Recommendation to request City Attorney to prepare a resolution in support of the Los Angeles Region Safe, Clean Water Program Special Parcel Tax, which will be considered countywide by voters on the November 6, 2018 ballot.  (Citywide)
And the next item is the the last item that we will try to time certain but it's the budget so it's been difficult is item 19. Report from city manager recommendation or request city attorney to prepare a resolution in support of the Los Angeles region's Safe, Clean Water Program. Special Partial Parcel Tax being considered for the November six, 2018 ballot citywide. Sure do have an announcement before we start this. Councilwoman. Councilmember pearce. I. Yes, I have to recuse myself of this for doing consulting work with them. Thank you. Thank you. And with that, I'll turn this over to Mr. West. Diana Tang has been leading this effort. Diana? Good evening. Is members of the City Council. I will be brief because I believe about two or three weeks ago you got an in-depth presentation on the Safe, Clean Water Program. But before we dove into this, I wanted to talk briefly about the actual costs of meeting stormwater compliance. The costs have been debated for about a decade, but since these standards have become a part of every city's obligations over the last ten years or so, the estimates have gotten better. In Long Beach, we estimate the cost for the city to meet stormwater compliance is between 600 to $900 million over the next 30 years. We have 11 specific team deals or total maximum daily loads that we have to comply with. And these team deals require that our city watches and limits pollutants such as E.coli and the L.A. River Copper Lead and zinc in the Los Angeles Channel and the San Gabriel River PCBs, DDT and other stormwater pollutants in the Colorado Lagoon , as well as trash in the San Gabriel River Listeriosis Channel and near-shore areas such as Alamitos Bay. So we as a city are responsible for meeting these stormwater standards and each of these water bodies, regardless of whether the pollution is generated in Long Beach or if it comes to us from upstream, that means that our city has been disproportionately bearing the burden of stormwater compliance. And this since this time deals have been established where we have before us with the Safe Clean Water Program is an opportunity for funding to be generated in every city within the Los Angeles County flood control district that can be used for stormwater compliance in each of those cities. And where possible, there may also be the opportunity to increase water supply by offsetting potable water use with recycled water. If every city upstream of Long Beach has more resources to address stormwater pollution before the water enters the storm drains, then that means that stormwater making its way down the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers will be cleaner when it enters the Pacific Ocean, the Colorado Lagoon, Mother's Beach and other waterbodies in Long Beach without going over the personal toxin depth. As I mentioned since just a few weeks ago, you got that end of presentation. I'll touch upon the highlights in this proposed parcel tax and take questions at the end of the presentation. So again, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved this ballot ballot measure for the November ballot by a vote of 4 to 1 on July 17th. It will require a two thirds vote to pass. And this is a special parcel tax that will be serviced by the Los Angeles Flood Control District. The tax rate is at 2.5 cents per square feet of impermeable surface. And so the average parcel tax for single family residents in L.A. County is about $83 per year, and total revenues that we're looking at are about 300 million per year. So again, the program proposes to improve water quality by increasing stormwater and urban runoff and reducing pollution. There's also the opportunity to increase water supply, provided that there is a nexus to stormwater and the overall funding allocation. So 40% goes directly back to cities based on the amount generated by each city. 50% goes into a regional program and winemakers into regional watershed groups, and so will have the opportunity to compete for funding in the lower Los Anderson River watershed and also the San Gabriel River watershed. And then 10% of total revenues generated go to a district program and then we'll go over each of these. Very briefly again, the municipal program for language. That's about $5 million a year that we can use for stormwater compliance information against stormwater. When you hear stormwater complaints, you can think water quality improvements for to really do go hand in hand. Again, funding must be used for water quality programs and projects. And then the proposed ordinance provides for local control, which is something that the city of one beach and a couple other cities, but very hard for with respect to the original program, is 50% of the funds. And these are competitive. But as I mentioned before, any funding that is invested in stormwater improvements, whether in Long Beach or upstream of one which eventually does benefit Long Beach, as all stormwater does flow towards the ocean and the program creates nine watersheds in the safe clean water program. Again. Let me just in two. And in the lower L.A. River watershed, there'll be about $14 million in competitive funds. And in the Lower San Gabriel represent, there's about 18 million and competitive funding. And again, this revenue is generated based on impermeable surface area. So depending on the size of your city or the size of your watershed, that has an impact on the type of money that you're looking at competing for it. And then with the district program, the district will be using, though, 10% to actually administer the program, provide stop support for regional programs, fund cross watershed scientific studies. So, for example, the Upper L.A. River Watershed and Lower L.A. River watershed scientific studies that benefit both could be funded through this 10% and not taken out of the 50% that we just spoke about. And then over a five year period, the county is committing to a $25 million minimum investment in stormwater education similar to the water conservation presentations that we may have seen in years past. Stormwater education is relatively new. And so we do believe that this is an important part of the program and something that the city is required to do as well. And so to the extent that we can leverage this, it helps us to say, to summarize through the municipal program, the city of one, which gets $5 million in direct funding, a year work eligible to compete for competitive funds. The regional program in two different watersheds, the average parcel taxes, 85 or $83 excuse me, per year. And the funding does support water quality improvements. So with that, I'm available to answer any questions. Thank you, Councilman Richardson. Thank you. First, I want to just say, Diana, thanks and congratulations on a really good job negotiating a very strong position for the city of Long Beach. We've seen we've had this conversation about our position at the mouth of two rivers, many of our council districts and communities adjacent to those those rivers. And so we understand that, you know, simple enter rainfall impacts on our communities are significant at significantly higher level than it does adjacent communities. And we also know that there are unfunded mandates that we need to try to comply with. Without the resources to do so. And so as a coastal city and a city that we're we are proud to call a beach city. And Washington Post talks about how many great days we have with great weather. We want to protect that and we have to invest in that. And so I congratulate the Board of Supervisors for acknowledging this need and for putting this forth to the voters. So I support this, and I think it's smart and we need to be an example as a as a coastal city at the mouth of two rivers. We need to set an example for other cities upstream across the gateway and across the county. And so that said, I move that we that the city council take a position of support for this upcoming measure the clean was it Los Angeles region's safe clean water program special parcel tax. Thanks. Thank you. Nexus Council embraced it. Thank you. And I support as well. This is a this is very important to the city of Long Beach. For many reasons that have already been stated by by Diana Tang and Councilmember Richardson. And I think in terms of hopefully the voters will will recognize and hopefully have confidence in our ability to to move large public works projects to to improve our stormwater system here in Long Beach. I can't say that I have the same amount of confidence for for some of the upstream cities. And I'm curious to know how some of those cities are going to be be able to plan because they don't have the resources that Long Beach does. And so I'd like to to look more into or hopefully limit our assistance to some of those cities to try to get their their their programs off the ground, because they what happens in many of those upstream cities certainly impacts our city as well. And so hopefully we can work with the the organizations like the Gateway Cities Council governments and through the County of Los Angeles to come up with a plan to to assist those cities to be super aggressive about getting their stormwater programs together to clean up the waterways coming to Long Beach. So with that said, I am I'm happy to support this and send it to the voters. Public comment on the site and please. Can we say it again? This is one of the issues that the landscape Pampers has come on board to support. It's time we did something about our water system in cleaning up our local water. We were the only community organization that went to the Board of Supervisors meeting from Mom Beach that ended up testifying beside the staff . So we're committed to supporting this project and doing whatever we have to do so that people understand how critical this issue is to us as the city. And thank you for those of you on the Council that have had the foresight to see how important it is to clean up our water and started the discussion on these issues a while ago. We look forward to participating in projects and working to help develop green jobs as a part of this in encouraging more water permeable surfaces in our parks and infrastructure. Thanks. Thank you. Next speaker. Hi. I'm her Linda Chico. I'm the field deputy for L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn. And I have a statement on her behalf. On July 17, 2018, Supervisor Hahn and the majority of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to put the Safe, Clean Water Program funding measure on the November ballot. Each year, over 100 billion gallons of water flow down our drains and our loss to the ocean rather than captured for re-use. As it travels, the water picks up tons of trash and toxic pollutants. That end up on our beaches. This toxic runoff is why the Department of Public. Health is forced to close our beaches after big storms. And the city of Long Beach understands. This issue well. Since it. Spends approximately $1 million per. Year. On cleaning up its. Beaches, the county also contributes half a million dollars per year to. Try and. Stop trash from reaching. The city of Long. Beach by capturing trash while it still. Is in the L.A. River. Supervisor Hahn believes. The residents of Long Beach do not deserve polluted water and dry aquifers. This is why she voted to put the safe clean water program funding measure on the ballot. The measure could potentially provide funding for stormwater. Projects that will create local jobs. Replenish our underground aquifers. Keep our. Beaches clean, and ensure. That clean, safe water flows throughout our taps. For generations to come. Supervisor Hahn wants to leave Los Angeles County a healthier and more sustainable place than she found it. And she urges the city of Long Beach to support this measure and allow the voters to. Decide if cleaning and capturing. Stormwater is important to them as well. Thank you. Thank you, Nick. Speaker, please. Good evening, counsel. My name is the only Kim I work with the L.A. Alliance for New Economy, and we're part of a coalition, our Water L.A. coalition, that's been working to inform and support this measure. And so thank you for your consideration. And for all the work that staff has done to make this a strong measure. We're excited that it's on the November ballot and and excited that you're discussing it tonight. I just want to underscore what you've already heard, that this measure is a real opportunity to address a triple crisis that our region is facing as far as water quality, water supply and extreme weather, that this measure has the capacity to address both drought and flooding risk. And that's a real amazing win to be able to address all of those things in one measure, in a way that is also bringing investments to communities, beautifying them, creating more open space and more shade for communities, and especially with commitments to invest in low income communities. This is a measure that will also help create jobs. We've been working with the building trades and with SEIU to inform the quality of those jobs and to also figure out how to increase access to those jobs for the communities that need them. We, our staff has underscored and as you've commented, see the great benefits to Long Beach. And just a comment to the Councilmember Austin's question around upstream smaller cities that there's a technical assistance program that the county is working on that can really help to bolster some of those smaller cities efforts to better address the water that's coming down to Long Beach after them. So I think that technical assistance program will help with some of those smaller cities upstream of you look forward to working together with the city for an implementation to make sure that the jobs created are good and that the projects are invested equitably throughout Long Beach and would love to continue working with you also to get the word out to voters. As it's been mentioned, it's a tax measure, not the most. I think as Councilwoman Mongeau said earlier, a lot of this infrastructure, these pieces, they're not the sexiest thing that people thing people most like to focus on, but they're the thing that at the end of the day , people have to navigate to get through their day. And this is a you can only live for three days without water. So we look forward to working with you to get the word out to voters to really have their consideration for this measure in the fall. Thank you. Thank you. See no other public comment. Please cast your votes. Motion carries. Okay. Thank you very much. Let me try to get back to the to the regular. I don't think there's any any more requests for items on here. So let me go back to the regular agenda. Is Estella Magallanes here? We did concern calendar, didn't we? No. No, we did consent, though. Did we did consent. Right. Okay. Estella Margolin is here. Is David Dykstra here? Yes, sir, I am, sir. Please come forward. Is Kristi Melly here? Mama Lee? Yes. Please come forward. Thank you.