CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: January 26, 2026
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCILMEMBERS
TITLE: STUDY SESSION FOR THE PARTICIPATION OF THE CITY OF
PLEASANT HILL IN THE CONTRA COSTA COUNTY REGIONAL
ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCE SYSTEM JOINT POWERS
AUTHORITY.
SYNOPSIS
The San Francisco Bay Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit (MRP), originally adopted by the Regional Water Quality Control Board in 2009, establishes annual stormwater treatment requirements that must be met by cities, counties, and flood control districts across the San Francisco Bay Area. The MRP has been reissued twice since its inception, and each version has increased its regulatory compliance measures.
To assist in achieving compliance with the MRP, the City of Pleasant Hill is a participant in the Contra Costa Clean Water Program (CCCWP), which enables Contra Costa cities, towns, and unincorporated areas—collectively referred to as “permittees”—to implement local and countywide stormwater programs in a coordinated manner. The current version of the MRP (MRP 3.0), adopted on May 11, 2022, is expected to expire on June 30, 2027. With the anticipated issuance of the fourth iteration of the MRP (MRP 4.0), permittees will face increased challenges in meeting certain permit requirements, such as lack of funding and dearth of usable space to install green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) in the public right of way.
To help permittees address these challenges, the CCCWP is proposing a Regional Alternative Compliance (RAC) Joint Powers Authority (JPA) that would provide additional opportunities for participating jurisdictions to meet future MRP 4.0 requirements.
The City Council is requested to provide preliminary feedback on participation in the RAC JPA as a potential strategy for addressing ongoing MRP compliance obligations.
DISCUSSION
Background
The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit is a federal permit under the Clean Water Act that regulates the quality of stormwater runoff to prevent pollution to receiving water bodies. This requires public agencies to obtain a permit before discharging untreated stormwater into receiving waterways.
As a subset of the NPDES Permit, the MRP established enhanced stormwater management requirements. This includes expanded public outreach, watershed monitoring, illicit discharge control, and the installation and maintenance of trash capture devices.
The current MRP 3.0 requirements included, among others:
• Trash reduction goal of 100%
• Compliance with Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) numeric standards • Reduction of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) levels
• Implementation of enhanced construction site stormwater inspections with PCB inspections during demolition
• Installation of low-impact stormwater design (LID) measures in new private development projects, such as bioretention basins and flow-through planters To help fund the work required under the MRP, the CCCWP sought legislative approval to collect a Stormwater Utility Assessment (SUA) on property tax bills. State Legislature authorized this assessment in 1993 by amending the Contra Costa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District Act. All permittees participate in the SUA except the cities of Richmond and Brentwood. Over time, participating municipalities have increased the assessment to the maximum amount allowed by law. While SUA revenues are an important funding source, they alone are not sufficient to fully fund compliance with MRP requirements.
In 2012, recognizing that expanding permit requirements would exceed available local funding, the CCCWP proposed a Stormwater Funding Initiative pursuant to Proposition 218. The proposed parcel tax was rejected by voters. As a result, municipalities have continued to face a significant funding shortfall in meeting MRP requirements.
City staff continues to work diligently towards achieving full compliance with the MRP with the current funding; however, the Water Board is expected to release a draft of the MRP4.0 for public review in 2027, which is expected to include more stringent standards, including an expanded GSI retrofit area that will increase the cost of compliance significantly.
GSI improvements are designed to disperse stormwater into vegetated areas, harvest and reuse runoff, promote infiltration, and treat stormwater before it is discharged into the bay. Retrofitting an existing public storm drain system requires redirecting stormwater runoff from existing hardscapes — such as streets, rooftops, and sidewalks (known as “impervious area”) — out of existing catch basins and into landscaped areas. In these areas, the water is treated using bioretention planters before being conveyed back into the storm drain network. The required size of each bioretention planter depends on how much impervious area drains into it. Because these systems must be added to areas that are already developed, there is limited flexibility in how much runoff each planter can accommodate. For example, using the “four-percent” method, a drainage area of 1,000 square feet requires a bioretention area of at least 40 square feet to properly capture and treat runoff during a major storm event. This requirement further limits the already scarce public landscaping available.
Currently, under provision C3.j of MRP3.0, the City is required to retrofit existing public storm drain systems to treat 2.09 acres of impervious surface. As part of the Contra Costa Boulevard Complete Streets Project, the City has completed GSI retrofit within the intersection landscape strips, which treats 0.7 acres of impervious surface. Additional projects include a GSI retrofits along the existing Buskirk Avenue median strip and improvements to the existing landscape strips along Geary Road. Staff has determined that completion of the work along Buskirk Avenue median will be sufficient to meet the acreage required for MRP 3.0. The Water Board, due to concerns of “double counting,” will not allow any excess acreage (greater than 2.09 acres treated) to be carried over to the next permit, so staff recommends deferring the GSI retrofit of the roadside ditches on Geary Road until after MRP 4.0 is adopted, to ensure the City remains in compliance with the requirements of the permit and earns full credit for any GSI retrofits. The new GSI retrofit permit conditions will increase the City’s cost of compliance as, along with the cost of construction, the new GSI retrofit landscape areas will require annual maintenance to ensure ongoing functionality. Staff is concerned that NPDES funds alone will not be sufficient to meet current maintenance costs and future MRP permit requirements.
The RAC JPA is a potential strategy for addressing ongoing MRP compliance obligations for GSI retrofit by enabling member municipalities the ability to purchase or sell compliance credits.
For example, the excess area treated by the Geary Road retrofit project (approximately two acres) could allow Pleasant Hill to convert the excess acreage into revenue. This additional revenue could potentially fund larger projects, such as the unfunded Linda Ditch retrofit, which could generate more than 10 acres of treated area. Participating municipalities purchasing compliance credits from the City would also pay an annual maintenance fee to the City to help offset maintenance costs for the area.
Analysis
As a mostly built-out city, Pleasant Hill has limited space in the public right-of-way to build new projects, which makes meeting current and future MRP requirements challenging. Future permit updates are expected to exceed current requirements. While staff is actively pursuing ordinance updates, grant funding, and future projects to maintain long-term compliance, participation in the RAC JPA would further support these efforts and provide an additional, cost-effective path to maintaining permit compliance.
Joining the RAC JPA would provide the City with an opportunity to generate revenue by building green stormwater projects that exceed required standards. If the City becomes a member, it could sell “compliance credits” to developers or other cities that need help meeting their stormwater requirements. In this arrangement, the City would design and build approved green infrastructure projects that exceed their MRP requirement threshold, and other members of the RAC JPA could purchase credits from those projects to meet their own MRP obligations. In this scenario, Buyers would pay the municipality an upfront cost for the credits, along with an annual fee to help municipalities fund the ongoing upkeep of the projects.
The RAC JPA would establish a Community Facilities District (CFD), which is simply a way to collect annual fees to pay for long-term maintenance. Through the CFD, if another member of the JPA buys compliance credits from the City, that member would also pay a recurring fee to help Pleasant Hill cover the cost of maintaining the green infrastructure projects that generate those credits. This allows maintenance responsibilities to be shared and helps recover some of the costs of building and caring for public facilities. As a member of the RAC JPA and the CFD, the City would be able to sell compliance credits to other public agencies or private developers within Pleasant Hill, with pricing based on the long-term cost to maintain, repair, and replace each stormwater facility over its lifetime. The rationale behind the pricing of compliance purchases and maintenance cost bases is further explained in the Regional Alternative Compliance System Summary Report (see Attachment B).
The JPA will be established as a legally separate entity with liabilities independent of the participating permittees. A term sheet has been prepared by legal counsel (see Attachment A) that outlines the JPA’s powers, procedures for admitting new members, and the required legislative body approval process. To avoid pension-related liabilities, the JPA will appoint a contract manager who is not affiliated with any permittee, rather than hiring employees of a local government. Financial obligations will be limited to the JPA, and administrative costs will be shared equally among its members.
Joining the JPA at the outset is more cost-effective, as initial setup and outreach costs can be shared among the founding participants. As additional agencies join over time, these costs are expected to increase. If the City elects to include private developers within the CFD, ongoing administrative costs would also increase proportionally.
FISCAL IMPACT
The one-time buy-in costs for the initial JPA members will range from $2,900 to $4,000, depending on the number of members involved. Annual operating costs for the JPA range from $1,300 to $2,200, also based on the number of participating members. These costs would be funded by NPDES funds.
If the City does not join the RAC JPA, it faces the uncertainty regarding the funding and resources needed to the meet future MRP requirements. Failure to comply with these requirements could result in enforcement action by the Water Board, including a cease-anddesist order and fines of up to $10,000 per day.
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
No formal action is required. Staff recommends that the City Council review the presentation and the Preliminary draft agreement and advise Staff whether or not to move forward with participating in the RAC JPA.
ATTACHMENT(S)
Attachment A – RAC JPA Terms Sheet Entitled Joint Powers Agreement Between Participating Cities, Contra Costa County, and the Contra Costa Flood Control and Water Conservation District for Implementation of the Contra Costa County Regional Alternative Compliance System
Attachment B – Regional Alternative Compliance System Summary Report, Prepared by Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. and Keiser & Associates, LLC Prepared by: Laetitia Galeazzi, Senior Civil Engineer
Reviewed by: Ann James, Public Works Director
Approved by: Ethan Bindernagel, City Manager