PREPARED BY: AMANDA BOOTH DATE OF MEETING: 06/29/20
SUBJECT:
TITLE
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN PABLO AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO TRANSFER $10,000 FROM THE FY 2019/20 ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES BUDGET (255-3510-43600) TO THE REGIONAL ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCE FOR A SUSTAINABLE BAY PROJECT (320-0904-43600) AS PART OF THE EPA MATCH REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WATER QUALITY ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCE PROGRAM
Label
CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Adopt Resolution
Body
Compliance statements
Enhance Community Resilience - 202. Develop Long-Term Environmental Stewardship Goals is an adopted policy item contained in the FY 2019-21 Adopted City Council Priority Workplan, as amended May 18, 2020.
CEQA Compliance Statement
This project is statutorily exempt from CEQA under California Code of Regulation 15262. Feasibility and Planning Studies; a project involving only feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions which the agency, board, or commission has not approved, adopted, or funded of an EIR or negative declaration but does require consideration of environmental factors. This section does not apply to the adoption of a plan that will have a legally binding effect on later activities. The project is a feasibility study to understand the mechanisms and documents that would needed for a market-based water quality alternative compliance system. The project includes CEQA review to understand if additional CEQA compliance is necessary.
BACKGROUND
On November 19, 2015, the State Water Board adopted the reissuance of the Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit No CAS612008 (MRP 2.0). As part of this permit, the City of San Pablo is required to increase programs that improve water quality and one of these programs is the implementation of green infrastructure. Green infrastructure, in this context, is a new way of designing and building roads, parking lots and landscaping to provide water quality benefits.
Green infrastructure can be very expensive to build, particularly in areas having limited water quality benefit. Therefore, in an effort to ensure that stormwater programs reduce costs but also meet the goals of the NPDES permits, City staff applied for a grant to develop a water quality alternative compliance system. In its most simple form, alternative compliance would allow one green infrastructure project to control for a pollutant at a low cost, selling any additional pollutant controls as "credits" to another source that is not able to reduce pollutants as cost-effectively. The City of San Pablo is working with other cities, developers and organizations across the Bay Area to develop a program that would provide the most water quality benefits in the most cost-effective way.
On May 6, 2019, San Pablo City Council approved Resolution 2019-062 to accept and appropriate $680,000 from a USEPA San Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund (SFBWQIF) grant to develop an alternative compliance system for the funding and implementation of green infrastructure in San Pablo and across the Bay Area. The EPA San Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund requires a 1:1 non-federal match. Staff is requesting authorization to transfer $10,000 from Environmental Services Professional Services budget (255-3510-43600) to the EPA Regional Alternative Compliance Project Fund (320-0904-43600, Task Code: EPA-120) as part of the match requirement.
FISCAL IMPACT
The EPA San Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund requires a 1:1 non-federal match. Since the project was awarded $680,000 from EPA then the City is required to provide $680,000 in match (cash or in-kind). The updated project budget outlines the following sources as match:
• $107,000 in match from staff time (from the City of San Pablo staff and other city staff from around the Bay Area).
• $40,000 from grant partner San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) for the development of a tracking system.
• $85,000 cash match from City of San Pablo and potentially other participating jurisdictions (i.e. Walnut Creek, Richmond and Contra Costa County).
• The remaining $448,000 is expected to come from a Proposition 1 and or Proposition 68 grant that Public Works Staff will be applying for in 2020.
|
Match Source |
Match Amount |
|
Staff Time (San Pablo) |
$30,000 |
|
Staff Time (Other) |
$77,000 |
|
SFEI match |
$40,000 |
|
Expected grant match (Grants) |
$448,000 |
|
Expected cash grant match (Other) |
$85,000 |
|
Total Match |
$680,000 |
The transfer of $10,000 from account 255-3510-43600 is requested as part of the $85,000 cash grant match.
|
ACTION |
FROM: Fund/Account Code |
Amount |
TO: Fund/Account Code |
AMOUNT |
|
Transfer |
Environmental Services Professional Services 255-3510-43600 |
$10,000 |
USEPA San Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund: 320-0904-43600-EPA-120 |
$10,000 |