City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: February 27, 2024
Agenda Item: 5.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Rick Valte, Public Works Director, Public Works, Engineering and Street Services
Subject: Authorization to Enter into Cost-Sharing Agreement with the City of Los Angeles for the Santa Monica Bay Shoreline Coordinated Monitoring Plan Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
2. Approve the use of available funding from the Clean Beaches and Ocean Parcel Tax Fund for a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the City of Los Angeles to implement a cost-share shoreline water quality monitoring plan for the Santa Monica Bay Shoreline Monitoring in an amount not to exceed $484,555 (including a 15% contingency) over a five-year period through FY 2027-28.
3. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the City of Los Angeles to implement a cost-share shoreline water quality monitoring plan to comply with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board's (Board) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements for Santa Monica Bay.
Summary
The City of Santa Monica 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 (Bay). The NPDES requirements include Shoreline Coordinated Monitoring Plans (SCMPs) 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 is required to participate and share in the costs of implementing SCMPs for the Bay. The most cost-effective way to conduct this effort is to share the 2 of 4
costs associated with implementing the SCMPs with partner agencies that drain into the Bay. The City of Los Angeles is the lead agency for this work and leads the development and implementation of the SCMPs. The City’s costs over the five-year (FY 2023-28) period for the Santa Monica Bay Shoreline Monitoring Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) would not exceed $484,555 (including a 15% contingency).
Discussion
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 has been included on California’s Section 3053(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 has approved prior Santa Monica Bay Shoreline Monitoring Memorandum of Agreements for bacterial monitoring cost-sharing in 2010, 2015, and most recently in 2017 (Attachment A). 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 Santa Monica Bay, share in the cost of the Shoreline Coordinated Monitoring Plan implementation.
On August 9, 2021, the Board approved new NDPES permit monitoring and reporting requirements. These requirements and the expiration of the current MOAs require the City to enter into new MOAs with the City of Los Angeles. The current MOA expired on June 30, 2022 (Attachment B), but was extended on a month-to-month basis for one year and expired on June 30, 2023. The new five-year MOA would replace the previous 3 of 4
MOA. Under the terms of the new MOA, the City of Los Angeles would continue to be responsible for all monitoring and reporting activities to the Water Board. All costs would be paid by the Clean Beaches/Ocean Parcel Tax Fund.
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
07/11/17
(Attachment A)
Cost-sharing MOA Staff Report with the City of Los Angeles for the CSMP for Santa Monica Bay
Environmental Review
The MOA is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the CEQA Guidelines. The MOA is covered by the commonsense exemption which states that CEQA does not apply, “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The agreement would allow the City to share costs with the City of Los Angeles for water quality monitoring services. Therefore, it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve available funding from the Clean Beaches and Ocean Parcel Tax Fund to award an agreement (MOA) with the City of Los Angeles to implement a cost-share shoreline water quality monitoring plan for the Santa Monica Bay Shoreline Monitoring in an amount not to exceed $484,555 (including a 15% contingency) over a five-year period through FY 2027-28. Funds are available within existing budgets in the Measure V Clean Beach and Ocean Parcel Tax Fund. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Memorandum of Agreement Request
FY 2023-24
Request Amount
Future Year’s
Amounts Account # Total Contract Amount
$79,364 $405,191 16500003.550090 - $484,555
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Prepared By: Joshua Carvalho, Civil Engineer
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. July 11, 2017 Staff Report
B. 2017-2022 MOA Agreement with City of LA