City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: April 25, 2023
Agenda Item: 5.E
1 of 5
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Rick Valte, Public Works Director, Public Works, Engineering and Street Services
Subject: Authorization to enter into Cost-Sharing Agreements with the City of Los Angeles for Santa Monica Bay and Ballona Creek
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of Categorical Exemption pursuant to Section 15307 and Section 15308 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute two Memoranda of Agreements (MOA) with the City of Los Angeles to implement cost-sharing Coordinated Integrated Monitoring Plans (CIMPs) to comply with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board's National Pollution Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES) permit requirements. One MOA is for the Santa Monica Bay and the second MOA is for Ballona Creek.
Summary
The City is obligated to comply with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System’s (NPDES) permit requirements to reduce pollution from runoff into the Santa Monica Bay and Ballona Creek. NPDES requirements include Coordinated Integrated Monitoring Plans (CIMPs) to collect water quality data and demonstrate compliance with water quality objectives specified in the permit. The City drains into the Santa Monica Bay and Ballona Creek watersheds and is required to participate in a CIMP for each watershed. The most cost-effective way to do this is to share the costs associated with implementing the CIMPs with partner agencies that drain into the same watersheds.
The City of Los Angeles is the lead agency for the Santa Monica Bay Jurisdictional Groups 2 & 3 (SMB) and Ballona Creek (BC) watersheds and leads the development and implementation of the CIMPs. The City’s costs for the three-year monitoring period 2 of 5
(Fiscal Year 2023-24 through Fiscal Year 2025-26) of the Santa Monica Bay and Ballona Creek Memoranda of Agreements (MOAs) would not exceed $489,427 and $10,505, respectively.
Background
The Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requires the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region (Board), to develop water quality standards that protect beneficial uses for each water body found within its region. Beneficial uses include swimming, fishing, drinking water, navigability, and wildlife habitats and reproduction. Section 303(d) of the CWA requires states to prepare a list of water bodies that do not meet water quality standards and establish Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for each of these water bodies. A TMDL represents a maximum amount of human-made and/or naturally occurring pollution that may be present in a receiving water body without causing a decline in water quality and beneficial uses. The Santa Monica Bay and Ballona Creek watersheds have been included on California’s Section 303(d) list since 1998 due to impairments by bacteria, trash, organic chemicals, and metals. The Board has adopted multiple TMDLs for these pollutants since 2003 to address these impairments.
The City Council approved an initial agreement, Santa Monica Bay MOA, for costsharing bacterial monitoring on July 8, 2003. The City Council approved a second agreement, the Ballona Creek MOA, for cost-sharing monitoring for bacteria, metals, and toxics on July 14, 2009. The City of Los Angeles is the lead agency, responsible for performing all required monitoring and reporting to the Board, and the City of Santa Monica, along with other agencies in the watersheds, share in the cost of the CIMPs’ implementation. The City Council approved a subsequent three-year renewal of both MOAs on February 23, 2016, for a period through 2018. The most recent MOAs were executed on May 8, 2018, and cover a period from 2018 through 2023.
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
3 of 5
05/08/2018
(Attachment B)
Authorization to execute MOAs for FY 18/19 - FY 22/23
Discussion
On August 9, 2021, the Board approved a new NDPES permit with expanded monitoring and reporting requirements. The expanded requirements and the expiration of the current MOAs in 2023 require the City to enter into new MOAs with the City of Los Angeles. Under the terms of the new MOAs, the City of Los Angeles would continue to be responsible for all water quality monitoring and reporting activities to the Board.
The City of Los Angeles would provide the monitoring services, permit compliance, reporting, and contract administration as listed in more detail in Attachment A.
The three-year CIMP budgets for the MOAs are listed below by fiscal year for each watershed (Table 1). All costs would be paid by the Clean Beaches/Ocean Parcel Tax Fund.
Table 1. Annual CIMP MOA Cost by Watershed for the City of Santa Monica Fiscal Year Santa Monica Bay Cost Ballona Creek Cost
23-24 $159,575 $3,334
24-25 $133,293 $3,107
25-26 $196,559 $4,064
Totals $489,427 $10,505
The budgetary difference between the two watersheds is due to a larger ratio of the City contributing to the overall drainage area in the Santa Monica Bay watershed as compared to the Ballona Creek watershed. The breakdowns of the other agencies in the watersheds and their respective tributary areas are shown in Tables 2 and 3.
Table 2. Santa Monica Bay Watershed Agencies’ Tributary Areas Agency Acres % of Area
City of Los Angeles 18,934.64 75.02%
County of Los Angeles 130.40 0.52%
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City of Santa Monica 4,987.47 19.76%
City of El Segundo 1,185.64 4.70%
Total 25,238.14 100%
Table 3. Ballona Creek Watershed Agencies’ Tributary Areas Agency Acres % of Area
City of Los Angeles 65,247.40 83.08%
County of Los Angeles 3,114.09 3.97%
City of Beverly Hills 3,658.20 4.66%
Culver City 3,176.44 4.04%
City of Inglewood 1,904.09 2.42%
City of Santa Monica 218.57 0.28%
City of West Hollywood 1,212.79 1.54%
Total 78,531.58 100%
Environmental Review
The tasks performed under these MOAs are categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15307 (Class 7) and 15308 (Class 8). Sections 15307 and 15308 exempts a class of projects consisting of actions taken by regulatory agencies as authorized by state law or local ordinance to assure the maintenance, restoration, or enhancement of a natural resource and the environment where the regulatory process involves procedures for protection of the environment.
The MOAs would enable cost sharing for monitoring and reporting activities to enhance environmental resources and prevent harm to the natural environment. Therefore, the project qualifies for the Class 7 and Class 8 exemption.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks the authority to execute two agreements (Memoranda of Agreements) with the City of Los Angeles for the Santa Monica Bay and Ballona Creek watersheds in the amounts not to exceed $489,427 and $10,505, respectively. The MOAs would result in a total cost of $499,932 over a three-year period through FY 2025-26. Funds will be 5 of 5
included in the Proposed FY 2023-25 Biennial Budget in the Clean Beaches/Ocean Parcel Tax Fund. Future funding is contingent upon Council approval.
MOA Request – Santa Monica Bay
FY 2023-24
Request Amount
Future Years Budget Operational
Account #
Total Contract
Amount
$159,575 $329,852 16500003.550090 $489,427
MOA Request – Ballona Creek
FY 2023-24
Request Amount
Future Years Budget Operational
Account #
Total Contract
Amount
$3,334 $7,171 16500003.550090 $10,505
Prepared By: Curtis Castle, Principal Civil Engineer
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. City of Los Angeles Scope of Work
B. May 8 2018 Staff Report