RECOMMENDATION(S): (CONT'D)
2. DELEGATE authority to administratively approve all other amendments to the County’s NDFE, including changes specific to projects that do not require Planning Agency approvals, to the Director of Conservation and Development or his designee as provided for in County Code Section 24-30.004(b).
FISCAL IMPACT:
No impact to the County General Fund. DCD staff time associated with processing project-specific NDFE Amendments would be paid for in a manner consistent with project staff time spent on processing other land use/planning entitlements for development projects. Project specific staff costs are charged against the applicable applications and amounts are billed to the project applicant on a time and materials basis.
BACKGROUND:
As required by the California Integrated Waste Management Act (also known as AB 939), the County prepared and approved a number of legally required integrated waste management planning documents. These planning documents were intended to identify and help guide local actions necessary to facilitate diversion of at least 50% of waste from landfills by 2000. The County's planning documents, including the Non-Disposal Facility Element (NDFE), were the first to be approved by the State in May 1993.
The NDFE lists certain types of existing or potential solid waste facilities. In order for Contra Costa Environmental Health to issue new or revised solid waste facility permits for certain types of projects, the project must be included in the NDFE. Staff is recommending that through this Board Order the process for amending the NDFE be simplified and better coordinated with the land use entitlement process. Amendments to the NDFE are recommended to be delegated in a manner consistent with land use decisions. A number of changes in California's laws and regulations since 1993 have impacted requirements related to NDFEs and other planning documents. These changes have simplified the process for amendments, while increasing the likeliness that an NDFE will need to be amended.
1. NDFE Amendments are more likely to be required to facilitate solid waste facility permitting. State laws and regulations pertaining to the types of waste processing facilities subject to California's tiered solid waste facility permitting requirements have continued evolving since the County's NDFE and other countywide integrated waste management planning documents were approved by the State in 1993. The following key factors dictate whether a waste handling facility is supposed to obtain a solid waste facility permit:
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the waste/material to be handled (type(s) and quantities per day), and
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the type of handling (disposal, sort for processing/transfer, chipping/grinding, etc.)
In addition to the increased number of permitting tiers, the number and type of facilities that are subject to the solid waste facility permitting requirements has also increased. Facility permitting tiers for smaller scale operations involving the handling of less quantity and/or types of waste material are relatively minimal, and would not trigger the potential need for amending the County's NDFE. The more extensive and/or large scale waste handling operations are subject to more comprehensive permitting and application requirements tied to the top three most stringent tiers, all of which involve the need to make a Conformance Finding prior to recommending permit issuance. The Conformance Finding is intended to confirm that the proposed project is consistent with the County's applicable integrated waste management planning documents, namely the NDFE or Siting Element.
2. NDFE Amendment process is intended to be more efficient and less burdensome. Fortunately, the process that State regulations mandate local agencies to follow in order to amend NDFEs has been simplified. Presumably, this regulatory change was instituted in the interest of reducing the burden imposed on local agencies and processing facility applicants as a result of the increasing amount of proposed projects becoming subject to the mandatory Conformance Finding application and permitting requirement. NDFE Amendments are no longer subject to a mandatory noticing requirement or associated local agency review and comment process. The streamlined NDFE amendment process provides for more timely permitting and development of processing facilities that will divert waste that would otherwise end up being disposed in landfills.
Contra Costa Environmental Health, as the designated Local Enforcement Agency (LEA), is responsible for issuing, monitoring and enforcing solid waste facility permits and associated permitting requirements throughout the unincorporated area as well as all but one of the cities in the County. However, new and revised permits can only be issued if and when permit concurrence has been received from the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). Generally, applicants proposing to operate waste processing facilities that will be subject to the more stringent solid waste facility permitting tier are strongly encouraged, if not required, to obtain any land use entitlements that may be required prior to submitting their application for a solid waste facility permit. When processing applications for new, unincorporated area projects that fall under any of the top three solid waste facility permitting tiers, including large volume transfer stations or multi-material processing and recovery operations, the County's LEA consults with DCD staff regarding the Conformance Finding. To date, it has not been necessary to consider amending the County's NDFE since the Conformance Finding requirement has only been triggered for unincorporated area projects that were already identified in the applicable local planning document.
Relatively recently, the County LEA advised that there is a wood processing facility (Pacific Wood Recycling) that will be subject to the more stringent solid waste facility permitting process involving the mandatory Conformance Finding requirement. Unfortunately, the facility is not identified in the County's planning documents which means that the County's NDFE must be amended in order for the County to make the necessary Conformance Finding. An application for a land use permit for that same wood processing facility is currently being processed by DCD; the requested land use permit will ultimately require approval by the Zoning Administrator. It is in the County's best interest to consider amending our applicable planning documents as needed in order to avoid precluding the issuance of solid waste facility permits for facilities proposing to divert/recover more materials from the County’s waste stream, thereby reducing local landfill disposal. DCD staff believes that amending the County's NDFE is the most efficient means of fulfilling the prerequisite Conformance Finding requirement for any projects not already identified in the County's integrated waste management planning documents. Since it is likely that other projects will trigger the need to consider amending the County's NDFE, DCD staff is recommending the Board delegate NDFE approval authority to establish an efficient method which staff can employ to facilitate timely and cost effective consideration of the first and any subsequent amendments. In anticipation of needing to seek approval of an NDFE amendment in the near future for the wood recycling project that will be heard by the Zoning Administrator, DCD staff proposes that the Board delegate approval authority now so that the process is in place in time for the land use permit hearing for the wood recycling project, as well as all projects that may warrant it in the future.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If the Board does not delegate approval authority for NDFE Amendments, projects determined to necessitate that the County's NDFE be amended will be subject to delays and costs associated with having to go through a separate process, including an additional public meeting, in order to seek the approval needed from the Board of Supervisors. This would complicate the approval process by bifurcating project approvals which is contrary to the State's intent and efforts to streamline approval process for facilities that will help recover materials and divert waste from being disposed of in landfills. If the approvals required for a project are not being considered for approval simultaneously before a single hearing body, there is an increased chance that project approvals/denials will be appealed if the outcome differs from the Board's decision on the associated project-specific NDFE Amendment.
CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT:
None.