CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: April 7, 2025
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCILMEMBERS
TITLE: ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. __-25 APPROVING CONTINUED
PARTICIPATION IN THE STORMWATER POLLUTION
MANAGEMENT UTILITY DISTRICT AND AUTHORIZING THE
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL AND WATER
CONSERVATION DISTRICT TO ADOPT THE FISCAL YEAR
2025/26 STORMWATER UTILITY AREA FEE FOR THE CITY OF
PLEASANT HILL
SYNOPSIS
The City of Pleasant Hill participates in the Contra Costa Clean Water Program (CCCWP), which was formed to enable jurisdictions to perform local and countywide clean water activities costeffectively. The Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District (Flood Control District) collects a stormwater utility fee through the property tax roll on behalf of the City to fund these activities. In order for the Flood Control District to collect these fees, the City is required to set the Stormwater Utility Assessment (SUA) rate by May of each year.
Staff recommends the City Council adopt the attached resolution, which renews the SUA rate for Fiscal Year 2025/26.
DISCUSSION
Background
In 1993, the City Council authorized the Flood Control District to create a Stormwater Pollution Management Utility District to collect fees on the City’s behalf under Contra Costa County’s SUA Drainage Ordinance No. 93-47. The fees are collected through the property tax roll and are used to fund clean water activities (including, but not limited to, regulating new development, inspections, public education, and water quality monitoring). The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, mandates these activities through a countywide National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. The permit is issued to the Contra Costa Clean Water Program (CCCWP), of which the City is a co-permittee (with all 17 other Contra Costa towns and cities, the unincorporated County, and the Flood Control District).
Pursuant to the Stormwater Utility Area Agreement executed with the Flood Control District in 2003, the City must set the SUA rate by May of each year. The SUA rate is based on the Equivalent Runoff Unit (ERU), which is the amount of runoff generated from a typical singlefamily home. Other land uses are assessed a fee based on their typical impervious surface area as a multiple of the ERU. Based on Flood Control District projections, there are approximately 16,400 ERUs in the City.
Analysis
Since 2001, the rate set by the City Council has been $30 per ERU, which is the maximum authorized by the Stormwater Pollution Management Utility District when it was formed in 1993.
Based on the estimated 16,400 ERUs in the City, approximately $367,710 in revenue, net of Clean Water Program group expenses, will be generated. The revenue generated (Fund 231) provides funding for the ongoing implementation of local and countywide NPDES permit requirements and local storm drain and creek maintenance programs. The Municipal Regional Permit (MRP), adopted in 2009, introduced enhanced requirements (i.e., more outreach, watershed monitoring, illicit discharge control, installation and maintenance of trash capture devices, and development of a long-term zero trash plan).
MRP 3.0 was re-issued by the RWQCB on May 11, 2022, with additional requirements that went into effect on July 1, 2022, and included lowered thresholds for regulated projects, which became effective July 1, 2023. The new MRP 3.0 requirements included, among others:
• Trash reduction goal of 100% by June 30, 2025.
▪ Staff is considering several different options to meet this new requirement, such as updates to the Municipal Code, requiring property owners within designated medium and high trash generation areas to install full trash capture devices within private property. So far, the City has achieved an 87.3% reduction. • Compliance with Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) numeric standards and reduction of PCB levels
▪ The City must treat 2.09 acres of existing impervious surface through retrofitting of the existing public storm drain system using green infrastructure. These improvements aim to disperse public stormwater into vegetated areas, harvest and reuse runoff, promote infiltration, and treat stormwater before it reaches the bay. • Participation in regional alternative compliance, if local reductions are not possible. ▪ Staff may still need to investigate a regional solution, but that is not yet certain as Staff believes the City may achieve reduction requirements locally. • Implementation of enhanced construction site C.6 inspections with PCB inspections during demolition.
• Development of a Cost Reporting Program to support annual reporting of Stormwater program costs, and development of an Asset Management Plan for Stormwater program infrastructure improvements related to NPDES Permit implementation.
▪ Efforts are commencing, and permittee volunteers have been invited to join work groups.
FISCAL IMPACT
The proposed action provides approximately $367,710 in revenue to fund the ongoing implementation of local and countywide NPDES permit requirements.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public Contact was made through posting of the City Council agenda on the City’s official notice bulletin board, at the Pleasant Hill Senior Center, and at the Pleasant Hill Police Department. The agenda and staff report are posted on the City’s web page.
RECOMMENDED CITY COUNCIL ACTION
Adopt the resolution, approving the continued participation in the Stormwater Pollution Management Utility District and authorizing the Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District to adopt the Fiscal Year 2025/26 Stormwater Utility Area Fee for the City of Pleasant Hill.
ALTERNATIVES TO RECOMMENDED ACTION
Should the Stormwater Utility Area Rate not be renewed for FY 2025/26, there would be a loss of $367,710 in revenues to fund and implement local and countywide NPDES permit requirements. The City would need to fund these activities to comply with other funding sources or potentially be subject to fines.
ATTACHMENT(S)
Proposed Resolution
Prepared by: Laetitia Galeazzi, Senior Civil Engineer
Reviewed by: Ann James, Public Works Director
Approved by: Ethen Bindernagel, City Manager