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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 212-09TO: HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM: CITY MANAGER DATE: May 11,2009 REPORT TYPE: . PUBLIC HEARING DEPARTMENT: PLANNING AND COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT CMR: 212:09 SUBJECT: Adoption of Ordinance Amending Chapter 5.24 (Requirements to Divert Construction and Demolition Waste from Landfill) of Title 5 (Health and Sanitation) of the Palo Alto Municipal Code to Increase Diversion Requirements. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This item was postponed from the April 27, 2009 Council meeting, due to a lack of time. The amendments would (a) require that all C&D debris be diverted to an approved reuse, recovery or similar facility, (b) maintain the minimum current recovery rate requirement at approved facilities of 90% for inert debris, (c) increase the rate for all other C&D materials from 50% to 75%, and (d) increase the number of covered projects by changing from a $75,000 threshold to a $25,000 threshold valuation. All amendments to the ordinance will go into effect 30 days following the second reading of the ordinance except the requirenlents for new projects covered between $25,000 and $75,000 valuation. For these projects the requirements will be enforced beginning January 1, 2010; and until that time will be voluntary. The attached redlined ordinance includes a section (5.24.120 Operative Date) which defers compliance for these minor projects, and an additional purpose statement (Section 1 (d)) which emphasizes salvage. Staff will return with recommended changes to the administrative penalty schedule for noncompliance with this ordinance. The amendments would also increase consistency with current City, regional, state and national policies, language, and programs. Council received the fourth annual C&D Debris Diversion Program informational report on April 2i\ and it is also included as an attachment. RECOMMENDATIONS Staff recommends that Council approve the amendments to the Construction and Demolition Debris Diversion Ordinance comprising Chapter 5.24 of the Municipal Code (Attachment A). BACKGROUND Construction and Demolition (C&D) debris is waste material that is produced during construction, renovation, or demolition of structures. Components of C&D debris typically include concrete, asphalt, wood, metals, gypsum wallboard, roofing material, glass, carpet, bricks, land clearing debris (e.g. trees, stumps and vegetation.), rocks and dirt. Cardboard and plastics (e.g. shrink-wrap) are also generated at construction sites as a result of packaging from products utilized in the final stages of construction. On May 17, 2004, the City Council approved a Construction and Demolition (C&D) Debris Reuse and Recycling Ordinance to require that a minimum of 90 percent of inert solids (e.g. concrete, asphalt, and rock) and a minimum 50 percent of remaining debris generated from C&D projects be diverted from CMR: 212:09 Page 10f5 landfill disposal through reuse and/or recycling. The original ordinance outlines the environmental and health benefits of diverting C&D waste from the landfill. Covered projects were defined as those needing . a demolition permit and having a project valuation of $75,000 or more. The driving forces behind the ordinance were the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, and Senate Bi111374 (2002), which requires annual reporting to the state on progress made in the diversion of C&D waste materials, including information on programs and ordinances implemented and quantitative data, where available. The City is required to meet the State's 50 percent diversion requirement, or may be subject to a fine of up to $10,000 per day. The program was also enacted as a key component of implenlenting the City's Zero Waste Plan. Since the May 17, 2004 ordinance was approved, the following has occurred; • A dedicated staff position was created to fUll, implement, and enforce the C&D program requirements, with a fee structure ($225 per project) designed to recover about 75% to 80% of program costs. • The program has completed four successful years of program implementation, resulting in the diversion of over 100,000 tons of debris from the landfill. • The number of Bay Area C&D debris reuse and recycling facilities has increased. • The building design and construction community has successfully adjusted to diverting waste from landfill disposal. • The City Council has deemed environmental protection as one of its top three priorities for each of the , last two years. • The City'S Climate Protection Plan (CPP), adopted by the City Council on December 3, 2007, identifies Zero Waste as an inlportant approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions generated in the Palo Alto community. The CPP specifically calls for a City diversion rate of73% by 2011, increased salvage for reuse of materials, and an increase in projects covered under the C&D ordinance. • On March 1, 2009 the Palo Alto Landfill discontinued accepting commercially generated waste, including C&D debris. This restriction presented an opportunity to redirect this landfilled debris by increasing salvage for reuse and recycling requirements for smaller projects. DISCUSSION The proposed ordinance amendments were driven by the following goals to increase effectiveness of the C&D program: • Increase the C&D Debris Diversion requirements • Increase the number of covered projects • Improve compliance • Relate penalties to amounts to be diverted to encourage compliance • ClarifY definitions and general language for consistency with State and National regulations and programs Increase the Construction and Demolition Debris Diversion Requirements As stated above, the current C&D debris diversion requirements include (a) salvage for reuse, (b) the recycling of 90 percent of inert solids (i.e. concrete, asphalt, and rock) and (c) recycling a minimum 50 percent of the remaining debris generated from covered projects. To minimally comply, 50 percent of a covered project's debris may be sent to the landfill, and the remaining 50 percent may be salvaged for· reuse or recycling at an approved facility. The proposed amendments to the ordinance would continue to require that all covered projects salvage debris for reuse, but in addition they would need to send 100 percent of the debris (increased from 50 percent) to an approved reuse and/or recycling facility. CMR: 212:09 Page 2 of5 Commensurate with this proposed anlendment, the requirements for qualifying as an approved facility would also be increased. If a facility accepts inert solids (e.g. concrete, asphalt), the overall minimum recovery rate for that facility must still be 90 percent in order to be approved. For facilities accepting all other non-hazardous C&D debris, the minimum facility recovery rate for approval would be increased from 50 percent to 75 percent. A facility would also have to maintain its licenses to operate, implement a hazardous waste inspection program, and update the City on any diversion rate changes, among other requirements to be approved for purposes of the City's program. Staff currently maintains a list of approved facilities, and new facilities may be approved that meet the requirements of the ordinance. In addition, to ease the burden of maintaining this list and to avoid redundancies, staff also proposes to include facilities approved by the State, and other local counties and cities found to be equivalent in spirit and stringency to those of the City's Ordinance requirements. Increase the Number of Covered Projects (Decrease the Threshold Valuation) All projects with a valuation greater than $75,000 requiring demolition permits are considered covered proj ects under the current C&D debris ordinance. The proposed amendments would expand the scope of covered projects to include any project requiring a permit for new construction as well as any projects with a valuation greater than $25,000 and requiring a building permit. Based on building permit statistics from the 2008 calendar year, lowering the threshold of covered projects to $25,000 from $75,000 would have captured an additional 292 projects over and above the 531 projects that were covered by the existing ordinance between November 2007 and November 2008. Assuming similar building trends continue, decreasing the threshold to $25,000 could increase the number of covered projects by almost 55 percent. Projects in the $25,000 -$75,000 range include, as examples, residential bathroom and/or kitchen remodels, large roof replacements, additions on existing structures, new garages, and small commercial remodels. Staff is concerned, however, that the C&D review should not become a burden in time delay or cost for these small projects, and has discussed implementing three program components to minimize these impacts: 1. Minor building permits issued "over the counter" would not be delayed as long as the C&D paperwork (regarding estimated waste and signed acknowledgements) is complete. 2. The $225 C&D fee would be reduced to a nominal $75 for all permits with valuations of $25,000 to $75,000. (Note: if there is no demolition or debris involved, the C&D requirement and fee would not apply). 3. The implementation and compliance with C&D requirements for these smaller projects would be considered voluntary through December 31, 2009, and would then become fully effective (as well as the fee) on January 1,2010. This will also provide additional time for outreach to architects, contractors, and homeowners. Improve Compliance The amendments require that covered projects divert 100 percent of the C&D debris to an approved facility or utilize other acceptable methods to salvage for reuse. In order to become and to stay approved, a facility must maintain diversion rates that meet city standards. Therefore, the burden on the applicant to monitor and calculate diversion rates is reduced. The amendments require that all receipts or weight tags used to show compliance with the C&D program be originals, or have the address or permit number printed directly on them by the approved facility. This CMR: 212:09 Page 3 of5 requirement ensures that contractors will not submit the same receipts multiple times for different projects. Differentiate Penalties by Offense Currently, covered projects that do not comply with the ordinance are subject to a $1,000 fine as outlined in the Administrative Penalties Schedule. While a $1,000 fine provides incentive for smaller projects to comply, for larger projects, it is relatively inexpensive to avoid compliance. The ordinance amendments include an innovative way to differentiate penalties by size of offense, a method used by a number of other cities. The proposal would fine a covered project by the number of tons an applicant fails to divert, rather than a flat penalty of $1,000. Staff will recommend a $50 per ton, minimum $1,000 penalty when amendments to the administrative penalty schedule are proposed in June. The number of non-complaint appli~ants each year varies. A rough estimation is that about 5%-10% of applicants, most of which are single fanlily home owners do not comply currently. There are some other cities where a fine is not used as a penalty, and a deposit is made up front, which is not returned if the project is non-compliant. Due to the impact on applicants, and based on the administrative costs of running a deposit program, this approach was not recommended in 2004 and is not recommended in the proposed amendments. Clarify Definitions and General Language for Consistency with State and National Regulations and Programs The ordinance amendments include added and revised language and definitions that are consistent with regional, state and national terms and programs. For example, the term "Debris Management Plan" was replaced with "Waste Management Plan (WMP)", the term more commonly referred to for estimating construction debris ( or waste) and laying out a salvage for reuse and recycling plan. RESOURCE IMPACTS Additional staff time will be required to review, monitor and approve the 250 to 300 additional applications (approximately 50 percent increase) for minor projects subject to the ordinance, and to maintain and monitor the approved facility list. With approximately 250 to 300 additional applications, however, revenues could increase by approximately $15,000 to 20,000 per year, given the proposed $75 fee for covered "minor" projects under the ordinance ($7,500 in FY 09-10 due to deferred implementation). Staff notes that the current funding and revenues for this program are associated with the City's Refuse Fund, rather than the General Fund. Staff believes that, due to the state of the economy and City finances, the increased work load could be covered by current staff administering the C&D Debris Diversion program; however, long-term, an additional 1.0 FTE, bringing the total to 2.0 FTE, will most likely be needed to effectively run the C&D (1.0 FTE) and Green Building (1.0 FTE) programs. In the interim, one Planner position in the Current Planning section would be dedicated at least half-time to implementing the Green Building ordinance, outreach, and monitoring efforts. The increase in revenues collected should nearly result in full cost recovery for the C&D Debris Diversion program. Any incremental staff cost for C&D implementation would continue to be provided from the Refuse Fund. POLICY IMPLICATIONS These recommendations are consistent with the following existing City policies. CMR: 212:09 Page 4 of5 Zero Waste On November 15, 2004, the Palo Alto City Council directed City staff to prepare a Zero Waste Plan for the Palo Alto community. The goal of Zero Waste is to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills by 90% or more. The Zero Waste Plan is an integral component of the City's Climate Protection Plan, adopted by Council in December, 2007. Green Building Ordinance The Green Building Ordinance, adopted by the City Council in May 2008 rewards, requires, and encourages minimum levels of C&D debris diversion along with many additional measures that improve the natural environment and human health. Climate Protection Plan The Climate Protection Plan, adopted by the City Council in Decerrlber 2007, specifically calls out amending the current C&D debris diversion ordinance to increase salvage for reuse and requires at least 75 percent of C&D debris to be diverted from the landfill as a goal toward becoming a Zero Waste Community. Comprehensive Plan Comprehensive Plan Policy Goals N-7, N-43, N-35, N-36 address reducing the volume of solid waste, as well as increasing reuse and recycling. Sustainability Policy The City of Palo Alto Sustainability Plan, adopted in support of the citywide Sustainability Policy, identified Solid Waste as one often key categories of sustainability focus. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW The proposed amendment is categorically exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). ATTACHMENTS A. Ordinance Amending Chapter 5.24 (Requirements to Divert Construction and Demolition Waste from Landfill) of Title 5 (Health and Sanitation) of the Palo Alto Municipal Code B. April 27, 2009 informational report regarding C&D debris diversion program PREPARED BY: DEPARTMENT HEAD: CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: CMR: 212:09 ~O~tH ~N· Associate Planner CURTIS WILLIAMS Interim Director of Planning and Community Environment Page 5 of5