O-2010-3216 amending Chapter 34-Environment

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REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM Agenda Date Requested: January 25.2009 Bud!!:et Requested By: Tim Til'f:jl'm Source of Funds: N/A Department: PlauuiuK Account Number: Report: X Resolution: Ordinance: Amount Budgeted: Exhibits: Ordinance Amount Requested: Exhibits: Budgeted Item: YES NO Exhibits SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATION Staff presented a draft of this ordinance to Council on December 14,2009. For reference, in 1987, the Clean Water Act was amended to include the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program, promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EP A), which requires further protection of U.S. waters by treating point and non-point source pollution in storm water discharges to the maximum extent practicable. Addressed in two phases, phase 1 began in 1990 and applied to larger municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4) and 11 industrial categories including construction sites disturbing five or more acres. Phase 2 began in 2003 and applied to smaller MS4 (including La Porte in the 30,000 to 100,000 population category) and to construction sites of one or more acres. The TCEQ, through the State of Texas, has the responsibility of implementing the NPDES program to cities in both phases, and in 2007, required the City of La Porte to generate a Storm Water Management Plan (SWMP) to implement the program at the local level. Under the prepared plan, we are responsible for using each of the following six minimum control measures (MCMs), identified as standardized Best Management Practices (BMPs). 1) Public Education and Outreach 2) Public Involvement in Storm Water Management Program Development 3) Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination 4) Construction Site Storm Water Controls 5) Post Construction Storm Water Management for New DevelopmentJRedevelopment 6) Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping for Municipal Operations We have entered into our third year of the five-year plan which requires that the city assume full control of the program by August 2010 and pass a local ordinance which sets out construction process standards, assigns additional departmental responsibilities, defines enforcement provisions and sets out BMPs. In the first two years of the plan, the City continued to perform the MCM's 1-4 that were done in the past, through previously established processes and requirements. The responsibility for all MCMs will now lie fully with the City as mandated by the state. From the developer's perspective, the same things that the TCEQ has been requiring through their program will continue to occur, but now they will be required by our program instead, as mandated by the TCEQ. We will be responsible for generating annual reports to the TCEQ for monitoring purposes, but all day to day coordination will be conducted by the city. The proposed ordinance addresses those requirements.