City
Approves Projects to Clean Up
Bay |
By Anita Varghese
Staff Writer
October 1 -- Reusing flushed
toilet water, adding green spaces
to beach parking lots and repairing
aging storm drains under the pier
were among the list of water management
projects given conceptual approval
by the City Council last week.
Comprising the first phase of the
City’s Watershed Management
Plan, the Measure V funded projects
designed to clean up Santa Monica
Bay were selected based on their potential
water quality benefits and readiness
to be implemented in a reasonable
time period.
The $40 million property tax also
known as the Clean Beaches and Ocean
Parcel Tax, was approved by more than
two-thirds of Santa Monica voters
in November 2006, but for weeks the
election results were too close to
call.
“What is important here is
that we are not asking for funds to
be appropriated for these projects,”
said Craig Perkins, director of Environmental
and Public Works Management. “This
is a conceptual plan which totals
approximately $25 million.”
The council spent most of the discussion
Tuesday night debating the types of
experts who would sit on the Citizens’
Oversight Committee and how they would
be appointed.
“One of the things about this
committee that differs from the others
is that it will be in charge of a
tremendous amount of money,”
said Council member Bobby Shriver.
Council broadened the guidelines
recommended by staff, which called
for a five-member panel comprised
of one member each of the Planning
Commission, Metropolitan Water District
Board, Sustainable City Task Force,
Recreation and Parks Commission and
the Task Force on the Environment.
The council -- which will make the
final appointments -- opted to take
recommendations from these boards
and commissions, but did not restrict
the applicants to members of those
bodies.
“This measure is a very important
regional undertaking,” Shriver
said. “This is an exciting opportunity,
and if we open it up to a wide rage
of people, we will get more interesting
members.”
Following the council’s conceptual
approval, City staff will prepare
a financial analysis and make recommendations
as part of a mid-year budget review
process.
The goals of the Watershed Management
Plan are “to reduce urban runoff
pollution and urban flooding and increase
water reuse, conservation, recreational
opportunities, open space, wildlife
habitat and marine habitat,”
according to City staff.
Revenues generated by Measure V can
be used to pay necessary capital,
operations and maintenance costs related
to storm drainage systems, multipurpose
capital projects that improve stormwater
quality and to pay for debts incurred
for these purposes.
The following projects have been
proposed as priority stormwater projects:
-
The 16th Street and Airport Watersheds
Retention System involves building
a subsurface stormwater treatment,
storage and reuse project at Marine
Park and Penmar Golf Course.
At a cost of about $7.5 million,
the joint project between the
City of Santa Monica and the City
of Los Angeles would capture runoff
from approximately 600 acres within
the City of Santa Monica and a
similar acreage from within the
City of Los Angeles.
Construction of curb extensions,
infiltration chambers, porous
concrete strips and other urban
runoff best management practices
within the Santa Monica Airport
watershed would be coordinated
with the construction of the 16th
Street and Airport Watersheds
Retention System.
-
Pico-Kenter Storm Drain upgrades
may improve the reliability of
diversions to the Santa Monica
Urban Runoff Recycling Facility
(SMURRF), ensuring that 100 percent
of dry weather runoff is diverted
either to SMURRF or to the sewer
system to prevent urban runoff
from entering the ocean.
-
Upgrades to the Pier Storm Drain
System and an accompanying pollution
prevention reduction plan would
increase the size of the existing
Pier Storm drain diversion to
the sewer for flows that exceed
the capacity of SMURRF and replace
the deficient storm drain under
the Pier to reduce runoff flows
onto the beach.
This project also includes implementing
structural measures to reduce
ocean pollution that causes harm
to birds and prevents enjoyable
recreational activities on or
near the Pier.
-
Plans are also in the works
to increase the reliability and
effectiveness of SMURRF by constructing
a supplemental finished water
reservoir to store recycled water
from landscape irrigation or toilet
flushing by SMURRF customers.
The project would increase the
total volume of recycled water
use and provide needed redundancy
for periods when SMURRF is shut
down for repairs or maintenance.
-
The Bicknell Green Street Project
involves the construction of curb
drains, parkway swales, retention
areas and permeable retrofit features
for one block of Bicknell Street
as a demonstration project.
-
As part of a larger urban design
improvement project for Ocean
Park Boulevard between Lincoln
Boulevard and Neilson Way, the
Ocean Park Boulevard Green Street
Project creates new open space
areas within the existing Ocean
Park Boulevard right of way.
The project includes installing
subsurface runoff retention structures
and devices, constructing permeable
paved areas to replace impervious
concrete or asphalt and diverting
runoff into newly created landscaped
areas.
- Beach Lot Greening Projects implement
additional beach parking lot greening
projects to create permeable recreation
space that will still be usable
for beach parking during the heaviest
beach parking demand days.
Whether staff pursues additional
project opportunities will depend
on successfully implementing a project
currently underway to remove asphalt
paving from the South Beach Parking
Lot.
Multi-Benefit Urban Runoff Pollution
Control Projects involve best management
practices at City parks, school sites
and open spaces within Santa Monica
to harvest, reuse and infiltrate stormwater
runoff and construct areas of porous
concrete, asphalt and other materials
in alleys, gutters and streets to
infiltrate dry and wet weather runoff,
according to staff.
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