion;
2. Control sedimentation;
3. Protect water quality;
4. Reduce pollutants in storm water to the maximum extent
practicable:
5. Safeguard health, safety, and the public welfare;
B. To establish administrative procedures to carry out these
regulations.
Section 3. Section 17.31.030 of the Petaluma Municipal Code, entitled
"Definitions," is hereby amended by adding new definitions thereto as follows:
B(1). `Best Management Practices (BMPs)" means activities,
prohibition of practices. general good housekeeping practices, pollution
prevention and educational practices. maintenance procedures, and other
management practices to prevent or reduce to the maximum extent
practicable the discharge of pollutants directly or indirectly to waters of
the United States. BMPs shall also be defined to include structural
controls, treatment controls, training requirements, operating procedures.
and practices to control plant site runoff. spillage or leaks, sludge or waste
disposal. and drainage from raw materials storage.
P(l). "NPDES General Construction Permit" means General Permit No.
CAS000002 issued by the State Water Resources Control Board and anv_
future changes or amendments subsequent thereto. or anv other general
Dennit issued by the State Water Resources Control Board. Regional
Water Oualitv Control Board, or U.S. Environmental Protection Agencv
that regulates discharges of storm water and authorized non -storm water
discharges to surface waters associated with construction activity
including clearing, grading, and excavation that result in land disturbance
of equal to or greater than once acre or is part of a larger common plan.
P(2). "Notice Of Intent (NOD" means formal notification to the
Regional Water Oualitv Control Board or State Water Resources Control
Board by the applicant that a construction activity will occur in
compliance with the conditions of the state's NPDES general construction
permit.
P(3). "Notice Of Termination (NOT)" means formal notification to the
Regional Water Oualitv Control Board or State Water Resources Control
Board by the applicant that a construction activity is completed in order to
terminate coverage under the State's NPDES general construction permit.
Z(1). "Storm water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP)" means plan
required by the state's NPDES general construction hermit for oroiects
that will result in soil disturbance of one acre or greater. The Dumose of a
SWPPP is to identifv sources of sediment and other pollutants that affect
the quality of storm water discharges and to describe and ensure the
implementation of BMPs to reduce or eliminate sediment and other
pollutants in storm water as well as non -storm water discharges.
Section 4. Section 17.31.040 of the Petaluma Municipal Code, entitled "Actions
prohibited," is hereby amended to read as follows:
It shall be unlawful for any person to:
K
A. Perform any work within the scope of this Chapter without first
having obtained a permit from the Public Works Department pursuant to
this Chapter, and/or, from the Building Inspection Department, where
required by Chapter 70 of the Uniform Building Code.
B. To discharge storm water or non -storm water to surface waters
associated with anv construction activity that is subiect to the state's
NPDES general construction Dermit without first having complied with
the Drovisions contained in the state's NPDES general construction oermit.
C. Grade in such a manner so as to
1. Cause erosion or sedimentation on other property or on
public streets,
2. Obstruct or otherwise interfere with drainage, or deposit
sediment in natural or artificial drainage facilities, or
3. Construct or alter drainage facilities or alter drainage
courses without first obtaining a permit pursuant to Chapter 17.31.060.
Section 5. Section 17.31.130 of the Petaluma Municipal Code, entitled
"Application for permit," is hereby amended by adding new subsections I and J thereto as
follows:
I. A cony of the submitted NOI for the site and Waste Discharge
Identification number, if anDlicable. Der Section P(1) of 17.31.030.
J. A coDv of the S WPPP conforming with the recuirements of the
state's NPDES general construction hermit_ if anDlicable, ner Section P(1)
of 17.31.030.
Section 6. Section 17.31.140 of the Petaluma Municipal Code, entitled "Review
of application," is hereby amended by adding new subsection F thereto as follows:
F. Whether the S WPPP complies with the reouirements set forth in
the state's NPDES general construction nermit.
Section 7. Section 17.31.160 of the Petaluma Municipal Code, entitled
"Application form," is hereby amended by adding new subsection R thereto as follows:
R. Waste Discharge Identification Number. if anolicable.
Section 8. New Section 17.31355, entitled "Construction requirements," is
hereby added to the Petaluma Municipal Code to read as follows:
In addition to anv adopted BMPs or other reouirements for
construction proi ects adopted by the Citv. the following reauirements shall
apply to all nroi ects undergoing construction in the Citv. The requirements
set forth below shall apply at the time of demolition of an existing
structure or commencement of construction and until the nroi ect receives
final occunancv/clearance from the Citv.
A. Sediment, construction waste and other pollutants from
construction sites and parking areas, including runoff from eauinment at
construction sites, shall be retained on the site to the maximum extent
practicable.
B. Anv sediment or other materials that are not retained on the site
shall be removed the same day as the nroi ects are completed. Where
determined necessary by the Citv Engineer. a tenmorary sediment barrier
shall be installed.
C. Excavated soil shall be located on the site in a manner that
minimizes the amount of sediments running into the street or adioinin_g
nronerties. Soil piles shall be covered until the soil is either used or
removed.
D. No washing of construction or other industrial commercial vehicles
shall be allowed on a construction site or monertv adiacent to a
construction site.
E. Drainase controls shall be utilized as needed, depending on the
extent of the nronosed Brading and tonogranhv of the site. including. but
not limited to. the following: detention ponds, sediment ponds. infiltration
nits, dikes. filter berms. ditches, down drains. chutes, or flumes.
Section 9. Section 17.31.300 of the Petaluma Municipal Code, entitled
"Completion of work," is hereby amended by adding new subsection E thereto as
follows:
E. A cony of the submitted NOT for the site un_ on comp_ letion
of the proiect, ner Section P(1) of 17.31.030.
Sectionl0. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase or word of this
ordinance is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, unlawful or otherwise invalid by a
court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council of the City of Petaluma hereby
10
declares that it would have passed and adopted this ordinance and each and all provisions
thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more of said provisions be declared
unconstitutional, unlawful or otherwise invalid.
Section 11. This ordinance shall become effective thirty (30) days after the date
of its adoption by the Petaluma City Council.
Section 12. The City Cleric is hereby directed to post this ordinance for the period
and in the manner required by the City Charter.
INTRODUCED and ordered posted/published this
2005.
ADOPTED this
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ATTEST:
City Cleric
day of
day of
2005 by the following vote:
Mayor
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
City Attorney
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