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C. 10
To: Board of Supervisors
From: Brian M. Balbas, Public Works Director/Chief Engineer
Date: August  6, 2019
The Seal of Contra Costa County, CA
Contra
Costa
County
Subject: Contra Costa County Green Infrastructure Plan Approval, Countywide. Project No. 7517-6W7260

APPROVE OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On:   08/06/2019
APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:
John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor
Contact: John Steere, (925) 313-2281
cc: Allison Knapp, Deputy Public Works Director     Tim Jensen, Flood Control     Michelle Mancuso, County Watershed Program     John Steere, County Watershed Program     Catherine Windham, Flood Control    
I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED:     August  6, 2019
David Twa,
 
BY: , Deputy

 

RECOMMENDATION(S):

APPROVE the Contra Costa County Green Infrastructure (GI) Plan, which was reviewed, accepted, and referred to the Board of Supervisors by the Transportation, Water and Infrastructure Committee on July 18, 2019. It will be included in the County’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Municipal Regional Permit (MRP) annual report for Fiscal Year 2018–19.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The preparation of the County GI Plan cost approximately $375,000, which has been funded through the County’s Stormwater Utility Area 17 Fees.











BACKGROUND:

The County GI Plan is a requirement in the County's MRP that requires development and implementation of a long-term plan to incorporate low-impact development measures to treat stormwater on both public and private lands. It targets streets and roads, parking lots, and other hardscapes. 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 urban pollutants before they enter the storm drain system and flow into local creeks, the Bay, and Ocean.  
  
GI refers to constructing and retrofitting storm drainage systems to mimic natural processes by enabling stormwater to infiltrate the soil rather than to run directly into storm drains. This relatively new approach is being used to reduce runoff volumes, disperse runoff to vegetated areas, harvest and use runoff where feasible, promote infiltration and evapotranspiration, and use bioretention and other natural systems to detain and treat runoff. GI facilities include, but are not limited to, pervious pavement, infiltration basins, bioretention facilities, green roofs, and rainwater harvesting systems. GI can be incorporated into construction of new and redeveloped parcels, roads, and other infrastructure within the public right-of-way.  
  
The County GI Plan provides a long-term blueprint for implementing GI throughout the County over a 20-year period (2020 to 2040). This plan is largely based on the Contra Costa County Stormwater Resources Plan (SWRP), which was finalized in September 2018. The SWRP developed a comprehensive set of watershed and water quality goals and objectives, a preliminary evaluation framework for the County 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 have been refined and prioritized through the County GI Plan for projects that best fulfill one or more of these 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;  
  
2. Treatment of 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. Treatment of County-owned properties in unincorporated County and also in cities, along with County roads that had urban land uses prior to 1980 (Old Urban) in the MRP; and  
  
4. Multiple benefit GI, i.e., projects that help fulfill urban greening, water quality, water supply, flood control, and habitat restoration goals, connections to trails, safe-routes-to-schools, recreation, and traffic-calming through “green streets.”  
  
These categories served as the primary criteria to evaluate the approximately 200 potential GI project locations that were identified in the SWRP. These were evaluated and reduced over the course of the GI planning process to the 30 GI project locations/priorities that appear in the Final County GI Plan (as shown in Attachments 1 and 2). The GI Planning process began in the fall of 2018 and has concluded this summer (Attachment 3).  
  
The County Watershed Program convened a County GI Plan Technical Advisory Group (TAG), to review, comment, and edit both text and potential GI project locations provided in early drafts of the County GI Plan. The TAG met four times over the course of the planning process and was composed of 12 representatives from all Public Works Department’s divisions, as well as from those of the Department of Conservation and Development. The TAG helped to refine the potential GI project opportunities, from 100 to the 30 that will be shown in the Final County GI Plan.  
  
The Final County GI Plan will be submitted to the Contra Costa Clean Water Program (CCCWP) on August 30, 2019 as part of the County's MRP Annual Report. The CCCWP will then submit the County GI Plan along with the other city co-permittees' annual reports (including their GI Plans) to the Regional Water Quality Control Board as part of the CCCWP annual report by September 30, 2019.  
  
The Transportation, Water and Infrastructure Committee recommends that the Board approve the Final County Green Infrastructure Plan as submitted.  

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

If the County GI Plan is not approved, the County will be in violation of its MRP permit requirements.

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