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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6337 RESOLUTION NO. 6337 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA, AUTHORIZING THE FILING OF A LAWSUIT CHALLENGING THE STORM WATERlURBAN RUNOFF PERMIT FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES AND THE INCORPORATED CITIES THEREIN, EXCEPT THE CITY OF LONG BEACH (NPDES NO. CAS004001) WHEREAS, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region ("Regional Board") adopted Order No. 01-182, a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("NPDES") Permit for Municipal Storm Water and Urban Runoff Discharges within the County of Los Angeles and the incorporated cities therein, except the City of Long Beach (hereinafter "NPDES Permit") on December 13, 2001; and WHEREAS, in January of 2002, forty-nine cities ("Cities"), including the City of Los Angeles, as well as the County of Los Angeles, filed administrative petitions with the State Water Resources Control Board ("State Board") challenging the validity of the NPDES Permit on' a number of grounds, including its deletion of the "Safe Harbor" provisions that existed in the prior 1996 NPDES Permit, the modifications to the terms of the Permit dealing with Receiving Water Limitations and the requirement therein that would allow "numeric" limits to be imposed upon municipalities 1 6337 compliance with the "maximum extent practicable" standard set forth in the Clean Water Act), as well as those provisions allowing for the automatic incorporation of total maximum daily loads ("TMDL") by the Regional Board's Executive Officer, the failure of the Regional Board to comply with the requirements of CEQA or to adopt terms consistent with CEQA, the imposition of additional inspection obligations on municipalities for various industrial and commercial facilities, and the attempt by the Regional Board to rollback the changes that had been made to the Standard Urban Storm Water Mitigation Plan requirements ("SUSMP Requirements") by the State Board, along with other objectionable terms, including various provisions which infringe upon the local land use authority of the Cities; and WHEREAS, although indicating in February of 2002 that it would address a number of substantive issues raised by the administrative petitions, on December 18, 2002, after three settlement negotiation sessions that did not lead to a resolution of the issues, the State Board denied all of the administrative petitions without providing a hearing to the public, and concluded that the Petitions "failed to raise substantial, new issues;" and WHEREAS, the City of Arcadia ("City") currently supports and funds efforts to reduce and eliminate storm water pollution. During the five 2 6337 year period of the prior NPDES Permit, the City implemented additional street sweeping efforts, increased catch basin cleaning, funded a public information program on storm water pollution, implemented construction project inspection programs, implemented a Standard Urban Storm Water Mitigation Plan (the "SUSMP") as modified by the State Board, completed the site visitation programs, initiated waste-oil recycling programs and implemented various other storm water programs; and WHEREAS, the NPDES Permit contains various language within the Receiving Water Limitations section (and other provisions of the Permit) which violate the "maximum extent practicable" standard, and which in many cases, directly or indirectly seek to impose responsibility on municipalities throughout the County, to insure that storm water runoff into and from their storm drain systems, does not violate water quality objectives, including numeric effluent limits that may be adopted through the incorporation ofTMDLs; and. WHEREAS, under the NPDES Permit, the City, along with 83 other incorporated cities in Los Angeles County and the County of Los Angeles, are required to expand existing storm water treatment programs, and to implement new storm water programs which the Regional Board purports 3 6337 purports will improve the quality of municipal storm water in a cost- effective manner. However, a cost-benefit study was never performed by the Regional Board to illustrate that the new programs will result in cost- effective improvements to storm. water quality. In addition, the Board did not develop or rely upon scientific data to support the need for the numerous programs to be imposed by the new Permit; and WHEREAS, under the new NPDES Permit, the City will be responsible for implementing a comprehensive inspection and surveillance program of industrial and commercial facilities to "control" storm water and non-storm water runoff from these facilities. A recent study ordered by the United States Congress and completed by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences recommended that storm water programs utilize "adaptive implementation", and recognized that cities should not be subjected to fines and legal action while they are developing new and untested storm water programs. The new NPDES Permit may place the Cities in a constant state of violation, and will subject all municipalities covered by the Permit to needless lawsuits by environmental organizations, and exposing the Cities to excessive fines. The removal of the legal "Safe Harbor," combined with the addition of language putting the Cities in a .4 6337 constant state of violation, is legally inappropriate and fundamentally unfair; and WHEREAS, the revised SUSMP Requirements under the new NPDES Pennit are contrary to a prior order issued by the State Board, and require the imposition of mitigation measures that are contrary to existing State law under the California Environmental Quality Act, and the Pennit terms infringe upon traditional local land use authority and the basic powers of local governments; WHEREAS, the NPDES Permit goes beyond the intent of the Clean Water Act, and violates the California Porter-Cologne Act, by "micro managing" and dictating specific programs and a particular manner of compliance on the Cities, and by imposing requirements that are not authorized anywhere under State or federal law; and WHEREAS, the new NPDES Pennit requires that the Cities expand the current private property site visitation and education program to a mandatory inspection and enforcement program, that the Cities reduce pollutants in runoff from private industrial and commercial facilities (including federal and State facilities) and that the Cities modify their CEQA Guidelines and their General Plan requirements. All such requirements and 5 6337 programs are being mandated on the Cities, without any provision for State funding; and WHEREAS, the actions taken by the Regional Board in adopting the NPDES Permit are inconsistent with the requirements of the Clean Water Act and State Law, will result in the imposition of unsupportable programs on the City and its citizenry, and will result in the imposition of numerous unfunded mandates on the City. NOW THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA, DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS: SECTION I. To participate with other Cities in the County with the filing of a lawsuit challenging Regional Board Order No. 01-182, NPDES Permit No. CAS004001, Waste Discharge Requirements for Municipal Storm Water and Urban Runoff Discharges within the County of Los Angeles and the Incorporated Cities therein, expect the City of Long Beach. SECTION 2. To retain Richard Montevideo, Esq., in coordination with other Los Angeles County Cities, subject to a retainer letter approved as to form and substance by the City Manager and City Attorney, to advise, assist and represent the City in the filing and in the prosecution of a lawsuit 6 6337 challenging Regional Board Order No. 01-182, the Municipal NPDES Permit for Los Angeles' County and the incorporated Cities therein, except the City of Long Beach. SECTION 3. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this Resolution. Passed, approved and adopted this 7th day of January ,2003. ATTEST: ~;;;k'& ~S) APPROVED AS to FORM: ~ ~r_~ City Attorney 7 6337 STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) SS: CITY OF ARCADIA ) I, JUNE D. ALFORD, City Clerk of the City of Arcadia, hereby certifies that the foregoing Resolution No. 6337 was passed and adopted by the City Council of the City of Arcadia, signed by the Mayor and attested to by the City Clerk at a regular meeting of said Council held on the 7th day of January, 2003 and that said Resolution was adopted by the following vote, to wit: A YES: Councilmember Chang, Kovacic, Segal, Wuo and Marshall NOES: None ABSENT: None ity of Arcadia 8 6337