Agenda

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*TIME CHANGE* TRANSPORTATION, WATER&INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	07/09/2018
Subject: ACCEPT report from the Public Works Department providing an update on the status of the Contra Costa County Green Infrastructure Plan Update.
Submitted For:	Brian M. Balbas, Public Works Director/Chief Engineer
Department:	Public Works
Referral No.:	5
Referral Name:	Review projects, plans, and legislative matters that may affect the health of the San Francisco Bay, including flood control, water governance, water storage, water quality, supply and reliability.
Presenter:	John Steere, Public Works Department	Contact:	John Steere (925)313-2281

Information

Referral History:

The Countywide Green Infrastructure Work Plan was brought before the TWIC for its review in October 2016. The Work Plan was approved by the BOS on June 13, 2017.

Referral Update:

The Countywide Green Infrastructure Plan (GI Plan) is a section of the Municipal Regional Permit (MRP) that requires the County to develop and implement a long-term plan to incorporate low impact development (LID) measures to treat stormwater on both public and private lands. It targets streets and roads, parking lots, roofs, and other hardscape elements. The focus of the County’s GI Plan is the integration of stormwater treatment into County-owned buildings, parking lots, and road rights-of-way. Its purpose is to provide a blueprint for how the County intends to gradually transform its urban landscape and storm drainage systems to treat polluted stormwater by allowing it to flow through stormwater treatment facilities (i.e., bioswales and bioretention basins) that remove many of the urban pollutants, before they enter the storm drain system.

The GI Plan will primarily be based on the Contra Costa County Stormwater Resources Plan (SWRP), whose public draft shall be issued later this summer. The relationship of these two documents is illustrated in Attachment 1. The SWRP is developing a comprehensive set of watershed and water quality goals/objectives, a preliminary evaluation framework for the GI Plan and GI project priorities, and a preliminary list of potential stormwater management projects. The SWRP is intended to facilitate development and implementation of stormwater management projects for the County that will provide multiple benefits to improve water quality, reduce localized flooding, increase water supplies for beneficial uses, and enhance the environment and the community. The projects identified in the SWRP will be further refined and prioritized through the GI Plan for projects that best fulfill one or more of four categories:

1. Treatment of both public and private land in unincorporated County contaminated with PCBs, Mercury, and other identified pollutants that are regulated by a Federal Total Maximum Daily Loads program (TMDLs);

2. County-owned properties in both unincorporated County and cities that had industrial land uses prior to 1980 (referred to as “Old Industrial” in the MRP);

3. County-owned properties in both unincorporated County and cities that had urban land uses prior to 1980 (Old Urban); and

4. County roads in the unincorporated area that have adjacent urban land uses developed prior to 1980, which are referred to as “Old Urban” in the MRP.

In addition, projects will be vetted for other “multiple benefits.” These include: restoration of wetlands and wildlife habitat; reduction of flooding risk; and connections to trails, safe-routes-to-schools, and recreational features. Green infrastructure for new and redevelopment of private lands is being addressed through a different process than the GI Plan. The tasks and timelines for GI planning are shown in Attachment 2.

The County Watershed Program has an on-call contract with Geosyntec, who is currently working with the Contra Costa Clean Water Program to develop the SWRP. Geosyntec’s preparation of the SWRP will allow for an efficient transition from the SWRP to the Countywide GI Plan and will streamline its planning process.

Community engagement and outreach toward the preparation of the GI Plan was initiated last year, as part of the development of the SWRP. It will continue later this summer and fall. Interdepartmental coordination for identifying and pursuing GI projects in the County is already underway. The Draft GI Plan will be prepared in late winter 2019. The final Contra Costa County GI Plan will be submitted to the Regional Water Quality Control Board as part of its MRP annual report in September 2019.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

ACCEPT report from the Public Works Department providing an update on the status of the Contra Costa County Green Infrastructure Plan Update.

Fiscal Impact (if any):

The preparation of the GI Plan is estimated to cost $150,000, and will be funded through the County’s Stormwater Utility Fees.

Attachments
Attachment 1
Attachment 2